mbiewer

well we survived. Jack wagons! From people shooting randomly in the middle of the night, quads around midnight (although they were "courteous" in the fact that they were just creeping down the road... but any noise in the middle of the night is enough to wake me up). more random shots fired, and then some rain, a restless English pointer, oh and a broken pop up camper. but as for the crawfish: We set up camp Friday and after about 1.5 of arguing with the kids and the dog to stay in bed we got up at 6. We tried turkey necks, chicken livers, and some packaged minnows (fish bait). for the first part of the morning. We went back around 11 with the group and checked the traps. plenty of bait but little yield. Before we went back to camp for the afternoon. One generous beach neighbor gave us the trout he caught, and one of my kiddos caught a trout from the kayak. We put the heads in separate traps with the rest of the gross parts and went back after dinner. Still hardly nothing. We put sardines, turkey necks, and cat food in the traps for overnight. Nothing like the 300-400 that was mentioned on here. but a boy scout group did say they were more plentiful at the opposite end of the lake. We probably got about a sandwich baggie of just tails (1/2) full all weekend long. Still had lots of fun, and thanks to everyone who had some input!

my brother and I had this hunt two years ago. It was ok, then the weather moved in. My first bull tag so we took the entire week off for it. In fact, I took 2 weeks off. Went up before thanksgiving and set up camp, dug the hole, stacked wood, and was ready. the weather came in on the last bit and it turned cold after that. Woke up to 20 degrees. Friday morning, we woke up to everything frozen. we had to start a fire to thaw stuff out to get it back in the pop up. fun times. We used a little buddy, but with a tank adapter to run it off the big 4.5 gallon (bbq sized) propane tank. Couple of hours at night, then took turns to get up before the alarm and start the heater for a while. Managed to borrow a cabin when we went up the next year (for my buddies hunt, on the late, late bull -the week after the 'thanksgiving bull" but didn't really need it, wasn't as cold. better safe than sorry) ---there was a CWT member here, last year offering bunk spots in his cabin in star valley. might be an option for you

i'd let you use mine, but its a little hard to drop them off. lol. Check out www.trapperarne.com Its a guy out of Scottsdale, he has decent prices. Otherwise plenty of places to order them online

TJ, I got 4... let me know when you and peg want to go out in them. I've dumped my canoe twice. Once in the salt, and once with help from a younger passenger. That's the cool thing about a kayak... you just have to balance yourself. theres no coordination between you and someone trying to see "whats over there".... ha ha Mine are pretty wide and flat (have rod holders built in too). I take mine down the salt all the time and haven't flipped one yet

well don't tell the girlfriend.... I picked up two more taps last night. Sportsmans has them. I got two of the 8.99 ones. But there's a bigger one for 22. I had two traps before. Luckily for me, never opened my fat mouth when I told her "I've got crawfish traps I wanna try with the kids". Ha ha. Wont have to hear the "what did you buy now speech". Az reg says 12x24 max size. What I went into sportsmans for was a solution to a feeder. Read online that if you can slow down their eating, it will keep them in the trap longer, and attract more. Probably poke holes in the tuna cans and just go with that. She was a good sport when we met up at the grocery store later. tuna, canned cat food, hotdogs, sardines, and chicken livers. Turn it into a science project for her two kids at the lake! ha ha

well, aside from getting kicked out of camp for using my old method (catfish bait, peeeeew-weeee)... theres some that would run me out of camp for putting bacon in the trap as well. ha ha I like the trout tactic, but .... requires the ability to catch fish. If it wasn't for the seafood section at fry's ... I wouldn't bet on it. Hopefully we can catch some fish on Saturday and change the bait for that. I was hoping for something to throw in there early in the morning and get the kids excited about checking them when they start to get the mid day numbness

Amen to that. Anybody see the story on the guy that the movie Shawshank redemption was inspired by? He was caught after 56 years on the run. Normal, ordinary, church going, retiree, "sweet old man, like a grandpa".... http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/05/us/shawshank-fugitive-caught/

Took my nephew fishing for the first time when he was 4. For a kid that seems so "busy" he really grasped the concept of 'Wait and see". He was really good to learn and brag about the #1 rule of fishing....its not about catching anything but getting the chance to be outside. My plan went awry though... he decided the best way to kill time waiting to check his pole was to "compare" our contents of tackle boxes. Now, my fishing tackle is nothing too extensive, but he realized I had funner stuff than I did. Every trip out after that had been something of a collective bargaining session trying to "make sure we had the same amount". It got pretty funny, about every trip, he would trade his stuff for his old stuff and the cycle continues

its our joke when we go for unit 23.... "either fill the tag or find 'Robby'". Hey $100,000 would bank roll a lot of neat trips and gear!

here is a write up on Robert Fisher: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_William_Fisher He murdered his family, blew the house up, and then fled to the hills. He is still being actively pursued and is on the fbi top 10 list. And to spread the legend even more... My brother has a sweet spot for Young and unit 23. He would either camp in the pinals by globe or go into the area around young. On one of his treks, he was stopped for gas and talking to locals in town. Apparently talking to the locals he was told that Fisher comes in from one direction and walks out of town another direction and has been seen a few times. I worked with a guy that moved on to bigger things in life. He now does GIS for AzGFD, and said that the FBI was in to talk to people in his department that were in charge of remote waters fish counts "in case they seen him". Apparently due to the back injury Fisher has, he has a very distinguished stance and is way out of the ordinary .

