elkaholic

well - missing -- all boils down to a few reasons 1- not knowing the range to the animal - (shooting up hill or down hill or across a canyon )- no rangefinder and just guessing hold over 2- not knowing the gun ( only time its out of case is sighting it in at 100 yrds at the range -prior to season) some don't even sight in before a hunt - think it shot good last yr - its ok 2- not practicing at long range is probably the major reason - along with shooting offhand with out a solid rest I'm sure a lot of others are out there everyone can miss occasionally - but to hear someone shooting 4-6-10 times at an animal - just isn't right buck fever is the most common (excuse) sorry for all those who didn't or won't fill a tag - just enjoy the hunt

elk seem to move thru the area in and around duke tanks

According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimson_weed "Datura stramonium, also called Jimson Weed, Loco Weed, Jamestown Weed, Thorn Apple, Angel's Trumpet, and Zombie's Cucumber is a common poisonous weed in the Nightshade Family. It contains tropane alkaloids that are sometimes used as a hallucinogen. The active ingredients are atropine, hyoscyamine and scopolamine which are classified as deliriants, or anticholinergics.

I got a hit piggys

made my easy dinner in a bag - elk roast and fresh veggies pic-1 what we each had for dinner Pic-2 what was left in the roaster pic-3 leftovers divided up should be able to eat all week- veggies turned out perfect and the roast you could cut with your fork

lots and lots and lots of cow tags - every year much harder to find but hey they say theres a lot of bulls good luck on your hunt -

that is devils claw - it is not jimson loco weed devils claw has the long curved bulbs- unicorn plant some say it looks like elephant tucks - it is edible jimson weed has a big white flower and a thorn/ porcupine bulb that can cause halucinations and even death

heres my last spike bull- easy to have the bedoned meat in game bags ready for butchering- only the 2 front shoulders had not been deboned . I had it in shed frig for 3 days while I processed - I always rebag the meat from the field to the fridge and I rotate the bags to keep them cooling evenly !

it's all in personal preference- During the normal late hunts when the weather is cooler - you have that option during the warmer and desert hunts - it's not the best choice for the meat hunting in larger groups - means you have help and it's possible to get a bigger animal back to camp and easier to hang nd deal with at your leisure. Most all my hunts - I'm alone and got to get it done now - I've never hung an elk/deer - usually one the gound - split it up / debone it pack it out. like stated above - for deer its kinda hard to find a real good size tree in the desert and most will stick you if you try ! I do remember driving around during elk season and seeing hanging animals in camps . mosts hunters don't waste time and are hauling them straight to the processors. see lots of elk/deer in backs of trucks on the roads - sometimes a few headed to Phx

great items - great sale

had that on as the one walkin but on the bank on left side - looks like 2 deer bedded - looks like head and ears

break out the Platinum card for that bull -- is better than gold class - Imperial ?

good eating -

Maybe some others will add their hunts . My wife had Oct Coues in 21- we managed 3 days , despite the heat - it was 90 degree in the desert , opening day and what I can only describe as the worse GNAT infestation I have ever experienced while hunting. I mean they were constantly trying to get in our ears- eyes - nose-- I mean hundreds in and around your body and head - crawling all over your hands etc. Fortunately I had a head net for my wife , she never would have survived the hunt without it . We did manage to find a few does - but no bucks were seen we still had a great time. I do not think she wants to try another Oct hunt in the desert- and getting up before 5 am isn't in her normal schedule .-lol I honestly believe the deer were in the thickest stuff possible , just so they could avoid the pesty gnats too!

the only orange camo own is in Wisc. I never even think about wearin orange here in AZ. but my wife was like I need something orange so I did get her a camo orange hat to wear for her hunt.

I don't know about "bad genes" on this buck - looks to be a younger buck with a dandy of a rack

It's all good - guess I missed the humor I didn't know about the gnats hatch cuz normally I do not hunt the early hot seasons in the desert If it was my tag I'd be hunting but someone has to earn a living. we hunted the days we could - and I know we'll try agin we can't all tag out ! added note - for a 60 yr old lady who hasn't hunted in the last 25 yrs and rarely gets out in the hot desert - She was a trooper. no whimpering or whining - no road hunting allowed - we hiked a few miles in and out each trip. kinda funny-seeing her expression when she'd look back and see the truck that looked like a red dot from the hill top.

