bowsniper

I'm going to take my boys out the Robbins Butte Youth Dove Hunt this weekend. Has anyone been out to this annual event? Would Saturday or Sunday would be better, how early to get there, or any other tips would be helpful. Thanks, Mark

The Lord blessed me with this buck opening day. I had been hoping for a 5 by 5 that I had been watching, but he disappeared a few weeks ago. I guess that this guy was quartering a little more than I realized when I shot, so the arrow exited out behind his back lung, and then re-entered into his back hind quarter. But with the 2.5” Rage expandable hitting only one lung, he only went 40 yards before he piled up. I was surprised to see how devastating the hit was to his hind quarter, all the bones were completely shattered. It was nice to be done on opening day for once, so I hurried home to get my 12 year old son (kidbowhunter) and took him on his first archery coues hunt. He’ll be posting his hunt soon. There have been some fine bucks hitting the ground the last few days. Congratulations to you guys! Mark

I HOPE that I am wrong, (PLEASE tell me I'm clueless!) but I think McCain screwed up. The dems will rip her for only being a two year gov and no experience, even though osama has not much more. McCain should have picked Condeleza Rice, that would have been a two for one! ANYTHING to keep osama out! We're doomed Mark

Good thing you did not shoot, closed until Monday in unit 23! Mark

Jim, My respect for your knowledge of coues deer is never-ending. However, my tolerance for this kind of hunkie-dory window dressing article is pretty thin. Since you brought it up, let me ask you a few questions: You said about deer: “Now let’s examine harvest. Archers are required to phone in their harvest, yet noncompliance is a persistent issue. So, we estimate harvest using a voluntary survey card that is mailed to hunters. Questionnaires are a consistent way to obtain precise estimates with similar bias.” Do you mean that archers don’t comply so you estimate (archery or rifle harvest?) using the voluntary card mailed out to rifle hunters? This statement is pretty confusing, and in my paranoid mind I think you are just trying to window dress/confuse the whole issue mandatory archery reporting and volunteer draw permit reporting to the uninformed, non-questioning hunter. Can you explain what you were trying to say here? Can you please explain to me why it would not be a better management tool to initiate mandatory harvest reporting for all? You said about elk: “Relatively few changes occurred to the elk hunt guidelines compared with the deer. The most notable amendment was the addition of 400 permits for archery bull hunts during November. This was a new idea, similar to moving white-tailed deer permits out of December to provide greater numbers of tags.” Jim, this is untrue, this was not a new idea, it was just “repackaged’ from two years earlier. Leonard tried to ram it down our throats three years ago, but thanks to David Myrick and dedicated hunters presenting a scientific survey to the commission, archery hunters were able to stop the transfer of rut tags to November tags three years ago, but not last year. My question is, how long will these additional 400 bull tags be sustainable until you have to reduce the bull rut tags to make up for the new November harvest? A question about Javalina: Why did you change the metro unit tags to over the counter? Could this possibly wipe out metro unit herds? As I remember, Javalina went to a draw because the herds closest to the metro areas were getting hit too hard. Mark

ok, I give in. It's a shoulder mount for Troy. I spent a couple thousand for gas for scouting, what's another $600? bowsniper dad

You worked your butt off for him and you really deserve this guy! Congrats! Mark

There has been a lot of controversy about scent lock. I don't have a clue if it works, but I spend $$ on it, and wear it, just in case. A few years ago, I let a buddy sit my stand. He had been sitting and sweating in a blind for a week with no action and no shower. He climbed into my stand stinking without scentlock, and shot a buck in an hour. Mark

1. When you have deer hitting you stand salt/stand, do you try not to get close to it because of your scent? 10 to 30 yards really won't make much difference scent wise. Closer will make a difference for noise and motion when you are drawing you bow. I usually try to put my treestand about 20 to 30 yards away from where I think I might get a shot. 2. Do you generally hang you stands ahead of time to familiarize the deer with it, and again eliminate scent? I usually try to hang my stand a week before, but I don't think that it is absolutely necessary. 3. i've heard some guys wear rubber boots and such, do you guys do this? Or do you have other methods? I have had 100s of coues walk over my tracks an hour later and have never seen them care. Other guys on this forum have seen the opposite. I think rubber boots are necessary for eastern whitetail, but not coues. I have had coues walk up to blunts (arrows) that I have shot, bend down and smell them, and not care at all. For me, coues have never seemed to care about scent that I have left on an object or the ground. But if they catch my scent from the wind directly off of me, of course, they bolt. I do wear scent lock over my whole body, including scent lock booties over my boots. Your boots are the smellyest thing you wear because they are not washed. I think that the single most important thing that you can do is to place your treestand in a position where the wind can't blow your scent to the deer. Put your stand in a flat area or on top of a hill. If you put it on the side of a hill, any deer that can get above you will probably scent you out. Good luck and keep us posted. Mark

