TAM

Hey Venadote, don't forget to get your Arizona tags too! Now that you are a member of the Tribe not only do you get to hunt the Rez as a resident, you also get to hunt on Arizona State land as a resident. That's two deer with one tank of gas!

........And did you know they took the word "Gullible" out of the dictionary!

Josh has some very valid points worth further investigation. But since all I have to go on is a single picture of the old record and the new record, in my opinion the new record looks much more believable than the old record. Maybe it's me or maybe it's the picture but after I stared at it for awhile I don't see 196 inches of bone. I'm not saying they scored it wrong, I guess I'd just like to see it in someone's hands or next to another rack for compairson. It's hard to get a feel for it's size with that plain white background.

I spend a lot of time in 24b each year and know of quite a few springs and water tanks which I place trail cameras on. There are not many coues around queen valley, mostly carp. To get to the higer concentrations of coues concentrate your efforts closer to the superstition wilderness. You may want to read what the AZ game and fish has to say about the unit on there website. You are right about the lions, there are a bunch of them. There are a couple of water tanks I put my cameras on that I get pictures of lions every time I put the cameras out. Last summer one tank had lions coming in every 3-4 days. Good luck!!!

I've heard of several people that have shot nice bucks off the strip that would spend half the night driving the roads spotlighting. When they find a good buck they would mark the spot where the buck was and come back in the morning and track the buck and shoot it. This was done by hunters with tags during the hunt. Often these guys will track these big bucks for miles before ever getting a shot. I think I'd rather take my chances sitting on my butt looking through my bino's. But it sure is a thrill to watch a big buck or bull with a spotlight. As mentioned previously, you better leave the guns back at camp.

Hey everyone. I just wanted to give some feed back on a new model of trail cam I just got and used for the first time. For the past year I've been using a Deer Cam DC-100 which was a little expensive but worked great. I wanted to add a couple more trail cameras to my scouting efforts so I looked at several other less expensive models. I ended up purchasing the Moultrie "Game Watcher" (also known as the "Muley Cam"). I purchased the camera new in the box off ebay for under a $100 which was almost half as cheap as the DC-100. I was a little worried that the less expensive camera would not perform as well. The results came in on Saturday when I picked up the first roll of film and was happy to see that all 24 exposures had deer pictures. The flash on the camera is not super strong but it certainly got the job done. The camera was out for the last three weeks and held up fine through this last round of rain and snow. I'm not trying to sell anyone a specific brand of trail camera. Just thought I'd let everyone know that I've found a couple different brands that have worked well for me. My friend uses a "Stealth Cam" which has worked well for him and costs around $75. I think that these trail cameras are a great way to scout. In fact, my trail camera is out scouting a salt lick for me as I sit here at work! I've got pictures of deer, bear, lots of lions, javelina, and my friend recently got a ringtail cat. Anyone else using trail cameras to help scout???

Spot lighting is a legitimate scouting technique and perfectly legal. It's also a lot of fun. I once took a group of city slicker Boy Scouts spot lighting in late June up in unit 7 and we were able to see over 40 deer and probable 70 or 80 elk. The boys had a great time and were able to see a part of nature that they don't normaly get to see. Some of the deer were only 10 or 20 feet from the side of the truck.

I think the answer to your question really depends on the person. Different strokes for different floks! I prefer to glass and spot and stalk on the rifle hunts and sit water or salt during the archery hunts. I will also say that in my opinion all wild animals are unpredictable to a point but if you do your scouting then you can predict their behavior to some degree. The archery hunt takes place during some very hot weather and even big coues deer need to drink. If you get a good salt hole going during the rut the bucks will follow the does right in. If you can find a good scrape/rub line a buck is sure to pass by sooner or later. If you spend enough time watching coues deer you will learn their habits and that at certain times there behavior can be predicted. Good Luck!

Terry, The location of wher you put out salt is important in that you want to find an area that has good numbers of coues deer. Idealy you want an area that is not going to be over run with other human activity, so getting off the established roads and trails is a good idea. I like to look for deer trails and old scrapes or rubs. I like to find areas that have permanant water in the vacinity (within a mile or so). I also like to find areas which I know contain good genetics and have the ability of producing 100 inch bucks. I like to put salt out in transition areas. What I mean are areas that are in between bedding and feeding areas. Bedding areas can be to thick to hunt effectivly and can be dificult to get in and out of without spooking the deer, and feeding areas can be to open and deer may not spend a lot of time during daylight out in the open. But the transition areas or the fringe type habitat in between the bedding and feeding areas are where the deer (especially bucks) feel comfortable moving around during hunting hours. You also want to make sure that where ever you put your salt that there is a good tree within shooting distance that you can hang your treestand in. My experience with hunting over salt is that mostly does will come in year round. Once the rut starts then the bucks start following the does into the salt. I prefer to save hunting over salt for the late archery season during the rut. My experience with putting out salt is in units north of the Phoenix area, so I have no idea how things would work in southern Az. One other piece of advise is to go out and buy a trail camera. They are pretty affordable now. I have purchased and used several models that cost less than 100 dollars. Set up a camera on your salt and let it take pictures of the deer that come in. You will be able to see how many deer are using your salt and how often they come in and if there are any bucks. Good luck!

