TAM

As mentioned above, buy the best pair of high power bino's you can afford. Use them to glass for hours at a time and your eyes won't strain as bad as trying to keep one eye closed while looking through a spotter. Many of us actually carry both a high power set if bino's for glassing, then we get out the spotter (40-60 power) when we find a buck we want to take a closer look at. Get the bino's and tripod first, then buy the spotter down the road.

Here is my list of ideas that I also posted on another website. I think we all need to remember that it may take several different ideas being put into action to resolve the issue. There is probably not going to be just one single change that will straighten everything out. AZ G&F will more than likley need to impliment several different new rules in order to make things right. The best ideas I've heard so far are: 1) Charge full price up front. No more $5 just to apply. 2) Eliminate non resident bonus points. (they all just gripe about our BP system anyway) 3) Raise NR tag prices to a competive level with other states. $750-$1000 for an elk tag. Deer tags should be $450-$600 4) Allow residents the opportunity to earn additional BP's by getting involved in G&F approved projects. 5) We MUST make it illegal to sell or purchase horns and hides of AZ harvested animals. (let Georgy & company come look for sheds if they want to sell antlers) 6) We must require that ALL hunters pass an Arizona certified hunting saftey course. 7) We could require that ALL guides be AZ residents or at least make it more difficult to get a guide's license in Arizona. There should be ongoing training, testing, and saftey instruction and certification for all guides. (USO hires a lot of 20 year old kids with little or no experience to act as guides) 8) We need to require that tags be mailed to the individual applying for the hunt and not to third party application services like USO. 9) Why not make it illegal to use airplane's for any scouting purposes? (how would ole Georgy Boy find any good bulls if he can't fly his airplane?) 10) We could implement NR bag limits to one bull/deer in a lifetime. 11) We could implement NR waiting periods. (NR's can't apply again for 3-5 years once they've been drawn) 12) Restrict the NR hunting dates/seasons. I'm sure there are other ideas in addition to these. There is no way that all of these ideas will get any consideration by the G&F, and not one of them by itself will solve the problem. If we can work with the G&F commission to consider several of the best options and move forward quickly, we can create more favorable circumstances for the Arizona residents.

I've noticed that they will move down, but it usually takes a lot of snow to push them. In most units with coues there is usually not enough snow to get them into the lower country. If you find a good buck in the summer chances are he'll be around all year long. He may move a little during the rut to find the ladies but he'll at least be in the vacinity.

Hey Zia, I got your email but I need you to send me another with your return email address and I will get back with you. Thanks, Tim

Zia, I also have a unit 31 December tag and know the area pretty well. In fact, the picture of the buck on all my posts is a buck from a unit 31 December hunt in 2001. How big of a buck does your son want to take? If your not looking for anything too big it wouldn't be hard to find a decent buck on your own. If your'e set on a guide then send me an email. A buddy of mine lives and guides down there and could help you shoot a wall hanger.

I have a few photos where the flash has spooked the deer. But the same deer will come right back and get its picture taken again. The truth is that not many coues deer come into water at night and that's where most of my cameras are set up. They will come into salt at night a little more often.

I just got a photo back from one of my trail cameras on Saturday. The picture was stamped with July 10th as the date. The buck has 3 very defined points (not including eye gaurd) on his right side and at least two points on his left (I can't see any more from the angle). I don't think this will be a very large buck but as of July 10th he was at least a 3x2. The buck also came into the tank at about 11am.

Couesnewbie, Your .30-06 will work just fine. I shot my first coues with one and it tipped him right over. Take a look at the Hornady 150 grain light magnum ammo. It shoots 100 yard groups at under one inch in my gun and also adds about 100-200 feet per second in muzzel velocity. Many people like to shoot magnum's for coues because the magnum calibers offer flatter trajectory. Most of them are overkill but people still like to have the additional 100-200 yards of effective shooting range just in case. You'll be just fine with your .30-06! Good luck!

Just went and checked one of my trail cameras on a water hole this past Saturday morning and wanted to share some interesting facts. There were 24 pictures taken of which 18 were deer (4 bucks), 1 bear, and one lion, and the other 4 pictures were blank. There are a couple of interesting facts that I would like to point out. All 24 pictures were taken within a four day period (all pic's are stamped with day and time). Of the 18 deer pic's, 13 of them were taken between 10:52 am and 2:58 pm. I think this really demonstrates the point that coues deer like to water at mid day. Also there were only 2 pic's of deer coming in at night which demonstrates that coues don't like to water at night. I've been using these trail cameras for about a year now and this most recent roll of pictures is not much different from every other roll I have got. Only about 10% of the coues deer water at night and about 65-75% of coues deer will water at mid day. I guess the moral of the story is that if you want to bag a coues deer over water, you may as well sleep in and hunt at high noon. Also don't let anyone mis lead you about coues being noctournal and only coming to water at night, it's simply not true!

Muskrat, your 7mm Mag will work just fine on Foxes, coyotes, bobcats, and lions if you just want 'em dead! If you're keeping the hides you may want to use a light weight bullet with rapid expansion like a Nosler Ballistic Tip or Hornady SST (super shock tip). But if your primary target will be a bear I would use a heavier constructed bullet that will provide better penetration for the bear and still do a number on the smaller critters.

