Tines

Wow!!!! HUGE Congratulations. 2009-2010......"The year of GIANTS!"

Congrats to all! Pig!!!

Dang, he beat me to it...... :blink:

Remember in elementary and your teacher would bring in a mason jar full of jelly beans or pinto beans and whoever got the closest guess would win????? Yeah, I had a few minutes to spare. I counted 317 elk........way cool!

HAHA! Thank you, Doug!

Livin' the dream! Way to go guys! Maybe a bottom feeder wt hunter can tag along sometime.... Congrats to all involved. All of that work is finally paying off. You guys deserve it!

My brother and I both drew December tags this year in different units. Because of my own hunt, I wasn't abe to get out at all with him. Our older brother and my dad went out with David when they could. Dave passed up many buck and it always seemed that his days off landed on the days that the storms were bowing in. That always sucks! Finally I had a day off and Dave kindly asked my wife if I could join him for his last day..... Dave and I made it out on Monday..... only to find the wind blowing pretty hard- go figure! We made it to our glassing point and it was sooo cool- snow everywhere in the bowl we were to glass! This is always such a rare sight in Southern AZ so it's always nice to take advantage of it. The morning started out a little slow when I found a bedded deer right in the snow. I couldn't tell what it was but a doe about 10yds away caught my eye. The body looked like a mature deer so we just watched. Finally he turned his head and we saw that he was a good 3x3 with a cool little sticker.......especially for a last day. Shorty after that the buck stood up and chased the doe around for a bit. In the mean time, another buck started working his way over to them. The 3x3 didn't care much for the wide 2 point being around so he kept chasing him off. In the mean time Dave and I take off to close the distance. We got set up and it didn't take long to find the buck chasing the doe. We could have easily taken the 2 point (he was REALLY wide and unique) but waited for the 3 point to give us a shot. Finally he came out into the open but was facing uphill, directly away from us. It was real thick and he was almost to the top. We thought about waiting for him to turn broadside but thought he could easily top out or get into the thick stuff. Dave told me he could make the shot. Dave shot and hit the buck square in the middle of the back, dropping the buck! We celebrated and headed over. It was nice to get out with my brother again. This is his 3rd coues buck in his last 3 yrs since he moved from California. He's become a dang good coues deer hunter considering the little experience. And thanks for the cape, brother!

That is a COOL looking buck!!!

Congrats, Tyson!

Wow, congrats to the Payne bros! What a fantastic Double!!!

Too cool! I wonder if the patient I had the other day came from the sandy river bottoms???

Awesome buck, congrats!

Seriously, thank you guys! It's been an interesting ride for the past few days. From people telling me I've photoshopped the tines to make them look longer, others telling me that there must be testing done to confirm he's a hybrid..............to the latest, "there's no such thing as a WT like that buddy!" I'm etremely humbled, guys. I thank you for your comments and kind words. I hope all of you have an opportunity to watch a buck like this sometime in your life....maybe even wrap your tag around one. All I can say is there's more where he came from. I used to get discouraged when I'd exhaust all of my efforts to find a buck 10-15" SMALLER than him and wonder if it would ever happen. Just when you least expect it......I hope your ready because like my story read, I was as close as close could be to missing my opportunity.

What can I say, I had a great teacher show me the WT ropes growing up!

Thanks! Im shooting a Tikka T-3 Lite in 25-06..... handloaded 110gr Accubonds with 51.5gr H4831sc

Forgot to add this pic that I liked.... Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the kind words guys!

btw, some of his measurements are crazy: Left G-2: 11.5" Left G-3: 9.2 Inside spread is 16" And he nets 118"... !!!

someone killed a giant buck? who????

I have a hard enough time with addition and subtraction and the current system..........then you've got to throw in division and fractions ? I'd never be able to score an animal again! Good news is my 5yr old will probably be able to do it for me next year!

That's pretty funny! Unless you're taking someone with a handicap of some sort, this question CAN'T be for real......

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and make a statement that MANY may disagree with: Minus buffalo and lion(in most cases), I believe a mature desert MD buck is the most difficult of all AZ big-game to hunt AND kill during the early rifle season. Many hunters apply for a rifle MD hunt down south because while they were archery hunting during January they could chase multiple bucks a day. And you're seeing (or not, for that matter) excactly what the results are. Like you, I'm a coues deer hunter to the bone. I could be turkey hunting and I still find myself looking for a vantage point to possibly glass them up. HAHA! It's a "bad" habit. I've had the same tag before. It's frustrating when you pull into the Arivaca store and find a group of guys standing around a truck with 2 big bucks in the back.............and you've yet to even see one! I'll make another statement that many may disagree with: Many of those bucks are killed right off the road. Yes, there are even road hunters down south too. And they don't even have the excuse that it's too cold to be out in the elements like you might hear up north. I did not say "all", I said "many". That being said, you're doing things right! You're hunting hard and it'll pay off one way or another. Here's a suggestion for you that might help. Something tells me that it's worked for others Lace up those boots, throw some extra water and food in your pack and go for a LONG hike. "Still" hunt through rolling hills and mesquite flats. Make sure you push through those washes and small patches of trees that might hold bedded deer. Move slowly and methodically- all the while glassing the entire time! Especially before you enter into what might be "their bedroom". Next thing you know, you've got a big 'ol mature buck staring at you from 100yds through the mesquites! "You've got to be handy with the steel, you know what I mean....."! HAHA, I love that line! It's probably completely unorthodox from everything you know to be "effective hunting". Trust me, I KNOW! But you've got to adapt to where they are and what they're doing (or not). All of this being said, NEVER be afraid to sit down with the tripod mounted binos and pick things apart like you would many other AZ critters. Good luck and like mentioned before, NEVER give up!

Scum-bag! Hope you catch him.........

Texashunter, Just to give you a heads up, in case you dont already know, it's'illegal to "finish off" someone elses animal. I'm a practical kind of guy myself. And, if like me,you HATE to see an animal suffer. I dont want to shed any negative light on your thread because im real glad the buck was pursued and put down...... Just be careful how much you share on a public forum... Happy hunting to ya!

+1

HAHAHA.... Javelina rodeo!!!! Yeeehaww!