naturegirl

I know my account got tapped for 3 bull tags. im dying to find out if it's the early or late hunt. I wish they'd post soon. I had a plate put in my wrist last week ( broke it good -fell off my horse ) and im praying I can get back to my 60lb draw weight if I got drawn for September! or for that matter august deer otc. Ill be shooting a shotgun for spring turkey. no choice there. Good luck to all!

wow. that is amazing! someone on here had a game camera pic of a buck with a drop tine...looked similar to this one but im not certain and i don't remember where I saw it on here.

wow. that is amazing! someone on here had a game camera shot ofid a buck with a drop tine...looked similar to this one but im not certain and i don't remember where I saw it on here.

very nice!

I've been hunting with a bow for a little over 3 years pig, turkey and both deer seasons every year. My persistance has finally paid off and boy was it an exciting hunt! We started off on Saturday. We got into pigs around noon. The only shot that I had that day was a 51 yard head on shot on a small pig. I passed and the others never gave me a shot. Day two...got into pigs again. This time I stalked while hubby and his buddy sat at the bottom of the hill with the binos and walked me in. I got close but snapped a twig on the ground and pigs went running. I had a mama and baby at 40 yards. She stood there for 2 minutes broadside and I'm thinking why can't she NOT have that baby with her. It was a bigger baby, but still a baby. Day three..After less than 5 minutes of glassing hubby said "I've got pigs, but they are at the top of the mountain." Uggh, I'd been sick for the whole hunt and everyday we end up climbing the tallest mountain around (or so it seemed) but oh well I was ready to go. Me and Rudy (our hunting buddy) climbed the mountain as Tom (hubby) spotted from below. We got up it as quick as we could, used the wind in our favor and boy was it windy up there. We got to the top and came in at an angle at them. We crept to about 30 yards from them and by then all but 2 were huddled under a big palo verde bedded down. Those 2 were 65+ yards and 50 is my limit. Tom was strongly encouraging us to move closer, but Rudy & I decided to wait them out because they had no clue we were there and we really wanted to both get a shot if possible. After sitting there for at least 20 minutes I decided to inch my way to try to get a better shooting lane and of course for whatever reason (wind, movement, who knows) they started scattering. Rudy said a few words I won't mention, but I'm trying to tell him there are still a few just down the hill. He said "should I call?" I've never seen pigs called in before and he's never called to pigs, but had been practicing. I figured what the heck. Can't get much worse than what it was. So he's calling, which of course I find the calling process quite hilarious. It literally cracks me up. Tom's down at the bottom on the radio telling him what a good job he's doing calling and low and behold they start coming back. Rudy started calling a little too aggressively and they started turning away so Tom told him to shorten up the calls a little and I'll be damned they were coming right to us 6 or so of them lined up and on a mission. Now Rudy's behind me telling me to shoot. I had no idea how far they were and I didn't have time to range them. It would have been a heck mary shot for me that I wasn't comfortable with. Buy they were closing in fast and I drew back. Now they are about 20-30 yards to my left and still moving in, but mostly behind bushes. I'd have to time it just right in between bushes cuz they were moving and moving right towards us. I could hear Rudy behind me. He had tried to knock an arrow while calling and the arrow fell out of the knock. I can't help it I wanted to laugh. It was pretty funny. Next thing they are literally straight up the hill from me and closing in at 10 yards or less. I held onto the lead pig, followed her as she was moving, and let the arrow fly. I heard a thump. Now I've never killed anything with a bow and I've actually only killed one animal before and that was a pig with a rifle at 260 yards so I'm not very experienced, but I was pretty sure I'd hit it because of the thump. Tom was on the radio saying one ran off to the left and he didn't think it ever came out. I climbed up the hill and there's my arrow covered in blood. Yep a hit! I pull out my marker I've been carring in my pocket for 3 years just waiting to use it sometime and throw it down (yes, I was quite happy to be given the opportunity to use that marker). I followed the blood and I didn't have to go far maybe 15-20 yards and there she was with frothy blood coming out of her side and she was dead. It was a perfect lung shot with no suffering. We high fived, did a little hootin and hollering, and I had a smile from ear to ear. I did it! Just thought I'd share my story. I'm mighty proud of myself. I was getting pretty discouraged the night before(yeah, I can be a moody woman=one disadvantage to taking us females hunting). I just couldn't seem to close the deal on anything even though I'd get close over the years, but now I know I can do it!

Very nice! Good job.

I'm not all that experienced. Only been hunting them 3 years, but I was out deer hunting a month ago and we had 2 or so straight days of rain here in AZ. There were pig tracks everywhere. Seemed like they were still moving to me. Their bellies will get them moving sooner or later. Bring your rain gear!

it also depends on you. I've sat water for 5 days sun up to sundown a few times. its hard and quite boring in my opinion. im working on the spot and stalk method now. I just don't think I can make myself sit that long again. not to say id never do it but for me its pure torture to sit still that long. have fun and be patient. archery is hard. im over 3 years of probably 30+ days a year hunting and haven't arrowed anything yet. maybe my 7opinion day hunt next week will change the dry spell :0). If not, Ill still be happy just being outdoors.

I think I'm going to improvise and make my own. I can't seem to find anything that fits what I want. Yes, it is an Outdoorsman, but I still want to protect it especially from the dust. I've never had anything this nice before and I just can't see not trying to baby it. Thanks for all the input. I'm surprised there's not much out there to pick from.

