Coach

Thanks, Amanda. I saw that too, but worded a little differently. This one looked pretty hot. I rounded a bend on the Black and saw the smoke plumes just one ridge over, and we decided we should get out as fast as we could - it was that close. I'll post some pix when I get a chance, but that fire with the wind on the Bonito Prairie has the opportunity to cause some real damage. I was particularly worried about the guys at ID Ranch. Looked like it was moving in that direction.

That's awesome, Brian. Looking forward to the story and pix. Huge congrats - I know you were going bow or nothing, and that's a huge challenge with Merriams. For Goulds, you definitely brought your "A" game. Great job.

Wow - that's LOT of horn right there. Great job.

I'm not sure, I've found a little info on the "Basin Fire" but no maps. http://www.azein.gov/azein/Lists/Announcements/DispForm.aspx?ID=3425

Ya know, around a real campfire, two guys who just can't get along usually respect the camp and walk away. Nobody is going to change the other's mind in this case, no sense in back-and-fourth jabs. Maybe time to call it a night, agree to disagree, and respect the forum we have here.

I'm sure you've already done this, but the first thing I would check is the scope mounts to make sure there are no issues there, then swap a scope over from one of you other rifles that you know is solid. If you are still getting wild groups with a scope you know is good and the mounts are solid, then you know it's an issue with the rifle or ammo, but that gun shouldn't shoot 6 inch groups with any ammo at 100 yards.

Give them choices and the room to accept or reject them, based on their own experience.

IMO, NM ranchers do a better job of keeping and holding water. SE AZ, you see the same influence. Coues numbers are generally higher in AZ and more widespread, but NM has some areas with less access, or the kind of access that demands you "have a bold nature about you", lol, for lack of better words. If crazy ranchers and drug runners don't dissuade you, there's a lot of great habitat in NM for hunting coues. Same said for the areas just west of the NM line along the border. If you're looking for a laid back coues hunt in AZ, well, IMO the super high tag allocations mean any out-of-state hunter is going to be in a densely populated hunt. FWIW, I quit applying for general coues tags when they killed unit 24A by slopping in 1000+ hunts between Oct and early Dec. The days of hunting coues in the rut, late December, with a rifle are done. 24a used to have around 450, then 350 tags in the rut. Now it's around 30, but never fear, that extra 420 tags has been doubled, even close to tripled in late fall when the mature bucks seldom move during daylight hours. So when central AZ has trouble producing a mature buck, you can always take solice in knowing there are at least an extra thousand-plus hunters sharing your "hunter opportunity".

Two words. "Smoke Screen". One would almost assume that nothing of importance is going on in Ukraine. These "racist" or other sensational news stories just happen to pop up while the actual news that impacts our lives, and the world our kids will have to manage and deal with, go unnoticed. In other news, according to CNN's top stories, a 765 lb woman races to lose weight (not a joke, it's there). Forget about our cold-war adversary making strategic moves to conquer, by force Eastern Europe, hard evidence that our white house covered up the Benghazi calculated terrorist attack in Libya that killed U.S. Ambassador Stevens and several ex-navy seals while our government watched in complicity. Forget about our own BATF arming drug cartels while law-abiding gun owners and manufacturers are having their doors kicked in by militarized police forces from... the IRS, EPA, BLM...WTF??? Those chosen to serve and protect America's freedom are arming to the teeth with MRAP vehicles, m4's so much ammo they're literally destroying over $1Billion in excess ammo, while we can't get a box of .22 LR. Yet, what's front page across every news media from Fox to all the alphabet channels, and super libs like MSNBC? An 80+ year old billionaire said something many consider racist. Time to get a grip folks.

I like it - great idea!

Great Job!

Awesome TJ. Makes me want to get out and do some fishing! Nothing like good fish fry.

I'm wondering the same thing. I'm thinking about getting one of the OTC archery tags that starts May 9. A little late in the season for sure, and the OTC youth hunt in Unit 1, 27 etc., had a very high success rate from what I've seen.

Progressive tells you everything about their politics in their name. Same with Geico. Geico is an acronym for Government Employees Insurance Company. Both VERY lib biased. I've had State Farm and Allstate. So far the best I've found is Esurance. Same backing without the agent. Our Allstate agents were deceptive and did more harm than good. Maybe there is such a thing as an insurance agent that will actually work for you. In 30+ years of dealing with State Farm and Allstate, our "agents" who we met, had over to dinner, knew our family - the people we trusted with important questions about when to file a claim and when not to, were NOT there when we needed them, and gave us bad advice when they were available. Example: Allstate, Bob Hubbard. My wife and I had home and auto through this guy. Years with no tickets, no claims whatsoever. Our Ford F-250 is stolen out of the parking lot at Sea World. We're stuck with no way to get home. We call Bob directly and explain our situation - his response was "You're going to have two deductibles - one for auto and one for your homeowners to cover the things inside the vehicle". No assistance getting us home or helping us in any way. We've had other incidents where we contact our "agent" and ask what is prudent with water damage from a leaking hose on our water heater, and with wind damage to our roof. We were told we should submit a claim in both cases, then Allstate dropped us for having too many claims. Anyway, my point is, an agent isn't there to help or educate you in any way, in my experience. Getting rid of the agent means cheaper insurance with the same coverage.

I'd say, all of them, but I didn't read all the pages before responding.

+1 on accubond. If you hand load, a 140 gr. accubond with h4831sc is awesome. I like to load them long enough to touch the lands.

Looks like Bowtech in the lead with Hoyt a close second. Seems about right. Had a Bowtech Allegiance and really liked it, my first "pricey" bow after a Mathews Conquest Light. I wanted to try out a Hoyt. On my Bowtech I had a good sight (7DP) but still had a whisker biscuit on it. Bought the Hoyt CRX 35, changed out my arrows to ACC hunters, went to a QAD fall-away, got rid of my "variety-pack" of broadheads and stuck with 3 heads that have always worked well, and a silly thing happened. I started killing more stuff with my bow. Probably not the bow at all, I just found something that felt comfortable --- like a lucky hat.

Awesome job, Ashlyn! Sounds like a great time with your dad you will not soon forget. Great job on your story - it's like we were right there with you guys. Huge congrats on your first turkey.

+1, big congrats to Hunter. And thanks to you getting him out there. If you get the chance, I'd love to hear the story of his hunt.

Wow...

A friend of mine hunted with his kids in Unit 1 over this last weekend and said he was totally amazed by the proliferation of wolves there - and the effect they were having on the Turkeys. Personally, I've only encountered a few wolves over the past 20+ years of hunting in unit 1, but this guy has been hunting there longer than I have and I don't doubt his observations.

Very cool - huge congrats to Matthew on a gorgeous bird.

I hope you youth turkey hunters had a great opening weekend. My boys worked really hard - I'm, talking 3:00 AM to dark every day for three days, but they hit it out of the park. Some "power naps" in the camper, the truck even the bottom of the ground blind when it was raining or snowing too hard to keep pushing. They worked their tails off, learned a lot about turkeys and their behavior, learned a lot from my mistakes and wrong assumptions, and one-by-one the missed chances turned into birds on the ground. Having some issues with the pictures formatting, but hopefully they'll be visible.

Man - you guys slayed 'em. Great job!!!

One day they are sitting in you lap, learning the basics. The next they're driving out with you, learning on their own and teaching you new things.