Hyperwrx

Great horn growth this early in the season. Here is a pair I called in and snapped a picture of last year. This was 1 week before archery or rifle season opened. Cant remember for sure. Carefree, AZ. Not hard to see.

If it wasn't for the logic in thinking you'd put the deer in the center of your frame Id have not found him.

2 deer tags here.

Was in the area so I swapped out memory cards even though it had only been 2 days since last time.

If it's a manufactured store-bought blind, a hunter would have to be pretty gutsy to go inside and sit in it under the premise of 'first come first serve'. Same thing with a manufactured tree stand. You walk into your area, look up, and are shocked to see some other hunter sitting in your tree stand. I can't imagine the conversation that would take place. "Pssstt.. hey that's my tree stand." "Shove off.. I was here first and thanks for the cushion." The AZ G&F regs book states in the ethics part in the front. Paraphrasing. -No cutting off or altering tree limbs for your tree stand. -No drilling in or screwing in climbing spikes into trees. -Leaving your blind and tree stand set up out on a location might be against the law and can be subject to seizure.

Your whitetail buck's horn growth resembles what mine look like... pathetic. I'm going to need binoculars to ID if its a doe or buck come Aug 22.

The current AZ G&F regulation book states (paraphrasing) that a blind, pop up, tree stand, feeder or trail camera left at a location does not 'reserve' that location to any one hunter come opening day. Courtesy should be extended to whichever hunter arrives there first come opening morning having the benefit of hunting that location that day or until he/she leaves. That makes sense to me but I can imagine opening day is a mad rush to some locations and heated arguments in the dark of morning. I know of a friend who went in beforehand and created a natural blind with sticks and branches and such and showed up opening day to another hunter in his blind. Major argument insured and the initial hunter left the blind and it was hunted by my friend. Did the visitor have to leave it?

They are the $50 cheap Tasco models you can get at Walmart. I have 5 and 1 wont flash to take night pictures but for the price, you can't beat them.

Very interesting read. The statement in the article that had me thinking was-

I have collected another few weeks of pictures from 4 trail cameras. Some of the camera dates/times are wrong. As I now realize I have multiple bears visiting this tank. When looking at color, remember that oftentimes the bears often are darker due to getting in the water. Bears going right to left are leaving the tank. I am unsure if I have 2 different bears or three on all these trail cam shots. Bear picture series #1- I will call this bear BEAR A. He is the largest and is light brown in color. Bear picture series #2- BEAR A in better light. Bear picture series #3- I think this is a different bear than BEAR A. I will call this BEAR B. Larger ears, head smaller. Bear seems smaller in mass. Same color phrase. Light brown. Bear picture series #4- I will call this bear BEAR C. Black in color and slightly smaller than Bear A and B Bear picture series #5- This is BEAR A again. In previous weeks I was told this is an average sized bear. Looks big to me. Coming back from getting in the water. Bear picture series #6- No idea. Middle picture shows a brown hue to his coat. Could be BEAR B. Not big enough to be BEAR A. Bear picture series #7- This is BEAR C. Smaller black colored bear. Now to a different trail camera in the area. Bear picture series #8- I think this is BEAR B. Same brown color but smaller than BEAR A. Bear picture series #9- I think this is BEAR B. Same brown color but smaller than BEAR A. Bear picture series #10- I think this is BEAR B. Same brown color but smaller than BEAR A. Bear picture series #11- I think this is BEAR B. Same brown color but smaller than BEAR A. Bear picture series #12- I think this is BEAR B. Same brown color but smaller than BEAR A. Now to a different trail camera in the area. Bear picture series #13- This is BEAR C. Black in color. Smaller than A & B. Bear picture series #14- Not sure BEAR A or BEAR B. Fat bear. Light brown color phase.

Hey, that ringtail is awesome.

That is a beautiful hog of a smallmouth for the Black River. There was no moments more enjoyable in my life than fishing the Black back in the late 80s- early 90s. 75-100 fish days were not uncommon. We had catfish back then also. And bears. Oh my the bears.

