Kilimanjaro

I sent them to Amanda so she could put a few of them up. I just can't figure out how to make the pic come up on the screen when you you click on to read a subject. I have some of my pics saved in the engine Photobucket, but on this site, when you try to post a pic with them, it just gives you a URL tag to click on. Hopefully, Amanda will show me how to do it the right way on her site.

One more time, I hope..... If not, someone tell me how to use the site's pic server. I always use photobucket's, but on this site, it just posts the jpg. to click to view instead of showing the actual picture.. Ayuda, por favor.....

I guess it didn't work... Let me work on this for a second and get back with ya'll!!

Here is a pic of the bird I took back home last week in TX. It was a good, fun hunt. I didn't have a chance to put any birds to bed the day before, so I just went right at daybreak in the general area of where they had been roosting on the ranch a couple of years before. Right at daybreak about 6 birds were sounding off and I went about 200 yards into their direction and set out my ol' faithful hen decoy and started letting 'em have it. Sure enough this dude couldn't stand that lonely hen calling out to him. He was strutting the whole way in until he was about 5 feet from the decoy and he saw me move my head! He was about to vacate the premisies pronto, but a load of #5's was already on its way. Good 3 year old bird... good spurs and an almost 11 inch beard. Not bad for a 30 minute first morning out hunt. Lets see some birds from this spring.... Scottyboy http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/sco...ix/turkey05.jpg

Doug, I was only about 10 miles away from Mathis field! The bluebonnets were everywhere, but just not right where I shot the bird. But those little yellow ones were everywhere too. It felt damned good to get back home to good ol Tejas for a few days of R&R. They've had so much rain this past year its unbelievable. There were more Bobwhites and Blues than I think I've ever seen before! Good luck on the AZ hunt next week. Give me a ring and tell me how ya did. All the rest of them pics look good. Congrats to all. Gotta love those Merriams birds. One of these days, I'll try for another one of those. Its been a few years since I hunted those mountain toms. Keep'em coming, Scottyboy

Now I wouldn't go as far as to say I'm incorrect. One of my best friends is a Game Warden back home in west TX and that poor soul only gets a few days,AT MOST, per season to hunt. The rest of his time is filled working. That is what Wardens are there for! To enforce game and fish laws. Those laws are going to be needed to be enforced everyday of the year, but more so during specific seasons when there are more of the general public using that resourse that available to them in that said time frame. That being hunting season !! Now I don't know how they do it here in AZ, but I'm willing to bet you're gonna be working in that timeframe a helluva lot more than you'll be hunting! I'd put money on it! I'm not trying to presuade the man to not go into the Warden bussiness. I'm only passing on info that I get from a good friend of mine who I speak with almost daily that does it for a living. heck, I was going to be one as well. I even went to college for it. Southpaw,As for me getting to go to the field in my career, I quail hunted just about once a week for the entire season! And I took a week off for the coues tag I had. Also went home for a week and went Pronghorn hunting.If ya want to hunt, just save your time off, and use it at your leasure. Good luck in whatever you choose, Scottyboy

Mark, just a word of the wise for ya... I was in your exact same shoes a few years back. I was going to be a warden as well. But, when you think about it, if your passions in life are hunting and fishing, you'll be doing nothing but working your tail off during those times of the year when that is the LAST thing you'd want to be doing. At least thats what all the wardens told me back home. Just a heads up for ya on that end of of the career choice. As for me, I finally decided against it and went with a Federal Agency instead (BP). And thats how I ended up here in AZ from west TX!! Good luck, Scottyboy

Sorry about the loss. I am constantly worried about my F350 powerstroke 4X4 here in the nice community of Tucson (yeah right!). Fords are the most stolen vehicle in AZ right now. Those damned smugglers can cram a bunch of wets into a crewcab 4X4 and cut a path straight across the desert. I know, I chase em all the time ... (me being a BP Agent). And almost every one of them we catch is stolen out of the Phoenix or Tucson area. Sad state of affairs we live in these days when ya can't even warm your truck up in the morning! Hope ya get to get your hands on him before the law does! Then justice can be handed out as it was meant to be! I'll keep my eye out for it when I'm out patrolling in 36A,B, and C. Scottyboy

