Coach

Nice! Sounds like you had fun. Congrats.

Happy Valentines Day. For starters, simple math. If kids get 50% of their overall grade based on attendance, that's the baseline. If the other half of their grade is based on assignments, and they get 50% on those for having a pulse (that's what the whole topic was about), then well... half of 50 is 25 and...let me get out my calculator...yes, 50 + 25 = 75. That's a C - remember those? "C is for Cookie" 😂 As for reading comprehension, you're saying a 52 year old woman trying to hold students accountable for actually doing their assignments and not learning through osmosis, is a wet behind the ears socialist just like 29 year old AOC who wants to give everything away for free to those who don't want to work. Hmmm. I guess you're right, those are exactly the same. That whole paying attention, doing your assignments and turning them in thing - that's just for rich people. 😁 Anyway, no matter - it's all in fun. I do hope you know I'm joking and not attacking you personally. Have a great day.

Yeah, it's getting him to see the bigger picture that I've been struggling with. Pulling wires is one thing, becoming an independent contractor is a way bigger step. Turning that into becoming an entrepreneur, even a bigger step.

With all due respect, I have to disagree whole heartedly. For starters, my mom was a teacher, my wife is a teacher (private school), my closest friends are or have been principals at public and private schools. Showing up, whether it's the workplace or school doesn't equal 50% IMO. Workplace - that's obvious, you contribute, produce or you don't have a job. School, well that's pretty much mandatory. In most schools part of your overall grade is just "showing up". So for an individual assignment, getting 50% for not even doing it on top of your overall grade, is just giving out a free "C". As in competent. Broken down simply, if a student achieves 50% of their overall grade just to show up and sit in class - assuming that's half of their overall grade, then gets 50% of the other half of their grade for doing nothing, that's still 75% overall. A "C" average if all they do is show up. Obviously this is somewhat hypothetical, as each school and district has different baseline structures, but it does illustrate one simple fact: We are creating an environment that gives the illusion of success when the individual student has learned or accomplished nothing. And when that happens, it's the student who is getting short-changed in the long run. I can't emphasize that enough. Soft teachers = dumbed-down, entitled students. I mentioned my wife is a teacher at a private school. It's kind of funny. At first her students are a little intimidated. She has a reputation for being a lot like the teacher at the center of this thread had. She's tough, the kids know it. And I'll tell you this, more kids in her classes, and those that have been through her classes call her the best teacher they every had. These kids want to learn, they want to be pushed, need to be challenged - and have zero respect for a push-over. They respect her toughness and honesty. And they did better in some of the hardest classes in high school (Biology for example) than those who came from the public Jr. High. It's too bad public schools don't have more teachers like that.

That's a great opportunity. I'll pass it along to my oldest son, Matt. He's a certified welder, hard working kid, loves working with machines and any kind of steel working. He's got a forge he built himself out of vacuum cleaner motors and likes building knives. I've been trying to get him to consider CNC, tooling etc. He has talents but needs a career and probably a mentor to harness what he likes to do into something bigger. He's currently working as an electrician apprentice.

Just my perspective, but having my sons able to go out on youth cow hunts when they were starting out was pretty awesome. After they all got their first cow, they wanted to go for bulls. Now comes the waiting game. My oldest took to bow hunting and has had 2 archery bull hunts in a good unit. The other two, well, waiting for a rifle or muzzle loader bull hunt could take a long time. I'm OK with that. But having a backup plan for cows while waiting for a bull tag isn't a bad thing. That said, my wife isn't a hunter, and we've never put her in for a hunt for the sole purpose of handing down a tag to one of the kids. Some folks do, and I have no problem with that. It's playing the odds and using the existing, legal opportunities to get the kids in the field - and that's a good thing IMO.

I'd say with 9 points you are in pretty good shape if you do your research. Kind of that gray area where you wonder whether it's worth it to use your 9 points now for an archery tag, or keep building for a rifle tag. Took me 19 years to draw in AZ. If you really want to hunt antelope, I'd look out of state. There are lots of places with plenty of opportunity. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think if you're willing to drive to Wyoming there are over-the-counter tags. If so, maybe that's a "have your cake and eat it to" approach. Best of luck.

