bowsniper

Mike, That's a fantastic buck!! Congratulations!! You work harder at hunting coues than anyone else that I know. You did the right thing by taking that buck, he is a buck of a life time. That other buck didn't get that big for being stupid. You may never see him again. Hopefully you will. I'm sure you'll be looking for him all year. You have had quite a year. You came back hard from bad injuries and took two awesome bucks. My prayers are with you that your back fully recovers. Your friend, Mark

Here's a picture of the buck that I was trying to wrap my 2007 tag around. I spent 6 very COLD days in my treestand, passing several other bucks, waiting for this guy to come by. Finally, around noon on December 31, he came by. He gave me a great broadside shot a 25 yards! I drew back and released, and WHACK! I felt my lower cam hit my knee! The arrow flew like a rock, and hit about 5 feet low. I was sick, and it has taken me a few days just to post about it. At least it was a clean miss. I've shot a lot from sitting in a treestand, and that's the first (and last) time that's ever happened. Maybe I'll get another chance next weekend. I hope that you all have a great year of hunting. Remember to keep Christ and your families FIRST in your lives! Mark

This is true to a large extent, but there are other factors that influence the timing. I have had my stand in the same location for the last three years. Three years ago, the does were in full estrus late in the 2nd week of December. The following year the does were in full estrus late in the 3nd week of December. Last year they were in estrus in the first week of January. This year they are not even close yet, and it's looking like it will be January. Now, assuming that the light in the day hasn't changed, and that these are the same does or genetically related, there are other things influencing the timing. I have tried to correlate weather and temperature, but I don't see any correlation. I have been the only hunter near these does and haven't been busted or pressured them. So what else is left? Water/drought, food availability, or ?? Mark

Now, there's an idea....... Mark

Don’t even get me going on this topic!! A few years ago, the children’s network Nickelodeon, ran a program during kids prime time called “My Family is Different”. It was about a kid that had a couple of homosexuals for parents, and it was "OK". Not only are they ramming it down our throats, they are ramming it into our kids too, trying to “educate” them that this crap is normal and acceptable. I refuse to let my kids grow thinking that this is normal and acceptable. I refuse to refer to these people as “gay”. The term “gay” is what they want to be called and is promoted by the homosexual agenda to make their unnatural deviant behavior seem more “friendly” and “happy”. Gay means happy, and it should not be equated to immoral homosexual acts. If the trend continues, eventually, the term homosexual will be regarded as socially unacceptable as the “N” word. Mark

Younghunter, If you ever get married, you better keep this kind of data classified and plead the 5th!! Mark

We had a great family hunt this last weekend. Both my wife and and son had Coues tags. My wife really didn’t want to take a deer, but I convinced her that it would be a good family adventure and good to for the boys to see mom hunt. My son (KidBowHunter) took his coues opening morning. Saturday, mom and little brother drove up to the hunt camp to join us. On Sunday, we were all out hunting with mom at first light. At 9:00 that morning she took this nice forkie. I was really happy that my seven year old was able to be part of mom’s hunt! Mark

Way to hang in there Jared! Great job!! Mark

Different brands (and weights) sight in differenetly. Make sure you sight in whatever you choose. Mark

Troy has been faithfully following me into the woods for over five years now in search of coues, and he really deserves this buck! Congrats Troy, you worked hard for him! bowsniper dad

We can all thank the yahoo quad riders who can't seem to stay on established roads for this. It would be easy to blame the tree huggers for this, but I'm convinced that the real reason behind this is the out of control quads tearing up the forest. The quad nuts will be easier to control with more roads closed. A perfect example of a few wrecking it for everyone. Mark

Here's a picture from a game cam that was taken just as the arrow exited the elk. Mark

I still think that the bipods are torqing your forend. Possible the wood has swelled or warped? I'm thinking that any rest not mechanically attached to your forend would give you the same impacts. Mark