Just wondering what everyone uses to protect their tripods? I did search the site for posts on this and couldn't find anything. I was thinking about an old camping chair case, but it will be too noisey. I'd like it to attach to my backpack, be quiet, and protect the tripod especially from dust since I'm on the Rhino quite a bit. I can sew something to my backpack if needed or come up with some sort of attachment. Santa was good to me this year and I got new binos and tripod early so I'll have them for the December archery hunt and I want to take very good care of them. Thanks.

beautiful. looks like a postcard. thanks for sharing

yeah there's really not much you can do. we all want and need to scout for our hunts especially the late elk when everything is on the move. I try my best to stay out of the way of anyone who is hunting.

We have a 6 yo black lab. she does upland and ducks/dove. when she was about 6 mos old we had a guy in the west valley train her for 3 months. money well spent although I had a hard time letting her go. she's a great all around bird and family dog.

Yippee we got turkey and pig :0) Maybe 2012 will be my year!

I honestly didn't think about protecting the tripod either, but it was quite expensive. The place we bought it from suggested it. Makes sense though to try to keep dust out of the moving parts. AzSlim - I'm in Gilbert, but my father-in-law is in Glendale. Do you have a pic of the case you could PM me?

that is a great bull especially for a late Archery hunt. I had a late rifile tag a few tears ago. hunted hard for 7 days and was skunked! very good job!

My birthday is this week. I mentioned to hubby I would like new high end binos. I have a pair of Nikon trailblazers 8x42 which are great for heavy forest hunting but id like something that is a lot better for long distance mountain desert hunting. im not a fan of spotting scopes. I wear my binos at all times when im out and about outdoors even quail hunting in rain, snow,dust, etc. Price isnt a big priority but there's no sense paying for a name if there's something else out there comparable for less $$. I have used Swarovskis once and they were quite a bit better then my trailblazers. Well more than quite a bit. Im also wanting a new red label from santa so I guess I don't want to ask for too much ...lol Anyone have any advice, thoughts, suggestions, etc?

I could say many of the same things as u. I've been bow hunting 3 yrs too. Up until last weekend I've never gotten closer than 200 or so yards. I too have felt like giving up. My 2 early hunts this year had me on deer but just not the deer I wanted. The spikes were in range but I don't want to shoot a spike. I don't have a minimum but I know its not a spike or fork for my first deer (archery or rifle). I got on 4-5 BIG mulies and did everything right on my hour long stalk til I bumped em in their bed. I couldn't see them after they got up the hill. I went right went left and then went straight to a little 5-10' cliff. dang deer bedded down and I didn't look right below my feet. All I saw was deer butt and big antlers running. Was I bummed? Oh yes! But im learning on every single time im out there. Someday everything will come together. Don't give up. Enjoy the outdoors. It is hunting ....not shooting.

Camera flashes or cameras don't stop animals from coming in to drink. I can't get elk and cows to quit screwing with mine...lol. yes it does probably make it anyone's property being in public land but it is still stealing and wrong. The person taking re camera did not work for the $$ to buy it and knows ethically it is not theirs. I would never take someone elses stand, camera, or anything else that I know is not mine. Just my 2 cents.

Great story and great deer!!

I majorly commend you for sticking with it and recovering your deer. I truly hope u get the rack back. It doesn't seem very fair but rules are rules and I think u did the right thing. Its all the ***hole poachers and idiot hunters who make it hard for us ethical law abiding hunters. I've seen poached animals and I don't envy some of the duties of a GW. Luckily I've only met nice helpful GWs so far.

I did the same thing....shot in my backyard for months at 20 yards (until I was consistent) before I went to longer ranges. I too watched videos of others and also watched them at local ranges.. I think it helps a ton to know someone who shoots a bow who can give advice. Not being sure of your financial situation, I started off with a used bow. I wasn't sure id even stick with it. I didn't purchase my Mathews until I'd been at it for a year. My first set up was free from my father-in-law. My second well over $1,000. Also I researched the internet extensively before I purchased my bow. Practice practice practice and practice some more. That's the only way to get better and stick with it. It took me awhile to "grow into" my new bow. It was so far ahead of me with its capabilities and it took me a few months to really get consistent with my new bow. Oh yeah one more thing....consistent anchor points was one of my biggest problems until I got a new release. Fit is everything with archery equipment. Even if u buy used, still go to an archery store to have your draw length checked and pick their brains about equipment and test shoot as many as u can.

Hello! I was in your shoes not too long ago. I've been shooting a bow for about 2 years now. The first year was with a hand me down from my father-in-law that did not fit me at all. Early last year I bought a Mathews Passion. I practiced at least 4-5 days a week either shooting 20 yards in my backyard or going to the range in Chandler or Archery Headquarters shooting 20-50 yards. I had an instructor teach me once and my husband has shot a bow for a long time and he has helped me a lot. I started getting frustrated after about 5 months and I felt that I should be much better than I was. A guy at Archery Headquarters said something to me that really did fit. He said I was now shooting a top of the line bow and I needed time to grow into the bow (basically I needed to develop the skills required to accurately shoot my bow). I'd say it took me about 7-8 months of very consistent practice to actually be very comfortable with my bow and was able to shoot very well. My problem is I'm not the type who is satisfied with hitting a paper plate. I want to hit a quarter. I wanted to shoot as good as my husband. Yes I'm competitive. I also studied a lot online about form, watched videos, etc. I also watched other shooters at the ranges. I don't think a bow is something that is mastered overnight but takes a lot of practice to get good at. One of my biggest problems was consistent anchor points. I used a kisser for awhile to help with this. If you have any questions or need help with anything, feel free to ask me. I'm no professional by any means but I am a girl who shoots a bow.

I don't know the rules of the board if we can pm yet. If not post on here if ur interested. I know the unit. I don't have a tag but could go a couple days here or there with u.