creed_az_88

The later the better. Boars come out earlier than sows usually so that's a plus for hunting early but on average a large portion of bears don't come out until may. I read a study done on New Mexico bears throughout the western part of the state and the dates that they come out of "hibernation" is pretty much the same for bears up north along the Canadian border. If I remember right temperature had very little effect in getting them to leave their dens. Good luck. Tough hunt.

Wow what a bunch of gnarly bucks.

I've had a ton of luck with the kids and women in my families and the diamond razor edge and infinite edge. Really worth what they cost.

On fire south of i10

"The reaper's line." Is a pretty good read. Mainly because the majority of the book took place in my valley but it's worth a look.

I really don't allow that to happen very often and the tongue got removed after that very photo for the rest of the pics that day. The photo wasn't originally taken to be entered in a contest but I'm very pleased to see it here. Thank you Amanda and couestracker.

If you don't plan on standing with it much I highly recommend one of the sirui tripods. They haven't really made much of an impact in the hunting world yet but the birders and backcountry photographers consider them the best tripods on the market without paying for something high end. Most of them come with ball heads so if you plan on using your binos with it then look into a high quality pan head or pistol grip.

Id shoot that deer over a lot of 110ers. I must be real weak. Sweet deer in rugged country congrats.

Arizona or New Mexico?

Sweet video. Even sweeter bucks. Looks like a good time. You guys eat almost as good as you hunt. Seems like you're pretty well familiar with most of the bucks in the area. It's bitter sweet when you don't tag one of the bucks you had originally planned on shooting. You don't get to take em home with you but the hunt still goes on. Archery season is right around the corner. Gotta love it. Congrats on a great hunt and some great bucks.

I think he's asking about the little rincons not the big rincons but I could be wrong desert bull.

You da man Brent.

Don't see bucks like that come out of that unit very often. Congrats on a stud. Kind of equivalent to shooting a much bigger deer in a unit known for better genetics. Sweet.

That's thing is unreal. Big time congrats.

My brother in law Anthony's commitment to sports and my work schedule prevented him from being able to get out for most of his hunt. We finally got out Friday evening of the last week and almost sealed the deal on a stud of a deer. We decided not to shoot due to the fading light and distance. He had a game Saturday so Sunday was the only full day we had and we made the most of it. Anthony is such a hard working kid. It was a blast spending the day with him. His buck bedded immediately once the sun broke over the horizon. We waited at 330 yards for 5 hours hoping he would stand up. We moved to a different angle where we could see his body and Anthony sent a 120 grain partition through him. What a patient kid. Young man is actually a better use of words. We didn't get back to the truck until 7 and I am definitely sore today. Anthony is turning Into a solid hunter. I look forward to seeing what his future holds. Please excuse the hat. He's a heck of a kid but he hasn't figured out how to wear his hat yet. Thanks for looking -creed

Thanks. Living the good life for sure.

Hung up the bow and picked up the rifle for the first time in 7 years. Filled my tag on opening day. Didn't even get to look for any of the deer on the hit list but im still smiling. Shot him in his bed at 180 yards. My little brother George had a tag also and was able to fill it with a beautiful shot in some crazy wind on day 2. Time to pick up the bow again. Thanks for looking. -creed

