Coach

I went out this morning to one of my favorite turkey spots in unit 1. This place is always loaded with birds. After about 3 hours of walking logging roads and checking out a couple tanks I found absolutely zero turkey tracks, droppings, scratchings or feathers. The only bright part of the morning was finding 3 brown elk sheds within 15 yards of my "hidden" salt lick that is usually covered with bear, elk deer and turkey. My youngest son, Josh, has his first turkey hunt in less than 12 hours and my go-to spot has zero birds. Time to come up with a "plan B", and fast. I've heard from 3 different people that there are tons of birds up the Lake Hawley road (Ft. Apache Rez), and my spot is about the same elevation, so I can't figure if they are higher or lower. It's gonna be interesting come 4 AM tomorrow for sure. I'll go to a different area that has always been good in the past, but I haven't done any scouting in there at all. Kinds feels like a crap shoot at this point. I'll update tomorrow afternoon.

Diamond Razor Edge, you won't be disappointed.

Headed out tomorrow morning to check out my favorite spots. Josh has his first turkey hunt on Friday, and I've been too busy to get out and scout. Hopefully I'll see some good sign. I've got 3 unit 1 youth hunters chomping at the bit. Hopefully we'll see at least a gobbler or two (or three) hit the dirt.

Good news - I'll have to look into those. Always seemed like such a waste. In past years, there has always been a Mexican family that camped next to us and wanted the carp we caught. They gave us the recipe for what they called "shrip coctail" that they made out of them, but it was essentially letting them sit in a tub of onions, tomatoes and orange soda - at room temperature...never tried it. LOL. This isn't the first time I've heard they are good smoked. The only times I've tried to cook them it seemed like there were bones everywhere.

I've got the cheapest Cabela's grinder too, and it has worked flawlessly with hundreds of pounds of meat now. BTW, it is on sale right now for $69.99, regularly $119.99. That's a smoking deal.

Welcome! This is a really great site with a lot of good folks. Good luck on your hunting, and be sure to carry a camera with you!

I hope that isn't the case. It's a good program at its core. I really think this is one of those situations where you really have to give G&F some kudos or high fives, because they are doing something you don't see in NM, UT, CO or NV to really put an emphasis on hunter recruitment. Godpseed and best wishes to you all. I love hunting, and the only thing I love more is seeing kids having a great time hunting with their family and friends.

They go back into the lake with a few extra openings. I actually shot one right through the lips and had to ventilate his swim bladder. If you fish San Carlos, and see how the carp hone in on the fresh crappie nests, eating every single egg...you just want to see them die.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but the statute and revised statute posted here don't indicate anything about the parent/grandparent/guardian that signed over the tag being present. Only that the Jr. hunter is accompanied by a legal guardian during the hunt. The way I read the rules and the intent behind them, is that any parent/grandparent/legal guardian can sign over their tag to Jr. hunter, and as long as that Jr. hunter is accompanied in the field by any legal guardian, they are legal. I think the intent is to get younger hunters in the field. And while it is strange, hunters up to 18 years old can be considered Jr. hunters. So they don't necessarily want the tags going to 16-18 year olds who can hunt on their own. The intent, as I see from the statutes is to provide the ability of adults to sign tags over to "mentored" Jr. hunters - meaning Jr. hunters who still require the guidance and companionship of a legal guardian while hunting. If there is something in these statutes that indicates otherwise, I'd love to see it. Overall, I think this is a GREAT program, but I can see where, especially with the online draw, whole families including grandparents apply for tags they have no intention of using then signing them over to basically "adult" Jr. hunters. Man, I hope this doesn't get corrupted because its intent is solidly in favor of getting more young hunters in the field.

According to what LVTHNT posted it sounds pretty clear that any legal guardian can accompany the jr. hunter - not just the guardian/parent/grandparent that signed over the tag.

Nice boots, good price. I'm just about 1 size too big to make them work for me. Someone will enjoy them.

Not Roosey, but something to get you pumped. My buddy and I shot over 50 carp on San Carlos when the crappie fishing got slow. 5 doubles and 1 triple...

Pix - for fun...

I'm not going to be the first guinea pig and test my luck, but I don't mind writing a letter to G&F to see if this could be extended to youth siblings.

Sorry TJ, didn't mean to derail your thread buddy.

Please go to Roosevelt and kill as many carp as you can, they have taken over the lake. I suspect it is why the crappies are not doing so good since they raised the dam. I tried a couple weeks back but we just couldn't find carp. I had myself and 3 boys, 2 bows just dying to find some carp to shoot. I know they're there, but I guess the conditions have to be right for the big schools to get near the surface. On San Carlos, as soon as the wind started blowing we could see huge "Carp Balls" in every cove. It wasn't like you were aiming at a fish, we commented several times that it was like shooting at a hay bale from 10-15 yards. The carp were in tight schools right at the surface. That's why we had so many shots where you'd reel in and have not one, but two, even 3 carp stuck on one arrow.

You guys might want to meet in globe with the 18 pack and the minnows and head to San Carlos. Fishing earlier this week was super hot. By the time I got there it had slowed down but my buddy and I still managed to get 26 crappie on jigs, mostly by 10 AM, then a whole lot of carp with the bows. We had 5 doubles and one triple (two/three carp on one arrow) on the carp shooting with well over 50 surface suckers stuck.

Thanks Kevin, that definately answers my question, although I'm a little bummed. Both brothers would have been happy to give their little brother their tag. No biggie, maybe next year.

The best thing we can do is take kids hunting and show them the world we grew up on. Let them fall in love with it and become the next passionate voices. As far as the capitalized motivation for a lot of hunting, that's just natural. I used to dream of finding a way to make a living that was tied to my love for the outdoors and quite frankly sometimes I'm envious of those who have. Just part of the game now, IMO.

Smokin' deal. I know somebody's gonna spend their tax refund on these. I sure wish they had put the range button on the other side...

Not much to add, leave it as it is. Yes we all hear about the guy who "got drawn again" and the other guy with x-many points that has yet to draw. Overall, the current system is fair and if you really do your homework you can learn to balance frequency of tags with demand (what some call trophy potential) and hunt quite a darn bit with some really high quality hunts along the way.

Fantastic thread, Amazing photos, great people...I love CWT. Thanks.

Got a couple of youth elk tags. Who needs meat?

I guess it depends a lot on what you want to spend. I've got a Mossberg 835 that came with a turkey choke and fiber sights and it has done well for me. It's a little finicky about shells, some pattern way better than others. One thing for sure, shooting 3.5" magnums, it kicks like a mule. A semi-auto would kick a lot less, but for a few shots a year, this one does OK. Like Elkaddict said, just pick the right shells, as they all shoot a little different. (Kind of expensive to try too many out at today's turkey load prices).

Wow, nice mount and great looking buck! Love it.