tomgobbler

matt, yea for sure, let me know when your coming up this way and we'll go help ya call in some long beards, javelina is over so getting the itch for turkey now, so keep me posted when you come up this way, i've got a couple new ranches in new mexico that is supposed to have a bunch of turkeys on it as well, (at least according to the rancher) so looking forward to getting over there and checking his ranches out too. hope your family is good as well, and that you had some great holidays. tommy

congrats mathew, nice buck, love the extras, cant wait until we get to hunt together again, that was lots of fun. tommy

i love mine, and have shot several deer, and antelope with it, 130 or 140 barnes triple x solid copper, they work great have fun tommy

opening morning started with us in the dark trying to glass some pigs we new frequently visited a field, but to no avail, they must of headed out before daylight, lots of sign just no pigs, at the bottom of the field is a really thick brush bile about 70 square yards that you can NOT walk through, thick crap, anyway we know the pigs like to bed up in that thick stuff, so we set up 20 yards down wind of the brush pile hoping there was some in there, my brother and friend set up 10 yards to my right, and me in a bush with the call. About 1 minute into calling 2 heads pock out of the brush, one huge pig and one 3/4 grown pig, the 3/4 grown pig stayes half in and half out of the brush the BIG pig comes out, all bristled up and walkes out into the clearing, My brother has never shot one with his bow, so i wanted him to have first shot, Him and my buddy wes is at full draw, and the big pig keeps walking and looking from me to them all bristled, and i am watching them, the pig and the one in the brush, thinking someone better shoot it before it whirles on them, it comes from 20 to 18 to 15 to 12 to 10 yards and i'm getting nervous at this point ( i guess my buddy was telling my brother to hold off thinking the other pig would come on out and they might get a double) anyway about 10 yards they decide they better do it so my brother lets it fly and of course the arrow zips right through the boiler room and the big whirles and runs back into the brush pile..... lookes like a great hit, blood covering the entire arrow, we give it 20-30 minutes and then crawl in the nasty stuff and find the pig about 40 feet in the brush pile didnt go far at all. Was an awsome stand, with my brother taking his first archery pig, was cool to sit and watch. the rest of the day found us calling and glassing and hiking lots of country side to no avail. 2nd day found us glassing another part of the mountain side 20 miles away that has been good to me in the years past ( my muzzle loader pig came from there last year) anyway we glassed and glassed for several hours to no avail, lots of draws and country to look at, glassing up 5 different groups of mule deer, with 5 different mule deer bucks, so i finally turn 180 degrees to start glasssing just aa much country to the north instead of the south. about 30 seconds into glassing to the north I say " i've got one" and my brother is like no way, we just glassed the other direction for 2 hours and now 30 seconds into glassing this way you have a pig and i say yep. about half way up this big mountain there is a rim of rockes that jets out for about 200 yards that is a shear 10' bluff. and right uner neath the "small bluff" there is a pig standing milling around. so we watch for a minute and finally find another one so 2 pigs. good enough we just need one. so we devise a plan were i will make a big circle down the side we're on, and make a big loop around and up the other side the pigs are on and i'll get above that bluff of rocks and side hill until i am directly above them, and then my brother will wave to me and then i'll take my pack and everything off and come straight down to the edge of the rim and shoot off of the top of the bluff down into them. great plan, now if i can only pull it off. So down i go, and up the other side, with my brother and my 9 year old son watching all of this unfold. i get to were i think i need to be and my brother waves and so i start my desent to try and get to the edge, it was really slow noisy going, lots of rock and cactus to get through, rubbing on your clothes ect.... i finally got to a few feet of the edge and inchet my way out to the lip and finally located a pig standing 40 yards down and to my left, with making my way through the brush i had came out about 20 feet farther to the side then i wanted. But i think i am okay, but want just a little close shot if i can get it, and i fianlly find the other pig, as it walkes out from behind some brush 20 yards out and to my left with a pretty good down ward angle, and then i spot just under some brush, 3-4 more pigs all bedded up, almost laying on top of each other was kind of cool to see. So anyway i figure the one was a good size and good enough, so i gave him a few seconds to take a few steps and clear brush were i had a good clear shot, he was quarting towards just a little, but there was no brush in the way so i decided it was good enough, so i drew back, settled my 20 yards pin on his shoulder and touched it off, the arrow zipped through and everything exploded, pigs running every direction, whoofing at each other, i watched the one i shot at, as it ran down the hill abour 25 yards and ran into a BIG prickly pair patch and never came out of it. So i bailed of the bluff and made my way down the hill, with pigs still running back and forth and all around and whoofing, and made my way down to were i though he was, and just before i got there he kind of jumped a little and started popping his teath at me, about scared me to death from about 5 feet, be he wouldnt come out of there, he was hurt pretty good. i decided i better go ahead and put another one in him, so i did, and it was all over. with my brother and son watching it all unfold from across the draw, then they came over to give me a hand getting it back down to the bottom to the truck. was prety neat how iut all worked out, it seems like my well made plans always something happens and to screw them up, but it worked out picture perfect, was quite a sight to be standing on the lip of a 10' bluff looking down at them with no idea that you are around was really cool. anyway piture to follow latter, good luck to the rest of ya tommy

