Coach

Ever scratch a huge bull behind the ears like a dog? Check out these farm bulls from Springdale up by Zion, Utah.

Dangit!!! I feel your pain. Skunked again - 0 fer 3 in the Jones house. Yeah, I put the boys and me all in for good tags, but figured somebody would draw a tag - NADA, skunk soup!!! Time for leftovers!

Wow what a week! My middle son, Nick, just got his first turkey last Tuesday on a quick, after school trip (here's Nick's story). My oldest son, Matt wasn't able to be there so I was anxious to get him out as soon as possible. Friday we played hooky and headed into the same area that Nick had scored in. We ended up getting out there about 1/2 hour later than I had hoped and the birds were already gobbling while we got our gear together. You know those mornings where everything just goes wrong? Well, the first set was exactly like that. It was already too light to be setting up and the blind was giving me fits. So we ended up sitting against a juniper with our stuff spread out all over the hill and gobblers coming out of their roosts. A few light calls and immediately either a huge hawk or immature eagle came in and landed right above the decoys. Needless to say, nothing else came in. After being skunked, we did a little cruising around looking for tracks around the tanks in the area hoping to come up with a late-morning plan. The wind picked up quite a bit around 9:00 am. I wasn't really sure what to do next but had a feeling we should head back toward where the gobblers were talking at first light and find a little indention out of the wind. We were able to find a small cut in the back of the burn that was mostly blocked from the wind and had good visibility for the decoys, and quite a few tracks in the soft dirt leading in, so we set up. We started calling and within about 10 minutes, Matt told me he had heard a gobble. His ears are better than mine, but he also tends to get a bit exited, and since I hadn't heard it, I sort of discounted it. The first calling sequence lasted about 15 minutes and I was trying to be as loud as possible to beat the wind. I sat back in the blind thinking about the afternoon hunt and taking a break from calling - and I have to admit was just about to doze off. All of a sudden, Matt whispered, "Dad, there's a turkey coming!" Sure enough, right down the hill comes this silent tom sneaking in toward the decoys. It didn't take long for him to get in range, and Matt had opted to borrow my 12 guage shooting 3.5" mags instead of his and his brothers' 20 guage so I wasn't too worried about him coming all the way into the decoys. At about 35 yards, Matt let him have it. It was hilarious! That gun practically blew him backward out of the blind. He looked at me like he wasn't sure if he had shot the turkey or the turkey had shot him! The gobbler piled immediately and it was time for photos!

Cut yerself shavin'?

I met a couple nice guys on course 1 Saturday after my buddy accidentally dry fired his bow. Sunday I think I saw the same two guys getting into a maroon dodge with a CWT sticker near the walking courses - just wanted to say "Howdy".

Shoot me a PM. Been in there a little and might have some good info for you. Gotta check my older maps.

Nice! Reminds me of old-school Scouting in the Fred Darby age! 2nd Class Scout, Eastern Oklahoma!!! Hill country boys could shoot, by God! My brother went full on Eagle Scout. Great job getting those kids out of the 'burbs and into the "Real World". Kudos brother!

Nice find, thanks for sharing!

+1 for the Slick Tricks. Very solid head, and they always fly well. I've never seen one that doesn't fly true, and if you look at the steel construction and razor sharp blades, you'll see that they are built extremely well. I haven't shot the Wac'Ems, but I have shot the knock-offs, (G5 Stingers and other Bass-Pro and Cabela's Copperhead look-a-likes) and there is a reason they are copied so often. They, too are a great head. I've shot a TON of broadheads and the ones that all seem to group together for me are G5 Montecs (too soft in my opinion and hard to get razor sharp), Slick Tricks (my favorite), Magnus Stingers, and G5 Strikers (a wac'em clone). All good heads, but when I get ready to hunt, I fill my quiver with the Slick Tricks. They have a solid steel ferrule and the Solingen blades come razor sharp and do thier job. That said, any of the BH's above plus the Shuttle T's (no first hand experience but I know guys who have had great success with them) will do the job. Just tune your bow well, and practice with the heads you'll hunt with and they will slice and dice. Get one that you can resharpen or replace the blades easily and forget about field points for the last 4 - 6 weeks before your hunt. Shoot only those broadheads, and you'll see which ones maintain accuracy out of your setup.