I wound up buying two kayaks, and then a third, and then my buddy got a fourth. Plus I have a canoe. I prefer sit ins. Lower center of gravity, a little bit of coverage on my white chicken drumstick legs I have. Out of convenience ive always doen the river with someone else (vehicle at start and one to catch). Ive done canyon lake a bunch of times by myself. One trip in particular was pretty bone headed, kayaked to the top dam (where apache lake meets canyon).... except for I started at about 5 pm and it took me 6 hours. Very sore and tired the next day. Been done the "town" portion of the verde in my canoe, but the entire length is on my bucket list. Ive gotten a couple of friends hooked on kayaking. The easiest way to explain it is "road hunting vs cross country hiking". Took a friend out to canyon and obviously slower than the power boats that whizzed past us, we watched bald eagles on the hunt, and eating; big horn sheep; and plenty of spots where the boats cant get. I recommend to "beg, borrow, or steal" someone elses kayak before purchasing. Craigslist has deals sometimes too to watch out for. Canyon, Tempe (although I wont go there again), Woods canyon, Parker Canyon and some of the other lakes have rentals to get a taste for it.

For years we tented it. And then my buddy got a pop up for him and his wife. The only problem was storage, he didn't have space. So then it came into "i can hold that for you". ha ha. Having grown up without the luxury of a camp trailer we are set in our ways, sorta. One "quick and dirty" turkey hunt into unit 8 I spent the first night in a 3 man tent with my brother. Back issue, sleeping on a rock, and opening day anxiety, I didn't sleep. But the tent we had at the time, I was inside against the non opening wall. After that trip we opted, camping in tents... hunting in the trailer. In the 10+ years of using it, I can only recall one trip that we "hung out" in the trailer. Javelina in 37b, where we camped it got so cold and windy as soon as the sun went down. It was nice to have a place to sit in and play cards. We were still bundled in layers and waiting to go to bed. In a tent, we woulda packed up. (this was also the year I purchased a little buddy the next week). There's "tailgating" style grills (coleman makes a nice one) that we have. We don't cook anything inside. Mainly because #1 it inconvenient, #2 the canvas will smell like dinner the rest of the trip. Its a dry place to sleep, change, and store clothes (like this past turkey hunt). Livin' lite makes aluminum camp trailers that are pretty simplified https://www.livinlite.com/qs-tentcampers.php. (who wants to poop next to your pillow? as in most of the pop ups now.) If you're going to go new. The only thing I can add is layout. The one I purchased from my buddy (eventually) has two slide out bunks and a dineout (standard set up). But the dine ette bunk is under the back bunk. 9/10 its only two of us in the trailer so we put the table outside as a work space. But with the traditional over under bunk is a pian if you need the table inside or have to use all three bunks (think of climbing over someone to answer nature at 3 am) Theres different configurations that have the slide out at each end, but then the dinette is set up off of center to create a walkway to the "top bunk".

did you get my PM? Sorry, just sent it to you after your original post, and let life go on. Should have checked in with you to see if you got it. Tim has one up for sale. He had a rock crawler that he decided to get rid of. Now he doesn't need the trailer it was under. (standard car trailer). One of my friends took it to Oklahoma and back to haul a car. Wound up putting new tires on for him during that trip. Matty

I got an '05.... dodge ram. (cue the sad violin music). that's a heck of a deal for some lucky recipient

my brother lives in the pueblo down there. Every time we go to visit we seem to wind up at Apson's taco shop (sorry, I could show you where but not tell you where, lol). (close to the I-19 &I 10 interchange) They have something like 12 different kinds of street tacos. The front runner is the Rizarrado (?) taco. They cook ribs, then shred the meat off the bone and make them into tacos. And they have Sonoran's too Sit down places, the last time we went to visit we went to Mosaic's. Great salsa. my girlfriend liked the salsa so much that on the way out of town on the sunday we left, we stopped in and bought salsa to go (also an option. they sell it in the pint, 1/2 gallon or gallon size). El Charro is another great hidden gem by downtown. I didn't get to partake in it, but heard of the glory. They have a "build your own taco" platter for the table of like 6 people. 4-5 different kinds of meat, and then fixings. Sonoran dogs are amazing. We started at BK and Canelos but those are so run of the mill ordinary compared to the carts and little places around town. The daily star did a series on the best sonoran dogs out in Tucson. My brother ben and his buddies followed the articles and did their own research. ha ha. and now im hungry, its only 9 am

how does it kick? can't say I've ever shot a 20. Looking at picking one up to get my 11 y o stepson involved

youth or full sized stock on it?

I dragged my feet and put in for deer at about 8 am today, not a problem.

I got mine from sportsmans. its a collared button down (for formal fishing wear ha ha). I actually got it for kayaking moreso than fishing. Can button it up or adjust it (yes with pockets) for the situation.

What about a spool of bungy cord? gotta replace the bungy netting on my kayaks after the sun rot. Does Mesa/Tempe sales have that too?

link?

or how they close the road, but still let logging trucks use it.

was in 8 a few years back. Seen two massive rv's set up right behind the road closed sign. Also in 8, we went down one road that connected two to together. On one end there wasn't any signage to indicate road closed, just the normal FR#. Got to the other end and seen that they had changed the road to a closed marker sign. Can you play ignorant? I agree, makes doing the right thing more frustrating when others still do what they want

So.... Anyone hear of this stuff? Was going through "close encounter elk" videos and one was a 4 yrd cow that walked in on the inventor of this clothing. So I looked it up. lots of neat videos and pictures (some people from az in fact). And big name sponsorships (Hecs sponsors shows on the outdoor channel) heres the link http://www.hecsllc.com/

I don't think its a marketing strategy as much as it is a geographical setback. Especially for 22n/s 22north isn't actually all that big (unit percentage wise). I think they find the geographical middle and cut the map. Same thing for 23. for "easy" reference, the road that drives through the middle of young is part of the boundary for the unit split. Theres way more real estate south of young