sorry this is sat the 12th, bill call 243-0503, and clint (my uncle) can answer all of those questions for ya, he is putting together the poster on it, and i havent seen it yet, but last year check in was 4:00 am at A1 glass and mirror, on main street in snowflake. and points was everything was the same points, 1 each. thanks tommy

we are having our 5th anual calling contest in north/eastern arizona. the rules are basically it is $50 per team, ( 2 man/person team) you HAVE to check in early saturday morning, then can go anywhere you want to, and HAVE to check in that evening. we divy up the money and any sponsor prizes we get and call it a day. depending on number of teams depends on places paid but we have been paying 3 places the last few years with 100 % being paid out, plus we go around and try to get a few "door prizes" as well, the check in is in Snowflake/Taylor. anyone intereted can drop me a line. It will be held sat dec 11th . thanks tommy

were quite a ways from the world, and i dont think very people get down into this area... and we have this ever year at the same time and it hasnt affected it yet, and you can go anywhere you want to go

It all started with my good friend Shane inviting me down to his neck of the woods, to try a hand at whitetail hunting in an area that he liked. So I said what the heck, lets get a tag and give it a try. SO as luck would have it I drew and headed down to his place on Thursday. We went out to do some last minute classing to see if we could find the bucks that he was sure were in the area before opening morning came. About a hour before dark we were able to glass at least 3 and maybe 5 bucks ( the brush was really thick and they were a long ways off, 1,200-1,400 yards away) several were smaller bucks, but one or 2 required a closer examination, that we weren’t able to get that evening as we watched them feed to the tip top of a mountain and out of sight just at dark. We great anticipation for the next day we headed back, were Shane cooked up a great steak, and after lots of B.S. and thoughts of how to go about the next morning we headed to bed. Morning came early and we were back up to the top of the ridge that was to be our glassing spot for the day. We sat the lawn chairs up and got the binos and tripods all ready and watched the sun turn the dark morning to grey, as we begin to pick apart the mountain side. We had been glassing for 30 minutes or so when I finally spot a lone buck at the top of the mountain, we watched him feed to and out of sight in some thick draws. Wondering were his buddies were we continued to pick apart every bush and tree and draw and drainage. Finally to pick out 2 more bucks that came over the top of the mountain and begin to make there way down through the brush. We were in high hopes that they would bed soon so we could make our move on them, as they were still 1,000 yards away. Finally the bigger of the 2 bucks disappeared in a wall of brush in a little cut, thinking this would be his bed for several hours, Shane told me he would stay and watch from the there, and I would make my way over 3 ridges and up to a certain cedar tree were I could then watch from ( and hopefully get a shot from) as I was almost there I kicked out a small 1x2 that I let grow for another day, but the bad thing he was running right to were the big buck was bedded, the little buck ran within 30feet of the big buck and as shane watch from the far hill he Siad the big buck DID NOT get up and go with the little buck, at this point I was wondering if the big buck had slipped out on us or was just holding really tight. So I kept on going and I finally made it to the determined tree, to find nothing, the brush was so thick I could not find the buck, I tried picking apart ever inch of the little cut we thought he was in and, nothing it was solid brush..... So I told shane I would watch while he worked his way over to me, and then we would decide what to do next. So I watched and waited and hoped the big buck was still there, and hoped he would stand up for a noon day stretch. Shane finally got there and we both looked and could find nothing, so we begin talking a little thinking he would hear us and get up... still nothing, by that time I was really thinking the buck and gotten away some how. Well Shane thought the only other thing to do was if he circled to the left and walked up the draw, then if the buck was still there, he might stand and give me a shot, so I said ok and I got ready, Well Shane headed over that way and worked closer, and closer, and closer and closer, and still nothing happened, I just knew the buck and given us the slip, when all of a sudden, when shane was no more then 25 feet from the buck HE EXPLODED, he come out of the wall of brush like he had been shot from a canon, going a hundred miles an hour from left to right ( which to me is the hardest shot to make) he was jumping brush and clearing rocks and getting the heck out of dodge, well I pulled down on him and let one fly Right over his back, ( he was only about a 100 yards away) the buck had about 30 yards farther and then he would be gone for good, so I jacked one more shell in and tried to follow him hauling butt, up and over brush and the last ½ a split second as he was rounding the corner just before he was gone for good I let one fly. As he disappeared over the edge and out of sight with the recoil. I thought I heard the WHACK, but Shane no I didn’t hear it I think he got away, and I said no it felt good, I had him in the scope I think I got him go look by those two cactus, so he goes over to the first one and says NO, and I says a few more steps to the second one, and so just as he looks over the edge there he lay, NICE BUCK DOWN... we glassed him at about 6:45 or so, and I shot him at 11:00 that was quite the 4 hours we had getting that buck, but having him hold so tight was amazing, he wasn’t getting up for anything, I’m sure it saved his life a time or two in the past, we had to bird dog him like a covey of quail, Shane just needs to learn to point them out before they jump like that and give us both heart attacks. We roughed him out at 95 3/8, He’s got double eye guards on both sides, and a cool “acorn hole” on one side, Not real long beams, But heavy all the way, he has 4" bases, very nice for a coues. So many thanks for Shane and helping me not only find the buck, but helping me pack the buck off the mountain. It was a hot sucker, but we finally made it back to the truck. I’m going to do a ½ life size mount of the buck with his front feet standing on a rock ledge or something, But I’m very tickled with him. My biggest to date, out of the dozen or so I’ve brought home. And the great thing about it was it was my wife’s birthday, So I told her I needed to hunt on her birthday more often, yea, she liked that Idea ( NOT) the “in the field” pictures are getting developed so thought i’de share these with yawl while I’m waiting for them. Tommy

