bowsniper

I heard at a G&F Meeting that starting in 07, the drawings for antelope and elk will be much earlier than the rest of the Fall Drawings. This will allow people to more time to plan for the antelope and elk hunts. Sounds like a good idea, but I have to wonder how they are making more money off of it. Bowsniper

Bow hunting mom?? That's so cool! I wish my mom or my wife were bowhunters! That's so cool! bowsniper

I hate to be a pessimist, but I think that they are going go through with this no matter what opposition we voice. I went to the meeting in Mesa last week, and I got the feeling that Leonard Ordway had a very negative attitude toward public input, and he is determined to push this through. This is his first initiative in his new position, and he is planning on not losing face. bowsniper

THese aren't coues, but still cool to look at. I got these off my coues7 gamecam inside the Phoenix city limits. bowsniper

Good topic! I have repeatedly seen bucks and does go by my game cam 30 minutes after me and my smelly hiking boots and my dog have been there. So at least where I hunt, they don't care about my smelly feet. I have given up on rubber boots. But, they have winded me while I'm in my tree stand, and they are gone fast. I have thought about leaving my smelly t-shirts around weeks before a hunt to try to get them used to my smell, but haven't tried it yet. As for peeing at my tree stand, hard to believe that wouldn't drive them away. The smell of my kids (boys, 5 and 9) bathroom drives me away!! bowsniper

A lot of good responses! I agree, I usually hear a "THWACK". I also can usually see the arrow sticking in the animal for a flash. Possibly with your excitement you are blinking? You should be able to see it hit if you have proper follow through. Practice, practice, practice on your follow through! As others said, use bright fletching AND knock. Carry flag tape in your pocket. As soon as you shoot, mark that spot. Keep the aim spot in sight until you can mark that spot also. I would definitely go back and look more, get some help if you can. Also, I ALWAYS wait at least an hour or two before following the animal if I can't see for sure that he is down. Not always, but usually they will bed soon if they are hurt and no one is chasing them. One other point, if you hit high in the lung or the paunch, there will probably be little or no blood trail because the body cavity is catching most of the blood. Keep looking and let us know what you find. Bowsniper

I did crop them down, but he was only about 3 feet away from the cam in the one picture.

I was soooo excited once that I couldn't even draw my bow back on a turkey! For several seconds I thought that the bow was broken, until I figured out that it was me that was broken. When I finally got the the bow back, my legs surged up when I released, and blew an easy shot. Last month, I watched a 3X3 for several minutes, deciding on to pass on him, wating for a bigger buck. I was fine, I wasn't excited at all, just having fun watching him. Then I decided just to practice drawing on him, not taking the shot. As soon as I drew, I went from calm to having my heart pound so hard I thought that the noise would spook the buck. Go figure! bowsniper

In case you haven't heard, AZ G&F wants to radically change the elk bow hunt in AZ. They want to take away some rut tags, and then give them back with a few extra for a Novemeber hunt. There has been a survey created for Arizona archery elk hunters to gather information about what the hunting community wants in reference to the Arizona archery elk hunts. Several groups are working with the Arizona Game and Fish Department and Commissioners on the upcoming hunt structures. Please take the survey and forward the survey link to every bowhunter you know. If you have previously taken the survey before the evening of Wednesday, 1/4/2006 you need to re-take the survey. All data collected before that time has been erased. This is a very important survey and should be taken by all bowhunters. Thank you. www.archeryelksurvey.com Please forward to every bowhunter you know!

In general, but not always, I have found that the more moon you have, the less active they are during the day. But if the bucks are chasing does now, forget about the moon and the weather and go now! WHT_MTNMAN, what elevation did you see the rutting action? bowsniper

What a blast!! Here's to your dry adrinal gland!! bowsniper

mulie hunter, Spot and stalk sucess with coues is possible but unlikley. It took the best hunter I know 20 years to sucessfully spot and stalk a coues. Your best bet is to put up a treestand or a blind near a good trail intersection. It could take a while to find a good coues trail. A game cam would be a big help. Your hunt could take months, with 99% of that time finding just the right spot. The good news is that coues usually stick to the same trails, with some aborations during the rut. bowsniper

I don't know about deer putting out extra scent, but I've given up on my rubber boots for my scent. Multiple times I've watched coues ignore my paths that I've walked on only minutes before with my normal hiking boots on. They just don't seem to care about the scent off of my boots onto the ground. Anyone else notice this? bowsniper

