Coach

PM sent. If you need my wife's email address I'll send it to you

Nicely done! Congrats on a really nice bull!

Absolutely sickening.

One last tidbit while you are making your decision. I have swaro 10x42 slc and 15x56 slc binocs. Plus I have the Pentax PF80 ED, and have owned the Swaro STS 80, Nikon Fieldscope 25-75x82 and my dad has the swaro STS 65 that I have used on several hunts. There are a "rare few" hunters that actually glass through a spotting scope for extended periods. Looking through one eye for hours is BRUTAL - I've done it. Most of us glass with binocs and the scope is a means only to get a little more detail. I've personally lugged too much glass and too much tripod over too many miles to find a spotter as a "necessary" piece of equipment. I now use my PF80-ED for rifle sighting in (bullet holes as you mentioned) and digiscoping. When it's time for a hunt I have found spotting scopes to be less useful than the added bulk and weight warrants. To really get the advantage that a spotting scope offers over high power binocs, you have to go full size. That means a 77+ scope and a full sized tripod. Add 12 pounds to your pack right off the bat. No day packs or "hefty" fannies - you'll need a pack that can handle 6 pounds of spotting scope and another 5-6 pounds of tripod. That's just too much in my opinion. The smaller, 65 mm scopes don't offer anything substantial over a quality pair of high powered binocs like the swaro 15x56, or even the Minox and Vortex 15 power binos - and are a heck of a lot harder to sit behind for extended periods because you are closing one eye and glassing through the other. The human brain (and eye) just doesn't like to do that for long periods of time. Just for comparison, I can stick my 15x56's in the back pocket of a Cabela's hybrid 2-in-1 pack - which is just a good fanny pack with shoulder straps, outfitted with the Jim White tripod adapter, set them on a Slik Sprint Pro tripod that straps right under my fanny pack with a 1lb stool. The tripod is under 2 pounds and is plenty stable for that weight of binocular. In all honesty, more often than not, I don't even carry the big 15's. I just carry my swaro 10x42s around my neck with the afore mentioned Jim White adapter and use them on-the-fly and then as long-range, long-day glassing binos on the Slik Sprint Pro tripod. So you get the binocs on a good harness at under 3 pounds on your shoulders and ready for use, the tripod at under 2 pounds and a 3 legged stool strapped under the fanny pack. I've found this ultra-lightweight setup more than sufficient to get a VERY good idea of whether a buck is worth pursuing or not. Now, a high dollar outfitter that has to be able to judge the difference between a 110" and 117" buck - under client pressure - from a mile away might need that extra magnification. But in typical hunting use, I've found that great binoculars that can sit on a light-weight tripod are all I need to locate deer and get a VERY good idea of their rack size. To put it simply, mobility and simplicity trump magnification in my experience. Small spotting scopes buy you nothing over good binoculars and large spotting scopes require too much tripod to be viable in the field. A Swarovski ATS80 is going to put you out over 2 grand plus the 12 pounds of extra weight, which will more likely than not sit in the back of your truck and will NOT make it easier to locate deer or glass for extended periods. If you want the very best "coues setup", in my humble opinion, but based on looking through pretty much everything out there, go light. Forget the spotter and get a GREAT pair of binoculars - Swarovski, Lieca, Zeiss, either 10x or 15x that you can sit behind ALL DAY. Two comfortable eyes behind clear glass and the right, patient mind set will find you locating and judging deer better than any spotting scope can. I know I'm probably cutting against the grain here, but if you've already got great binoculars, I think investing in a tack-driving rifle is more important than a spotting scope. You can find and judge the buck without a spotting scope, but if you can't make the shot when it counts, all those pricey optics become nothing more than pack-weight on the way out. Once again - just my opinion. Good luck in your selection.

Another one you might look at if you are thinking about a full sized spotter is the Pentax PF80 ED. It's been the "Reference Standard" in Better View Desired (birding optics site) for years. http://www.betterviewdesired.com/Pentax-80...tting-Scope.php I bought one of these from Doug at Camera Land and it is a very good scope. It's also significantly less expensive than full sized Swaro, Leica and Zeiss ED/HD glass. Of course, it's big. I don't carry it very far. Primarily I'm learning to use it for digiscoping.

