Coach

Wow, wish this was available earlier. Nice rangefinder.

16" offroad package. Make an offer. Show Low, Lakeside area.

Great looking buck! Huge congrats.

That's a great looking buck! Glad he kept showing up for you! Nice job on the video footage too.

The kids and I cleaned up. 4 for 4 for pigs and turkey - guess that's 8 for 8, lol. Matt (my oldest) and I got 23 archery javi. That should be a fun hunt. Nick (middle son) got 23 youth javi and Josh (youngest) got 24A/B youth javi. Nick and Josh got the unit 1 youth turkey, Matt got the 3C youth turkey, and I'm left with clean-up with the late unit 1 turkey. Looks like a busy Spring! Congrats to everyone who drew.

Yeah, the AZGFD website even says they are available, but all I see are fall results. Any time now...

Awesome job Bill! Loved the story too!

I hit a bull elk many years back. I knew the shot was high in the scapula. I spent 6 days looking for that elk. I wouldn't even bring my bow with me, and could have killed 2 or three bigger bulls. Finally, I meet some guys on the road as I'm going back looking for this bull one more day. They have a bull beaten nearly to death at the edge of a field..I couldn't bear two wounded elk, so I put my tag on this one, too weak to stand up. If you hit an animal with a lethal shot, that's your tag. I've burned more than one tag in the fire when I messed up. An ethical hunter knows they can keep on hunting, or burn their tag when they lose a wounded animal. As far as I'm concerned, your tag is good for one animal. If you somehow fail to tag a mortally wounded animal, you should relinquish your tag, whether in the fire pit of turn it over.

Wow, as I read the responses here, I just want to say "Thank You" to all of the kind posts. You guys rock and really make this place feel like a great group of friends.

IMO, it's not an archery vs. rifle thing. I've seen it from both ends. Legally, there is very little to enforce tracking a badly hit animal. This is where ethics come into play. I thought I knew a little bit about tracking and following blood trails, until I met an old friend I'll just call Doug. Doug taught me so much about following blood. For one, if you're not on your hands and knees, you aren't doing your job. I see a lot of guys walking around, looking for obvious blood...Sorry, but that doesn't cut it. Once you've hit an animal, the responsibility lies directly on you to do everything you can to find it. And the only way to do that is to get on your hands and knees, and work the point of the shot, to the jump tracks, to the last drop of blood. I've worked a number of "bad hit" blood trails now, and none of them are any fun. But you owe it to the animal to track it as far as you can, realize that when it realizes that it is hurt, it's gonna go down hill and toward water. But that animal might just keep on walking so you might have to track it many miles.

What a great looking buck! Huge congrats, and glad to hear the other hunters helped out.

Just around the corner, still two weeks away and I can barely sleep! Somewhere up there is a huge buck that I hope to out-maneuver!

Ok, just posted the story. http://www.coueswhitetail.com/forums/topic/36497-back-from-13b/ Sorry it took so long, I'm long winded, lol.

I'm back home - story and pix are coming!

Just wanted to see what you guys think about antler restrictions. Currently, in AZ, an antlered buck is any buck with horns protruding the scalp, and capable of being shed (that’s my loose interpretation); NM and other states require at least a fork on one side. I just wanted to see what other hunters here think about a point restriction on deer.

Thanks for all the responses. It's one of those topics I've thought about from time-to-time but never really got a strong feeling one way or the other. On the one hand, it seems like it would result in more mature deer. But as others have pointed out, NM has had this in place for a long time, and you don't see a big difference in size or numbers of mature bucks.

I used to hate "little dogs" We took on a little runt terrier mix. This little dog, more like a rat, is the most loveable thing.

I did some shooting today to get set up for my upcoming hunt. I'm just trying to understand what my limits are at various ranges under different circumstances. I know, my own limit is around 500 yards. Lying prone with a bipod I know where my bullets will hit at that range with two different guns. Using deer-sized targets, actually “anatomically correct” targets that closely resembled deer, and using the point of the elbow, the bottom of the belly, the natural upper line of the back, at 300, 400, 500 yards I could say with either gun at any range out to 500 yards, I could shoot with confidence. Other guys can shoot that well at twice the distance I practice. My hat is off to them. Long range shooting is an acquired skill, and it takes a lot of work, a lot of time, and a huge learning curve. Plus the right equipment. One thing I learned today, I’m far more deadly at 400-500 yards off a bipod, prone, than I am at 175 yards off-hand. Something to think about.

Hey, nice looking buck right there. Great job!

Saw this on another forum. The title was, The Israelis Would have Blown this Up. I got a good laugh, but then it got me thinking. What other country anywhere in the world allows armed people across it's borders. AC-130s, Apache helicopters targeting any armed insugent crossing into our borders would seem reasonable, wouldn't it?

I've been active on this forum for a long time, and I just want to say, the amount of posts this year of first, second, biggest bucks taken - it's just amazing. And this is just the October hunters, so far. On the one hand, maybe a lot of it has to do with how fast this community is growing. There are a lot of relatively new members showing their success here. On the other hand, lots of long term members showing more and bigger deer. Is this a just a great year for coues or what? I'm just trying to keep up with all the awesome stories and pictures - by the time I got to Becker's buck it was 3 pages long!!! And I'm on here every day. I just want to thank Amanda once more for this forum. I visit a lot, but this is by far my favorite - the one I call home. And secondly thanks to everyone who is taking the time to write up their stories, take great field pix, and share it all here. Congrats to all of you successful hunters, whether it's coues, muleys, elk, javi's turkey....This site just plain rocks.

+1. Troll someplace else.

I haven't shot the Tikka, but everyone seems to really like them. My first two "go-to" guns are Savage. #1 is a 14 American Classic in .300 WSM. I've never seen another one of these - it's got an oiled walnut stock, medium contour barrel and a parkerized barrel and action. The barrel is slightly heavier than the regular American Classic, and the stock is dark oiled instead of glossy. It has a Cabela's Alaskan Guide scope on it in 6-20 x 50 (?? I'll have to look to be sure). For the price, under 1K for both the rifle and scope, with handloads, this gun shoots amazingly well. #2 is a Savage 110FP in 25-06. Another Cabelas Alaskan Guide Scope, this one I think is 4-14 x 50AO, cheezy savage plastic stock. Talk about a lights-out shooter, the accutrigger on this one is actually a lot better than my 14. It likes the moly coated CT in 117, but I've had great results with Barnes TTSX 100 grain handloads as well. This would be my all-around gun, if not with the 1" bull barrel and big scope it weighs in around 12 pounds. But it, like the Marine Corp, kills everything it sees. LOL. Based on what you are looking at, if I were getting a new gun, it would likely be the Tikka in .270 WSM. If I had to sell all my guns and get just one rifle, it would be this one... http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=313997098 And I'd do a Leupold or Huskemaw turret system.

Crap, thanks a ton 300, now I have to go inside and watch Dumb and Dumber *again*. So many one-liners...At least I can microwave some popcorn. LOL. My wife and I continually quote, "Harry, your hands are freezing...." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fTzP4kGe58

I've found Accubonds to be spectacular bullets. They fly well, they do exceptionally well on game. I'm sure these willl "up the mark" for Nosler shooters.