Kilimanjaro

What a beautiful buck.. A big congrats to you on a super nice animal...

Nice buck, bro. Congrats...

I am still interested in the name of the place and the costs. I'm not gonna hold my breath and hope to draw an AZ or Utah tag, just so my bull can go into the "book". I just want the opportunity to try and harvest a bull bull like yours. Fence or no fence. And have a little meat too ...

That is a NICE bull!! If you don't mind me asking, where did you hunt?? I am thinking of doing a bison hunt in the next couple of years.. Congrats on a super bull.

Friendship among Women: A woman doesn't come home at night. The next day she tells her husband she slept over at a friend's house. The man calls his wife's 10 best friends. None of them know anything about it.... Friendship among Men: A man doesn't come home at night. The next day he tells his wife he slept over at a friend's house. The woman calls her husband's 10 best friends. 8 of them say he did sleep over and 2 of them claim he's still there....

Myself and a couple of my buddies that have the Oct hunt are going to be camping off of Hwy 286. The question is.... Would any other regulars on this board be interested in having a "community camp"?? With several campers at one site, it would sure make a better deturrent for someone out there looking for a quick steal. Plus, since I kinda know a few of the Border Patrol Agents in the area , I'm gonna spread the word to them to make a point during the day to just come thru camp and be a presence every now and then. I think that would be a big help during the day, while everyone is out hunting. Plus, it would be a better social situation in the evening.. Camp fire, frosty beverages, T bones cooking, and some new company. It should be fun. I believe so far we have 4 people that are going to be in our 5th wheel. Anyone else intrested?????

Thats how I do it. See a buck, and add 60 inches and thats what you'd have in a regular WT.

Thanks!!!

Well, we had our hunt and I must say that we had a great hunt. Y'all may remember my buddy Kevin from the pronghorn pics, well he rolled into Tucson Thurs morn from El Paso and we loaded up and picked up Rich and we headed for the hills. We got out there and got the 5th wheel and the rest of camp set up and got to do a few hours of glassing before dark. I spotted one buck that would go between 85 and 90" thrashing an ocatillo limb right before dark. The next morn, we decided to make the 5 MILE HIKE back to the spot where I had been seeing alot of deer on a regular basis for the opening morning place. Well, at about 9:30, I spotted a deer hualing butt down the hil and coming at us. He stopped at a barrel cactus and started eating the fruit. That gave us enough time to look him over. We all guessed him at 95. So I decided to take him. The fever set in and the .223 WSSM rang out and was about 10 feet high!! After settling down, the second shot hit him a little high, but was a good hit. He dropped. I had ranged him right at 250yrds. When we walked up on him, his body was TINY!!! We had over-estimated him. But it didn't matter to me. I finally had my first coues buck. He ended up being about 83 inches. Not huge, but mine none the less, and I couldn't be happier. After the LONG hike out, and taking care of the meat and cape, we went to a new spot for the evening and I glassed a very nice buck way up the mt. that was out of range because darkness was setting in. That night Doug (RedRabbit) rolled into camp to help with glassing and packing. Next morn, we tried another new spot and saw a few deer, but the place was a war zone with people shooting all over the place. We packed up and got out of there. We went back to camp, ate some lunch, and caught a nap before making the LONG journey back to the spot where I took my buck. We were behind schedule when we finally made it there and started glassing. About 10 minutes later, I spotted a buck on top of the ridge. We all decided he was a shooter. Rich was next in line to shoot, but decided to give the green light to Kev because Rich got one last year and me and Kev ate tag soup. Anyways, it was getting dark really quick and the buck just wouldn't come out from a stand of ocatillos. Finally, he cleared, I ranged him at 390yrds uphill, and Kev took the shot. He made a PERFECT hit. Right behind the shoulder. BUCK DOWN!! We hiked up to him, snapped a few pics, and got to work. The buck was a great buck. His body was a total opposite of my buck. He was huge!! We loaded down the packs and began the long haul out. We made it back to the truck at around 10:15 that night. Thats why we didn't make the dinner. But, it was for a good reason!! Kev's buck is a high 80's buck. Not bad for his first coues either!!! The next morn we all slept in, and at lunch said our goodbys to Doug and got ready to find a buck for Rich. We went back to try to find the buck that I had found the evening before season started. No luck. Just a bunch of does and forkies and spikes. Well, we decided that was it for us and had a great time in camp that night and called it a hunt. Rich and Kev had to get back to the kiddies for Halloween. We figured that 2 for 3 ain't too bad anyways. Rich was OK with not getting his buck. Just now I have to take him to TX for a whitetail hunt!! The next morn as we were loading up getting ready to head out, I picked up an unopened bottle of Guinness beer and accidently dropped the danged thing on a rock. It exploded and the bottom of it shot off and hit me right in the knee. I wrapped it up as good as I could, finished packing up, said our goodbyes to Kevin, and Rich too me to the ER. 10 stiches later, I'm as good as new!! All's well that ends well !!!! We all had a great time on our hunt and Rich, Kevin and I want to thank Doug for coming down and helping us out on glassing and packing. Congrats to everyone who got a buck and hope all of you had a hunt as fun as ours.... Here is my buck... I guess this is the pic I'll be entering in the contest... The hill behind me in the pic is where Kev's buck was taken. We shot both bucks from the same location. And here is Kev's buck....