Great pictures Brian! Thanks for posting them.

While those are both good scopes, the most comfortable spotter I've looked through is the Leica Televid 77. I guess it comes down to personal preference. The micro-focus IS a very useful feature BTW.

WOW! What an amazing buck!

Congrats to Angie! That is awesome!

Great looking buck! Congratulations!

What an incredible fall archery season this has been! Just last week I was fortunate enough to take my first ever archery deer, which was a great coues buck. Here I was also fortunate enough this year to draw a Navajo reservation archery hunt. On the heels of my previous AZ success, I had high hopes. Unfortunately, the Navajo was really hit hard this year between light snow and light summer rains, so hunting was tough. I’ve been dreaming about this hunt for a long time and I knew there were good bucks around. I got to the traditional camping spot and was met by a buddy from Texas shortly after arriving the day before the season opened. We set up the “big camp” for the rest of our party – 5 tag holders in all – and set out. This was obviously going to be an entirely different hunt from what we were expecting. There was little grass and the areas that had always been productive in the past were dead compared to previous years. We were seeing lots of does and small bucks but no mature bucks. After covering hundreds of miles – literally - and shifting our tactics a bit, we finally hit on a bachelor group of good bucks. I was able to get a 55 yard shot on a good bedded buck and, frankly due to luck, made a vital hit. After years of archery hunting, losing a good buck a couple years back and passing many small bucks, my dream of a “perfect season” are finally coming true. Here are some pix of my Navajo buck. Next stop is a NM Muzzleloader coues hunt in late October that has the potential to turn a great Fall into a phenomenal Fall. Already this year my two oldest boys took their first turkeys, and my middle son took his first Javalina. I got my first and second archery deer – a great coues and a very nice muley. I thank God every day to be living out West and living the dream of being able to hunt, fish and live in the last true frontier. I’m also very lucky to have fantastic, enthusiastic hunting buddies and an extremely supportive wife to share these very best of times with – not to mention the extended CWT family to share each new hunting adventure with. God bless, Jason

Wow! What a story! One in a million for sure - great job and thanks for sharing it with us.

Congratulations! What a great looking buck!

Here are some more pictures from the hunt. It was amazing. Every morning, we woke to this... Big Bry glassing.. Chad's Buck Bryan got a good buck late in the evening, so he backed off and waited until morning. During the night, a bear found his buck and buried it. Here's Bryan with his buck.

So my buddy and I had this tank all scoped out - obviously, it's AZ, it's dry and hot so any water hole is gonna have competition. I've had a camera on the tank for weeks with some OK bucks on it, but one, in particular had me going - here's a picture on the hoof. I took off Thursday and Friday to set up my blind and sit the tank. I had considered getting my blind out there earlier but I was afraid it would get stolen - who wants to go find their $400 blind missing? So, Thursday morning I go to set up my blind, but there's already one set up. Bummer for sure, so I leave the guy a note letting him know I am planning to hunt there also, we should coordinate. Let's face it, he took the risk I wasn't willing to take by setting up a little earlier than me. The guy ended up being cool and thanking me for backing out, and they were plannig to sit it through Monday. Friday night he leaves me a voice mail - turns out his buddy sitting with him got the buck in the picture. I'm not 100% it's the same buck, but the way he described it, I'm pretty positive. He's pretty easy to identify. Anyway, dang, I feel that backing out when I saw their blind was the "right thing" to do, but I have to admit, I was hoping they'd take a different buck and I'd eventually get a crack at the big boy after the opening weekend rush subsided. Hopefully, karma will catch up and I'll see a silver lining to all this, but for now all I could do is congratulate the other hunters and swallow that jagged pill. What would you guys have done in the same situation?

