Pine Donkey

All PM's responded to.

No they are adult bows. Sorry

PM me your number and I will call you. They are both 29 1/2 inch draw.

Nice looking pig. The memories made on a first big game hunt will last a lifetime. Congratulations.

Sounds like a great time. Let's see the pictures.

NOFX, I appreciate your perspective on this post. I feel the need to address some of your comments. First off, you say my comments sound a little whiney and liberal. Whiney is a subjective term, and up to each individual's interpretation, so maybe it was a bit whiney. In applying the term liberal to me or my beliefs, you missed by a long way. In fact, it is my disdain of an every growing Federal Government and its continual barrage of new regulations to control the people, that caused me to make my ranting first post. In my first post I admittedly, did a poor job expressing my feelings. First of all, in no way do I believe that all or even the majority of the people that work for the land, or law enforcement agencies, are accessing these areas illegally, or allowing others to do it, but some do and have. Next, the San Pedro Riparian Area is not the only place this is happening. I have seen first hand, and heard stories of similar things happening beyond locked Forest Service gates. You mentioned that your job puts you in some prime hunting areas, and that your hobby benefits from your job. I see this as a good thing. I know many very dedicated people who do the same thing. I appreciate all they do in their professional careers to maintain, promote, protect, and improve our public lands. Many have chosen their career because of their love for the land, the animals, and the outdoors. I hope working there on a daily basis provides them with great job satisfaction in these times of frozen payrolls and shrinking agency budgets. As far as the points of my post, that I have reiterated in subsequent posts of this thread: if it is good for an area to close a road, then close it completely. If it is closed to the public, but open to "official" or " special" use, the area will be accessed by others, because it is virtually impossible to control and enforce the limited access. Some who work hard to hike into their hunting area will be joined at times by others who did not have to do the same work. You indicated that my opinions are based on rumors I have heard from friends. That is just an incorrect statement of convenience. My opinions are based on my experiences. Since my first post in this thread I have exchanged PM's with some who work in the Riparian area on a regular basis. I have provided specifics, including names, situations, and locations. I will limit my response here to a few specific examples that have happened in the last few weeks. I have spent several full days, dark to dark, in there this January. Yesterday, we went in before first light. When we were about 2.5 miles past the gate, we could hear a vehicle coming in. it sounded like it was a diesel truck pulling a stock trailer from all the rattling and clanking noise. It stopped at a developed area 2 miles in. Later I heard quads driving around the area, so maybe it was pulling a quad trailer. In the afternoon, we heard quads or motorcycles near us. I think they were riding on the old railroad bed. It sounded like they were racing. Last weekend at dusk, we were headed out and about a mile from the gate when a couple guys pulled up in a private vehicle, and stopped to talk. They had been looking for animals driving the roads and the old railroad. They asked if we had any luck, and what we had seen, they shared what they had seen, then offered us a ride out as they left. They had used a key to get in there. The week before, as we came through the developed area, 2 miles from the gate, late on a Sunday afternoon, there was a private vehicle parked alongside the road. Later, at the gate, we ran into an old friend. He was driving down the highway, saw our truck, and stopped. We BSed for a while. At one point in the conversation he questioned if his key still worked in the gate lock. He took it out, tried it, and it worked. This person retired about 6 years ago, and has never worked for a land or law enforcement agency, but he had the key through his job. These are just my most recent incidents that have helped me form my opinion. There are many more over the years, and I am sure there will be others in the future. The Riparian area is locked up and there are not many people in there, this is one reason i enjoy hunting it so much, however, to believe that the motorized access is limited to official business only is quite naive. If additional areas are locked, like the proposal in the Huachucas, there will be some who work hard to hike into the area only to find others who drove in. Again, if he closing of a road is good for an area, close it completely. Limiting access to official business only does not work. In the riparian area keys are inventoried, but there are still some official copies that are out there unaccounted for. I also suspect unauthorized copies have been made along he way. Some of the gates have the keyed lock on them as well as a combination lock (BP access maybe). Combinations are notoriously easy to distribute, and soon it is almost impossible track who may have them. There is at lease one gate that has a third lock on the chain. This lock belongs to a private individual. Additionally. There is at least one remote gate without a lock on it. Hopefully someday we will run into ech other on a hillside and we can share some stories and our opinions. Until then, take care and good hunting.

That's a great find!

TJ, I'm sitting in a ground going munching on stale crackers. That sausage sure looks good.

TJ, I'm sitting in a ground going munching on stale crackers. That sausage sure looks good.

I love that knarly stud of a buck. Congratulations.

That is crazy! I will stay on solid ground, and hope to keep my body together. Way too much gravity happening there! Cool video, thanks.

Wow, that is some serious main beam length. Congratulations on getting such a nice buck after all the hard work.

Congratulations!

That sucks that your dad got hurt. That must have been a very tough hike out. Congratulations on a very nice buck!

He scored 103 2/8. For Becker we will just call it 103+ .

These people live among us and they don't like us.

That sucks! I hope the 22 weeks passes quickly. At least you should be back at it by the time the fall hunts roll around. Good luck.

I am always very jaded with these type of things??? Are the greenies trying to make a change? Is there a problem with the current name? Game and Fish implies hunting and fishing, killing and eating. This sounds like a good name for a group that oversees a big zoo! This just doesn't smell right to me.

Great buck! If he looks as good on the wall as he does in that beautiful sunset picture, you will have a real treasure.

He has a small eye guard on his left side and just a bump on the right side. Nothing broken, just didn't grow them.

Kent, you must be from Utah and looking for a good start. Look at this raffle/auction tag list. Unbelievable. http://www.monstermu...mID5/18901.html Holy crap, that's a lot of tags!

Very nice, another dead deer killer!

Cameras are a great way to extend the hunting season.

At 17 I had a passion for hunting, but not the knowledge or dedication. By the time those had developed, I was not fit enough to take advantage of it.

Nice looking buck. Glad you were able to convince him to fit into your time schedule.