BirdDog20

We've had our truck broken into in 36a. They stole peanut butter, bread, and my good trail running shoes. We always leave extra water out for people in need. I'm still pissed about the shoes. We also used to see illegals often when camping off 684 / Chaves Siding in 36b. They'd go through the canyon that we were camped in. I tore down a staging area pulling out their heavy plastic and gave the Border Patrol the coords. The staging area was on a peak that overlooked the whole valley and they could see the BP coming from miles away.

My bad - I had seen so many background pics of this setup where the rifles are still horizontal and rigid ... I figured the tripod was holding it there. (Lol - it is, isn't it?) I shoot off my tripod as well. Just slip a styrofoam pad over my swavorski adapter to create a makeshift shooting platform. It'll do in a pinch, but I usually only shoot 300 - 400 max. Hats off to those that can confidently shoot further (if it's all you)

The only thing that really guts me is long shot shooting with the rifle attached to a tripod. If it's just the shooter and his trusty bipod, kudos to him/her, but if you have to lock it down because you can't hold it on target, I just have to snicker and groan. It's just like my Texas buddies who call hunting over a feeder hunting.

Last year I had a late hunt permit. Unfortunately, living in Texas, I don't get a chance to scout and so I have to blow the first few days checking old spots and finding new ones. I did finally find a spot that had 12 bucks with 3 in the 100 pt range. I had a stalk on one, but he snuck out, but I ran out of time as I had to get back to Texas. However, I kept the GPS track which proved to be invaluable this year. Friday, we hunted together and saw two smaller bucks ... A forkie and a spike. We went back to Tucson to watch the UofA v UCLA volleyball game and formulate a plan for the next day. I generally like to trophy hunt holding out for 90+. (If my only goal was just too kill one, I'd just hunt over a feeder in Texas, but i love the challenge of taking a mature buck). My dad doesn't mind taking the first thing he sees, so we decided to split up the next day. My guess was that the bigger bucks were at the top in the early hunts where it's cooler. On Saturday, we woke up at 2:45a, left town at 3:15a. Started our hike at 5:10a by flashlight and GPS. My dad is 79, so we took an easy pace. I left him a little further down the canyon to hunt anything that the camps below may push up. Normally we sit about a half hour before daylight. It took me 2 hours to get over the top. By that time, there was already enough light to see, so I was working really slow, glassing as I went. I quietly reached my spot and set up. Got everything ranged. It was pretty breezy that morning. I had my tripod set up and was about to settle in to start glassing, when I heard rocks clattering. The buck must've winded me and while he couldn't pinpoint me, he was getting the heck out of there. He went right by one of the rocky bluffs that I had ranged. I set my styrofoam pad up on my tripod for a stable shooting platform and followed him with the rifle. At 290ish yards, he stopped and gave me a clean shot broadside. I took one shot that went through both front shoulders. He lunged forward then started rolling down the hill. I lost the g-3 time on the right side when he rolled down the hill ... Or he might've lost it earlier. Because he was running, I couldn't determine if he was one of the big ones from last year. I could see he was pretty decent, so i let fly. Too bad about the missing tine and I was sort of hoping he'd have some more mass, but it was a pretty clean hunt. Shot him at 7:15, but didn't get him back to the truck until 5:30p. It was hot out there. I was quite a ways back. Tough footing. I hunt with a decent amount of weight. Drug him off the really bad part of the canyon, but the the rest, I had to make two trips with pack and rifle then go back and get the deer. When I got to my father's level, I was out of water. My dad took my pack and headed back to the truck. I didn't realize how gassed I was. I was still about a half mile away when I had him bring me another water and a sandwich. We eventually split the deer in half and he took the hind quarter. Still impressed that my father at 79 can still do these things with me. Saved my bacon that day. Next time, that big and that far back, I think I'll just de-bone.

Thanks all. He always says if you don't use it, you lose it and at his age if he doesn't do something physical, he feels a big difference in a few days. I do this and bowl Nationals with him every year. I like to think that it gives him incentive to stay healthy and fit while we enjoy the things we've always enjoyed together.

Love the shape of his rack. Beautiful buck!

Those are some super nice bucks.

Great story. I've always wanted to do a backpack hunt. Out of curiosity, do you use a hiking stick? We've found them to be invaluable to stabilize. When I'm still hunting, I use it to quickly glass too. But on a hike like that, it saves a lot of wear and tear your legs.

Prefer 36b, but grew up hunting both 36a/b. Been hunting them for 25 years now.

I got 36a (non-Res) with no bonus points. Still come back every year.

It's been a while since I've been on the boards. I logged into G&F on judgement day expecting to see an increment to my bonus points, but I was surprised to not only see that I had gotten drawn, but it was for a late hunt as well. I would have preferred it to have been 36b, but I like 36a as well. 2nd choice if I recall. I think I remember reading that only 10% are reserved for non-Res, so that means I got 1 of 4 permits available for that hunt. Blew a lot of my vacation on cruises (19 days at sea in '15). I only have 5 days left, so I'm leveraging the holidays to get 10 days in AZ for 5 vacation days I have left. Although I would like to, I don't think I'll be able to go out Christmas day with the family overlapping. Miss living in AZ.

