Coach

IMO, Cabela's today is nothing at all like the company it used to be. You used to get really good prices, cheap shipping, customer service that was second to none. Since they went public and started putting up stores everywhere I think their prices have gone through the roof, and their shipping is expensive because they don't even try to be efficient. Some of the last things I ever bought from Cabelas were small but shipped in a huge box stuffed with packing. Their customer service has also gone way down hill. For almost 20 years, close to 90% of my hunting and fishing purchases were from Cabela's. Now, the only things I'll buy there are things I can't get somewhere else. I love their boots (Perfekt hunter) but there are enough great products out there with the same quaility, better customer service, and as others have mentioned, buying from the smaller guys whenever possible helps keep the smaller shops with families to provide for afloat.

You guys did GREAT! Huge congrats. Some really great bucks right there!

Awesome buck - he is absolutely gorgeous! Huge congrats on working hard and achieving your goal.

Definately turn him in. Since you actually talked to him, I'm assuming you could give a pretty good description. It's things like this that make me think it would be a good idea for G&F to stop by all the camps in heavily hunted hunted areas and get an idea who is out there. Then if someone like yourself comes forward, they have something to go on. Sure am sorry to hear about your hunt being ruined, and glad you got out of there safely.

+1 on contacting G&F. If someone is poaching them or poisoning them it needs to be looked into, IMO.

Not sure if these are stil made but the Under Armour Speed Freaks are really a great boot for light hunting. I've put mine through countless turkey hunts, bull in unit 1, etc. They aren't great for really rocky terrian, but they fit the bill for places where you need a light boot.

Looking like leftover soup for my boys.

I doubt the kind of low-life who would steal a trail cam would visit this site. But if you are out there, and you are the kind of scumbag that would steal from a fellow hunter, you are lower than dirt. I honestly don't know where this mentality comes from. Surely these dirt-bags have a home, even a car to move around. How would you feel if someone broke into your home and started taking whatever they wanted? Is it just bad upbringing that makes certain people OK with stealing something? Man, I could go on a tirade about how low you have to sink, how morally bankrupt you have to be, to take what isn't yours.

Here's a little twist to consider. Like just about everything from glass, to bullets to campers or tents, the perfect gun for this animal, the best broadhead for that, the best glass - the best glass on a budget.. What you are asking for is the very best tripod out there. In hunting there's no perfect anything - everything has a trade-off. I've spent way more money than I should have experimenting with equipment. To be honest, the absolute best tripod I have found for hunting in AZ and NM under almost all conditions is the Slik Sprint Pro. I've got the big Bogen 3225G which is necessary for a Spotting scope, or standing up with big optics. I'd say 95% of the time I'm sitting, and the $100 slik tripod weighs in at around 2 pounds and can handle 15x56 swaros very well. If I need to glass standing up or use a spotter, the Bogen fills that need. My point is, there probably isn't one tripod that does everything perfectly. When I go out with my boys, each of them has a Slik Sprint Pro and the Jim White adapter. Between thier 8x42 glass, my Swaros in 10x42 and 15x56, these little cheap tripods are the work horses we rely on. When there is no need to carry a heavy or bulky tripod they seem to do it all.

I live in Lakeside and grew up here. IMO, if you are looking for a really high quality hunt, 3B is very iffy. I know of and have seen some great bulls taken in 3B, but the consistency just isn't there. Unit 1 is much bigger, has a much larger herd and has a lot more diversity in hunting opportunites. Given the choice, I'd take Unit 1 over 3B 100% of the time.

Barnes 62 grain TTSX or 70 grain TSX. I agree with your comment about it being like archery placement. I've never shot a deer with a .223 but I don't see why it wouldn't do the job with good placement, and reasonable yardage.

Guys, let's all set our beer down. It isn't global warming or global cooling, it's about strange weather patterns we've seen that could not be predicted. Massive droughts in the midwest. Massive flooding in the NE. Yeah this kind of stuff happens every few years, old farmers are used to it. When it's time to sweat the ME farmers, they will sweat - when it's time to let them harvest, they will harvest. Nature provides and government takes.

