couesdiehard

mulie hunter, I looked through a pair of Nikon Monarchs 12 X 50's at Cabela's this weekend. I was there with 2 friends. Between the 3 of us we own Swarosvskis, Leicas and Minox. We were all very impressed with the quality of the Monarchs for the price. Very clear, crisp image, pretty good brightness and clean image out to the edges of the view (a classic problem with many inexpensive binos is fuzzy edges to the sight-picture. For the $429 Cabelas was asking I wouldn't hesitate to buy them or the 10 power monarchs $379? if I just could not afford the more expensive glass. Lee

elkhunter, Was that rack possibly in a house fire? I ask because a house burn down on me once and a mule deer rack I salvaged was soot stained but a lot darker than that rack.

I have the simple yellow Garmin E-trex and it has served me well. I recently bought the National Geographic Topo! software and bought a simple usb adapter and I am able to plot all of my waypoints on my custom maps. I can also download waypoints from maps onto my GPS. This makes this tool one of the best investments I have made yet. Lee

azcamohead, I am curious, what hunts did you apply for? It sounds like you didn't get drawn at all and I wondered if the odds were very low for your choices. I doubt 95% of hunters study the odds and results of previous hunts as much as I do and I like to think that is why my family and I get drawn pretty well. It definitely pays in the long run to play the odds, but sometimes the unlikely will happen. For example, most hunters did not realize there was a 600% increase in 34A Dec WT tags this year, but I spotted it and figured this was the year to put that hunt as my number one choice and my buddy and I got the tags. But as the exception to the rule, I put my wife in for only 2 choices for deer - (1st) 12A East late and (2nd) 12A West late with draw odds of 2% and 4% respectively. I did this more to earn her bonus points but she would still have a snowball's chance in heck of getting a fantastic tag. You know darn well, she got her first choice on her first try for the Kaibab! If I wasn't so happy that I get to go, I might have pulled my hair out. But somebody has to be in the 2% that got drawn and I'll bet most of those that got drawn had a lot more years of trying than she did. I have to admit that the online draw has been good to me and my all AZ family but even if it went away I think there will be enough hunters applying for hunts that you need to apply smart and play the odds. Lee

Got my tag Sat. (34A Dec WT) and the wife got her tag (12A East late hunt) today.

coueshunter, We will be in 12A East for the late hunt. My wife got drawn. It was her first application for the Kaibab and she got her first choice. Sorry Allen. It hurts me too. I was lucky enough to draw a 34A Dec. WT tag so that helped me get over the disappointment of her getting a muley tag north of the Colorado before I did. Lee

I have been to Cabela's twice now and I love it. It is far more than a store. It is more of an experience. I am lucky enough to be 3 minutes away from a Sportsman's Warehouse and 10 minutes from Cabela's. I have noticed that Cabela's store does not have some items that I can almost always get at SW. Also had a terrible experience with a cashier at Cabela's who obviously was very inexperienced (30 minutes waiting for her to ring up a guy who paid part of the bill cash and wanted the rest on his credit card) The stock in parts of the store was getting depleted by Sat. and the crowds were insane. Had to show a clerk that they did in fact, carry bivy sacks when he had never heard of them. All the kinds of things you would expect when such a huge place opens. Let me say though, I will be back on a regular basis. It is an Outdoorsman's Disneyland! I plan to spend an entire day in the Wildlife Museum when the crowds die down, just staring at all the unbelievable elk, muleys, lions, bear, etc. and of course Coues deer! I will still shop at SW for the items they stock and Cabelas doesn't. What a tragedy, I have 2 places to blow time and money and neither one is Walmart. Lee

I won't pretend to speak for everyone on the site but as far as I am concerned, I love to see photos of all game animals. One of the main reasons I hunt is the chance of seeing many of God's wonderful creatures regardless of whether I have been blessed with a tag to hunt them at the time. Besides for real Coues fanatics pictures of elk, muleys, antelope, etc. are like appetizers. Like big-game antipasto for real Coues deer crazies! As for me, keep wetting my appetite until the Coues deer photos come in. Lee

Very cool site! This year will be our first trip and hunt on the Kaibab so this info is very helpful. The waterhole map looks interesting but darn expensive $44.99! I'll probably break down and buy it. Has anybody on the site seen this Secret Waterhole Map? Lee

I plan to be there as early as work will allow. Lee

My buddy and I drew 34A WT DEC! My wife also drew her first choice 12A-East Muley late hunt! No other draws for us but no complaints either. I have tried to draw a Dec WT tag for ten years! I am trying to explain to my wife just how special her deer hunt is! Hoping to spend a lot of money this year at the taxidermist with these two tags. Lee

azyoung, You got it right friend. The G & F doesn't seem a whole lot different than where I work. Drinking beer on another Friday night don't sound bad. Oh yeah, I can't do that either. Have one for me. Good luck whenever the draw posts. Lee

I believe that would be 2 -$12.50 turkey tags Switchback - congrats! Lee

azyoung, Have you checked your credit card for hits yet? I am stoked because apparently my buddy I got a Wt hunt and my wife got a late Kaibab Muley tag. Our red-headed friend and your bro got deer tags (WT) and Red or his wife got an early bull tag.