I shot a carp once at 565 yards across a canyon. He dropped where I hit him. My spotter guided me to him by radio, otherwise I never would have found him. I think that at long range, you really need a spotter not only guide you to the animal, but to watch if the animal has been hit. With high magnification, the recoil will keep you from seeing the impact. Mark

What kind of stock do you have on the rifle? It sounds like the barrel is not free floating like it should be, and differnet rests are causing the stock to rub the barrel different amounts. If the shooter is good, different shooting positions should have little if any effect on point of impact. I think the fore end of your stock rubbing on the barrel is the problem. While the kind of rest may effect your group size, with a good bedded and free floated stock, the rest should not effect your point of impact. Mark

I have been using a scent lock suit for 4 years, and I have no clue if it helps. Mark

I saw Lark once! Mark

Good thing that he was purged from the gene pool! Mark

I ran across this at the url below. I can't attest to the accuracy of the statistics, but they seem pretty ugly. Mark http://www.savage-productions.com/illegal_...tributions.html ILLEGAL ALIEN "CONTRIBUTIONS" TO THE U.S. 2006 (First Quarter) INS/FBI Statistical Report on Undocumented Immigrants CRIME 95 % of Warrants in LOS ANGELES are for ILLEGAL ALIENS 83 % of Warrants for MURDER in Phoenix Arizona are FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS 86 % of Warrants for MURDER in Albuquerque New Mexico are for ILLEGAL ALIENS 75 % of those on the most wanted list in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Albuquerque are ILLEGAL ALIENS 24.9 % OF ALL INMATES in California detention centers are Mexican Nationals here ILLEGALLY 40.1 % of all inmates in Arizona detention centers are Mexican Nationals here ILLEGALLY 29 % (630,000) Convicted ILLEGAL ALIENS felons fill our state and federal prisons at the cost of $1.5 Billion Annually 53 % Plus of all investigated burglaries reported in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and Texas are perpetrated by ILLEGAL ALIENS 50 % Plus of all gang members in Los Angeles are ILLEGAL ALIENS 71 % Plus of all apprehended Cars stolen in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California were stolen by ILLEGAL ALIENS or "Transport Coyotes " 47 % of cited / stopped Drivers in California have NO License, NO Insurance, and NO Registration for the vehicle of that 47 %, over 92 % were ILLEGAL ALIENS 63 % of cited / stopped Drivers in Arizona have NO License, NO Insurance, and NO Registration for the vehicle of that 63 %, over 97 % are ILLEGAL ALIENS 66 % of cited / stopped Drivers in New Mexico have NO License, NO Insurance, and NO Registration for the vehicle Of that 66 %, over 98 % were ILLEGAL ALIENS BIRTHS 380,000 Plus "ANCHOR BABIES" were born in the U.S. in 2005 to ILLEGAL ALIEN PARENTS, making 380,000 babies automatically U.S. Citizens 97.2% of all costs incurred from those births were paid for by American taxpayers. 66 % OF all births in California are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal whose births were paid by taxpayers HOUSING 300,000 plus illegal aliens in Los Angeles Country are living in garages Nearly 60 % of all occupants of HUD properties in the United States are illegal aliens. TV & RADIO STATIONS 14 out of 31 TV stations in L.C. are Spanish only16 out of 28 TV stations in Phoenix are Spanish only 15 out of 24 TV stations in Albuquerque are Spanish only 21 radio stations in Los Angeles are Spanish only 17 radio stations in Los Angeles are Spanish only 17 radio stations in Albuquerque are Spanish only SCHOOLS 34% plus of Arizona students in grades 1-12 are illegal aliens and 24% plus are non-English speaking 39% plus of California students in grades 1-12 are illegal aliens and 42% plus are non-English speaking In Los Angeles County, 5.1 million people speak English - 3.9 million speak Spanish SOCIAL SERVICES 43 % of all Food Stamps issued are to illegal aliens 41 % of all Unemployment Checks in the United States are to illegal aliens 58 % of all Welfare payments in the United States are issued to illegal aliens Less than 2 % of illegal aliens are picking crops but 41 % are on welfare POPULATION Over 70% of the U.S. annual population growth (and over 90% of CA, FL, and NY) results from immigration EMPLOYER PROFITS The estimated profit to U.S. corporations and businesses employing illegal aliens in 2005 was more than 2.36 trillion TAXES 62 % of all "undocumented immigrants" in the U.S. are working for cash and not paying taxes, predominantly illegal aliens are working without a green card The cost of immigration to the American taxpayer in 1997 (last known calculation by Professor Donald Huddle, Rice University) was a NET (after subtracting taxes immigrants pay), $70 Billion per year. [What are the 2006 costs?] The lifetime fiscal impact (taxes paid minus services used) for the average illegal alien is $55,000 cost to the American taxpayer in a 5-year span. You personally pay $11,000 every year to illegal aliens. JOBS (per Center for Immigration Studies - September 2006): Between 2000 and 2005, 4.1 million immigrant workers arrived in the U.S., accounting for 86% of the net increase in the total number of employed persons (16 & older), the highest share ever recorded in the U.S. Of the 4.1 million, between 1.4 and 2.7 million are estimated to be illegal aliens. Also, between 2000 and 2005, the number of young (16 to 34) native-born men employed declined by 1.7 million - at the same time, the number of new male immigrant workers increased by 1.9 million. [Do you still believe the gov't employment rate stats?]