Congrats on drawing the "dream tag". I hope you make it a really fun hunt, and enjoy your time out there. Sometimes these tags come with a lot of pressure. My hope is that you can push that aside and just enjoy the little things that make a hunt fun, but still focus on the goal. Did I mention, keep it fun??? I can't wait to see the stories and pictures of your hunt.

I think azffhunter did a great job of answering the question about hunting in and around the suburbs. I, for one, am guilty of arrowing many, many rabbits on Tucson golf courses when I was going to college there. In my defense, by late afternoon most of the golfers were in the clubhouse drinking, and the groundskeepers were usually really cool - they let us keep shooting rabbits, but not while the ladies were still playing. This reminds me of a thread here, and on other forums a couple years back where there was the incredible, non-typical mule deer buck hanging around town in Colorado Springs. There were pictures of it lounging and bedding near an industrial park, walking through nieghborhoods in the middle of the afternoon. It also brings to mind a video that was wide-spread about elk right in town up in Calgary or Vancouver - some freaking awesome bulls just walking down main street - in some cases actually charging tourists. For me, hunting game that has been drawn into town and gotten accustomed to people would not satisfy what I want to learn and achieve through hunting, no matter how big the rack. If shooting a big buck is the motivation that drives you as a hunter, then who cares if it is in town, half tame, fully tame, in a pen, tied down, etc? On the other hand, if you think hunting has a spiritual quality, you take this "sport" as a personal challenge to be closer to the animals you persue, learn more about the land they live on, their habits and want to grow as a hunter, then the whole idea of killing a deer that has been conditioned not to see you as a threat goes against your core ideas of what hunting really is.

I'm going with photoshop - no expertise here, but it just doesn't look right. The snow being gone around the carcass could be explained by crows and such. I really don't know anything about moose so my guess is just that.

Great looking buck! Nice mass, love the square frame. Big congrats!

I'm guessing a really muddy, smallish bear. But whatever it is, it needs to be taken out of the gene pool!

Very cool. The smile on her face says it all. To be there with you and her Grandpa - that's just priceless. Huge congrats to your daughter - and so nice to see family out there - 3 generations, sharing such a great hunt.

Nice job posting it here - hope it ends up back in the owner's hands.

Sure is nice to see some on here still have a sense of humor. God speed, and best wishes.

+1, great post.

Wow, I just read this aloud to myself and I hear my own words - those of a bitter young man, now maybe a bitter older man. Fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and cousins - take the time to find out what the younger people in your life are doing, what they are interested in and find a way to be a part of it.

LOL, I knew there would be some more 'punkins' out there with spirit. Good post.

LOL, gotta rib you a little here Pixman - you can tell the brid is a white crowned sparrow but you're not sure if the fox under it is some other bird??? I'm joking, obviously - from my perspective (and it's all blurry) the fox is pretty obvious and the bird is - well, it's got wings, some feathers, some stripes on its head. "is it an african or a european swallow?"

Both are very handy and as Norteno pointed out - it really depnds on the situation which is better. I always have a bipod mounted on my rifle (kids too) and try to create the situation where you have time to get set up for the shot. Prone is best, sitting is pretty good too. Any time you can use your pack for a rest, that's a plus. The longest Harris bipods are nice, but the more you extend them, the less stability you have. Sometimes it's better to use your glassing tripod if you need to be higher up than prone. One more consideration with the rifle mounted bipods - the one I've used for many years doesn't pivot, and more often than not, I find myself jamming something under one side to get level. The next one I buy will pivot. If you practice off a rest and use a sand bag or other "squeeze" method under your back elbow or the buttstock - in a hunting situation you can yank out a water bladder and accomplish the same thing. A Stoney Point shooting stick is also great to have along. It doesn't usually get in the way and actually makes a pretty useful walking stick in tough country, and if you happen to get in a situation where you have to shoot quickly and/or there is no easy way to get set up with a bipod, it makes for a much more stable rest than shooting off-hand. Best of luck.