m77

No seriously, keep your powder dry. My first Wisconsin whitetail muzzleloader hunt I had my 50 Cal. Hawkins in the cabin at night. Walked outside and loaded it. Preceded to my favorite spot down in the cedar swamp. Nice buck walk by at first light and the only sound from my gun was the cap going off. dang. Had to remove the nipple, pack some powder in and the next buck that came through caught the full load and then some. I always leave my muzzleloader in the trunk now. Lesson learned.

Keep your powder dry!!! Good luck and enjoy.

Like Joey's post on NO PATIENCE, I have met individuals in both the hunting and fishing sports that did not grow up hunting with their fathers, but became interested in hunting and fishing while watching hunting and fishing shows on TV. I also watch my share of these shows mostly for new equipment and tactics. I feel the majority of these shows do NOT portray a realistic view of what hunting and fishing is all about. After all, how many of us public land hunters have ever hunt over food plots or use time controlled feeders. As a young man hunting the cedar swamps, marshes, and hard woods of central Wisconsin I did on occasion set up near the corn stubble fields, so I guess that may count. Anyway, I am getting off topic again. How many of you have met Hunting Show Enthusiasts that think a hunt means 10 minutes in the field yielding a Pope and Young animal?

My favorite show is the Crush, for one obvious reason. I agree with Scooter, our best hunt tags are for sale to the highest bidder. Most of the time those tags do seem to go to huntings most famous HUNTERS. And the rest of us get to watch it on TV.

Everyones getting their day packs ready and checking them twice. WHAT ARE THE ESSENTIALS IN YOUR PACK? Do you make a list in advance and check it off as you pack? Do you have a good luck charm that you never hunt without?

I haven't shot archery in a few years but I am looking at equipment again. I shot the Scott Dual Caliber Wolf and am seriously thinking of using it. So, tell me what you think. What do you shoot?

Sorry Chico, I just couldn't resist. Public land and the roads that are offered for us to access them should never be blocked by hunters or anyone else other than public officials like law enforcement. As members of this website know, we have had our share of discussions on public access to other resources such as water holes. If someone is sitting in the center of a public access road I would definitely ask him why he was restricting access first, as opposed to running him over and then trying to find out why he was there. If you could start from the beginning with facts about the situation members of the website could better advise you. Your story jumps around and none of us can put it together.

When did Arizona legalize medicinal marijuana????

no they wont, not enough of elk in those places. they just inbreed and the genetics go to chit. Outdoor Writer, what you say? Do they "just inbreed and the genetics go to chit."? I am not a wildlife biologist like trphyhntr, but from what I understand Minnesota started the reintroduction project back around 1913. They brought in elk from several different location of western herds. Sounds to me the biggest problem today is landowners complaints about damage to crops. Wisconsin also has introduced elk to the northern part of the state. Wolves are also migrating (legally or illegaly) into the state. I have hunted bear in northern Wisconsin and I would love to return just to see elk moving through the woods. I have never been able to weigh an elk on the hoof (after field dressing) from Colorado or Arizona due to skinning and quartering in the field but an 820 elk sounds pretty dang healthy to me.

Thanks Outdoor Writer for sharing that story with us. Beautiful Bull, Great Size. Minn, Wisc, and Kentucy will all give AZ a run for it's money with big bulls. LOTS of great vegetation in those states and some very heavily wooded areas.

Hey, why leave us hang. What is the rest of the story????

Nice. Seasoning and a hot grill is all you need now.

Beautiful Bull. First bull and did it with a muzzle loader is fantastic. I love the work that starts after you get one on the ground. The skinning, quartering and hauling is sooooo rewarding.

Shedhunteraz and out2hunt are guys that I believe this website was originally started with. Back in the day we all talked about the enjoyment of the hunt as they have in the above posts. The harvest of the game is suppose to be for the meat it provides your family. Our own Game & Fish and many many hunters apparently have never been taught that. The wall mount is a remembrance of the experience.

Thanks for everyone's input. I now have a list of release to go try.

Scooter, your pack sounds like mine. Way more than I ever have needed. Those three knives and sharpener came in handing skinning and quartering an elk back in a wilderness area of Colorado. So did the game backs and parachute cord. Like your list of Bare Essentials Ready2Hunt. Are you prior Active Duty Military? Thanks everyone. Thought I might get a better response, but I guess the post isn't controversial enough. LOL. Did I just use LOL? Sorry about that!!!!!