what ya got? thanks tommy

128 4/8 very very nice

Jay, very nice! congrates to brock. hats really cool, got to love taking the kids out, mine can put in next year so looking forward to it tom

120 1/8

Well after 20+ years of waiting for an Arizona goat it is finally over. (20 minutes into the hunt) We’ve watched this goat for quite a while now, made countless scouting trips and lots of video and photos of him. We saw lots and lots of other bucks and this is by far the best I could find. So opening morning found us with the moon just setting and the sun not quite up yet, so we enjoyed a few minutes of quite as the last few straws of night slowly gave way to day. We were glassing the area were we had seen this buck and several others on the many previous scouting trips, and it was just a little early, the binos were pulling in the light, but the goats just hadn’t begun to start there day yet. After about 20 minutes or so, as it finally got light enough to see pretty good, my brother (who had worked all night on night shift, and got off a coupe hours early to help me look) says there’s a buck and he looks good. About 300 yards out in the tall sage flat was the buck I had been watching all summer long. Is it really him I ask ( there were several other bucks in there and I didn’t want to shoot the wrong buck) My 2 friends and brother and I determined that yes it was the right buck, and now game plan was on..... He was close enough to shoot from there, as I had practiced a lot over the summer and had put many rounds through my gun and knew right were it would hit at 300, but about all we could see through the tall sage was his head and about 3-4 inches of his back. He was working his way away from us, to a little drop in the ground and we figured if he went over that, we could make a move on him and maybe have a little bit of a higth advantage, and a little closer to get a shot through the sagebrush. So off we went, and we caught up to him several different times, and he moved off several times as there was just enough rolls in the lay of the land to keep him ahead of us, finally he dropped over another little ridge line and so we hustled to the top of it, he was going left, now back to the right towards a couple of his does a couple hundred yards out. With a little elevation and him just leaving the tall sage and hitting a pocket of grass, I figured it was time, he was quartering away walking, so I hurried and put my bi-pod up and settled the cross hairs as best I could with him moving about half way back his rib cage, aiming for the opposite shoulder and I let her fly. 125 yards walking buck, knocked him on his can, lights out, he never knew what hit him, 270 WSM does it again, man I love that gun. Took out top of lungs, and broke his back and was lodged in the skin in front of the opposite shoulder ( ok he was quartering a little more then I thought) but it was fast and furious for a few minutes. ) My brother got it all on video. My 9 year old was able to be with me and was only late for school about 30 minutes. What a way to end a 20+ year wait. He will make a great addition to the 2 Wyoming bucks I have. He is 16 1/4 with 5" cutters. Hope ya enjoy.

My brother did not draw a tag this year so thought he would give it a try with his bow, this is his first bow kill ever, he is pretty excited. 50 yards, drilled it dead center, a little quarting to, complete pass through buck went about 350 yards and piled up. we got some good in the field photos with his camera, took these with mine when we got back to town. good luck tommy

sent ya a message

yes its gutted, it was shot 7 miles from the house here, gutted, and brought straight home took a couple of pictures and then we skinned it, some of us dont have to drive for hours to get back home so we have the luxery of takeing it home to skin without it ruining..... besides have you ever tried to hang one in a cedar tree....

fixed 3 blade muzzy, i think he shoots. slight quarting towards him, a tiny bit high, went in about 4" behind the front shoulder and came out the oposite flank area. but yea complete pass through. oh by the way it is 23" inside and 25" outside spread

