SunDevil

you can thank the G&F for the wonderful "opportunity" you had to be out in the field viewing all of those does!!!

here is a 30A (Dos Cabezas) buck from 2001.

sounds like you are doing things right. you should be good to go with a 30-06 and a bonded bullet. it is a bummer you have not had any success recovering your animals. finding an elk on an OTC hunt is pretty successful in and of itself. last year a buddy of mine shot an elk with a 150 grn bonded 270 at 60 yards. elk was broadside and shot was double lung. there was no exit hole and thus very little blood. fortunately it only ran about 20 yards and fell over otherwise it would have been a challenge to recover. even after gutting we were unable to locate an exit hole but also were unable to recover the bullet.

we quit hunting 30A several years ago due to access issues and lower deer numbers. however, we still know some people that hunt that unit and are successful. probably best for you to find another unit in order to prevent future frustrations.

congrats on truely an amazing buck. we will all look forward to see how your mount of him turns out. thanks for sharing such an incredible buck with us.

Great job Jim! Congrats to that young man and everyone involved. That was a great video clip to watch. I had my daughter watch it yesterday and she was still talking about it today. I had never heard of Camo Cares before but I think I will send them some money for next year. Thanks for sharing!

the last two elk I have been involved with required 4 blades each. I do not think that is to bad and really made things a lot easier.

Well not necessarily. A lot of these guys have already scouted where they are going to hunt or have hunted an area for many years and know their area holds deer. There are a lot of deer in your unit but I would doubt they are everywhere. However, they can be anywhere and like what has been said before, glass in the shade and this weekend make sure you glass into the wind. Also check the hunt/fish times on Garmin. It is pretty accurate as to when during the day deer will get up and move around. Good luck and let us know (either way) how it goes.

that is truely a GREAT buck. no doubt that buck would have busted some points between now and Jan. thanks for sharing and congrats to him.

The other topic got me thinking of something in the opposite direction. How about a topic on NOT killing big bucks. Here are some pictures of a big buck we passed on this last weekend. we estimated him at upper 90s. when I came home over the weekend to do laundry, take a shower and go to church my 7 year old daughter asked me why I hadn't killed a deer yet. before I could answer my wife responded, "because we do not have any room in the freezer for it" (the freezer is full of elk meat). when I saw this buck monday morning the first thing I thought of was that I did "not have any room in the freezer for it". fortunately for this buck he also had about 2 - 3 inches broke off from the tip of his left main beam. he also had short eye guards. this buck was the luckiest buck on the mountain. he has no idea how close he came to taking a dirt nap. I guess we are just trying to do our part to maintain/promote a sustainable big buck population/resource. If anyone would have ever told me I would pass on a buck like this I would have told them they were CRAZY! what do you think?

looks like friday is going to be a blustery day in S AZ.

I forgot to mention that this was the 3rd year in a row we saw bucks bedded under the mesquite tree in the 3rd picture.

Great for them!!! Your wife's boss needs to get a new hat though.

point restrictions was heavily debated in pennsylvania a few years ago. ultimately they decided to pass a point restriction law. I am not 100% positive but I think it has turned out to be a positive/successful thing. after a couple years into the program success rates are back up and the average age, size and antlers of the harvested deer are bigger than before the program was implemented.

just think of how much MORE meat you would get if you let that little guy grow up! LOL yep you would get another 5 to 10lbs of meat if you let that coues grow up!!!!!!!!!! to me, saying "meat hunter" and "coues deer" in the same sentence is contradictory.

just think of how much MORE meat you would get if you let that little guy grow up!

great job on a great buck. you will have your work cut out for you topping that one for her.

don't think you can go wrong with a conquest that has target turrets and is greater than 9X magnification and more than 40mm objective lens.

last year someone on here suggested Minwax Golden Oak wood stain.

cool. thanks for sharing. there use to be a bird of prey that hung out by the bldg I work in. every once in awhile you would look out the window and see feathers falling. we knew the falcon/hawk was having lunch.

Congrats Mike on another great trophy this year! 338 with the 338.

Congrats to Laurie and the group on an outstanding trophy! 400 yards is a poke. you can tell her "practice makes perfect" or "3rd time is the charm". JK. Heck it was still a 1 shot kill. 2 years ago I missed 5 times before I finally connected on a 1 shot kill. Tell her I said go BRUINS. will I be seeing that rack in St David? Congrats again!!!

congrats on getting in done in such a short time. another important lesson was learned about your little brother. great job taking him out though. next time make sure to take a DS and/or an IPod. I take my 7 year old javelina hunting and fishing.

AWESOME BUCK AND AWESOME HAT!!!

FYI - archery elk tags in unit 10 this year went from 150 bull to 200 bull AND 75 cow. that is a 83% INCREASE in archery elk tags.