Awesome video. Thanks for sharing it with everyone. I moved to Hawaii and greatly miss my time in Arizona. It is truly one of the greatest states.

I keep trying to come up with a solution to the problems everyone has been having to water hole or stock tank hunting confrontations. Only thing I could come up with to solve this would be have the AZGFD make it illegal to hunt within a hundred yards of any named stock tank in AZ. Any other ideas? This would solve tree stand and ground blind disputes. It would also allow game to access water without disturbing arguing hunters. Sounds like a recommendation, doesn't it?

Growing up in Wisconsin and starting Whitetail hunting at a very early age with my dad, I remember how Wisconsin would start the fall season with archery hunting. Then close all whitetail hunting during the main rutting season. Then the rifle season would open shortly after the main rut was over. Wisconsin deer hunters shot more deer every year than the state of Arizona has for a deer population. Do you feel not hunting during the rut in Arizona would improve deer (whitetail and mule deer) populations in the state?

They were doing the same in 6A, 2 - 8 Nov. Every morning for a lease a couple hours.

I agree POB that water (and vegetation) are a key to wildlife numbers. Also, Willyhunts2 you make a good point about one buck being able to breed many does. If doe numbers are good, and a buck has a chance to breed a good share of them, then fawn birth rates should also be good. So, what's the problem with AZ deer numbers? Again, growing up in Wisconsin it was not unusual to see a lot of does with two fawns each. And those numbers seemed to carry into the deer season. In AZ I typically will see several mature does with maybe two fawns in the entire group. So did the some of the does not get breed? Did only two of several does only have one fawn each? I know a few years ago I took a Coues on Fort Huachuca before he had a chance to breed does. He sure was hot on some does out chasing during the middle of the day. Did that prevent some of those doe to breed and produce that next spring?

Just hunted mule deer in 6A first week of November. Saw and heard elk almost every day. Had several bulls within bow range. One a fairly nice bull, but like Antmo23 said, I like eating elk so score doesn't matter to me, either.

No photos to show here. My son and I went 0 for 2. Both of us had the chance at a nice muley but waited on pulling the trigger to make sure it was not a whitetail. My buck had a typical 4 x 4 muley rack but I didn't see his tail until too late for a fore sure kill shot. My son saw a nice muley with a flatter whitetail looking rack with double drop tines. Again, once he knew it was a muley it was too late for a good shot. He said this buck looked like it was very old. Both buck were with a small group of doe. The hunt was a great time being out with my son. We saw a lot of elk. Several nice bulls within bow range. The elk were talking early every morning both cows and bulls. The area we hunted seems like it could hold a greater amount of deer. There are so many acorns on the ground that the squirrels were getting tired of collecting them. And I saw more cottontails than any other hunt in recent years. Wish everyone with upcoming hunts the best of luck.

Hunters are typically their own worst enemies. Take for example throwing the game across the hood of their truck and parading down main street before driving home. The anti-hunters loved that. How long did it take for hunters to wise up to that? Baiting and using trail cameras to photo game, then posting your photos on websites like this one while the game is living. Then posting the photos of the same game after harvest is equivalent to throwing them over the hood of your truck. Or all those posts so far this year of wounded game not being recovered. Then found days or weeks later, only to be claimed for the antlers. Trophy Hunters by name only give a negative tone to hunting. Advertising wounded game recovered for the rack is bad publicity for hunting And, why where so many of us up in arms about guides using ultralight aircraft to spot game then radio down to guides with clients a number of years back? Was that really any different then baiting? Maybe baiting should only be allowed for a certain time period and one has to stop say a month prior to the first opening season. Are trail cameras on public lands an invasion of an individuals rights? Maybe all those trail cameras are disappearing due to someone not wanting to be photographed when scouting water holes on public lands. What about trail cameras only being allowed to be used two weeks prior to opening day? I guess what I am trying to say is we need to do a better job policing ourselves. Then maybe we won't be policed by others so much. We give Game and Fish direction in which they lean by our actions.

Welcome New Member. My suggestion is to use this website to your advantage by using the search engine. Type in key words and find posts with information you are asking questions about. For example type "unit 6a". See what post pop up. Read them, study the photos for vegetation, terrain, mountain ranges, weapons used, scopes, packs, clothing, boots and use all that info to your advantage. Then search some more with key words found in those posts. Example like Clear Creek, Whitetail Tank, Moose Meadows. Just keep searching and putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Hope this helps.