Have you been keeping those hounds and mules in shape?? Now that goat and deer season is over, I've started chomping at the bit thinking about loading up the hounds and heading out with ya and finding the biggest tom cat we can find out here!!! You let me know the dates, and i'll be waiting with bags loaded!! Give me a ring... BTW, Nicole sends her best regards to ya from Minnesota.. See ya soon....

Great job Seth!!

Brett, the worst part of it all was it was the ONLY bottle in the entire camp!! I drink Miller Light out of cans. And it just sat in the cooler the whole time. When it was time to break camp and head out, I asked the guys if they wanted it, and no one spoke up, so I was just going to pour the danged thing out. Little did I know that Guiness is the one brand of beer that is super cabonated!! when I dropped it, it sounded like an M80 had gone off!! The bottom of the bottle came back at me so fast I didn't even know what had happened before it was too late. Danged thing cut me to the bone right on my knee cap.

Brett, nice bucks buddy. Glad ya didn't have to eat tag soup on this hunt. That gets to be a bitter tasting meal after awhile.. Yeah, I got a case of the ol' redneck out there too. It was WARM!! But, what can ya do but just suck it up and keep on hunting!!!

Thanks everyone for the comments on the pics. I really try to have nice looking pics. To me, the pic is just as much of a joy to look at and remember the hunt as the horns and mounts are. I try to take a few extra moments to make the animal look presentable and clean up the area as much as allowed. It really pays off when someone notices the extra effort you put into making a nice photo. Thanks for noticing... I sure don't work that area that you are taking about. The areas I work are in all the 36 units and some of 34B, and a portion of the TO rez. But I have some buddys that work in that area.

AzPackhorse, sorry you didn'y connect one one of those big boys you've been watching. There's always archery in Jan.... I never did see those bruisers I was seeing out there before season. I guess they hopped that fence and went into the "otherside".... MoreD, I think both of us need to get together and do a little remedial beer handling course!! Of course, the beer we get to handle and practice with, we also get to drink!! Anytime your ready!!

What a nice buck!! Tell Riley congrats for me! I think he is kinda happy.. Look at that smile!

Again, thanks guys. We're pretty jazzed up about being able to take two nice deer on a hunt that has such a low sucsess rate. I see why they are called the "poor man's sheep hunt"!! Tough dudes to hunt for sure. Doug, you were right. i'm on light duty right now... and going to be for the next week or so till this thing heals. Talk about boring. AZ, I think the buck was a healthy buck, just small. I was on the lookout for the Game & Fish guys, but never saw any of them. I would have had them check him out. He was danged sure munching down on those fruit!! I saw alot of does eating those things as well as the cholla fruit. Tucson John, any time brother!! Just holler at me. I'm down there all the time...