Despite strong support from hunters, G&F refuses to institute a mandatory harvest reporting system. The result is suspect harvest data, that G&F can manipulate into what ever their agenda desires. What if enough hunters boycotted the current harvest survey post card? Could that possibly nudge G&F into a mandatory harvest reporting system, that would certainly produce more accurate harvest data? Think about it..... I'm going to be filing mine into the trash. Mark

crazy$coues - We're both bowhunting fools, and care about Arizona hunting. No hard feeling about our debate!! Mark

If G&F were to ever make harvest reporting mandatory, I would eagerly participate in the gathering of accurate data (send the cards in) which would allow (force) G&F to make responsible management decisions based on real and accurate harvest data. It should be obvious to the casual observer that I care about what's going on. Otherwise I would not be on this forum trying to instigate G&F to obtain accurate harvest data. Mark

Yeah, I do get it. I get that over 50 hunters from Phoenix traveled to Flagstaff to give public input to the commission, and the commission blew them off. One commissioner whined "I've been here four days, and I'm tired, and I want to go home" (so screw your public input!) I get that Dick King, the most diplomatic and peaceful person I know, got so exasperated with the commission, that he lost his temper with the commission, and gave them an ear full. I get that leonard and the fish police, listen to public input because they have to, and then do what they want. I get that less than 30% hunters send in the harvest survey, so G&F guesses what the real numbers are. I get that G&F refuses to do anything that will provide accurate harvest data. I get that a lot of hunters and hunting organizations give input to G&F, and they are ignored. I get that what ever we are doing now to influence G&F IS NOT WORKING. What don't you get? I am fed up (and "some folks like me", to use your words) with being part of a bogus system of public input and corrupt harvest data that is used to justify poor management. Don't you get that if nobody sent in the harvest survey card, G&F would have to go to a mandatory harvest reporting system?? Mark

That's my point. Right now, the response is so low, that the harvest numbers are extrapolated (guessed). Why G&F wants to keep guessing and not collect accurate data is a great question. If we boycott the response cards, making the response even lower, G&F would have even less to base their guess on. It could force them into instituting mandatory reporting for all hunts. Would that be a bad thing?? Mark

Buck are certainly more suspicious and obviously more sensitive to noise and movement. But, I'm wondering if they might be more sensitive to human scent. Possibly either their smell is better or they are just less tolerant to human scent? I had always thought that does and bucks pretty much were able to smell human scent the same. But after 6 days of sitting in my tree stand, I'm beginning the think that this is not the case. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks, Mark