Stanley, The best way I know of to get rid of your shooters flinch is to let someone else load your rifle when you are practicing. In other words turn away when your buddy loads the rifle. Your buddy may or may not put a round in the chamber. When you pull the trigger you don't know if the rifle will go off or not. This way you can really practice on squeezing the trigger. If you find you are really jumping when there is no round in the chamber then keeping working at it. Also take your time between shots and maybe shoot fewer rounds. I've found that when I'm tired and my shoulder is getting a little tender it's better to stop than to continue shooting with bad form.

I think it would be very wise to be prepared for, and expect shots at coues deer in the 300 - 400 yard range. If they are less than that then good for you. Coues live in some rough and steep country and it is very common to not be able to get less than 300 - 400 yards (sometimes more). I think that many people prefer to shoot the large caliber magnums for there "flat shooting" abilities not necessarily for there "knock down" power. It does not take a big magnum rifle to kill a coues, it just takes a well placed bullet. For some that means shooting a big flat shooting magnums so you can gain extra yardage in your comfortable shooting range. All of the calibers you spoke of are fine for coues including the .30-06. Of the calibers you mentioned I like the .25-06. My personal coues gun is a .270 weatherby mag. I know it's a magnum but kicks about the same as a 7mm and it shoots a 130 grain bullet at over 3,500 fps at the muzzle! I feel comfortable shooting this gun at deer size critters out to 600 yards. Deer rifles are just like the Ford vs. Chevy debate that has gone on for years and years. We all have our opinions. By the way if your just trying to justify a new rifle, anything is a good excuse for that .

For those of you that build your own trail cameras you may want to take a look at this website. www.pixcontroller.com They sell a circuit board that can be wired to a camera or camcorder that has a PIR intergrated into the board already. It cuts out a lot of of the electronic jargon and wireing that not so smart guys like myself can't handle. It may cost a little more than doing everything from scratch but it really simplifys the process. I'm going to take a run at building a video trail cam with a camcorder and there video control board.

Yea, I know the area you are talking about. I believe it's called mormon grove. There are a couple roads that go back into the mountains and basicly dead end at some hiking trail heads. You are right it is pretty good bear country especially at the bottom of some of the deep canyons that hold some year round springs. Believe it or not, but there are also a few head of elk in there as well. I think the area on the other side of the highway you are refereing to is Mt. Ord. there is a main road that takes you to the very top where the towers are. There are also a couple side roads. Plenty of bear over there as well.

Aren't the Matazels mostly wilderness? I'm curious where you can ride for hours on a quad. I know of a few roads that access trail heads and such but was unaware there were quad trails as well?

Taos, when you say you haven't seen a "buck" in 3 weeks with horns are you referring to coues or carp? Thanks.

Went out on Saturday to pick up the film from a couple trail cameras in unit 22 and all of the bulls that we had pictures of had shed except for one spike. Some of the bulls even had new growth coming in already. Most of the pictures were taken about two weeks ago. I did find one brown elk shed and one spike coues shed. I would say that most of the elk have dropped by now, and the coues should be starting anytime.

Deer cocain is just one option. Also mentioned earlier in this thread are the deer blocks and there are sevaral other commercialy available "mineral enhanced" salt block type products that should produce the same type results. I would bet that they all contain about the same thing and will produce very similar results. My expericnce has been with the deer cocain and it works quite well. I will also add this..... I think the location is the key and is much more important than what type of salt you put out! Poor location = poor results. But if you find the right spot the deer will hammer it.

m1280, Once you've found the right location I would haul in a 40 lb bag of rock salt and a 1 gallon jug of the liquid deer cocain. Pour out the bag of salt, preferably in a small depression or hole, then pour on contents of deer cocain. The deer won't be able to consume the entire amount, most of it will be dissolved by rain and absorbed into the ground over time. Once the salt gets into the ground the deer will start pawing and eating the dirt and they will actually dig out a hole in the ground. On a new site I'd replenish it about every three months for the first year or so, then I'd cut back to 2-3 times per year once the deer are hooked and coming in on a regular basis. At that point I would only add the deer cocain about a week before the hunt. If you really want to have some fun go buy or build a trail camera and set it up on your new salt lick and keep track of the animals that come in. Thats how I do it.