I've never tried to hunt Mearns in 36C. I know there is some good looking country back behind the Sata Margarita, but its a LONG walk into there. I hunt them down around Sonoita and around Parker Canyon Lake. Those little buggers are basically the reason I decided to come to AZ. We used to come over here from TX when we were kids with my Dad, uncles, and Grandad and hunt them for a week. When I had the chance to move here, that was the deciding factor..More quail hunting opportunities !! Quail hunting is just about #1 in my book. When Mearns season opens, I try to get the pups into them at least once per week. There should be a good number of birds this season. I can't wait till it opens...

Shiras, it was more than enough gun. It dropped my bucks in his tracks at 250yds, and on Kev's buck, he put 1 shot into the boiler room at 390 yds. The buck took about 4 or 5 steps, and fell over stone dead. We were shooting handloads with the new Barnes tripleX bullets. Seemed like good coues medicine to me!!

Thanks everyone for the kind words. AZ Guide, there is still a company in TX that makes Bushlan. If you would like their info, just send me a PM and I'll get ya in touch with them. They are a great group of guys... Mearnsman, we were hunting in the southern end of the unit... BTW, I love your screen name. Are you as big of a Mearns addict as I am?? Thanks boys...

Nice buck. Lots of mass.... Congrats

Nope, you read it right!! 11 inches.....

Well, it sounds like almost everyone already has the camping situation already planned out, so, how would everyone in the 36 units like to get together for a few beers and dinner in Arivaca at one of the watering holes down there??? It was mentioned last season, but I don't remember if anyone did it. So, what do y'all think? There is alot of us on here that are going to be in one of the 36 units during the Oct. hunt. I think it would be a good time. I would be there with a couple of buddys that have tags with me, Redrabbit is going to be in our group helping out, Casey is going to be down there with his old man, and a couple of my coworkers have B tags as well... we could fill up one of the restaurants down there if we all came in for a couple of hours.. What do ya think???

M1280, sorry we were absent on the dinner. We had a nice buck on the ground right at dark and we didn't make it out of the hills and back to the truck till 10:00. There was me, RedRabbit, and my buddy Kevin, and Rich. I know Casey and his Dad, but I would have liked to have met everyone else. Maybe we can get a Nov. dinner together.

Hey Chief, I may have painted with a broad brush, BUT, that does NOT take away from the fact that Southern AZ is a place riddled with both alien and dope smugglers. If it weren't, I wouldn't be here!!! This is the worst area for smuggling in the ENTIRE US. Its not my fault.. I was just making a broad statement pertaining to the area and its residents Take this for an example... You sure don't here of alien and dope smuggling problems up in Sweetgrass, Montana... its on the border and it has a BP station there, and has the above said crimes, but nowhere near the amount of problems of whats going on around here!! Same goes for TX, and Cali and so on and so on. See what I'm talking about?? Southern AZ is the problem of all problems when it comes to this political topic. I wasn't taking a personal stab at you, but when you live right in the middle of it, you'd better have tough skin, cuz you will be in the generalization of the residents in that particular area. Sorry, but thats just the truth. People generalize other people. Its just the way it is.... I'm glad we have people out there like you that fully support what the BP is trying to do. It sure makes it easier on us when we have the support of the residents. We really do appreicate when guys like you come around a just tell us that they support us and tell us to keep up the hard work. I personally want to thank you for that. But just remember where you live!! Its all around you!! Sorry if I offended you, that was by no means my intentions... BTW, we are Federal AGENTS, not officers.. Now, I'm done with this topic.. If I want to talk work, I'll just go there!! Lets get back to hunting as everyone else has wanted to do for the past week