It looks like Arizona lost the battle with USO and it will affect this years draw results. Check out this link. This is not good news! http://www.azgfd.com/artman/publish/article_121.shtml

Drew a unit 31 December coues tag. Hoping for another buck for the wall!

I just got back from the Az G&F meeting. The good news is that we should all know tomorrow what we drew for all big game animals. G&F decided to keep the results from the initial draw and they will add permits to allow any non residents who would have drawn a tag if it weren't for the 10% cap. All I can say is there are a few lucky non residents this year who will get tags that don't deserve them! I hope the non residents enjoy it while they can because things are changing for next year!

I was there and also plan on attending today. I will let everyone know what happens.

I went to the meeting on Friday and I plan on attending the meeting today. I am optomistic that we will have some good news regarding AZG&F's request for a stay. I think just the fact that the Judge asked for a confrence call today is a good sign. If he was going to say no I think he would have already done so. I am hopeful that he asked for a confrence call because he is actually considering granting the stay. It was also discussed that G&F would post the draw results for antelope, sheep, turkey, and buffalo tomorrow, July 20th, since they were not effected by the judges ruling. Keep your fingers crossed!

I think most people that are familiar with this area will agree that there are not many coues right off the Hewit Station Road. I've seen a few but not many. The Hewit Station Road (FR 357) does lead to some good coues country though. You can take either FR 172 north, or you can take FR 8 which will branch off to FR 650 or FR 229. All three of these of these roads will take you into pretty good coues country.

I have no doubt that in the next several years the bear and whitetail in the area of the willow fire will florush. What I'm a little more curious about is what will things be like for this years hunts starting in August? I can't wait to go check things out as soon as they re-open the roads!

Maybe Amanda could give us an idea as to what generally happens to the wild life as a result of a fire like the Willow. From the Maps showing the burn areas it appears that almost the entire Matazell Wilderness Area has now burned. I know that with fires like this one that some areas burn worse than others and that often times animals will move right back into burned areas within days. Amanda, what is your opinion on this???

As long as we're actually asking for prayers from Ernesto, perhaps he could pray for a severe case of the hershey squirts to come to the person that stole my trail camera a few months ago. Preferably while the theif is sitting up in his treestand just as a nice coues buck is coming in to drink!

Kevin, I'm not sure if the moon has any effect on there watering habits, but throughout the past Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring and now Summer again only about 1 in 10 pictures that I get are of deer at night. Perhaps coues do a lot of feeding in darkness, but from my experience with trail cameras they don't like to come to water at night regardless of season or moon phase. I have noticed that water tanks that are surrounded by thick brush seem to get less action than tanks in an open area with thick cover nearby. I think coues like to have good visibility of there surroundings when they come to water.

Has anyone tried checking there credit card yet?

I just went and checked one of my trail cameras this past weekend and one picture dated 6/24 had a coues buck with 3 inch eye guards and main beams that appear to go out to about the width of his ears and are starting to fork. I would guess the total length of each main beam to be about 8-9 inches. He is the best buck I've got pictures of so far this year.

I can't say anything for unit 32, but in unit 24b I've got a few pictures of bucks that have about 4-5 inches of new growth and appear to be ready to fork. I don't have any idea if that is big or small for this time of year. Anyone else seen any new growth?

KGAINES, I have been using trail cameras for about a year now and love them. I think they are the next best thing to being out in the woods yourself. You should have a lot of fun and hopefully get some pictures while you are at it. Here is my best advise. First think of your trail camera like you were investing in the stock market and don't invest in anything you can't afford to loose. It's sad but true. I personally like to buy cheap $75 - $100 cameras off Ebay. I have found that most of them work about the same and I don't want to hang a $300 camera in the tree for someone else to take. Plus, I would rather have three cameras for $100 each and be able to scout three seperate areas than have one expensive $300 camera. My friend and I, who also owns several cameras, both had one stolen from a water tank this past spring and there just isn't anything I can do about it except not put one out on that tank again. If you use them for long enough, sooner or later you will get one stolen or vandalized even if you lock them to the tree. Now when you do set them out try to place them in remote areas or where they will be difficult to see. On some tanks I get plenty of pictures of people and my guess is that most of them just don't notice the camera. For the most part I think most people are honest and just a little curious to see what the funny thing is that's hanging on the tree. My friend and I actually have a little different problem with one of our water tanks. Every time we go to get the film the camera has been turned to the opposite side of the tree. After looking at the pictures it's pretty obvious that a bear is either playing with the camera or just rubbing himself on the tree and moving the camera. Those are the kind of problems I like to have! I have had my picture taken on someone else's camera one time that I know of and I just left the camera alone (what goes around comes around). I don't think leaving any kind of note is necessary if I haven't messed with the camera.

az4life, You are right about the areas the AZ G&F mentions being pretty crowded, but only during the rifle hunt in December. I spend quite a bit of time in those same areas during the archery hunt in Aug/Sept and January and there is very little competition, especially during the summer. I shot a 3x4 mulie off water up there last August in a spot that has both coues and mulies and there was nobody else around. There are spots up there with pretty high whitetail concentrations and there are even a few good bucks around, but it's a much better hunt with a bow over water in the summer or salt in January.