I guess "we" cant come on here and tell about an unsuccessful hunt -- without it being called whinning and girly man .270 glad to know there is a real manly guy here - to point that out for us. I just see hunters telling what happened on a hunt

could possibly be 3 deer 2 bedded and possibly one walkin

we had bucks on trail camera - had 2- 3 spots picked out - just wasn't meant to be this tag - we had a good time didn't want to overdo it too much as it can make it worse in the long run - heat was a factor - bugs were a factor- limited days to hunt - not complaining as far as pre scouting - making 3-5-8-10 trips prior to season - glad some can afford it - I can't not everyone can pack up and spend the season in the mtns. either. it's nice we were able to get out hike the hills and see some deer might have to change seasons though - hopefully she'll draw an antelope or elk tag for this fall- now she says even turkey might be fun - I'm like - now you say something - so just getting out and having a good time was great - shes getting back into hunting after a 25 yr layoff- lol usually always put her in for early rifle elk hunts

I have got to agree with deer ignore familiar noises - out in the desert - the dirt bikes had worn trails all through the foothills and even some fairly rough/ remote mtns . you could almost set your watch by the time each Saturday / Sunday the riders would scream down the trails . I had crossed the motorcycle trail and had set-up watching several deer . I can hear the wingdings a coming - thought for sure it would scare off the deer - They never even gave it a glance - just kept on feeding. they were less than 100 yrds from the trail . same for distant gun fire or the guys who have more ammo than most and shoot nonstop for hrs. deer could care less as far as cattle I usually look around any cattle I see as they tend to be more alert and spooky than deer . think deer use them as an alarm system

just go buy a bottle of the liquid aluminum at pepboys - it looks just like aluminum flakes in a gooie mess-- its a bars leak product - it will stop that leak I always carry a bottle - I hate to admit but I've been sealing a leak on my radiator in my truck for acouple yrs - it''ll make it all summer usin the ac and as soon as winter sets in -(lol) its will start to leak-- now this is a leak along the seam where the plastic meets metal - my daughter had a leak at the water pump weep hole of her car - it hasn't leaked in over 2 yrs it should definitely hold you till you got time to weld- cost about $7 just pour in radiator and drive away it has additives which helps seals and lubricate the water pump too

one more comment - sure everyone who draws a bull elk tag has visions of a big "trophy" bull-- maybe 3 in 10 will actually harvest a huge bull- so do the 7 others just say forget it - I'm a trophy hunter it's a 360 + or forget it I go home without tagging an elk. maybe 1 or 2 are really that dedicated - so at least 50% of those with tags will most likely shoot something in the raghorn to spike range -- the majority of hunters will most likely shoot the first thing with antlers there will always be big bulls around - there will be far less if we don't have enough cows to give birth each year- so the herds can recover.

I could give a rats behind about killing a big bull or a trophy elk - deer -antelope etc. my last 2 tags were a cow and spike - by the way both tags were for any elk in an early oct hunt! last deer was a fat forky I have property in 10 and its just sad to sit for days and never see an elk-I never herd a single bugle this yr- my neighbor who lives there yr round heard one and hasn't seen any elk around , when just 4 yrs ago they were everywhere and not just groups of 4-5 like the last couple yrs but big herds of 30- 50 THEY are gone and to say we need to harvest more bulls to balance the new survey ratio is B.S. by the way I don't even hunt in unit 10!

lets just think for a minute -- ratio is out of control too many bulls per cows we give 1800 cow tags and hope to get rid of 500 so lets make 50 more bull tags in the unit ( LATE HUNT)that has the lowest percentage of kills less just say they harvest 1/3 so 15 more bulls are killed how in the ????????? is harvesting an extra 15 bulls gonna control the ratio wouldn't it be more logical to reduce the # of cow tags to say 1200 and only harvest 400 wouldn't it seem logical to say that saving 100 cows and they all have calves be a better idea than harvesting another 15 bulls do this for 5 yrs and you just uped the cow #'s several thousand or more -- compared to killing an extra 60 bulls as an arm chair biologist - seems logical which is a better answer to the bull to cow ratio it doesn't take an college education to do the math!! but to the guys whom do the $$$$ we can't think of losing the income on 3000 cows tags over a 5 yr period when we can gain $$$ for the 250 bull extra tags over a 5 yr period **** here's the real ratio *** NOW the Commission can give the impression that they really care about the elk ratios and have taken appropriate action (some kind of action ) by accepting the survey information ITS A JOKE IF THEY ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN! if they allow 500 cows to reproduce for 5 yrs do not you think the ratio of bull to cows will be a better balance than just harvesting and extra 60 bulls over the same time period.