Sorry about your loss. This really brings to light the mentality of "hunters" in AZ who think they can claim an entire area. I'm not surprised though. I won't even put a camera out without fully expecting it to be gone the next time I check it. Very sad, but *especially* in the more remote places, you're gonna find these cats who are overly protective of "their" spot. It sure ain't right, but it's reality.

Yep - that was us! Wow, I guess my attention to detail on the truck was a little off (Red Chevy ... Maroon Dodge ... same thing). Thankfully (luckily) the bow was OK, which I'm really glad about, since he's just getting started and really liking it. A ruined brand new bow would not have been a good way start out. Anyway - nice meeting you and Jamey - I hope you guys had a good time at the shoot.

Prayers sent - May God be with him and his family.

I saw this on another forum and thought it was pretty funny.

You're in luck. First of all, welcome to the White Mountains. It's a great place to live for outdoor enthusiasts. There is a really good archery shop up here. Jed Larson runs a Bowtech shop in the Verizon Wireless store on the edge of Show Low as you are heading toward Lakeside. It's up on the hill and if you didn't know it was an archery shop, you might miss it. I can tell you from years of experience that you won't find a more knowledgable archery technichian or all-around bowhunting/archery fanatic than Jed. I'm sure others on here will echo that. Guys who have been around the bowhunting community in AZ know his reputation. He's a great guy, honest and really knows his bows. I bought my first new bow from him long ago when he worked at Bear Mesa in the valley, and he's really on top of the industry, the technology and bowhunting in general. PM me if you need directions to his shop, but if you are heading from Lakeside into Show Low, once you pass the light at the Winchester and make the bend into Show Low, look to the left for a verizon wireless store with some bowtech banners at the top of the hill before you get to the new bank (Wells Fargo?). If you're more of a Mathew's fan, there is also Timber Mesa. They run a good shop from what I've seen and heard, but my business goes to Jed, just based on my own personal experience with him over the years.

No problem Scott, I have two JR hunters chomping at the bit for the chance at a bear this fall. We'd be happy to come rid your tank of that pesky camera-eating skunk.

+1 for the Garmin Etrex. You can get the Legend HCx (high sensitivity, color display) for under $200 right now, plus another $109 for all 1:24000 maps of AZ, CO, NM and UT. http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=6015173 http://www.gpsnow.com/Garmin_010-11315-00.htm I have an older Etrex Vista that has been a very good unit for 12+ years, but I'll probably replace it with the Legend HCx soon. The legend is the same unit without the digital compass and barometric altimiter, neither of which I found particularly useful.

That's awesome - way to go guys.

I'd be willing to spend a little extra on one if it had a little c4 in it that could be set off remotely by cell phone.

Nick turned 10 in February and jumped right in by taking his first Javelina shortly after his birthday. So now it's turkey time! We missed opening weekend due to being slammed with baseball. Three sons on three teams in three different leagues means we pretty much live at the ballfield - not to mention I'm coaching one of the teams. Anyway, I've been dying to get the boys out on this Jr. hunt. I was laying awake last night thinking of this cool little burn I found last fall while helping a buddy on an archery bull hunt and I just got the feeling that we'd find some birds in there this Spring. So, today being the only day this week we don't have either a game or a practice, I decided to take Nick out there after school and give it a whirl. Right off the bat we found a few tracks so we knew they were in there. After a bit of poking around we found an area that seemed to be getting a lot of activity, and had a nice drainage leading through the pines up into the burn, so we set up the double-bull and a few decoys. We started off the set with some really loud clucks on the slate, then waited a few minutes and went at it again. After only 15 minutes, it came - that sound we were hoping for- a gobble a couple hundred yards behind us. I hit the call again, and again the Tom gobbled, but already much closer. Within just a couple of minutes we could hear him putting as he came up behind the blind and to the left. From where he was standing, he could see the decoys, but you could tell he knew something was off. He hung up behind a little live oak strutting, gobbling and beating the ground. He clearly wanted those hens to come to him. Nick shifted to my side of the blind and tried to get a clean shot, but was mostly blocked by that oak. I hit the call lightly again and the old boy let out one more gobble. This time his head cleared the tree long enough to give Nick the opportunity he was waiting for. BOOOM!~ It was all over. He dropped in his tracks. I was super proud of Nick for holding off until he had a good shot - especially given the circumstances. And I have to admit - I've been on a lot of turkey hunts and it has NEVER happened that fast. Now I just hope Nick's not spoiled for life thinking it's always that easy! So one down, now it's Matt's turn. He's my oldest and was busy umpiring a game this evening, but I'll do my best to get him a chance to pull it off also. If he gets one, I can focus on my tag - Enjoy the pix.

