kwp

My brother Brian and I were fortunate enough to draw late coues deer tags in a southern unit. We had not spent a lot of time in the unit but had always seen good bucks in the time that we had spent. We both had 8-9 days to hunt and decided that we weren't going to shoot a buck that we didn't think would go 105". We were each able to spend a hand full of days scouting but neither of us found a buck that we wanted to harvest so we opted to hunt an area where we had seen the type of bucks we were looking for in the past even though we didn't find them scouting. Opening day finally rolled around and we were so excited we could hardly stand it. The weather was perfect, cold and clear. We hiked about a mile up to a ridge that over-looked some nice stock tanks and some "perfect" coues country. Our excitement quickly diminished when not five minutes into glassing I found six illegals coming through a saddle towards us. We watched them lay up under some oak trees. Then I quickly found another illegal in a different spot that was taking a poop. Then I got a text from my wife saying that some of our irrigation pipes broke at home and the back yard is flooding. This all happened in about the first 15 minutes and we hadn't seen any deer yet. Needless to say we weren't excited about how the hunt had started. The rest of the day went pretty good though. We moved around the illegals and repositioned near another stock tank. Here is a picture of a doe that came in to the tank during the middle of the day. Throughout the rest of the day we managed to glass about 40 deer including 7 small bucks. Brian also got a quick glimpse of a nice cat but couldn't ever get it in the cross-hairs. Here are some pics of a few of the small bucks and the sunset hiking back to camp that evening. That night my buddy Mike (Steward224) joined us to help glassing. The next morning we went into a different area and started seeing deer immediately. I found a group of does that had a small 3 pt chasing them around when my brother says that he has a group of 4 bucks and one, maybe two of them look big. I repositioned to find the bucks that were about a mile away. I was only able to watch them for a few quick moments before they moved down the ridge and out of view but I could tell that we needed to get a better look at two of them. We made a plan and went on a mad dash to get in front of them and got into position just in time to watch them go through a saddle and once again out of view. This time we saw them at 550 yards and were able to tell that the smaller of the mature bucks was a 3 pt that we guessed would go 95". We could see that the bigger buck was a 3 pt with big eyeguards and a kicker coming off his left side. We guessed that he would go around 105". We then moved to a peak that overlooks the basin that they went into. It was getting later in the morning so we knew that the bucks would be bedding soon. We spent the rest of the day on the peak looking for the bucks and found lots of does and javelinas but never found the bucks. Brian had to go home that night so on our long hike back to camp we discussed a plan for Mike and I for the next morning. The morning of Day 3 Mike and I were once again on the same peak overlooking the basin where we thought that the bucks would be. It was another clear, cold morning but was a little windy. We were seeing some deer and javelina but still no bucks. Finally after a couple of hours I saw the other 3 bucks coming out of the canyon bottom but the big one wasn't with them. The other bucks continued to move up the ridge and the big buck never came out. After looking for what seemed like an eternity Mike says, "I've got a bedded buck and I think he might be your buck." The buck was bedded down the hill and behind the other bucks but he was in the shade and we couldn't tell much about him. He eventually moved his head and we could see not one but two kickers coming off of his left side. We immediately knew it was the same buck and a shooter. I got positioned for the steep downhill, 270 yard shot and squeezed one off. I heard the 'whop' and saw the buck flinch and start kicking. I then put another one in him to make sure that he never got out of his bed. Here are a few photos, thank to Mike and Brian for all the help! The rest of the story is told in my brother's words. Friday Dec. 18 was my next opportunity to hunt. After my brother, Kevin, killed his great buck I wanted to kill a big buck so bad I could taste it. My brother and my buddy Dave and I hiked into an area near where my brother had killed his buck. That morning we glassed about 25 deer including several small to decent bucks. In the middle of the day we decided to move about a mile into an area where we had glassed several deer that morning and where we had seen some good bucks in the past. Right as we got into the area we started kicking deer off their beds right and left so we decided to sit down and start glassing even though we hadn't reached the point we planned to glass from. Not too long after we sat down some air-force jets started flying right over, I mean right over our heads. We could see the pilots. They must have been only 100 feet off the ground or so. All the commotion got the deer stirred up and we started to see more deer getting off their beds and moving around. My brother said, "I see about four deer running over a ridge about 300 yards away, they look like all does, oh wait, BIG BUCK!" I never even got a look at him before he went over the ridge but my brother said, "He had a huge frame. He was wide and had like 10" G2s." Dave said, "I didn't get a good look at him but he looked like a mule deer buck going over the ridge." Now I was excited. We moved to glass into the canyon they ran into sure that we would find them again. We spent five hours that evening looking and never found him. Dave had to go home that evening. Kevin and I figured out the best vantage point to glass the country we had last seen the buck in and that is where we set up the next morning. Here is a picture as we waited for the sun to come up. It was still pretty dark and we hadn't found any deer yet when my brother says, "There is a deer standing in the same place we saw that buck yesterday and I think it is a big buck." We were looking through ocotillos in the dark at 1000 yards and could tell this was probably the buck we had seen the day before. He quickly fed down into the canyon out of view. We moved to where we could see into the canyon he was in and within about 10 minutes we were set up and sure that we would find him this time. We glassed for about 30 minutes to no avail when my brother says, "I see a different buck bedded on the next ridge over." We could tell he was a decent buck but the sun was still just starting to come up and the buck was still as a statue and we couldn't tell much about him. We continued to look for the first buck and keep an eye on the second buck. Once the sun hit the second buck he got up and started to feed and we could see he was pretty solid, we guessed him around 100". We continued to look for the first buck and watch the second buck. The more I watched the second buck the more I started to think he was bigger than we thought but I new there was a giant somewhere right in front of me that we couldn't find. We looked for the first buck for 2.5 hours and never found him. The second buck moved out of view. We decided to move to the next canyon to get a better look at the second buck. We got set up and my brother says, "There is the buck chasing some does and they are about to go over the ridge." I took a quick look at him and saw his mass and realized he was better than we had guessed. I told by brother, "That buck looks good, I am going to hammer him." He stopped for a second and I double lunged him at about 250 yards. When we walked up to him I knew he would meet my goal of 105" or better. Part of the reason we had under judged him was his body was absolutely huge! What a fantastic hunt! A December tag that was all we dreamed about. The weather was great, we glassed lots of deer and other critters, we had no trouble with illegals, and killed two great bucks. Thanks to my brother especially for all his help. I glassed his deer the first time but he returned the favor and glassed mine. Maybe someday I will learn to hold out for a giant. Our bucks both scored just under 110"