Lessons are often learned in ways and at times that nobody expects. Patience, perseverance, and hard work were the lessons taught to Isaiah and myself yesterday. Isaiah is my brother in law. He has been for a few years now and we've spent quite a few hours in search of a tag worthy buck together. Tag worthy bucks for Isaiah are generally have very few requirements. Actually they pretty much only have one; they have to have horns. This year was no different. We began our day with hard work as we normally do. We hiked into some rock infested country rushing to make it to high ground before glassing light. Neither of us had hunted here before. I had glassed the area from a distance the month earlier so I knew it held whitetail, but I also knew it held very little deer compared to other areas in the state. We made it to where we wanted to be about a half hour before sunup and started to glass. We turned up nothing. It would have been very easy to turn right around and head straight back to the quad at this point. The country seemed lifeless... And dry. This country had to have deer. We were determined to find them too. We changed hills to get a better angle on some stuff and about a half hour into glassing I found a doe and a fawn about a mile away on a distant hill closer to the main road. We started to fill better about the situation then. About 5 minutes later I found two tag worthy bucks bedded only 500 yards away. We cut the distance to under 300 and got setup. Isaiah layed prone for about 5 minutes when both bucks stood up and immediately walked over the hill and out of sight with no shot presented. We crossed the canyon Adjacent to the bowl that they went into and got to where we could see all of it. We never could find them but we found something much better. He seemed like he would stay put long enough for us to cut the distance so we did. Unfortunately Isaiah missed a somewhat rushed shot as he neared the top of the hill. He was feeling pretty crappy so I tried to cheer him up by saying that well find him even though I knew deep inside that we probably wouldn't. We hiked up onto another hill that would allow us to see the big bowl that the deer he missed headed Into. I couldn't believe my eyes when I found him tucked in a bush across the canyon from us. I don't believe that he knew he had been shot at and he had no clue that there was a 13 year old kid looking for redemption across the canyon from him. We changed positions and set up at 330 yards from the buck. We got Isaiah a solid rest. He didn't want to mess this oppurtunity up. He pulled the trigger and I watched the deer jump up and head uphill. He was obviously hurt. He laid down and taught us a thing or two about patience. We didn't know where he was hit but we assumed it was back. We spent the next 6 hours waiting for a shot opportunity. We couldn't get any closer without getting on the same hill as the deer so we waited it out. What a Long six hours. Just before dark we decided that we have to mAke something happen. We headed for a small finger that was just below him. On our way there the deer stood up. We crept in to 160 yards. Isaiah took aim and the whop of the bullet signaled to all of us the end to a gruesome standoff with a stud of a deer. Patience payed off big time for us. The ever-so-sweet one shot, one kill eluded us, but fortunately we learned from it and still got to bring home the bacon. It never ceases to amaze me how much I learn from hunting with kids. I'm proud to say that I got to be a part of Isaiah's biggest buck to date. Good job Isaiah. Thanks for looking. -creed

Sounds like a good time. Congrats on some nice bucks. Burkhead looks tired!

Denalis not Debalis

I'm in the same boat as you coach. I'm wearing the meindl air evolutions right now and I absolutely love the boot I just want a year or two more out of them like I got out of my old meindl ibexes. I'm leaning towards the perfekt hunters or the Debalis. How many years did you get out of your perfekt hunters? The only thing that concerns me with those scarpas is the height of the boot. I'm not sure it would be enough support for my style I hunting. My redwing work boots(which I love), are 8" boots and I've worn them in the hills and the ankle support is just not there. If you do end up buying a pair of the scarpas, or any other boot for that matter i'd love to hear how you like them.

Job well done Phil. She looks happy and so do you. That buck looks very similar in build to the buck you shot last year. Good job all the way around. Next time though, you gotta put your hat back on for the picture. Hard to see the deer with all that shine. jk. I do have to ask though, how in the heck did you draw another late tag? Congrats to Jaycie on a very fine deer.

Sounds like a pretty good day to me.

My meindls are about worn out. they'll probably survive through January but surely won't be alive come august. So I'm in the market for a new pair of boots. I've been reading a bit about boots made by asolo, la sportiva, vasque, scarpa and a few others and I thought id get some input from people who frequent the same type of terrain that I do. Does anybody regularly use boots made by any of these boot makers? If so how do they compare to the more popular western hunting boots like meindl, kenetrek, crispi, etc....? I just wonder if I'm actually getting my money's worth when I buy any of the boots made for western hunters. Spending $300-400 on boots every year or two is getting old and I'd like to expand my options a little bit to make sure that I'm getting my money's worth. I'm open to any other boot opinions that people may have also. I spend most of my time in typical rugged coues country with moderate loads, and the occasional heavy load. My boots see a lot of miles every season and typically don't last long. Help me spend my money wisely! Thanks in advance for any input. Creed

I haven't in 12x50 but I have in 10x42 and the meoptas and cabelas euros blew the vortex away optically. The feel and weight is better on the vortex. Cabelas will be around a long time to take care of any warranty needs you have if you decide to go the euro route. IMO the non hd meoptas are better optically than the hd vortex.