Tell that Bryce congrats again for me!!!! That was a nice buck and a great way for a young man to score on his first buck! He'll remember that hunt till the day he dies. Glad I got to see him with his buck out there. It was good meeting you guys out there and if I'm out in that neck of the woods when y'all are out there pig hunting, I'll stop by and BS with ya. Way to go Bryce!!! Scottyboy

Well, we hunted hard in the Nov. hunt in 33, but we came up empty-handed. We saw a ton of deer, but none that iched the 'ol trigger finger! I hope everyone else out there had some good luck on their Nov. hunts. As the topic title says, I am 1 for 3 on the hunts this year. We struck out on the Aug. bear hunt up in 27, and then this coues hunt. BUT hey,I did score one a good 'lope in Oct. on a trip I took back home to TX. He missed B&C by 1 inch! Well, 1 for 3 ain't so bad after all!!!!!!! Good luck to all the lucky hunters with a Dec. tag in their pockets... Scottyboy Here is a pic of my 'lope http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/sco...drix/lope04.jpg

Sorry Gnoto, I was out in unit 33 on Sat. trying to get myself a buck! It was'nt me that stopped you. That chopper would nice to have drop ya off WAY up in the hills before daylight!! On another note, point me in the right direction for this place in 36A that has more Mearns than I would know what to do with!! Scottyboy

I saw a covey of Mearn's today while I was at work down south of Arivaca off of TB road. Iwas near the Jarillas Ranch and glanced over and saw a male sitting on a rock about twenty feet off the road. I got out the binos and watched him for a few minutes and then got out of the truck and walked over there to see how close I could get to them before they flushed. I walked over to the place where I last saw the male, and got within 3 feet of the coveybefore they decided that was too close for comfort! There was about 7 birds in the covey. Wish I had a camera with me to snap a few pics of that rooster on that rock. Quite a sight! Nice to see a few Mearns still out there in that neck of the woods! Scottyboy

Doug, thanks for the kind words about the pup. She is going to be a helluva birddog with a couple of seasons under her belt. She is doing good this season so far and it is her first to hunt. And, as Bob Barker says, " Come on Down!" I think we could get into a few coveys down south of here with no problem. Just let me know when..... Recurveman, in the pic, she was just a little pup, maybe 3 1/2 or 4 months old, so that was her first coat. This past summer though, we kept her trimmed down just to try to keep her cool as possible. But she has a pretty thick coat now and we'll let her grow it all the way out for the winter. I just carry a metal tooth comb with me in the field to work out any stickers or briars in her coat. We're headed out this afternoon to try and get into a covey or two of Gambels and hopefully a covey or two of Blues too! Scottyboy

Hey Recurveman, here are a couple of pics to get ya fired up about this upcoming Mearns season! I took this double on my newest pup's first outing with me this last season. That was her first covey of Mearns under the nose, and she threw out a pretty little point on them till they scared her out of her skin when they came out of that grass when I walked in front of her!! She was only about 4 months old at the time. I can't wait to get after a few coveys of Mearns this season. I've been getting into a fair amount of Gambels around Oracle this season so far. Good luck this fall and maybe we'll bump into each other out there chasin' those Mearns up in the oaks! Scottyboy http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/sco...pennymearns.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/sco...x/mearnpics.jpg

Brett, way to go bud. Both good deer, congrats....... Scottyboy

Why could'nt we have seen that this past Aug. up in 27? I ran into Brett up in a nice canyon system that was FULL of ripe pear, but the bears never showed up for the feast. He said that the year before, there was bears everywhere up there, but this year was a bust for us. Oh well...... Nice pics Scott Scottyboy

Hey Doug, nice buck! Congrats on the successful hunt..... Scottyboy

Coues, AWESOME POST!!!! Finally, someone else that feels the wat I do about quail hunting. I consider every season a complete sucess if I can just get out there and bust a few coveys with my dogs. Now don't get me wrong about big-game hunting, I love it too, but nothing compares to being out in the field with a couple of your best buds and watching those dogs do their thing! Can't beat it! Scottyboy

heck, I'll go even if I am on duty! I am always in Arivaca and would enjoy getting together with a few of ya'll. Just let me know when..... Scottyboy

Brett, you are right about them being in 36c. I have a friend that was up in Brown canyon lion hunting with hounds a few years back. They found a good track and turned the dogs loose on it. They had treed a female up in a pondarosa pine up in Brown about 10 minutes after they turned the dogs loose after her. They took about 10 rolls of film of her and then pulled the dogs off and called the jaguar 800 number. I'll try to get a pic from him and post it. I also saw an article awhile back that had seversl pics of jags that were caught near the state line down by Douglas. Scottyboy