Well, it wasn't the best comment I've ever made, but it really wasn't intended as boast for myself, but a boast for "treehuggers" in general. Poaching treehuggers on this forum is a popular sport, and I've been trashed a few times. As hunters, your primary concern should be WILDLIFE HABITAT. This may be a surprise, but one of the primary concerns of treehuggers is WILDLIFE HABITAT preservation. The reasons are different, but the goals are the same. Just as most hunters aren't rednecks (I think?), most treehuggers aren't animal rights wackos. Most treehugger organizations have a neutral position on hunting. bowsniper

wklman, You are struggling a little with the topic as well as with some "details" of previous posts. For lack of substantive topic information in defense of your opinion, you have looked up some old posts and reworded them to distract from the real issue. Your time would be better spent researching the real facts of welfare ranching, instead of trying to blow smoke with inaccurate information about old posts. bowsniper

Patrick15, I agree with you 1000%! I'm sick of these B.S. myths that "ranchers are stewards of the land", and that they prevent urban sprawl. The reason that they have to build so many water sources is that overgrazing dried up all the riparian areas. Don't believe me, a few years ago AZ G&F issued a report stating that 90% of the state's riparian areas have been lost in the last 125 years due to overgrazing. According to G&F, AZ used to be a lush grassland area before the ranchers got here. Funny how all the wildlife got by for so long before the ranchers started abusing the rangeland. Unfortunately, most of the guys on this forum will label you a treehugger as soon as you say anything against ranching. I've been through this before with them. I hate to say it, but you are wasting your time with this crowd. Sorry to sound so negative, but I'm fed up with public land parasites as well as some of the redneck attitudes on the forum. Alright guys, let them fly, my rant is over. Just remember that a treehugger has killed a bigger buck (112") with an arrow than most of you have even glassed up. bowsniper (aka treehugger)

The way I understand the following, it is a PROPOSED rule change that G&F is considering. I have not personally verified it with G&F. R12-4-318 Seasons for Lawfully Taking Wild Mammals, Birds, and Reptiles Part C. 2. An individual participation in an "archery-only" season shall use and possess only a bow and arrow as prescribed in R12-4-304, and shall not use or possess any other weapons to take wildlife, including crossbows or any other bows with a device that holds the bow in a drawn position, except as authorized by R12-4-216. An individual participating in an "archery-only" season may carry a handgun for personal protection providing the barrel does not exceed six inches in length. bowsniper

Happy Birthday Amanda! I hope that you get your present on December 16th! Mark

Sometimes kids just have to learn the hard way. It might just take several hunting trips without seeing an animal or getting a shot, then finally getting a shot and missing to convince her to practice. Hopefully she'll miss the animal completely. Bowsniper

Guys, Here's a picture of my scouting buddy, Abbey. Over the years she has scouted many miles with me in search of coues. She's not quite 10 years old, but her body is filled with cancer, and we're putting her to sleep this afternoon. The Lord has really blessed my family with such a wonderful dog. bowsniper

So what do the guys on Monster Mulies call the Coues deer? bowsniper

I killed a carp at 565 yards a few years ago with a 300 Win Mag. I laser ranged him, and then dialed in my scope. I missed the first shot due to wind, but then compensated and got him on the second shot. After the kill, my buddy and spoter guided me over to him with a radio, otherwise I never would have found him. Before the hunt, I had practiced out to 800 yards and ballistically mapped my bullet out to 1000 yards. Had I not done that, I would have never atempted the shot. bowsniper

kwp- I like your method with the smaller licks. I was talking more about the 40lb bag of water softener salt licks. I disagree with you though about deer not licking salt blocks. I've had them lick the block down to a nub (no cows in the area). I do agree that they like to dig down and chew the dirt once the salt has desolved. Ernesto, thank you and your church so much for your prayers. It is very humbling and inspiring to have fellow Christians go before the Lord on my behalf. Bowsniper

you're right Amanda, the large blocks are too big to carry. I use the smaller blocks, that weigh about 2 lbs., and are about the size of a brick. you can get them at sportsman's warehouse or at the feed store. I think that it could take up to several months for the deer to start hitting it regularly. a blind should work ok, but probably not as well as a treestand. then again, if i had been using a blind, i wouldn't be sitting here today typing this message with one hand, I'D BE OUT HUNTING! bowsniper

A lot of guys dig a hole and pour in salt from a bag. the problem with doing this is that it pretty much makes a permanent salt lick, even long after the salt has desolved into the soil. if you decide not to hunt it, the deer can still use it. if you start more than one of these, the deer will have choices, and may not hit the one that you are hunting. if several hunters start a few of these permanent salt licks, the deer will have all sorts of choices. you setting up one salt lick will be worthless if there are several others in the area. you probably won't even see the others, because the salt desolves quickly into the soil, but the deer keep chewing the dirt for a long time. my way around this problem is to use a salt block. get them at the feed store for 2 or 3 dollars. leave them out, and if you decide not to hunt there, then just pick it up. sure, if they get wet, a little will desolve into the soil, but not nearly as much as bag salt will. sorry for the soap box, but if guys keep using bag salt, hunting salt licks will become pointless. bowsniper