coueskiller

Posted NEW pics in the Hunting In AZ area of the forum. Check em out and enjoy!

Well the mount is completed and I will pick it up this morning and post pics later today. It is unreal!!!!!

Sorry here is the other pic I was trying to post. Big 2pt!!!!

Thanks for the comments guys! Here are a couple of prospects for this fall........ Maybe I can get lucky again!!

A big congrats to Randy, Andy, the dogs and hunter. You guys know how to get it done. Awesome tom for sure!!!!

here is a trail cam pic ( a crappy one ) of the velvet buck.

Thanks guys and I will post more pics when it's done. Mr. Jonathan the key to keeping the velvet in top shape is get it cooled off and to the Taxi ASAP. I had this buck to the Taxi in about 7hrs but had it cooled off with in 3 hrs.

Here is a pic of the pig I took on friday with my bow. Nothing special just an average stink hog sow that will make good chorizo!!

All emails I sent to AZGFD yesterday have been returned undeliverable. Guess I will have to go the old fashion route and send it pony express!!

("Anyway, lion hunting is all about the dogs and not just killing lions.") I second that. Now that I have taken one lion I think I'm done killing them but will continue to go out with the dogman every chance I get, watching those dogs is awesome. I hunted a year or so ago with the dogman on his mules for a couple of days looking for lions and I have to say it was one of my most enjoyable hunts being able to ride around on the mules and watch his dogs work. Once the lion is caught it's pretty much over and I don't see the need to kill every dang lion that get's caught, watching those dogs on the trail and at the tree is what it's all about. Don't get me wrong I would still shoot another lion if I glassed one up or saw one while hunting but once that happen's, if ever then I can say that honestly I would never shoot another. Congrats to Randy and his dogs on a monster tom. Did hap smoke that fresh track again?? That dog is one bad dude!!! Geoff

Went out with the "DogMan" last sunday and caught this nice lion. Took it with my bow, can't say enough about Randy Epperson, he is one awesome dude that's for sure!!! Thanks Randy. I will give it a go on the pic posting. Geoff

Here are a couple of pics of hap & roxy

Thanks for the kind comments guys. The lion is a very dark colored one and beautiful in my opinion. Tam, yes Hap and Roxy were both there along with ruby and 2 new pups, chode and red. We put hap on the track first and he smoked it then we put out roxy and ruby and soon they were on the chase also as we followed up with the 2 pups. It was a short chase on a hot track and the dogs had the lion caught in no time. Geoff

Mr. Day Can you please provide us, the public hunters that spend our hard earned money every year hunting this great state and paying your wages with the data that you have collected on big game that has been harvested by means of hunting over salt VS other methods. I dont think you can because I know you dont have that data. As Redman has stated let's see some more numbers and data that has been collected. This is just another stab at limiting our harvest so you can allow more tags to generate more $$$, that the cold hard truth. The AZGFD is doing a great job of increasing hunting oppertunity while decreasing the quality of hunting we were once proud to say we had in this state, a few more years of the yearling deer slaughter on the numerous rifle hunts and we will see where we end up. I think us hunters need to take a strong stand on what we believe in and I'm sick and tired of attending meetings with the comission that will not listen to the public. Where would the department be with out us hunters that spend our hard earned money hunting in AZ??? I wish that every resident and nonresident hunter in the AZ hunt pool would come together and boycot buying and licenses or tags for 2 years in the state and maybe then with all that money lost the AZGFD would listen to what we have to say. Whats next... no range finders, no binoculars, no scoped rifles, no compound bows because I hate to say it but the equipment we have avaliable today is what is getting these animals killed not some salt lick. Geoff

Awesome buck right there!!! I will go with 124 4/8" Geoff

And I was sitting in a tree with Josh.....oh my god now I feel sick.........

Oh yeah what a nice buck, congrats!! Man the deer are hitting the dirt big time! All you guys ready for a state wide archery draw?? I think it's coming what a shame!

Way to go!!!! Big time congrats on all of your success!!

Congrats on a whopper buck, spot and stalk to boot, awesome job in getting that done! Geoff

dang you Epperson, I take a qualified photo/video pro out to maybe get dang lucky and kill the big buck and video the whole thing going down and now it's all there stuck on the disc with no way to view but with the camera.................HAHAHAHA..... I'm sure there is a simple way to get that video off the disc we just need to call around, no worries my friend!!! I'm still replaying the whole thing in this little head of mine! As for entry into P&Y, I don't think I will even enter it, heck with the use of cameras and video it's not even worth my time to here the cries of the ethics police. I put the smack down on that deer fair chase on public land with hundreds of hours of scouting and searching and just got dang lucky that I was in the right spot at the right time and was able to hold it together and smoke a majistic grey ghost with archery gear. Geoff

In the pine trees baby!!

OMG what a HOSS!!! Big time congrats!! Geoff

Thanks again everyone!! I don't know how it got passed me but my younger brother was also there to share the experience!

Well I'm back now and thanks to all of you for the kind comments. Here is a lil tid bit on the hunt. I have been scouting every weekend since the first of May and I mean EVERY weekend, my honey hole wasn't producing anything but small bucks. I searched and found a few other places to hunt but everywhere I went it seemed there were other people around. Up until about 10 days before the strat of the hunt I didn't have a pic of a buck over 90" and I was stressing out big time because I know the area holds some great deer, then I pulled the SD card out of the cam at the old honey hole and low and behold this buck was on there, not once, twice but 3 differernt days. Man I was stoked to say the least! I couldn't get out of town early enough on Thursday to go check my camera and when I got there I was in disbelief........... only about 10 deer pics since the weekend and only 2 small 2pt. bucks, no big boy. Well this late in the game I had no options but to sit the stand in hopes that the big buck would show up again sometime. Josh and I were a few minutes late to the stand opening morning and jumped a couple of coues deer just a hundered yrds or so from the stand. We then climbed up into our stands to see what would show. We didn't see much of anyting early, a few turkey and birds no deer. Well at abot 8:40 Am I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to see a buck walking towards us, Josh whispered"You got him?" and I noded that I did. He cleared the juniper and I couldn't believe it, IT WAS HIM at 30yds!! Josh had the camera rolling and we were both having a hard time keeping it together as the buck approached, he was is the blaze open and I wasn't sure how I was going to pull it off. Well luck have it he put his head down just enough for me to grab my bow and draw on the buck that was now 18yds below us. As I came to full draw my bow let out a tiny squeak that got the bucks attention and he then stopped and turned giving me a perfect shot. I relaeased and we watched the arrow blow thru the deer with a near perfect shot! He spun and bolted and we could see the blood pumping and knew the shot was as good as we thought! Man we were celebrating like a couple of teenage boys, high fives and OH MY GODS and a bad case of the shakey knees! We waited a bit and climbed down to find the arrow and inspect the crime scene. Everything looked good and we followed the blood trail about 150 - 200 yds and found the buck piled up!!! I feel very lucky to have this all work out and end the way it did, shooting the only buck that I had seen it the area this year that I wanted to take, guess it was meant to be and a moment that will be burned in my mind forever! I want to thank Josh Epperson and Darren Choate for all the help with the pics, video and help hauling the buck out, you guys are truly great friends and I am glad to have shared that beautiful early fall with the two of you, you guys are both first class!

That is one of my favorite trick tanks in that unit, we used to hunt the heck out of that country. Awesome spot and good luck to you on the archery hunt. Geoff