Sundevil99

Got drawn for 22 coues hunt this month and I am planning on getting out there a few times before the 21st. I've never hunted the unit but know that every time we've headed north in Oct or December I see a ton of guys glassing from the Beeline. I've been on elk hunts in the unit and have seen 2 big WT bucks in the chaparral up by Star Valley below the control road. Would I be better off avoiding the crowds and head up into the unit farther north/northeast or stay down in the high desert like everyone else? Would the fire on Mt Ord still be affecting any or would they have moved back up the mountain by then? Just looking for a few pointers to direct my limited scouting time. And for good Karma I did see a ton of Mule deer right behind Lake Mary this weekend while chasing non existing Turkeys in 6a. So if you want some muleys there you go.

My Lab wouldn't swim for the first 3 years of his life in a pool (just stood on the steps and splashed). Then we went to Woods Canyon and couldn't keep him out of the water trying to swim everywhere. Some are late bloomers. Plus hunting dove and quail, swimming isn't really needed unless you shoot over canals. Not as many people hunt waterfowl here so love of swimming isn't such a big issue. The hardest thing to fix is gunshy though. Take your time, lots of research and if it never happens at least you have a family dog.

I started a new job (Trauma ICU RN) and had training the last 6 weeks and scouted for Turkey before I went this weekend. Time just ran out. I'm ok with a spike, no need for a trophy this year. I'll take the first decent shot I get. Thanks for the help guys!

http://gunfightersinc.com/?page_id=251 The Kenai chest holster is pretty sweet. I use one for my carry gun when I'm outdoors.

Good luck. I got drawn for 6A turkey also. I see them up there when I'm not hunting, let's hope I can find them when I am!

I found this little guy out quail hunting Saturday in the San Tan area. Good thing his parents weren't around. Plenty of birds though.

I wanted to know if anyone knows if you are allowed to hunt in the Gila River or Salt River reservations? We used to hunt on the res back in Yuma to get away from the crowds and all you had to do was purchase a license from them. The terrain on the reservations up here (farm land) is closer to what I'm used to hunting and was wondering if any of the areas were huntable. I've looked at their websites but don't see anything about hunting on them. I've been told of a few places on the west side but don't want to drive that far so I'm looking for places closer to home in the east valley. Any help would be appreciated.

I used to go down Ironwood rd until I had to be more concerned with getting shot, it wasnt any fun anymore. Maybe gold canyon or queen valley area. People during dove season are scary.....more so then the snowbirds driving a Class A motor home. You obviously haven't been you Yuma during the winter. We can't even drive on our main streets from Nov 1 till the end of March. You see them buying jug wine and handles of whiskey (not whisky since that doesn't come in handles) at walgreens at 6am to start the day off then pile in 6 people in a xtracab 1 ton and start cruising around. I don't miss Yuma during the winter much because of that. Lol And getting peppered was always a rite of passage for us for dove hunting anyways...lol

Thanks for the info Matt. I'm going with our buddy Martine and a few other people from Yuma somewhere south of here. He says he knows some farmers that will let us hunt. It's a lot different here than back in Yuma since the entire east valley moved so far south. I heard cotton prices were up because of the drought in Texas and there was a lot more planted here this year. I know I saw a lot out in the west valley last weekend.

http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/articles/2012/08/09/20120809minnesota-fight-deer-leaves-man-black-eyes.html I know what we can do with all the mountain lions we have here, drop them off in Minnesota! I'm sure this guy would want a few to keep his wifes flowers intact.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/articles/2012/08/09/20120809game-fish-commissioner-cited-hunting-violation.html I was reading through the reports from the commission meetings about the prosecution procedings and they usually don't give much forgiveness to the other hunters who have self reported. I wonder if it will change now that he thinks "it's a little heavy-handed," he said. "Rather than being rewarded (for self-reporting), I was disciplined. I'm looking forward to my day in court." Who knows.... Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/articles/2012/08/09/20120809game-fish-commissioner-cited-hunting-violation.html#ixzz2318c20Wv

It's not like the San Carlos with trophy elk, it's just dove and quail that move quite easily to and from res. You would think they would allow non tribal hunters and have tie ins with the casino's for breakfast and cleaning them like they do in Yuma. Even if they don't make that much off licenses, they would get people in the door who might not have been to the casino's before that might spend plenty of money there. Oh well.

Thats what I thought, sucks though since there is a lot of good ground that is plenty open for hunting. Just didn't want to have to hunt tanks, wanted fields like I used to hunt back in Yuma. Thanks!