Keep up the fight. It's pretty clear that they have heard us and are not yet ready to drop the "mineral" aspect of this proposal. Just think about how easy it would be for the anti's to buy a few bags of salt and make just about every accessible water tank illegal to hunt. Think I'm exaggerating? They've done it in other parts of the country by scattering grain around well known migratory bird waters, making it ILLEGAL to hunt around those areas. We can't let this slip through while we're busy with other things. If this rule gets enacted, it will affect us all whether we hunt over salt or not. Get involved, make your voice heard and FIGHT this thing. Gino is right on the money here - you may not even be hunting directly over salt, but if this gets passed, it will be on YOU to make sure there is no salt anywhere near where you are. That's a huge feat - I've seen many situations where people have 'staked out areas' that are salted that I've intended to hunt and never knew that their established salt licks were nearby, until they spoke up in one way or another. If Gino's illustration isn't convincing enough, try this. You find a little saddle with converging game trails and set up your stand. Somebody else knows you are hunting those trails, dumps out a little salt and calls you in for hunting over bait. Now it's up to you to defend yourself, IN COURT, that you didn't know there was bait in the area. This is a lose-lose for hunters, and we have to do everything in our power to fight it tooth and nail. Gino, you sent me some info earlier about where I could send donations for this fight. I got lazy and lost it - can you repost the information so that we can all put our $$ where our mouth is and fight this thing. We've already lost so much in this state in the diminished rut coues hunts and blocked access to public land. Somewhere, we have to make a stand, and this is it. ACT NOW!!!

Looks like a great trip - thanks for taking us all along with you! Great photos too - I love the one with the gulls!

Awesome pictures - thank you for sharing them with us!

I'd love one of those cameras, but I'm just too scared to be the next "some idiot stole my camera" dude. I'll have to stick with my cheapo's and home-brews for now.

Hittin' Grandad's "cough medicine" again, I see!

I'm a "high-end" optics kind of guy, but I have a pair of Vortex binocs in my truck console for everyday viewing and will be topping my secondary smoke pole, kids-and-wife rifle and varmint gun in Vortex rifle scopes. Finally, there is a true bargain in optics, and I can tell you from experience, Doug treats his customers very well and deserves our support. I've purchased several items through him and CameraLand and have always been treated extremely well. They are a top-notch company with great one-on-one customer support. Dollar for dollar, Vortex binocs and rifle scopes are way better than anything I've seen in their price range. And let's face it - optics, like packs or boots isn't an area where you can skimp and still make out OK. I've already stated on this site that before I started looking through some Vortex glass, I could not, in good concience, recommend any of the "more-affordable" glass to friends and family, because I've personally wasted so much money on "mid-range" glass only to upgrade to Swarovski eventually. I have Swaro 15-56's and 10-40's, and have thrown away hundreds looking for a bargain on hunting optics. That said, Vortex truly is a good deal on glass when compared against the "big boys". Sure it isn't as good as Leica or Swarovski, but it is high quality glass at a less-than-premium price. Just my $.02 Go get some big horn in '09!