Coach

Cool vid, J, thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the update Brian, you came close today, and tomorrow should bring more opportunities. You have been a very dedicated, and very generous and selfless hunter. I believe in good karma and I think the next days and weeks will be good to you. If anyone deserves it, you do.

Good info Bill, as always. This subject will always be a contentious one in AZ. I have no issue with private land-owners protecting their property, but in so many cases, a publicly maintained road leads both in and out of private property. I just can’t see any justification for any land owner to block public access on publicly maintained roads to public land. It’s just common sense that public land belongs to the public. But a very small, but vocal group seem to think that because they own a little chunk of land, that everything beyond their legal boundaries is somehow an extension of their land, and they feel entitled to lock out access to the rest of us who pay for their road maintenance. I think this issue is going to get a lot more attention in the next few years, and the majority of folks won’t be very sympathetic when new roads are dozed right around these ranches and the county no longer maintains the locked out areas. I sure hope that is how it plays out, because one of the truly great things about Arizona is the huge amount of public land that should be available to every tax-paying citizen of our state.

Hey Coach, Next time you boil a skull add a good amount of borax, it turns everything into jello. It also helps with the greasy skulls like pigs!! Thanks for the correction - I said I added ajax, but I actually added borax. And you are right, it does a great job of dissolving the meat, tendons and anything fleshy that is hard to get off the skull.

A lot of great info here. Pretty much covers it, imo. Good luck on finding them.

Great job! Gotta love that big ol' smile!

Ok, can't insert the pic, so here it is...

Thanks Mulie Hunter, FWIW, the backstrap on this javi were fantastic, and while they weren't enough to make a meal on their own for 5, I cut some of the choice steaks off the top and bottom round to cook up "chicken fried" style and while some of the lower cuts had some chewiness to them nobody ever complained about the strong taste some people often ascribe to javelina. Thanks on the kudos for the skull. I'm kinda sitting on a pile of javi, coues and mulie skulls now that didn't make the taxi. What I've found with boiling skulls is - 1) It's nasty as heck. I put them in the smallest pot they'll fit in, but it's always a big pot. 2) I let them cook in nothing but water until almost all the meat and tendons and whatever that white crap is that hold our mouth together is pulled away from the bone. 3) I add more water, and some ajax, it seems to break up the cartilage and I focus around the back part of the skull, the ear canals, the nasal passage and those two bulbous skull features that are super fragile at the base of the ears - these tell you a LOT about a an animal... 4) I re-boil it when it's really clean. This time with about 30% peroxide, DO NOT let the water and peroxide hit your horns or it will bleach them out. On an unrelated tangent, The size of the thin skeletal mass where the eyes and ears intersect would seem to indicate more complex neural function, but check this out... I would have thought this part of the skull, where hearing and sight come together would be bigger and more complex for a coues deer than a javi. Seems it's smaller and more compact for deer. Interesting anyway,

The more I see and read about this, the more I think it was an underhanded deal by the "well heeled" contributors to carve out a little something for themselves, towing along some well-paid guides in the process. If you look at it objectively, we, as AZ hunters and outdoor-loving people have been asked to give up something very valuable for some abstract idea, which they have failed in every way to qualify or quantify in any measurable way. On the one hand, I'm thankful for organizations that are actively persuing the interests of hunters, hikers, bikers, fishermen, etc in AZ. Someone has to be a voice or liaison between us commoners and the big wigs in power. But this time, I think the middle men started seeing dollar signs for themselves as guides and advocates of the high-dollar deep-pocket types that tend to start and fund these "charities" that will one day pay dividends for them to reap. Our hunting resources in AZ are very unique, very valuable, and very much in demand. Much of that demand comes from those with extensive resources who don't feel obliged to wait their turn for a huge bull, buck or ram - I truly believe that. And I feel this bill is just an attempt to move those opportunities more into the hands of those that feel they are more deserving, through their commitments of time and money - because they honestly believe that they are more deserving of those opportunities than those of us who have contributed nothing more than our application fees. What I think they have forgotten is the spirit of giving and selfless endowment. They have paid so much over so long that they feel a certain personal entitlement - and they use bills like this to exact their percieved penchant. I'm grateful to the many voices that stood up and made themselves heard. This could have been railroaded past us in the dark, witout warnign or pretense, had it not been for some diligent members here.

Coues79, you are dead on. I can point to situations where idiots have messed things up for us all day. I can also point to situations where a lease-holder - not even an owner of the public land - has gone ape-sh!t over some minor situation and closed a gate that holds the access to public land. One of the best things about AZ is how much of it is available to us. A few disagreements over water or property damage, and AZGFD and USFS cave to what I consider a tiny minority of special interest groups. Why should you or I be banned from public land because of what some slob or idiot did? I'm an advocate for private property rights, but in AZ, so many have abused those rights by benefiting from public services when it suits them, then trying to claim ownership rights to land they lease from you and I to prevent access to OUR land. Really pisses me off, if you can't tell...

Correct me if I'm wrong, The Outdoorsman's is a business run by very accomplished hunters in AZ with a shop on Cave Creek. One of the first to carry high-end optics and always leading the edge of hunting in AZ. They put out the Western Hunter magazine which is a very well done hunting resource. Based on their success and history in AZ, they are understandably in the middle of this discussion. I know nothing about their stance on this issue, FWIW.

This story has it all - you guys found this amazing buck, stuck with him and finally were able to get it done. A youth hunter, not lucking into a great buck, but learning his habits and really hunting him. His size - wow, just awesome right there, the broadhead in the skull...man, just an awesome hunt and stories you can tell..nicely done indeed.