The Freak is a great bat. I have the Freak and Freak Plus. I play in Tucson at Sports Park which used to be USSSA and allow the Freaks, they recently switched to ASA and they are illegal. Anybody who plays USSSA would be getting a great bat if they bought this one from daryl_s

I have the 1200 and have never really had an issue getting long ranges off hand. The worst is in the wind or rain and I can still get 800+ yards without a problem. In good weather I can usually get over 1200 yards. It may be more usefull for the 900. What we really need is for someone to convince Leica to put the button on the other side of the Geovids, then I would trade in my CRF 1200 for a pair of Geovids.

Forest Service and Game and Fish had the lake drained the last few years due to high mercury levels. It filled up a lot sooner than expected with these last storms. I would think that Game and Fish would wait a while to stock it to allow the aquatic habitat to recover. Should be good fishin again before we know it.

Great pics! I like how you can really see the amount of antler growth on that 4 point over the course of less than a week. Shows how fast they grow.

I have the 701rc2 and really like it! I've used it with a lot of different optics including my 20x80 binos and Swarovski 80mm spotting scope. It's solid yet smooth. No complaints at all.

I know a couple people that have the Leica's and love them. The glass is top of the line as is the rangefinder. I love the idea of the bino/rangefinder combo and I looked at them really hard but hated the location of the rangefinder button. I wanted to be able to use them one handed for those times that I was holding my bow in my left hand. I was able to reach over and push the button with my right hand but felt really wobbly and like I was going to drop them. For this reason alone I bought the Swarovski ELs (much more ergonomic) and the Leica 1200 rangefinder. I took a quick look at the Zeiss rangefinder binos when I was at the outdoorsmans a couple months ago at they seemed big, bulky, and much less quality than the Leicas. I would be surprised if anyone puts the Zeiss in the same class as the Leicas but as with any big puchase, make sure that you try them out first because everybody has a different preference.

Congrats on an amazing buck Jody. As many others have said, it is great to see the pictures of how excited and moved you were to take that buck.

I had a similar experience as josh with the first shed that I found stuck in a tank. Strapped it to my frame pack thinking that the small would go away but instead it soaked into my pack, shirt, and skin and I stunk for a few days. I won't take a shed out of a tank anymore unless it is a monster.

UA softball national champs - 91, 93, 94, 96, 97, 01, 06, 07, ASU softball national champs - ? That looks like complete domination!

