SunDevil

that is a great story and two great birds. congratulations to your wife and your dad.

Well it is not a buffalo but still a pretty cool hunt. After wearing a different shirt for the first two days, I was able to take this tom last weekend after I switched to my lucky CWT.COM shirt. It was a great hunt (other than getting up at 4:00 am every morning). I took this bird at 10:15 am on Sunday morning. It was not your typical turkey hunt as this bird was not called in but rather spot and stalked. He was spotted near the top of a ridge in front of us and I proceeded to hike up, around and behind where he was. I came over the top of the ridge and fortunately he was in full strut facing away from me and could not see me due to his tail fan. After a few anxious minutes he finally turned, came out of strut and took a few steps forward (which cleared him of the tree and limbs that were partially in the way). I gave him a load of 4 shot at probably 8 - 12 yards and that was it. As you can see he is a beuatiful bird with a 10.5 inch beard. Do not know how much he weighed and he did not have any spurs (which is a common genetic trait of Goulds). I went scouting the weekend before my hunt and saw 37 turkeys. I drove up on most of these birds (including a flock of 16) and they were not wary and did not run away. These birds where not around though when my hunt rolled around. Friday morning we heard a couple of gobbles, called in and passed on a jake. On our way back to camp we ran into someone from the Game and Fish who told us about a spot I had never been to that had a lot of turkeys in it. A border patrol officer was also there and said he saw a gobbler in a spot that I knew of. Friday afternoon was uneventful with no birds roosted that evening for the next morning. Saturday morning we went after the border patrolman's bird. We called from the mouth of the canyon but did not get any responses. We drove up the road and just around the corner (50 yards) from where we had called from was a gobbler strutting in the middle of the road. He was with a hen and would not come to our calls. The canyon was pretty steep and there was no way to circle around in front of them. We followed them up the road for awhile until they turned and went up the hill. Saturday afternoon we headed out to see if we could find the G&F person's spot. We drove right to it and got out to immediately hear gobbles. We took off down the road, across the wash and could see 5 turkeys at the base of the hill across a field. A couple of hen yelps had them heading right to us. Three jakes and a couple of 2.5 year old toms passed about 15 yards in front of us. I decided to let these younger birds walk. We hunted around this area for the rest of the afternoon and saw several other turkeys and heard some more gobbles. Right before dark we heard some gobbles and took off to try and get on them. They were heading to roost and we had them pin pointed for the next morning. Sunday morning had us set up right out in front of the roost trees but when the birds flew down they headed the other way. In fact all the gobbles were heading away from us. It must have been part of their daily routine. We took off to try and get in front of them and eventually found a few more birds to call to and chase before spotting the bird on the hill that I shot. I felt very fortunate to have been able to go on this turkey hunt because the AZ G&F department only issued 20 tags for Goulds turkeys this year. This was after having been fortunate enough to take a Merriams last month on the San Carlos Indian Reservation. After several years of unsuccessful turkey hunts, I was fortunate to get two in two months. Hopefully I will be so lucky next year. Thanks to Scout'm and Black Dog for spending the weekend with me.

Doug - that is a really nice buck and a really nice mount. gotta love wall pedestals.

I have not hunted out there but my sister lives in Stafford VA. Last summer I was out visiting and met a guy who is an avid hunter. He said he and his family have a little hunting lease and he usually takes a couple of deer during each of the seasons (archery, muzzleloader and rifle).

that is a nice looking bird and a great picture.

more than likely you would not draw a hunt that has 85% draw odds with your 3rd choice.

so are they just 'checking' for fund availability or will they actually charge our cards and then when we are unsuccessful they will send us a refund check?

what bill? I think I missed something here. I was just asking about the fishing at carnero. usually when we go to carnero we do not camp out in the middle of the lake.

last time I was there, they were hitting a green leach pattern with a flash of tinsel. what was working for you? did you kick out to the reeds and fish around them?

so how good was the fishing at Carnero? what about the weeds?

got my refund checks over the weekend. they must have used some envelopes with bad glue because both of mine were open. wonder who got lucky on this, me or the G&F? probably me as I wonder how long it would have taken to get a replacement check? probably something like 2 years given how efficient our government is. anyone else encounter this same thing?

dropped my bird in it's tracks at 41 yards last month. 4 shot, 3" mag out of a 32 inch, full choke barrel. a few years ago, dropped a coyote in it's tracks with the same gun and same load at 49 yards.

fours or sixes will work

before that day with Scoutm, I had only glassed up 2 other lions (30A and 33). Scoutm glassed one up a few years ago in NM and jumped another one while we were out on a deer hunt here in AZ.

so I just did my taxes last night. yes I procrastinated - just like most people. did not have one hiccup with Intuit's TurboTax website. you don't think there are thousands of people hitting this site right now? this is the difference between the private sector and the public sector.

peacock, coyote, owl, gobble, crow, hen - all will work in the evening once they get up on the roost. http://forums.coueswhitetail.com/forums/in...showtopic=12679

other than being on the lower end of the magnification, I have only heard positive things about the nikon scope.

someone informed me to put a tube sock over the head and neck before tucking it under the wing. they also said an old pillow case can be used but I like the game bag option.

it took me about 45 minutes yesterday to get my ID and apply for antelope, deer and elk.

this should be mandatory and people should not view it as a big deal. it can be mail in, phone in or internet based. the numbers would be better. I hunt NM and UT and they both do it. it is not a big deal. yes mandatory reporting does not equal greater truthfulness but it would be more accurate. yes that is correct, I said more accurate. this is especially true for the new and improved dec WT hunts we have now that only have 40 tags. just another example of how our dept is stuck in the dark ages - kind of like online applications but that is for a different forum topic.

wait a second - do toms fan their tail feathers when they are flying?

35A

the trick is to wear your CWT.com shirt when you are turkey hunting. just got back last night. got this merriams at 6:15 saturday morning. blackdog called him in and I nailed him at 41 yards with some 4 shot. very windy weekend. it snowed thursday evening and it was 14 degrees friday morning. this bird had a nine inch beard. up next, goulds turkey on april 24th.

any other opinions?

I guess I do not recall what the stats were when they went from online to paper. I do not recall it being significant. I would be interested in knowing how much apps went down to support your argument. I agree that fewer people probably apply on paper due to all the inconveniences associated with paper over online but I personally don't think it is significant enough to impact peoples draw odds.