+1, love the story and the pictures, and the "play-by-play". It's almost like being there right along side you as you make the shot. That is an awesome buck. Congrats on a great buck, and truly memorable hunt.

Yep Bill, I have seen the results of similar studies. The area around Araviapa and SW of Safford seems to center around those contentions. Fortunately, AZ is far less subject to the checkerboard issue that NM is facing. Most of the landlocked areas I've seen in AZ could be accessed by a road outside the gates of public land. This was attempted with some succss in 31 years back. Most of the area South of Stockton Pass was blocked by a single rancher, but G&F dozed a road just outside the fence to provide access to O-Bar-O and Bar X canyons. It wasn't the best road around but it opened up opportunities that had previously been unavailable. I think we could persue a similar approach with much of the land-locked public lands in AZ. A simple trail around the small, genuinely private land to get to the vast public lands beyond. Heck, given the membership on CWT, I doubt it would even cost a dime. Many of the guys and gals here have the equipment and time to cut a suitable road around the more notable closures, within the confines of the law, and open up worlds of public hunting lands that have been untouched for decades. On the flip-side, I'm not averse to strapping on a heavy pack and walking right around the private land to get where the deer are, so maybe it's a blessing that some of our best resources are not easily accisible. Take every adverse situation as opportunity - eh?

This could be a winner for Bowtech. I love the long riser on the CPXL and the design is pretty cutting-edge. Super light riser, the pre-bent limbs, tiny handle, great looks. My biggest concern, and I can't wait for the field results to prove me wrong, the cams are so stripped down I don't see how even aircraft grade aluminum that most cams are composed of can maintain structural stability through the draw cycle with such a minimalist design. Last thing I need is to buy another bow, but I'm a bit of a sucker for Bowtech, even though my Hoyt CRX is flat-out awesome, I would love to shoot this one just to see how it does. The radical changes indicate that if it does deliver, next year's offering will have some minor tweaks that will be even better.

Man, that buck has a HUGE body. Looks like an older deer, great tine lenght.

Pix.. If blood makes you squeamish, turn away - lol.

I just posted about this on another thread (the huge sale of tags thread) so this might be a rehash. But, It seems to me we are basically funding, through our tax dollars, very long driveways to some remote ranches. If a road is publicly maintained, it should not be subject to closure by the land owner. That's just my opinion, but I think G&F and the Forest Service has bent over backward to accomodate some of the private land holders, only to see them "flex" their limited muscle to treat the public land beyond their boundaries as their own private playground. I'm all for any means of putting this arrogance in its place. While I do understand the damage some idiots do to private property, I don't think anyone has the right to block access to public land off a public road.

Wow, this has to be the most active thread ever on CWT. Glad to see so many people are taking an active interest in what's happening in our state. Great discussion and I'm glad to see it remaining civil. Personally, I'm very leary of any legislation that takes tags out of the general pool and makes them available via auction or yet a second lottery. The argument for these types of tags has historically been that they will raise more money for game management than if they were left in the general pool. My issues are: 1) Since the early days when there were only a couple of these tags, to today when there are many more, I'm sure there has been some money spent on pet projects, but I haven't seen a direct impact on any of the hunts the average hunter will ever encounter. It seems like an empty promise of how much better things will be once we generate more dollars by giving up more tags. The dollars have been generated and spent, but I don't see the results. 2) This particular legislation wants even more tags set aside for high-rollers and the occasional lucky schmuck who wins one in a raffle. The proposed benefit is a larger, better funded "Sportsman's Expo" which is supposed to benefit Phoenix businesses, and oh yeah, they'll try to gain more access to areas that are currently inaccessible due to private land issues, through the same negotiating techniques that have so far failed for AZGFD. I don't see a single benefit for the average AZ hunter by funding a "bigger, better" expo. And as for access to public lands that are currently land-locked, that same $200,000 wasted on a single lobbyist could bulldoze new roads right around a lot of private ranches into the land they are denying access to. But that's a last-ditch effort. We should be able to persuade the state to stop using public money to maintain any road that is blocked by private property. Essentially, we're all paying out the nose for someone's really long driveway. That's just wrong, and should be dealt with. Long story short, the G&F commissioners voted unanimously against this bill, and from what I've seen it has no better support from the hunting community.

Awesome job - piggies with a bow are a ton of fun. 53 yards is a good shot on a javi too. Mine was about the same distance, but he turned right as I shot, so instead of hitting behind the shoulder I hit the front part of the shoulder and the arrow exited through his opposite cheek. He dropped like a rock and the broadhead never hit the ground. I can add some pix, but they are a little graphic, and I don't want to hijack your thread.

That is fantastic. Great story, and the picture is awesome - love the huge smile.

I've had the Cabela's Meindl Perfekt hunters for couple seasons now and they are still going strong. Great boots. I've heard nothing but good things about the Kenetreks too - just take a little while to break in.

Great story and write-up! That's awesome that you two are still hunting together.

The best thing you can do is find someone here who knows the state, the animals and how to hunt and is looking for a hunting partner. Trust me, I've done it the "hard way" as a transplant from Oklahoma. Doing it 100% solo is a really tough, slow way to learn to hunt out here. It can be done, but it takes years of failure to finally start feeling comfortable out West. I'm sure you'll get the feel for it if you stick with it a while, but just having someone you can learn from will ease the learning curve dramatically.

2011 was a fantastic year. Best adventure? Well, I'd have to say the whole year was a great adventure and here are some of the moments we captured on film. Starting in January of 11, the older boys had youth javi tags...