Ditto - they are great. The only trouble is other "mingling" hunters. They really elevate into a whole sport of their own. Nothing better than going to check your cam and see what new developments are awaiting. On the other hand, there is nothing worse than getting out there to find one jacked by some low-life. One thing they will help with - for fear of getting it stolen, you'll find more remote country - get away from the obvious and locate those places few people will be willing to travel. Good luck to you. I highly recommend the DCL Covert cameras. They are amazing!

Congratulations Tyler! That is a fantastic buck!!! I hope you don't mind, but I embedded the picture here so it's easier to see without following an external link. What a great buck! Thanks for sharing with us.

A good book is great to pass the time, but as long as there is ANYTHING moving around, including squirrels, jackrabbits, birds or whatever I'm usually OK. It's the long treestand hours that kill me. Afraid to move at all, nothing to watch - trying to keep from falling asleep. It can be brutal. It's amazing how watching a squirrel go about his business can pass the time. I've sat for hours watching a pine squirrel prep his den only to have a hawk sit on a branch arm's distance away watching his next dinner, and waiting for the right time to swoop in. That really makes the day fly. Nothing against the blackberries, games or texting - but for me the time in the field is a great chance to get away from that. Maybe it's because with my job I'm always "connected" - but I'd rather watch a lizard than play with electronic gizmos while I'm hunting. To each their own, I suppose.