Sure saw a lot of trucks parked off the beeline. Best of luck guys.

What I wouldn't give to have a late December coues tag in 23 or 24A in 1985.

I agree that it should be preserved.

Well I was bummed that I only got out for about a day and a half the first week of the season so Wednesday night I decided to ditch work on the 24th since it was the last day for archery Javelina. I went to a place a little closer to home, but hadn't been in 12-13 years. I started hiking a little after first light and as soon as I got to my glassing spot, picked up a couple mule deer. Two bucks, with one being a really nice 4x4. I watched them to see where they bedded for later, then started looking for Javis. About 5 minutes later I had a group, right where I had last seen the deer, so I was off on a stalk. Like last time, no spotter - always hunting solo these days - so when I got over there I wasn't sure where they had gone but knew they were close. At around 200 yards I had found them again, but when I got there they were no where to be found. I kept poking around and eventually got a "woof" from the thick stuff. Finally got to 20 yards, drew and...my peep sight was sideways. Couldn't see my pins at all. That has never happened in all the years I've been shooting this bow. Oh well, by the time I got that worked out the herd was in the thick stuff and having none of my attempt to woof them back in. I went back toward my glassing spot and remembered there were some heavily used caves & dirt wallows so I went to check those out. Yep, still active. It was getting later in the morning and the wind was picking up so I decided to make a big circle around where I had last seen the pigs. About 300 yards in the opposite direction on a little flat, the ground was covered with fresh sign so I knew I was close to what I can only assume is another group unless they circled me, which is a distinct possibility, but the sign looked like they had been messing around that flat all morning. Anyway, I figured any second I'd hear a woof and right about then I looked up and there was one just standing there feeding about 20 yards away broadside. I knocked an arrow, had the wind right and just had one cholla between him and me, but he was now head-on. Of course now I hear the "woof" off to my left, downwind. The guy I was looking at kinda froze and another was coming in from the right, so I came to full draw knowing he was about to turn. Sure enough, he turned to leave and gave me an easy broadside shot.

One thing cool about the mountain is its history. Fort Apache, how Pinetop became a place (bar for soldiers), the old rail road and Maverick. I still love going into Charlie Clark's in the bar area where there are caricatures of generations of locals cover the walls, and go hey I know him and him.... The mountain has changed a lot over the years, but it's still a place where every face, every family has a history. And the older SOB rancher you can share a beer with, the richer that history becomes for you, personally. That arrow tree - it's part of our history, part of our legacy. Luckily, all three of my sons got to see it in its glory days, and appreciated what it stood for.

Hard for me to say this year. We've had places over the last few years of youth hunts we could always find them. Some places like clock-work. Each year we've found them less and less in the predictable places. Those places have gotten a lot of pressure though, recently. I went back to two places this year I hadn't been in a long time - over ten years for each spot, and found them easily - but different units than our "go-to" spots. I was really hoping to hunt our favorite youth hunting spot this year but never got the chance. I think it really comes down to pressure. A herd that gets hunted from time-to-time tends to stay close to home. Too much pressure and they'll adjust. From what I've heard from some really die-hard javi hunters is that lions don't really like to hunt and eat Javelina, but occasionally one will really get the taste for it, and that one cat can wreak havoc on a herd and force them to move out of their home territory. That makes sense to me, and not too much different than a herd that gets located by lots of hunters and the constant pressure forces them to move out of a place that no longer feels safe. That always makes me feel conscious about hunting them too close to their caves and traditional bedding areas. Just my opinion, if I kill one close to their comfort area, I like to move it as far away as possible to process it. Some folks won't agree with this, but I've found them to get a little freaked out if you kill and clean one too close to home. They are a family unit, and they recognize when they have lost one of theirs.