You first need to take very good care of it from the time the deer hits the ground, handle it as very little as possible, and then freeze and get it to your taxidermist, decide right away if you want it stripped and fake put on or not..... if not and you want to try and do it your self BEFORE you can inject formaldehyde (which is very hard to get unless you work at a funeral home) or anythig else you first have to get the blood out of it, it is a living organism, if the tips are still really round and soft you can pock them with a syringe ALL over, and all up and down the antler, but especially the tip, then you take your syringe with water and start down at the base and squirt the water under the skin, this will force the blood out the "pin holes" you made at the tips, this will take quite a while untill ALL blood from every square inch has been forced out, you have to go all the way around and keep forcing more and more until every point, every inch has been covered, and nothing put clear liquid comes out the tips, if any stays it will rot. then mix a strong salt water solution and do it again, (some start with the salt water solution to begin with) and once again go over the intire antler gettign that salt water under everypart, once again this takes some time ( for the more adventureous you can drill a hole from the underneath side up through the center of the antler for a little ways and then take your garden hose with an attachment and force the water from the underneath side up through the pours, and the blood with come out quicker, but it takes some getting used to to drill it out right and everything) then after you have doen that there are several comercial solution you can either soak them in or once again inject under the velvet, but the most important part is to get the blood out first, you cant replace it with a "preservative" untill it is gone, once it's gone then you begin to "tan" the velvet for lack of a better word, but esentially that is what you are doing, tanning it from the inside out...... they are a pain, but look pretty when finished...... you can also send them off to have them freeze dried, or leave them in your freezer for years and it will esentially do the same thing, or have them stripped and fake flockign put on.... good luck to ya tommy

i also love the gun! i have 3, and my brother has 1, have shot coues deer, elk, and antelope with it. him and i went to wyoming last year goat hunting and wanted to have a contest on shooting one the farthest, so we did lots of practicing and so forth and went out, and he shot a buck at 350, so i shot one at 445, so then he shot his doe at 643, knocked it on its butt...... then i shot my doe with my muzzle loader at 245, so he won the long range contest, but they are great guns and mine shoots really tight as well, i have the winchester model 70's..... good luck with it and have fun! tommy

My dad and i were talking last night, about what kind of interest there might be with hunters in offering a "game retrieval" service..... we raise and break a lot of horses and would kind of like for some of them to earn there feed if you shot an elk way off in a remote area somewhere, we could go in and pack it out, for example. We would not be interested in trialing or helping to find, but mearly you take us to your downed/gutted/quartered animal and we load it up and haul it back to the road/truck..... what do yawl think? would anyone be interested in anything like this. drop me some thoughts, would be interested both good and/or bad on such a thing. thanks tommy

my info is Tommy Hancock home phone is 928-536-9159 cell is 928-243-8652 my e-mail is tomandjeanette@yahoo.com if i can help ya let me know and we can work something out. i've always got a trailer full of horses, 6-8 at anyone time on the place, and 3-4 that i have packed on before and the others i can ride in to lead those out with, if you have a gps that would be good to as i can insert the cords and we can ride right back to him with out spending time looking for him (the elk that is)

yea i know everone is worried about someone finding there honey holes, no way around that, but really how often is someone else going to draw a tag in your area and go to your spot.... anyway i dont have a clue how to charge for this yet, of course it would depend on how far, how long it took and all of that kind of stuff. snapshot, drop me a line if your enterested, and when your hunt is, i'm about 60 miles form your area depending on where exactly you hunt, i have ridden 27 and the blue LOTS, so could give ya a hand, hauling him out for ya..... i'm more located to do unit's like 3a/3c, the 4s, 1, 27 ect..... those are the closest to me anyway...... would just take longer to get to some of the others... would also be iterested on price/cost ideas

there is a bird hunting place not to far off, and after a good day of hunting i had some guys stop by to get there roosters done, thought you might like to see the color difference on one of these birds.

OK here is the senerio, i've put in for about 20+ years and this is my first arizona antelope tag (i've shot 3 in wyoming, one little one and 2 - 15ish around 78-80" bucks) i've put in lots of scouting alread and found a couple of good goats, one pictured below (if i can get it upload) one is really tall! i'm guessing 17+ but when i see him he is quite a was off and doesnt stick around ( an old smart sucker) and i can find him once ever couple of weeks. the second goat (the one pictured below) is a nice goat by anybodies standards. nice cutters, nice mass, good length, he is a little shy on mass above the cutters, BUT i can find him almost every singe time i go out..... so what would you do..... would you try to find the bigger goat for several days HOPEING this goat didnt bight the dust while you were doing it, or would you shoot this one right off, so no one else finds him. 1 - shoot first or wait? 2- how big do you think this goat is? heck of a problem i have huh :)

so how big is this goat? is he a "wait for 20 year shooter" ?