The Northeast corner of the state, up on the Navajo Reservation has a few small pockets of Red Fox. Back 20 years ago we had them across the upper end of the state. Gerry Blaire speaks of calling them in above Flagstaff. Now a very small population exists. Pretty soon I imagine they'll all be gone from our state. Here is mine on my garage wall, along side a typical grey fox. They reds we have are nothing compared to the pretty ones from elsewhere in the US. Those are called Cherry reds and fetch a nice price in the fur market. The fox above is worth about $20 in the fur market. I keep it more for a conversational piece. Some guys will say they've seen one elsewhere in the state but I think they mistake a red chested grey fox for a real red. Looking at the 2 here you can visibly see the difference.

I have a red fox taken in NE Arizona I need to have done.

Edit- I just looked. Its cheaper. You flesh it and ship them the bare hide. $28.00 *Bobcat, *Lynx, *Otter (*Must have CITES tag on pelts) $24.00 Badger, Coyote, Farm Fox $22.00 Red Fox, Grey Fox, Fisher

You can have a fox or bobcat garment tanned for around $35 from USAFOXX.com and they do all the work. I have had some coyotes done, a badger, a few fox, and 1 bobcat. They do fantastic work.

Caught this nice AZ bear a few days ago on 2 different trail cameras where I plan on filling my archery deer tag. Aug 22 opens for both deer and bear. He strolled down a path leading to a tank and then took a dip. I set the bottom camera is an hour too early I assume.

AZ regulations require a 'daily' check. Basically once each day you need to look at it to either release or dispatch any animal in it. You can check your trap through binoculars or actually walk up to the cage. Other states have 48, 36 and even 72 hour checks. In a cage trap you don't have to worry but a foothold is different. The longer the animal is left in a foothold trap exposed to other predators the higher your chances are of it either getting out because it gets put in a high stress situation and fights the trap or it gets eaten/killed by an animal higher up the food chain (including other people stealing your target animal). For this aspect (and many others) cage traps are ideal. Here is a potential $300 pelt down the drain because a mountain lion found the bobcat caught in the trap and it couldn't get away. Lion ate the belly and chest out and all vital organs. Its a real hassle but checking your traps once a day is the humane thing to do.

There is a learning curve to trapping and if you can lessen it, you'll enjoy trapping a lot more. Some old school trappers want to see the new guys fight through the trail and error stages of cage trapping. I had an old timer who took me and a friend under his wing and taught us all the stuff the first season on cage trapping and we each caught a dozen or so cats by following simple steps. When the time comes I can help you and promise you bobcats your first season if you follow simple procedures. If there are bobcats there you'll get them.

I had 3000 pictures on an 8 gig card a few weeks ago. Just an FYI. Dumb branch in front of the camera kept setting it off. Card was not full.

37A gets hit pretty hard by trappers from all directions. I'd learn the bounderies to the M units close by and trap the edges of them. Be careful. I use footholds and cages. I would have 30-40 sets out at any one time and it took me about 3-4 hours to check them all and deal with the fur. You don't have that kind of time or money to drop. I would get a cluster of 3 or 4 cages. That's enough for someone starting out and if you are smart about placement, you could catch more than enough to keep you busy and making money. If you broaden your target base to include grey foxes, you could keep very busy. Foxes are plentiful. Apart from the cages you need the following. I'll take the cheap route as you're on a budget. -Catch pole -Lure- Everyone had their favorite. I use John Graham lure. Pride Rock or Tomcat. $20 for 4 ounces. You'll probably go through 2 bottles. -Bobcat urine $40/gallon. 1 gallon is all you need. -Spray bottle for urine -Some danglers for the cages or go get a feather boa from Walmart and cut it up. $20 -5 gallon bucket -Skinning knife- get a cheap small buck knife and a hand held cheap knife sharpener -Fleshing pole- you'll have to buy this online. $40 -3-4 stretchers. Get wire Duke bobcat stretchers and a few fox stretchers Wood are way better but they are really expensive. -Trappers tags- you have to have them on your cages. $20 -Tail stripper and tail splitter- $20 -Tree limb cutter. Get one at Walmart and make it one with the shortest handles you can find. -Some type of a hand held device to break up hard ground. Something like this is what I use. -Box of neoprene blue gloves for skinning. -At Walmart they make $3 zippered pouches. Get one and put all your skinning gear in it. Knife, gloves, splitter and stripper, gallon ziplock bags, antibacteria soap.... All stuff to make a set goes in your bucket. One hand carries a cage, the other the bucket. Best place to buy stuff online is F&T Trapping. You'll have to pay shipping but they're quick and have it all.