Thanks. My dad had early November 36a. Out of vacation, so I can't make it back though normally, is be glassing and playing the pack mule. I won't be able to scout this year, so I'll be hitting old tried and true.

Population growth also a possible reason for tougher draw. Arizona is a growing state.

I wrote about it in the ASU thread. I was rooting for ASU in that game just like I rooted for Stanford and will root for USC. It makes our conference look that much better to win those non-conference games. However given how ND has slid since that game, perhaps they weren't as good as the pollsters thought having gone on to lose against Northwestern and Louisville. ASU got the prestige for beating a top 10 team at the time, but they weren't really top 10. If you happened to play them after the other 2 losses they may be 23-25 or completely unranked as USC gets them now. Man I was hoping Stanford wouldn't have blown their coverage. ND may end up with 5 losses after they finish playing USC.

Great time to be a Wildcat fan. Football exceeding expectations, going in the right direction with a RS Fr quarterback and Fr running back leading the way. We will have some pieces to replace on the O-line and on D, but we are ahead of schedule. Basketball is rolling. Top 5, reloading instead of rebuilding. Another huge recruiting class signed for 2015 and already a 5 star recruit signed for 2016. I'm pretty realistic about our chances in the title game. On the one hand having beat them twice, we match up well with them. But they still have better athletes and it's awfully tough to beat a team twice in the same year. They'll be gunning for us with a lot on the line and the last 2 games of tape to reference.

Fear the spork!?!?

I rooted for ASU against ND, just like I rioted for Stanford and will root for USC over the domers. It makes or conference look better to win these non conference games. (Wish AZ would go back to at least 1 marquee game i.e. Iowa / OK st.) Asu benefited greatly by playing ND when they did. After ND lost to Northwestern and Louisville at home there's not much luster left on that win ... but they were over ranked at #9 at the time. ND is looking at possibly their 5th loss against USC and aren't even ranked. That's sort of like the excitement here locally when Texas a&m whooped South Carolina to start the year. Carolina was #9 at the time and a&m was #15. A&m got a big boost in the rankings, but now neither are anywhere to be seen.

My dad and I bought these work boots back when Montgomery Wards was closing in the early 90s. His boss are not nearly as beat up since I do all the deer carrying. Also like to do a fair bit of trail making do it's easier to get in/out. Anyway these are 20+ years old. Super durable and the most comfortable boots I've ever worn. I wish we got an extra pair or two, but these were the last ones the store has. I keep these in Tucson ... I've tried several brands here in Texas, but I can't find a pair that doesn't create a pressure point on my feet where the eyelets are. Hopefully those boots will last forever. My dad had a pair of Browning's before, but the rugged terrain ate the soles up.

They have broke into our truck in 36a couple years back. Took bread, peanut butter, and my trail running shoes. When I go out these days, I leave water on the windshield and try to guide everything else out of sight.

Goes in cycles. Excluding ancient history before most of us were born, Arizona went 13-3-1 from 1982 to 1998 including 8-0-1 from '82 to '90. Can you imagine, 5 consecutive classes didn't sniff a win in any of their 4 years. Tomey era ended in 2000 and Mackovick completely sunk the program into a nuclear deep freeze. Stoops took over in '04 - '11 w/ the first 2 years being extremely tough on rebuilding. He eventually wore out his welcome, but now we have a renaissance with Rich Rod. Realistically, I figured we'd close out the year with win against WSU and losses against UCLA, Oregon, and ASU. Arizona laid an egg in the WSU game ... figured the season was over. That was before we shocked Oregon. Denker played out of his mind and we obtained our signature win for the year. Start to finish, Denker improved as much as anyone this year. I think he had a huge letdown after the Oregon game. Would I trade the Oregon win for an ASU win? Meh, not sure. Always nice to beat your rivals, even better to win both those games, but we aren't remotely at that level yet. Ideally, it shouldn't have, but I do think it affected the preparation for the rivalry game. You can hang your hat on that one more year. We didn't even get a moral victory. But I love the direction that we're going having done more with less, and now that we're getting better talent into the system, it'll be interesting to see how it all develops. 2012 - I thought we had a decent shot, but our defense was horrible. Matt Scott was dynamic. 2013 - With an improved D, I didn't think we had much of a shot b/c Denker is / was inconsistent. 2014 - Go Cats!

Arizona just pulled a 5* recruit today in DB Jalen Tabor who chose Arizona over Alabama. Then the icing on the cake is 4* OL Jordan Poland switched his verbal commitment from USC to Arizona moments afterwards. Positive momentum.