I think the bottom line is that salt works! I do think that adding some sort of mineral salt or deer cocain can help draw deer into a newly established salt lick or to assist during the hunting season is a good idea. But to spend a bunch of money on these "super mineral salts" during the rest of the year doesn't make sense when you can buy a 40 lb bag of salt at the grocery store for $3 that will keep them coming in throughout the rest of the year just fine. I also think part of the key to hunting over salt is to keep replenishing the same location for year after year. The longer a location has been established the more generations of deer will know about it and frequent the site. Remember that the does will teach there fawns how to survive. If a doe and her fawn(s) are coming into a salt lick every couple of days, you can bet that the fawn(s) will keep coming back to the salt lick even after they seperate from mama. In a sense you are training the deer and often times the best results won't come for several years. Just going out the month before the hunt and throwing out a bag of salt won't necessarly produce a lot of deer. Good luck!

Hey 300 wsm, what is a trophy block? Is that the same as these deer blocks that are made up of oats and grains and Molossas in a square block? I've tried them and they seem to work pretty well. The problem is the elk eat them too quick! I put them out on my salt licks to help bring in more deer for the trail cameras.

I also prefer using salt pellets or even rock salt over salt blocks. I like to use the rock salt to start a new salt site because when it rains the salt disolves faster and gets into the ground faster. Then I like to use the salt pellets because I think they will last a little longer than rock salt but they still disolve when wet and continue to soak into the ground. The blocks seem to last too long and don't really disolve into the ground as quickly. Plus with a block it is difficult to tell if anything has been licking on it where with pellets or rock salt the deer start digging a hole into the ground. I also like to pour some of the liquid deer cocaine over the rock salt when I'm first getting a new site started but then I usually won't apply any more until just before the hunting season.

I take offense to CHD's comments! I thought this sight was for those who enjoy and respect coues deer and the great outdoors. CHD has greatly disrespected the hunting and outdoor community that visits this forum. His statments are ignorant, inhumane and unethical! It is comments like his that get hunters labeled as killers. Amanda - For the benefit of all hunters, outdoorsmen, and coues deer lovers on this site, I ask you to please remove CHD's ignorant post, or at least the 4th paragraph??? The hunting community does not need comments like that! Thank you. TAM

I put my camera's on water holes and salt licks and very rarely doI get pic's with nothing in them. The suggestion about putting them no more than about 15 feet away is a good one. The cameras I'm using don't have a flash that is powerful enough to illuminate anything any further than that. If the animal is too far away at night sometimes you just get pictures of glowing eyes about 3 feet off the ground. It was also mentioned that you should try and face the camera to the north or NW. That's allgood advise, but sometimes it's just not possible. I have a salt lick in a little opening where the ONLY place to set up the camera is on a tree that faces directly south. I have yet to get a picture from that location with nothing in it, and there is nothing special about my cameras or techniques. I just set them up as best I can and come back in a couple weeks. My buddy did put out one of his cameras on a water tank I showed him and half the pictures ended up being stupid little chipmunks. Just keep trying until you find someting that works. Between my buddy and myself we have 5 cameras out working for us at just about any time and I plan on getting at least one more in the next couple months. We have several water tanks and salt licks that we rotate the cameras on, and we know what locations are producing bucks. In fact we even see the same deer coming in day after day. And what's real nice is the camera's will stamp the time the deer are coming in so we know if there is a good buck coming in. We also know how often he comes in, and generally what time of day he will come in. I love these cameras!!!!!!!

I've only seen one lion in the wild and that was up on the Young road just after dark it ran across the road in front of me. I do however get pictures of lions with my trail cameras on a pretty regular basis. All of the pictures have been at night except one that I just got back a couple weeks ago, the lion came in at about 5:30 in the evening. I also have a picture with 3 lions in it. I'm pretty sure it's a female with year old kittens. Last summer I had a trail camera set out on a water hole and I would get lions coming in about every 3-4 days. Sure wish I could see more for myself instead of just pictures!

I just picked up the film from one of my cameras on Saturday. This camera is set over a salt lick just inside of a wilderness area. There are deer hitting it pretty much every day, but most of the activity is taking place at about 5:30 in the evening. I did get one picture of some schmuck on his Polaris Magnum quad checking out the salt hole. I guess he is above the law when it comes to riding a quad in a wilderness area! The sad thing is that on Saturday when I picked up the film I brought my 3 year old boy with me and he HIKED the entire 1/3 of a mile down and back with me to get the film. I guess some people are just lazy!!!!