With the price of arrows these day, I don't think I'll be shooting them into the new tree. Always did enjoy the one at the center of this topic though. You just knew the hunt was on! To me it's a lot different than trash. People who throw their beer cans out and leave trash around their camps are just lazy slobs, no better than thieves, IMO. This is a single tree with history and tradition to the locals.

Last time I said that I got slapped.

Interesting point. Ask a 15-16 year old if it's harder to get pot or beer. Even though it's in every corner gas station, every super market, they still have to find someone with an ID. Pot, on the other hand is readily available in every school in this country. It's pretty scary, but as parents we have to talk about these things with our kids. At some point I've asked each of my 3 sons, how accessible drugs are in school. All three have said they could buy literally anything from pot, to meth, cocaine, oxycodone, MDMA (Molly), X (ectacy) before lunch. That's how well our war on drugs has done - all the lives lost, billions of dollars, and every school in America is a virtual pharmacy with grade school kids turning pusher. I'm not taking a stand here one way or the other as far as legalization - I'm just saying what we are doing now is not stopping or even slowing down the access to drugs. What we as parents can and should do is educate our kids about the dangers. Diminish the demand. As long as there is demand, there will by someone to provide the "supply" half of the equation.

Based on the mass alone, I'd say high 120s at least. What say you Hoss?

I had a little chat with a guy who worked the border for a long time. He came from a black ops background and spent years fighting the "dirty little war" down there, along with his brothers. This guy had his face smashed in with a rock, lost his brother to the fight. It's a lot more intense than what we are generally privy to. It's a tough situation down there, and we don't hear about the 95% of things that don't make the news.

One thing I find troubling is how G&F continues to allocate late bull hunts in areas like 1 & 27. These used to be pretty tough hunts. Thick country, bulls not bugling, etc. After all these big fires the success rate has gone up dramatically. Better optics, long range guns, more open country due to burned out areas. A lot more young to mid range bulls are being killed, and G&F hasn't adjusted accordingly. IMO, this hurts the bull populations in some of our premier trophy units.

Yeah, he was an innovator - he created "California Camp" where we ran drills in the sand and water, also created "Mountain Camp" where we got dropped off up around Big Lake and had to hike, run explore as a team - out in the wilderness. He really knew how to push young men and make them bond in uncomfortable situations. That's his legacy of creating a team bond that led a lot of physically small teams to beat bigger, stronger teams. He certainly knew how to motivate, and get people to work together, but more importantly, he was all about individualism and how making yourself the best you can be, then combining that with others who were like-wise motivated, could do amazing things. Of course, he had his own demons to recon with, but I'd count him in the top 3 of most influential men in my life.

Truth is, I've been hunting these little buggers a long time. Many youth hunts over the years. It's not common that you find that much sign. Most of the places we've hunted over the years if you get a few tracks or some fresh digging, you know you're close. They don't typically present like that.

I'll also say this. One of my favorite things is seeing youth hunters out there with family and friends. I don't always agree with what G&F is doing, but when it comes to youth hunting, AZ G&F has done an amazing job. I've seen more hunt stories around families hunting together on these youth hunts than I can count. To all the dads and moms out there taking their kids hunting and showing them what a wholesome experience it is - Thank You. That's what we need.

More applications + more tags + increased application fees + increased tag fees. All across the board it's been costing more and more each year just to apply. And not too far in the past, you could opt to only buy a license if drawn - no more. Out of state applicants have it even worse, but it's like that in all the SW states these days. Hunting has changed from a simple, cheap means of getting meat on the table to a very lucrative "cash cow". That said, I think we have it better here in AZ than just about anywhere else. Yeah, it's getting pricey, but still have some of the best resources around. I've got a family of 5 and when you start adding up all the costs involved just to get licenses and apply it really adds up fast. If you want to expand to NM. CO, UT - it is a "pay to play" game. However, this is what we love to do. It's our passion, and passing that down to the next generation is priceless.

Nice setup for sure.

Awesome job - great team effort, and I bet you got a hunting buddy for life. That's what it's all about right there.