Well, today it was pretty slow out at work so I decided to go on a little deer scout while I was out there. I found a road that is closed to the general public, but, has one of our( Border Patrol) locks on it. I took it in and it winded its way into the southern portions of the Baboquivaris. It went in about four miles and dead ended at a tank that had some water still in it. I got out out to scout around the tank when I heard some rocks coming down above me. It was 15, yes 15, coues deer. 8 does and 7 bucks. There was 2 bucks in the group that were definate shooters. The smaller of the two was a 95" to 100" 3X4 with decent eye gaurds. The best buck was a 4X4( 10 point) with AWESOME eyegaurds that were about 4 inches long! I estimated him to go in the 105" to 110 range. The most sriking feature about this buck was his spread! I guessed him at at least 16" inside! The rest in the group were a couple of spikes, a spindley horned 2X3, a couple of forkies and the two big boys. I got to veiw all of these bucks for a while cuz they only spooked about 100 yards up the hill and then stopped under a couple of oaks and just stood there forever. It was awesome!! Oh yeah, at the tank, there was a huge set of fresh lion tracks in the mud where he came down and watered.. And, on the way out, I saw a big, 'ol Gila Monster in the road. I got out and took several good pics of him and I'll post them when I get the film developed. Quite a good day at the office!!! Good hunting, Scottyboy

Coues, I will try to answer your question as best I can. There is ALOT more of you ( general public) out there at any given time than there is of us. We are so understaffed that we sometimes can't get there, even if you have a group in your sight. There is just too much country out there to cover at all times. Not to mention the mass crossings out there on a daily basis. Another senario couldbe that we have caught so many at one time that we are pulled from the field to process all the bodies. Again, it comes down to man power. That is the whole reason I am even here in AZ. I would much rather be back home in TX, but this is where the BP needs me for the next couple of years so thats the way it's gotta be for awhile. Take today for instance, I got a call to go to McGee ranch road down near Green Valley. The sad part was that I was the closest one to the area and I was in Three Points!! It was a 45 min. drive just to get over there. Do you think the illegals were still there? heck no, they were long gone by the time I got over there. That is just the way it is around here. I dont go out to the field everyday trying to solve this countrys immigration problems. I can't. I go to work because I love what I do, I am outside all day, and we get paid damned good, too!! I am so proud to put that green uniform on everyday and do my part, no matter how small that part may be, to serve and protect my country the best I can. Hope that answers a few of your questions. If not, just ask. I'd be glad to give 'em a stab. Take er easy, Scottyboy

Sounds like I could have a lucrative side business selling the BP keys to all ya'll !!!!! J/K Couesnut, I would gladly point you and your son in the right direction to get him a dandy in that unit. Get with me on a PM and I'll spill a few beans for ya. And on the contact numbers for you when you are out there, get the number for the Tucson Station(or I'll give it to ya), because that is our area out there. Should you encounter any problems, call and we'll be there ASAP. Hear from ya soon, Scottyboy

Well, guess its time for me to step up and say a few works concerning this discussion. I am a United States Border Patrol Agent and I am out there every day dealing with these illegals. 99.9% of these folks are still coming here to work. The rest are the $hitbags that you have to watch out for. But, the drug runners and the rest of the scum bags out there are an unlikely suspect in my opinion on this matter. They want nothing more than to stay completley under the radar. They, for the most part, have a predetrmined route and food caches out there along the way. They stay completlyoff trailsand go cross country. The rest of the mass crossers don't have enough sense to stay undetectable. I would seriously doubt if illegals are to blame on this one. I think they are just an easy scapegoat to point the finger at. I would have to say it was probably someone he knows and they knew where he was going to be out there. I dont work in that particular unit but I do work just west of there and the amount of crossings every day is mind blowing. Please dont point fingers at the USBP because we are already understaffed and we cant possibly be in every place at all times. The public will always be out there in way more numbers than us, thats just the law of averages. There are only so many of us and a huge chunk of area we have to patrol. My heart goes out to the family. And to the rest of you, carry a gun out there no matter what the law says! Good luck this fall, Scottyboy

Got mine today, Finally!!! Scottyboy