I checked with the CC company early today and was told that I had 2 pending charges - one for $39 and one for $19.50. At first I couldn't figure it out. Then I realized I had a buddy on my deer app so two deer tags equals $39 (WT in Dec or Nov). Then I thought, "What the heck is the other $19.50 charge about?" Almost as an afterthought, I had put my wife in for Kaibab Carp hunts 12A- East (1st choice) and 12A-West (2nd choice) figuring she would get some bonus points. These were 2% and 4% draws last year. Since they're the only deer hunts I put her in for, she must have drawn 1 of them. She has awesome luck on the draw. Last year she and my son were drawn for 31 Dec. WT the first time they had ever applied (an 8% draw). No other pending charges. I ain't complaining. Lee

RR I am glad to hear you got the Leica Duovids 10+15 powers. I think you will really like them for many years. BTW I got mine back from Leica USA Service with the scratched objective lens replaced, and everything purged and cleaned. Good as new as far as I can tell. It only cost me the shipping charges and about 6 weeks of anxiety. Oh yeah, I was going to say no new gear for me but I did buy a new Dodge Megacab with the Cummins. I haven't put a CWT sticker on it and taken a photo yet, but when I do I will post a pic. Lee

I like the "Dead On" video also. It is one of my favorites. I think I will go watch it right now. Bye Lee

Azpackhorse, You the man! heck I didn't even put in for a 36B December hunt this year. Yet somehow you knew that was what I wanted deep down. Then you actually secured the tag for me! As soon as get out of Cabela's (by special invitation) on July 26th I am taking my deer tag, stoppin' off to buy my winning Powerball ticket and then heading to 36B for the rest of the year! Lee

It would be a real shame if one of those really big New Mexico chipmunks chewed up more than the straps on those ladder stands! Some of them critters have been known to completely destroy an "abandoned" ladder-type stand. All that remains are little pieces of the stand scattered around like a tornado hit. I have heard of these critters getting crazy and moving the entire stand, back to the stand owner's house. Boy you know you ticked off one bad chipmunk when you find all your ladder-type stands in your front yard set up around your mulbeery tree!

To heck with those guys that put in for archery antelope. I have a December General WT tag that I need to start scouting every spare moment for. But I can't even start until they tell me where I am drawn. Let alone my early bull elk, general antelope, javelina,...... Them archery antelope hunters need to start their own website to cry on each others shoulders! STAY THE HECK OFF MY WEBSITE, THIS IS WHERE I CRY ABOUT MY TAGS OR LACK THEREOF!!!! Sorry about that. Not sure where that came from. Big-game draw time has been a long time coming this year. I apologize to you archery antelope hunters especially! Both of you. Ha Ha. Lee

RR, I know at least two crazy coues deer hunters that will be in Nirvana on July 26, 2006! I got my "personal invitation yesterday. I would be upset that I did not get my hard-bound catalog yet but they must know I am not buying anything else from the catalog! The store is less than 10 minutes away from my house! Much less if I still haven't gotten any tags to drool over! See you there RR. Lee

Just curious. My buddy applied online last night for 3 people for several species. Realized when he was done that during the entire process he was never asked for any of the 3 hunters hunting license numbers. He received confirmation of all the applications. When I applied for me, my wife and another buddy I had to enter everyone's hunting license number. The difference may be that me, my wife and my buddy that I applied for all have lifetime licenses. The buddy that applied last night and all his party have one-year hunting licenses. Seems like they have the yearly hunting licenses in the system by hunter ID number and DOB but they apparently don't have the lifetime licenses entered automatically. What have you guys noticed? Lee

I was thumbing through my June/July '06 issue of Eastman's Hunting Journal last night and in the "Successful Trophy Hunters" section there is a picture of Josh Epperson (at least one of them), his father and a really nice Coues. Really awesome picture Josh. I love seeing a CWT.com member showing off a great Coues buck to the rest of theWestern U.S. hunting world. Makes me proud! Way to go Josh! Maybe next time send them a story to publish! That would be even better. Lee

Mystery solved. The three folks who did not have to fill in their license numbers had all bought hunting licenses online earlier this year. So apparently the licenses purchased online are in the big-game application database but the store-bought yearly licenses and the lifetime licenses are not currently on the draw database. Crazy huh? Lee

azyoung; Happy Birthday you old fart! Who would have thought we would still be having so much fun at this age? I hope the next year is better than the last. Lee