I have a new Chocolate Lab puppy and am looking for some recommendations for a veterinarian to establish care with who is familiar with sporting dogs and some of the specific problems they get over the regular family dog since it's a whole different spectrum of problems they can encounter being out in the wilderness. Does anyone have any suggestions about one in the East Valley? Thanks and have a great day!

Thanks for the help guys. Didn't even know about those docs before. Max thanks you also!

Let me know if you find any leads also. I'm looking for one myself. I saw a litter on Craigslist a few months ago and the only breeders website I could find in Az hasn't been updated since 09.

Here's a story from AZ Central this morning about someone who obviously shouldn't be hunting and a couple "friends" The descriptions are kinda vague but see if you can help. http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/11/11/20111111arizona-deer-poacher-sought.html SONOITA - A man who shot and killed a female Whitetail deer about 10 miles north of north of Sonoita is being sought by Arizona Game and Fish officials for poaching. Game and Fish spokesman Mark Hart says the doe was shot and left in the field on Nov. 6 near the Davison Ranch. A man in his mid-20s who used a tan shooting stick to prop up his rifle is being sought. He was accompanied by a man in his 40s and one in his late 20s. The men were camped on Davison Ranch Road in Davidson Canyon and driving a red 1990s Ford two-door pickup and a white 1990s Ford two-door pickup. The department is offering a $1,000 reward for the information leading to an arrest in the case. Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/11/11/20111111arizona-deer-poacher-sought.html#ixzz1dPkJpvH8

My brother inlaw put a hole in my Expedition, just missing the gas tank.... same thing click - BOOM! His was an older model 7 I think he bought it from Bear Mountain. The wierd thing was he had to take the safety off to open the bolt!? Another friend had purchased a savage new in the box. His did the same thing. That is scary stuff! James That is an older rifle then. The orig trigger design had that flaw and remington knew about it before it went into production origionally. For like 40$ or so you can send it into Remington and they will most likely (99%) put an entirely new trigger assembly in the rifle or fix the origional problem. I have an older 60's 700 in .243 that I inherited from my grandfather that I'm sending in after this deer season to have it done. It's a known problem with the older Rem's and I believe the "fire" to cycle the bolt mechanism was changed in the 80's or so. It scared the crap outta me and my friend the first time it went off on me when we got back to the truck after hunting and went to empty the rifle. Did a little research and now I know.

I lost 2 toenails hiking in there on Friday and am still sore. Lol Real rough country but from the right vantage points is real pretty. Only saw a doe the first morning then some stink pigs on Sunday. Had to come back yesterday and still have 2 of our 4 out there till Wed. Our first time hunting this unit and we might go back south next year, I've never lost any toenails hiking around illegals. Lol Good luck to all.

Just sent you a PM

I've been looking online and can't find any scope covers by NightForce. Just the Butler Creek one's and the Leupold one's. I bought some BC one's for my new Vortex scope but already think they are kinda flimsy. Vortex makes some but they are the Killflash type that I'm not sure I want or need.

I have a tag in the same unit and the fires look far enough away from the area we are going to hunt that it shouldn't hurt us at all. But I do think that the mentality to suppress all forest fires that we've had for the last 100 years is going to and has started to bite us in the @ss. It's so thick in some areas that they are even impassable by the animals. The only way to fix these probles is also the most painful and that is to let mother nature take it's course. I'm not saying burn 100,000 acres but once these areas burn, they won't burn for 30 or 40 years again. It's how they are managing Yellowstone now and it's working. They are letting the forest burn in sections and previous sections act as firebreaks for new fires. It's gotta happen at some point and it's just harder to watch after the last few years with all the previous large fires we've been having recently. I know the burnt areas aren't all pretty to look at but for the most part they are closer to being healthy again than they were before the fires. Just think of all the new edible growth that will have lots of protein to grow big racks in just a few years. Sometimes the long term benefit is hard to see from the short term pain. Just my $0.02. Good luck though this year.

Got drawn for a new to us unit (3rd choice), 24b Halloween Coues, and don't have a lot of info on it. Went to the map store and didn't really find much for maps that covered the unit with one choice since it sits in the corner of 4 maps and I didn't want to buy, carry 4 maps. I ended up buying a Tonto Forest map to start but did an internet search and found a site called www.huntunits.com It seems decent and the sample packet they have seems to be written by a GW. Does anyone have experience with this company/product? We have some connections with a few GW to get some info but wanted to get as much info to formulate and plan our scouting trips since it's not the easiest unit to get around in. Any other map suggestions would also be appreciated. Thanks!

I was wondering the same thing. I've looked on CL and BP and have only seen a few cams and usually they have the box so I'm pretty sure they are legit. I wonder if they send them back east where they are used more often.

24B WT Oct 28th +1 My group to