Hey guys, I've already posted a pic of this buck on a different topic as a follow-up to an opening day "sob story", but I thought he deserved his own thread. The other thread ("Totally Bummed") kind of started out on a negative note, and the way events unfolded, I went from "Totally Bummed" to "Totally Jacked". Time for "The Rest of the Story". I really had no intention of hunting the early archery season this year due to other upcoming hunts and obligations with my 3 sons' football teams. I just didn't have a ton of time to scout. My buddy, Rocke actually got me all exited a few weeks before the opener. Our "first choice" spot had the attention of another hunter, who we eventually met and he turned out to be a very stand-up guy (you know who you are! ) so we backed out and turned our attention to a newer location we had been watching for a while. Many of you know this part of the story already (see Totally Bummed) above - but long story short, when I finally went to set up on that location, another hunter had set up there as well. So, my opening weekend plans were kind of shot - both my "plan A" and "plan B" locations had other hunters who had been a little more proactive, and willing to risk setting up early. I did NOT want to set up my Double Bull blind and leave it for a week or two for fear it would get stolen. I had already taken Thursday and Friday of opening weekend off from work, but with my plans in shambles I ended up at work Friday, having cancelled my time-off wondering what I was missing out on. To cut to the chase, the hunter sitting our "plan A" location killed a HUGE beautiful buck, and the hunter on the "plan B" location also killed a very nice buck - both on opening day. I couldn't take it any more! I had to get out. There was a spot that Rocke and I and another friend, Bryan, had been watching for a while, and we had cameras up, and had known other guys who had hunted it in other archery seasons. None of our cameras had any good bucks, and none of the guys we knew who had hunted it in the past had seen any mature bucks there, but we just knew that there had to be some good ones in there. It just had too many "ideal" characteristics not to have some good bucks. So "plan C" it was. After getting up at 2:30 am, and driving a couple hours, I arrived early and set up my blind before first light. At around 8:10 the first buck approached. Having never taken a deer with a bow, maybe I shouldn't have been so picky - but I had a specific goal in mind. Either I get a mature 3x3 or nothing. This buck was a smallish small 3x2 but he gave me plenty of opportunity. I held off. Nothing else came in until around 11:40 when I noticed 2 does meanerding in the distance. One took a good hard look at the blind and they disappeared. About 20 minutes later, they showed back up and started to approach. That's when I realized one was a "button buck". After much hesitation, he too came within 16 yards and presented an easy broadside shot. Nothing doing - if I came home with a buck that had milk drippring from his chin, my wife would have put my head on the wall. The next couple of hours passed with no action, and I was starting to wonder if I was being too picky. I had to remind myself that I wasn't just looking to fill my tag - I wanted something special. Around 2:30 another pair of bucks walked in, but one was an "11 pointer" and the other was a "12 pointer" - a 1x1 and a 1x2 - more dinks. But my spirits were high. As long as they kept coming in, I knew the odds of a decent buck were in my favor, and after 9 hours of sitting and watching small game and a few dinks come and go, I was feeling optomistic. About 20 minutes later, another 3x2 approached. My mind was racing and this was actually the biggest buck I had seen all day, but still very small. I had to fall back on my mantra - a mature 3x3 or nothing. Man, that buck acted like he wanted to be shot - he posed in every possible angle, but still I waited. Around 3:15 PM I thought the same buck was coming back in but it wasn't him - it was a different 2x3 (inside the ears) with a noticably bigger buddy - an ear-wide 3x2. Dilemma time - this was the closest thing I had seen yet to my "goal" deer, but was still a little small. I thought to myself, if they come in, I'm gonna take the bigger one. But they got pretty close, and hung up - right about where the little button buck had held up before. The angle wasn't great the way I was positioned. I knew I had only a 30 yd shot but still I wasn't quite sure this was the buck I had been holding out for. About the time I considered drawing back, they both left feeling something wasn't quite right. I learned a good lesson from those two bucks - they were coming in now, but the smarter bucks were holding up in a certain spot, and probably wouldn't come the rest of the way in. I repositioned my seat and all my stuff in the blind and made sure I had a good clean shot at the "hang-up" point. It was only 25 yards away, and I just had a feeling that the next buck would hit that same spot and hesitate, but would likely not get any closer. Sure enough, just minutes later, I look out in the distance and see a buck. This time, it's a no-brainer. He's wide, and definately a mature 3x3. He came right in the tracks of the last 2 bucks so I knew exactly what he was going to do. Just a quick prayer that I wouldn't do anything dumb and I got ready to draw. He did EXACTLY what the previous bucks had done. He walked straight to the "hang up" point and surveyed the area. It was too late, I was already at full draw and in a comfortable position. I framed the back of his shoulder between my 20 and 30 yd pins, exhaled and released. I was shooting through mesh, so I didn't see the impact, but I sure heard it. A hollow "WHACK" and I knew I had hit home. Having lost a deer in the past, my next concern was to watch exactly what he did next. Instead of blowing out of there, he trotted back in the direction he had come, turned around, staggered and fell. WHOOOOHOOOOO! I was so incredibly jacked up at that point - I was scared to death to go look at him for fear he'd jump up and run off, so I forced myself to sit tight for at least 15 minutes. Ok, I only made it 10. Anyway, I named him the "Karma Buck" because of all of the positive support from fellow CWT members about backing out of the other areas for ethical reasons on opening day and eating humble pie while good bucks were being taken on spots I knew would produce. You guys reassured me that backing out was the right thing to do, and I'd get my chance. Well, YOU GUYS WERE RIGHT. Patience, preseverence and ethics DO pay off. A big thanks to Rocke and Bryan who found and nurtured this spot. Another thanks to the guys (remaining nameless to protect the innocent) who had also done their homework and sat the "plan A" and "plan B" spots on opening morning. Congrats to both on fine achery coues deer kills. Niether of them were jerks at about setting up early and were open to sharing time on coveted spots. And finally a HUGE THANK YOU to the CWT family that gave support and best wishes that made sitting for 10 hours waiting for this opportunity feel more like a blessing than a "plan C" or fallback. You guys all provided the stamina that kept me going and sticking to my indended goal of waiting for a beautiful, mature first archery buck! Thank you all very much for your support.

What an amazing buck! Congrats man - he is absolutely awesome!!! Great write up and pictures too!

Congrats to Dean! Nice buck.

Great Job! What a beautiful buck!!! Congrats!

Hey Mike - it was nice meeting you guys. No - you were not sitting the same water. I hope you get the bear you're after.

Your time is comin' bro! Keep at it, and keep us informed!

Just an FYI, I got pics. While it was a really nice buck the guy took, it was NOT the same buck I had on camera. So for you hungry bowhunters, AFAIK, he's still on the hoof!