Heat

OK Brian, knock it off! You are making me insanely jealous! Just kidding man, good job! There were some recent threads on Bowsite lately about bobcats that got me all fired up about them. Now this again...LOL!

Congratulations on your success! I understand those mountains where they live are pretty nasty. Thanks for sharing your hunt with us!

I'm not done yet. I'm having a hard time deciding if I want to keep trying for a quality hunt only or more opportunity to go hunting. Decisions, decisions...

That guy has nerves of steel! LOL! I've heard stories of guys choking cats out with a noose pole to release them from cage traps. No thank you!!!

Congratulations! Great job staying with it. You never know when a buck is going to pop up this time of year, just got to be out there to make it happen.

Very nice cat! Congrats to you and your daughter!

When I asked why reporting wasn't mandatory, they said that is a barrier to hunter retention and recruitment. Until science based principles are used to manage our game rather than managing people, we will continue to see issues like this. I have no problem submitting information as long as it is the same for all weapon types, but to make archery deer hunts mandatory to report but everybody else gets a pass is baffling to me. Maybe someone who understands statistics better than me can educate me on how they can assume a certain percentage of success by a segment of the data rather than the whole data set.

Nice pick up!

Because I don't feel like playing babysitter and garbageman, and having a potential lawsuit hanging over my head when some ding dong trips over a pine cone and breaks their neck! LOL!

Missed out on the opening weekend fun when I normally go due to my wife being ill. We also had a small ceremony at our Church to introduce our daughter to the congregation officially that Sunday. There were two other little ones there so it was a special occasion for all. Certainly wouldn't have wanted to miss that for any hunting trip. I finally had a chance to get away for a weekend during the long weekend for the MLK holiday. I went to hunt with my cousin who lives in the Valley. We hit up a couple of spots near his place. The first morning we went to an area that he hand't been in a while and we got started with a short hike towards some higher country to glass. After glassing the nearby hillside for a while, we spotted a knob on a ridge that looked like a good overlook for the nice looking habitat below. As I neared the top of the ridge at the knob, I heard a javelina woof and break out down below me. My cousin and I soon saw the cause of the noise and noticed his friends as well. Normally I don't get this lucky and literally walk right up to a herd on a ridge I want to glass from, but I'll take it anyday. They must have winded us because they took no time at all to cross the hillside across from us and go over the next ridge. We figured we could climb back down to the bottom and go around the corner and find them easily. Well, we were not so lucky, because they completely vanished. We spent the rest of the day hiking and glassing not coming up with anything else. The next morning we were anxious to try the area where he killed his pig last year and he had been seeing some fresh sign on a few short scouting/hunting trips. He really wanted me to get one so he didn't mess with the herd until I got there. What a great guy! Anyways, he knows where there is a great bedding area that we wanted to try first. Sure enough the pigs were there, but they were already alert and ready to split when we arrived. They busted out across the flats before either of us could get our bows ready. We attempted to track them across the flats but did not succeed. We went back to the area where we saw the javis the first morning that afternoon, but were unsuccessful locating them again. We had a nice long hike and glassing session but didn't see anything else but a father and daughter who were doing some rattling or something. Oh well! Last morning of my hunt we went back to the bed in the flats. We were much more cautious in our approach this time but it still didn't really matter. The pigs were on full alert again and broke out running parallel to the wash their bed was in. We decided top jump over a wash or two and continue upwind just to see what happens. Luckily after a few hundred yards of slow moving we heard the sounds of a young javelina in the wash ahead. As I was moving forward to approach the sound I saw my cousin draw. I figured the herd was right up ahead so I moved forward. As I did that I saw a javelina come directly towards me across the wash a ways. He saw my movement so I froze. He decided to head back across the wash. When he did that he came back into my cousin's view who was on the other side of the wash. He shot and hit it. After a short run, he was down. I continued to scan the wash for any others and still heard the baby ahead so I moved forward. The lost baby was the only pig around so we went back and started working on the one my cousin shot. Seeing the baby by itself we were both sure he shot the mom and felt kind of bad, but when we flipped the pig over to check it out, low and behold it was a boar. The mom got out of there and left the baby behind for the boar to defend. He took one for the team! I was bummed our hunt was over for me, but happy with my cousin's success! He deserves it, because he's a great guy and hunting partner. I don't think I'll quite understand why my luck is the way it is with these. This trip was full of sightings and encounters but little to no shot opportunity for me. At least I got to spend some wonderful time in God's country doing what I Iove best. The monkey is still on my back though and that stinks!

If you were ever interested in entering a kill in the record books the bow mounted rangefinder is a no no!

I have the Bowhunting in AZ record books at home. I could find the top 10 on there pretty easy for you if that is of interest, but not sure if that perfectly corresponds with Pope and Young or not. Let me know if you want me to dig it up for you. Nick

BINGO! That's the very point that Director Voyles and Steve Clark raised at the meeting. Neither the Department nor the AES was happy. One commissioner in particular just doesn't give a rat's arse. The new commissioner, however, voted against all of the changes in protest. Personally, I think they were walking a very fine line legally speaking. The assistant AG that was present probably should have let them know that they were in danger of violating the open meetings laws. The Guidelines process is opening up again. Make yourself heard. Where possible, let the commissioners know that you expect them to respect the public process that has worked so well for many years. The new commissioner is our man Jim Ammons from Yuma. He's legit!

You and I think a lot alike Mr Quimby. I appreciate the advice.

Sorry about the bad luck Andy, hope you find your Hound!

Way to get it done man! Congrats!

Nice buck! Congrats!

With loyalty and hunter ed points I've drawn the archery tag every time I've put in, but I think it's getting tougher and tougher to draw since it became an a draw hunt.

Its over for the season for me as well. Streak is alive and well. Got into javelina every day on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday but didn't connect. Of course my cousin killed a nice boar right in front of me yesterday. Oh well, at least I didn't wound one and not recover it this time.

It all depends on the draw preferences of the max point holders for that year. If none of the max point holders who had a low enough number to draw in the bonus round selected the hunt with one tag it will go into the 1/2 pass where anyone could have access to the tag including someone with zero points. Remember for sheep 20% of the overall number of tags go into the bonus round, not 20% per hunt like other species. I know this for a fact because I drew sheep with way less than maximum bonus points and I had tag number 1. If sheep tags were set aside by hunt number my hunt, which had 5 tags, would have had one set aside for a max point holder, and there's a sheep on my wall to prove that didn't happen.

Good Luck Havasuhunter!

If you are a Resident of Arizona there is no hunt that is "impossible" to draw. 80% of the tags are available to folks who may not have any bonus points. If someone with no points draws a low enough random number during the 1/2 pass they can draw ANY tag!

Try Arizona Hiking Shack and REI also.

I have a tough time glassing them up sometimes, and other times they just appear out of nowhere in my binos or I bump into them walking back to the truck or something. I've even seen them from the road while driving a couple of times. One year I was putting my boots on for a last morning hunt and pigs came over the hill right towards our camp. We heard them up there growling and it was on from there. Last year we heard them before we saw them once as well. Another time near the same area as the over the hill experience, I bumped into them as they were coming out of a mine in the early morning after a rain and pretty much had to take a shot at one in self defense. One thing I have learned over the years is that you have to expect the unexpected from these critters! Most of my failure is due to my poor shooting and lack of scouting for sure.

If you come up empty I can highly recommend Davis Tent. Keep an eye out for the "Scratch and Dent" sale they normally have in the Spring. That is how I bought my tent and honestly I can't find anything wrong with it. I got it at a pretty good discount from their regular price, which is already better than most in the business. Good Luck!