I have no traps to sell but Craigslist often has guys selling them for much cheaper than the actual vendors. A 4 cage cluster of cage traps goes for $500 now. That's a whopping chunk of change to me, but one has to think a $500 investment pays for itself in 2-3 bobcats pelts (last year's pricing). Bob at Briarpatch Cages might have some used cages around he'll get rid of. You'd have to call and ask. Cell- 623 -203-1451 Trapper Education Classes down in the Tucson area are handled by Brent Parker. Here is his cellular phone number (520) 678-0254. Call him and ask when the next trappers ed class is to be held. Let me know if you have any other questions.

You can only use confinement traps (cage traps) on public land. Confinement traps have very few restrictions compared to using footholds. Footholds can only be used on private land and there is a myriad of regulations surrounding their use. Best get the AZ G&G brochure on trapping from their website and know it forwards and backwards. Stick with cage traps and you have much less to worry about but the cost to get into them is substantially more. Bob at BriarpatchCages.com or Mercer's cages are really the only 2 confinement cages around here in AZ. Both are quality cages. I have dispatched somewhere in the realm of 200+ bobcats in the last 6 years. Dispatching a bobcat with a catch pole is not nearly as dramatic as it sounds. You are not choking him out by restricting airflow but instead just pinching off the blood that goes to the brain which knocks him out. A good choke can take as little as 30 seconds if you get good position on the cats neck. First 15 seconds is a rodeo more due to the cat being restricted and restrained than him being in physical discomfort/pain. A bobcat (or lion) chokes out quite easily due to their jugular veins being situated between the skin the muscle on the neck. After doing it a few times you get the hang of it and it goes much faster and smoother for the bobcat. Also a good trapper is going to use the catch pole to ascertain if the bobcat is worth harvesting. Sometimes the bobcats have fur damage from lactating. It's called owls eyes and the fur is dramatically downgraded due to this so it's best to just release them. I choke a bobcat for about 15-30 seconds until it is rendering unconscious, then quickly release the noose from around its neck and pull it out of the cage. I lay it on its back and look at its belly for pattern and damage. You probably have a good 15 seconds to do this before the bobcat even begins to come around. If the bobcat's pelt is good quality put the noose back on and cinch it down. If not, pull the bobcat away a few feet and remake your set while it wakes up. Point it in a safe direction as I have had many bobcats wake up and freak out trying to get away from me and run into trees and bushes as they get their bearings. You are in no danger of getting attacked by a bobcat when it is waking up. They are quite dumbstuck and it takes a good 30 seconds for them to really get their wits about them Shooting a bobcat, even with a .22 will create a mess that you will spend 5 times longer cleaning up from the fur than just choking them out. You'd also spent a few minutes sewing the .22 hole up. Bird shot from a shotgun shell would tear up the fur. Snakeshot from a .22 would not kill a bobcat quickly nor efficiently. Coyotes, foxes, and badgers are much easier to just put the barrel in the cage or in front of their face and they will bite it, then pull the trigger. I use a Ruger 6 shooter and .22 shorts. Trying to choke out a fox or coyote is a losing battle. Hope that answered your questions. Post if you have any others. As a bonus, here is a couple of bobcat from last season to get you excited. Tucson and the surrounding area has a lot of bobcat but also a lot of trappers are emerging to take their fair share in that region. The hard working trapper will always out trap the lazy ones. Here is an unconscious bobcat on her back showing me her belly allowing me to examine her fur to decide if she is a good candidate to harvest. She was.

Millennium M-100R (14 lbs) Millennium M-210 sticks (17 lbs) Chameleon Bow Blind (5 lbs)

They have R12 substitutes you can buy. Its expensive though. $40 a can. Its' called Freeze 12 I think. Look on Amazon and Ebay.