Heading up to Unit 1 this weekend and was wondering what the status of the road from Sunrise to Big Lake is. The forest service website that normally has the road closure info is "currently unavailable" and has been all week. Have they finished and opened the section from the res line to sheeps crossing? What about the section from sheeps crossing to crescent lake? Can you access the reservation lake road from the main road or do you have to go around the back side of big lake? Thanks in advance to anyone who can let me know what is open and what is closed.

I've always looked at that country on the National Park and drooled too. I'm sure there are some great bucks in there. Anybody ever shed hunt that country?

Good looking gun. Just curious, if he is that big of a guy, then why did you put a muzzlebreak on a .270?

Thanks for the info guys, I figured that it would be closed but knew that somebody here would know. Didn't realize that there was still that much snow up high, good to hear.

I ran into a problem with Discount today, I have had 285/75/16 on this truck since it was new and now they say they cant mount 285's on stock rims so they want you to buy new rims also. Sounds like the person you talked to at Discount didn't know what they were talking about. There should be no problem putting 285's on a stock rim (I'm guessing it is at least 7.5 inches wide). I put new tires on my truck last fall (BFG ATs in the 285/70/17) and almost all places I talked to including a few different Discount Tires would have put the 315/70/17 on the stock rim. I had the BFG AT's on my last truck and put them on my new one as soon as I could and have always loved them. A couple guys I work with have the TOYO mudders and they like them a lot. They are surprisingly a lot quieter than I expected. Neither of them have had the tires very long so I couldn't tell ya what kind of life they are getting out of them.

Another one of the Santa Ritas

Check some of the camera stores in your area. I got my tripod/head at one and have since gone back to get extra quick release plates. This was in Tucson but I would bet that there are some camera shops up there that carry Manfrotto

If you are coming through mid-day then you shouldn't have any slowing. Like others have said it is really only slow during rush hour. During the rest of the day I think that the volume of cars is actually lower than it used to be because a lot of people avoid it. You should be able to cruise right through.

I haven't looked to closely at what roads are actually going to be closed but I know that that area currently has way too many roads and it could definitely use a lot being closed.

I ran into a guy in 34a during this years october hunt that swore he had seen a black mountain lion. I figured that he had seen a coati but maybe it was a Jaguarundi? I never did see it myself so I can't confirm anything.

Well the limit for Ducks in Oregon is 7 so it looks like the Devils will only score a touchdown. It's open season on Scum Devils with no limit and I'm sure the Ducks are going to be scoring a lot more than 7.

Update on my GPS. I contacted Garmin about 3 weeks ago and was told that they could fix it for $65 so I sent it in (cheaper than buying a new one and I have been very pleased with it) I got a package from them yesterday and they replaced my unit. No explanation as to what the problem was but I got a new unit. They did state that any waypoints, etc. could not be transferred from the old GPS but I have them all on my computer anyways. I'd have to say that I am very happy with the customer service that I received.

The one thing that really confuses me about Game and Fish is how they are implementing this plan to provide more hunting opportunity but by putting archery deer to a draw they are taking away the tag that provides more big game hunting opportunity than any other. It seems to me that they are contradicting themselves. Also, if my memory is correct, it seems like many of the units that are going to an archery draw are central and northern AZ units that until a few years ago only had 1 rifle hunt. (Remember the uproar when they changed it so that all units had the three hunt structure). Now the G&F is saying that too many deer are being harvested and archery deer needs to be restricted. Seems to me that if they hadn't restructured the rifle hunts a couple of years ago that less deer would be harvested in the rifle hunts giving a buffer for the increased success of archery hunters. Shows that they started by just getting their foot in the door changing a few things and now the flood gates have opened to complete reform to wildlife management in Arizona

I think that the last two posts have hit on this but to me it is not about siding with the anti(everything) groups, it is about distancing ourselves from the dogfighting/dogtorturing groups such as Vick and his "Bad Newz Kennels" gang! I think that some of the larger conservation groups (RMEF, Ducks Unlimited, etc.) need to stand up and have a voice stating that dog fighting and hunting are in no way one and the same and that the hunting population in no way condones the actions of people involved in dog fighting and the terrible acts of torture that these individuals have committed.

That is interesting. I have the etrex vista and last Saturday it shut off and will no longer turn on at all. I have tried new batteries and also tried with it connected to the car cigarette adapter. I haven't gotten around to contacting Garmin but your experience doesn't make me very optimistic. My unit wasn't dropped, didn't get wet, no abnormal use/abuse. The only thing that I can think of is that at the time I was near the base camp for the Mt Hopkins observatory. Anybody have and ideas if the instruments at the observatory could have interfered with my unit. I really like the unit so far and have not had any issues. Unfortunately I am about 3 months past my one year warranty.