bcoover

Three more work days and I am out of here. Mike when do you plan on leaving. I am going up Thursday night. If I get up there any sooner it makes it difficult not to shoot before opening day. I always go up the eve of my hunts so I don't have to be tempted. I will be in the field opening morning. and plan on having my deer Friday night. Maybe Saturday morning.

I would use the 30-06. That is what I plan on using. In the chance that you do get a tag why take a chance with a rifle. You know the 30-06 will do the job. I would say that you like your 22-250 and want to use it, but I ask the question again is it worth the chance.

What ever happened to the rules ''be sure of your target and beyond'', ''Always point your rifle in a safe direction'', and ''treat every gun as if it were loaded.'' Hunter need to recap on the basics so we can cut down on people taking on in the shirt. That sucks. I would of been so mad I don't know what I would of done.

Mike Why do I get the feeling you and I are both going to come home empty handed. What am I saying we are both coming home with monsters.

I have a story like that. My friend and I were walking on a trail coming back from a morning hike and we sarted hearing gun shots. We stopped and waited a while but we couldn't tell the direction in which they were coming from. So we decided to get back to the truck as fast as we could. When we got back to the truck we noticed at the other end of the clearing there was a group of guys shooting into the woods right where the trail was. We must of walked right though their line of fire. I was pissed but, they were using the mountain as a backstop and didn't know we were there. I guess the angels were looking over my shoulders that day.

I hope I get the 125 plus. I am sure I will return with a 100 plus or better. If I don't I won't shoot. Mike I was up at my spot and ran into some fresh paw prints myself. It doesn't feel very good when you run into that. The paw prints only mean on thing you now have to sare an area with the best hunters in Arizona. I hate those things. At least the paw prints where two miles away from the wide rack buck. Not that lions don't travel long distances, but there is a good number of deer in between. I am going up with my brothers who all have tags. They havn't seen the wide rack buck, so I don't think they will hold out for him. I plan on helping them fill their tags fast and then work on mine. So there is a very good chance we will be able to post multiple pics on the forum.

good buck.

Mike I am very confident. When you do all the scouting and check all the places you will be confident. The key to my success is not just hunting one area. Since I have done so much scouting I know of some good spots. It is easy to know so much about a unit when you love going up there. I think most hunters find a good spot and hunt it until there are very low amounts of deer. I see the same archery hunter each year in the same spot. He seems to always bag a deer but they aren't very big. If he would just hunt somewhere else for a change then the numbers will be bigger. Plus I think he nees to focus on shooting mature bucks instead of shooting the young bucks. They are there he just doesn't want to get off his butt and out of his tree stand.

No one is going to find that wide rack buck but me. Mike that isn't the only place I hunt like I said I know a lot of good places in that unit and I plan on going to all of them before I pick out the deer I am going to shoot. I know right where the wide buck is I don't need to shoot him opening morning. I plan on having a good hunt and shooting that buck late Sunday night. The only way I will fill my tag before that is if I see a bigger buck in some of my other places. You got look at all you spots before you can make up your mind.

First I would start at five. After about five shots I would then adjust it either lower or higher. I got a better idea take your bother with you and he will be able to figure it out. He is the real shooter anyway...... Shooting range this Sunday?

Mike Do you think that you are not going to get a buck? You know what I have my sights set on, but the question is will I get him. I went up scouting again and saw a good number of bucks with good size, I don't think I will come home empty handed but how big is the buck that I am going to shoot. Plus I found another good spot. I have a feeling it is right where you are going to be hunting. If you are not hunting this area then I bet my second guess is right. I can honesty say that I have looked over every inch of 23. I have checked places I would never go to hunt and found some to be good and have gone to some place that I thought would be great only to find nothing. If I only knew where you were hunting I would know what I was up against. I am not worried about you proving your hunting skill, just wondering if the place you hunt produces moster bucks. I wouldn't want to come home with a 130 inch buck only to find out you got a 135 inch buck. But If we both came home with bucks of that size I don't think we would give a sh#t.

We all have are own hunting spots. We all like the units we hunt. My question is What is the best unit in Arizona for coues. If anyone replies to this post please give facts not just what you saw over the weekend.

Ok everyone has put in their two cents. I didn't see very many facts but lets not worry about that. It seems 36b,32,35a, and 36c are the top four. I personally like unit 23, but I didn't have any facts to back it up. I was surpised no one thought about unit 27. I don't like 27 but you could of backed it up with some facts. Let's forget about the facts and take a vote on 36b,32,35a,36c,23, and 27. Now support you vote with your knowlege of that unit.

I don't know but that is a very good question. I the only thing I can think of is some sort of drying period. They make you wait until the velvet srinks. something like 90 days the you can mesure it. But that is only half of it. I don't know the other half.

When I was up noth for the opening day of deer season I heard a few but not many. They should be going off all over the state in about two more weeks or maybe one more big storm.

I always hunt for dove out by the White tanks Mountains. Find water and you will be all set. Don't hunt on the park property, because there are no fire arms allowed. So just poke around next to the park and you will do just fine. 10 in one hour.

I was in unit 23 over the weekend, and ran into 12 bucks. Ten whitetail, and two muleys. The size of the muleys was 4x4 and 3x3 Very nice I would of shot them both but they ran accross the road and I don't think there is much spot in shotting from your truck. I thought about it though. The whitetails sizes were Two 5x5 six 4x4 and two 3x3. There was only one buck that I didn't want to shot this weekend they were all very nice size. But I do have my rifle tag, and if I had my 30.30. this weekend I could of baged 12 bucks. Good job Treestandman.

I will be hunting in unit 23. I have been seeing a very large coues, and if I see him He will be comming home with me. If I don't, I will hold out until the Rifle 23 December hunt I got drawn for. I would rather I got that buck with my bow because the record book isn't as difficult to get in. I have been following this buck for three years now and If you all want to know how big he is. Go and look at the photogallery, then archery henters, then to page 3. That buck had a 20 inch spreed and was a great buck. My friend Nick shot it at my spot and the buck I have been following was standing next to Nicks buck. Nick was so surpprise at the size he shot whitout thinking. He ended up shooting the smaller of the two bucks and we have been after the other one ever since. Maybe this will be my Year. Good luck to everyone.

I have had a few hunting spot go up in flames. The first time is happened I felt like the Indian in that polution comercial. You know the one, when the Indian is in his canoe heads for land and get out to walk up a hill, only to see car, highways, and someone throws a big mac at him. The camera gets a shot of his face and there is one little tear. But if I had to choose to have those spots go up in flames of not. I would choose the flames. Watch out for flash floods, because there is no vegitation to soak it up. Plus the first year you can walk around and you don't make any noise. When you step on ash, no nois. Next year you will see more game than you have ever before. The only down side is your camos get carcoal stains.