Sometimes the ASU fanbase makes it difficult, but in general I root for the Pac12 in all the non-conference matchups (even ASU). It just looks better for the conference strength. Our elite teams weren't quite as dominant this year, but in terms of depth, the Pac12 is as deep as any other conference. It says something to have 9 bowl eligible teams even though we're one of the few conferences to play 9 conference games. I was hoping to see an Oregon - Alabama matchup instead of OU / Alabama, but the bowl thought Oklahoma traveled better even though Oregon was ranked higher. Living in Texas, it was fun to see Oregon thump the Longhorns. I really wanted to see ASU complete the Pac12s dominance over the Big12 / Texas Tech. Pac12 fared well against the ACC with UCLA over VaTech and Arizona over BC. Unfortunately, Stanford got beat at their own game w/ Mich St. Everything else was against the Mountain West / BYU. Instead of 9-0, we ended up as 6-3. Considering where this season started w/ Denker, he showed as much improvement as any QB. It stood to be a 'rebuilding / transition' year after having Matt Scott at the helm last year. Denker had his letdown game against ASU after a huge performance against Oregon, but rebounded with his performance in the BC win. The difference between the first 4 games and the last 4 was like night and day ... even taking the ASU debacle into account. There were some lean years there with some ill-advised hires after the Tomey era. The cupboard was somewhat bare with Stoops departure, but I really like the direction that Rich Rod has the team going in recruiting and player development ... very promising. It's been a long journey and the Cats aren't there yet. Greg Byrne (AD) has been huge in leveling the playing field with the updated facilities. RichRod has done a lot with limited personnel and I see it getting much better. Hopefully he can find and develop the right triggerman amongst his 9 QBs (lol) for his offense next year. Even if Carey leaves, the offense will be loaded with skill players and the defense stands to get better especially with the recruiting class coming in. The development of the next starter will be the wildcard. Still a successful season. No one said that there wouldn't be peaks and valleys. We still have some head-scratchers. Looking to complete the journey.

I was field dressing my deer when I found some translucent threadlike worms. I've never seen anything like it. The deer was not gut shot, so I don't think it was intestinal / tapeworms. I do believe it was previously hit in an earlier hunt this year, nicked on the shoulder with the skin split. The front shoulder / foreleg area was yellowish, but there weren't any maggots. Anyway, has anyone seen anything like this? Is the meat safe to eat / process? I took a video. I'll see if I can get it uploaded later.

FYI - Ran this by AZGF on facebook and had this exchange: Arizona Game and Fish Department Martin: I shared your note and video with Anne Justice-Allen, DVM State Wildlife Health Specialist here at the Arizona Game and Fish Dept., and here was her reply: "It looks like those worms are in the peritoneal cavity (the space between the stomach/intestines) and the body wall because the surface below the worms appears to be the rumen. If this is correct, then the worms are Setaria cervi. They don’t affect the meat and generally don’t cause any problems for the animal. If they are from another location, then they may be a different type of worm. As long as they aren’t in the muscle, the meat should be fine." Hope that works for you, Martin. Congrats on your successful hunt! 4:38pm Martin Lee Thank you very much for the information. If I recall, I moved the worms to the stomach with my knife so that they'd be more visible for me to film them. I believe I first saw them as I was clearing the diaphragm area ... but its sorta a blur now. The movement caught my eye. There was some muscle degradation / loss on the front shoulder blade that was noticeable, but that could have been from his wound. There wasn't much meat remaining covering that left shoulder where there was a 1" x 2" open wound in the skin. (picture attached). Initially I thought that the wound you see was where I hit the deer, but upon skinning the deer, I found that I had hit the buck just behind that lesion. That would explain the limp i thought I saw when he took a step. I only saw him limp once though and didn't make anything of it. I wish I took a picture of the deer skinned. That front shoulder down the foreleg was yellowish looking like it had been fighting infection. Unfortunately, we had to scrap that portion as it didn't look fit to consume. This is somewhat of a case of which came first, chicken or the egg. Open wound must've caused muscle atrophy and infection. As long as it is confined to that front left shoulder, the backstraps and hind quarters should be good, right? Sounds like the worms could have been there already or could have been introduced by the wound? My dad has the neck, ribs, right front shoulder, and legs. So he could be more at risk given the proximity. I'll try to do further research on Setaria Cervi. By the way, I have another picture with my tag attached. Lol. Regards, Martin. 6:21pm Arizona Game and Fish Department Hi Martin: I ran your email past Dr. Justice-Allen again, and here was her reply: "The worms that Martin saw are still most likely to be Setaria cervi and were not introduced thru the wound. The backstraps and majority of the carcass should be fine. The wound looks pretty fresh and I don’t see a lot of infection. If I were him, I’d trash the shoulder and the some of the adjacent neck (he could cook the best parts of it really well and feed it to his dogs if he has any – they won’t mind any quality issues and cooking it will get rid of the bacteria, discard anything adjacent to the wound)." Anne Justice-Allen, DVM State Wildlife Health Specialist Arizona Game and Fish Dept.

Thanks for the thread. Could be Elaeophososis-arterial worm according to one of the posts. The snap shot looks very similar to what I recorded (see youtube link)