That is a real trophy!! Very few bowhunters have taken a coues by spot and stalk! Congrats!! Mark

That has to be the most beautiful coues buck that I have ever seen! Congrats!! Does you wife have any sisters??!! Mark

Way to go Troy, I am one proud papa!! It took 6 days to get your archery pig (one shot) and 8 days to get your archery turkey (one shot), so you deserved a quick hunt for a change! I have to tell you guys that I haven't been pushing Troy, he has been pushing the old man! Especially the turkey hunt, I wanted to give up trying to get into the birds, but Troy wouldn't let me. That hunt just about killed the old man off! I think that I'll have to quit hunting so I'll have more time to take Troy hunting. And with his 8 year old brother coming up, I guess I'll just have to quit my job too. Here are a two pictures of Troy's other hunts this year. bowsniper dad

Well, there you have it. The answer is as clear as mud! Mark

I am heading out Thursday afternoon, but I'm not too optimistic. I have been scouting the last several weekends and have not been seeing much. Good luck! Mark

I have found that coues use established water holes as a last resort. If there has been recent rain, they tend to skip the water holes. Mark

I've been lucky so far. I never put them on a water hole. I'd like to add the question "Has your cam ever been vandalized ? Mark

I always wonder why some guys just steal the memory. Is it because they don't want their picture taken, or do they just want to see the game pics? Has anyone had their cam destroyed because it was locked up and the thief did not have bolt cutters? So far I have been lucky, but think game cam theft is like termites: It's not a question of "if" but "when". Mark

I think that we should all do our best not to communicate with signs or anything else with other hunters. That way we can just show up to the spot with our big talk and fat attitudes and just duke it out with anyone else that shows up! Now that we are authorized to carry hand guns with our bows, heck, we could just shoot it out! This guy with the sign is obviously looking for a fight. I say we should all show up to his blind opening morning and kick his butt for trying to communicate! Mark

Of course there are no reservations on public land. (Unless you are a rancher) I'm sure that all you boys that are mocking this guy would just walk away with a big smile on your face if you found someone sitting in "your" treestand or blind. Mark

= riparian areas in Arizona (San Pedro River)

Do you think old yeller is the wife, sister, or mother? Maybe all three!! Mark

If you ever get your first coues, and it is at "your" own little honey hole, you might be feeling a little different about it when the cows come in. Or maybe you'll just need a box of tampons. Mark

Good picture of a fence line showing the bad effects of grazing. And you agree that cows push the deer out, which btw was the original question of the thread. But you are still agreeing with lark ? Must be some kind of rancher brotherhood thing? Mark

Why graze cows on public lands? Let’s see… We need the cows for beef, right? Well no, less that 2% of our beef supply comes from public lands grazing. We need cows because the range has to grazed to be healthy? How did the range ever evolve without cows? Cows are an exotic introduction to our range land. Any exotic introduction will have detrimental effects, over grazing, noxious weeds and plants, impacts on wildlife. Cows completely trash riparian areas. They erode the stream banks and eat all the cottonwood saplings. When the older cottonwoods die out, the shade for the water is gone, and that in combination with the eroding banks making the stream shallower raises the water temperature. The water temp change kills the natural fish. We need cows because the land will be developed without grazing. I’d rather have cows and hunting than condos, right? Well since most rancher private in-holdings are a few acres, compared to 1000s of acres of the public lands grazing lease, the only thing you could build condos on would be the few acres of private in-holding. You can’t develop the already public land, and you won’t lose hunting on it. You probably already can’t hunt in the private in-holding. We need cows because the ranchers build all the water holes for all the critters to drink at, right? Well gee, how did all the little critters drink before the ranchers showed up? Anyway, if the cattle and ranchers had not destroyed most of the state riparian areas, we would not need all the water holes. So basically, Arizona traded it’s riparian areas for cows and water holes. The only new water holes I see being constructed these days are by G&F, not by ranchers. We need cows because the ranchers pay money to graze to the fed and the state. Well let’s see… The ranchers pay $1.30 per month per cow to the fed. A GAO (Government Accounting Office) audit of Federal Grazing permits determined that it cost over $10 per month per cow for the government to administer the grazing leases (build fences, pay range cons to watch for overgrazing, and keep track of range health). That means that it costs the tax payers $8.70 per month per cow to let the Marlboro man to run his cows, trash the range, compete with wildlife, just because somebody’s family moved here 150 years ago, and his great grandpa went off to fight the civil war. Wood sumbuddy pleseee xplane too me why wee ned them cows? Mark

Remind me to put a few blunts in my quiver!