elkhunter

it was real smoky here in sierra vista yesterday, the fire really got out of control fast, today it seems to be in more control, it'll be a hotspot for hunting in a couple of years

no way for AZGFD to make accurate predictions on the hunt success so they have to make a rough estimation from the hunters who did submit the survey... I found out through my 4 years of college that people who were successful are more likely to submit the survey than those who werent, interesting stuff.

how the heck did I miss those pics? wow! As my friends told me, they always buy their houses to acommodate their mounts.....rather than have mounts and try to make them work in the house!

WAIT! I am missing the field photos of the 09 and 2010 elk! If you don't mind, could you post them? Thanks! That's a great bull there, sweet mount, I really like the dark antlers and ivory tips~!

love it! Had similar experiences like that before yahoo

Doug- it would be interesting to see how the success rate of this year compared to last year throughout all coues unit and compare it to the percentages of people who harvested a deer this year verses last year (that enrolled in the contest) For me and some of my friends, we had a rough year, few deer taken overall, I also noticed some of the success rate in the regs being lower than the previous two years

it seems like everyone is getting tile these days and getting rid of carpet. If you make a posting on craigslist regarding buying carpet or turf I am sure you'll have a seller within a few hours of posting in the phoenix area. I have two friends who ripped out carpet in their house and looking to sell, you can certainly find a person in the phoenix area looking to sell even a portion of their carpet/turf!

rock on Jim, ur a nicer person than I am!

"Fantastic job on the bird. You have established one heck of an AZ hunting resume" DUH! Congrats on the bird, looks like a solid coues spot as well, nice and thick! Where can I find the video of this hunt? I looked on Jay scott blog and can't find the video for this goulds hunt

The last picture is a classic example of identifying a young bear, nearly-pancake ears! Great pics, I sure hope they all get bigger this year

6A probably had more potential for a real beast of a buck but I would guess both units has equal opportunities for a 100 inch buck Each to their own I guess!

I learned that cheaper optics can help out with finding more critters because of the smaller field of view, it's easier to find a deer at 1000 yards in a small field of view than a larger field of view. When I glass things closely with the swaros, I put the eye caps all the way down, when I glass farther out, 1 mile or more, I put the eye cups up to reduce the field of view. EL's have a huge field of view, that may be what happened to you. I used a pentax 16's back in the old days then switched to Zeiss conquest 15's then switched to swaro 15's and in that process the amount of critters I've found went significantly up, not because I was finding them but because I could find them at longer ranges.

I have had the same issues as you, increasing powder loads meant tigher groups. I shoot a 300winmag and discovered some bullets with tighter groups but they were slower loads which meant more of a drop at longer distance. Thats the greatest thing about reloads, my loads certainly wouldnt work well on another man's 300 win mag. I would say keep working at it, the limit is the day you can't beat your own loads. I always have to remind myself that a 1/4 inch difference at 300 yards does not mean much to a coues, but you probably shoot farther than that!

Nice footage Jack, I'm guessing all of those bucks are probably in 19B Looks like you got some great footage over the years, I remember the posting you made on that one buck you were thinkin that was pushed 90

funny how deer only think about food, water and sex and they can still outsmart us

wait a few weeks and alot of hunters will put up their "2010" bows up for sale, anytime tax season runs around people sell their hunting gear, your buddy can get a brand new bow for a real good price, check the local newspaper, craigslist and even on this website.That way your buddy can get a bow that is 1 year old and not feel bad. Dont let the modern bow technology fool you, alot of people shoot bows that are nearly 10 years old with the same "hunting success" as those with brand new modern bows.

Lance- wonder if we are watching the same toad? I grew up on Rain Valley Ranch road, just north of Elgin and within 300 yards of the Empire Ranch fence line I have learned that the toads out there are not in the open prarie country around the main dirt road Best of luck to those who drew a 34B tag, I am gunning for that unit myself as well

It's pretty much the same hunting along the border as it is taking a walk through downtown phoenix at midnight, just be prepared to protect yourself incase anything happens, same ole same ole

it's good to mix and match TJ, if it works for you this year I'll have a woman do it for me this following deer season

May have someone interested in this, I passed along the info

Lance, you should be a lawyer!

I recommend Manfrotto 700RC2, however it is heavy but works flawlessy when using heavier binoculars VS jim white with heavy binoculars

Awesome! Javelina really do have the skill of dissapearing after a shot, even when I know they are there dead, I struggle to find them every time! Congrats to Dillion

Congrats phil, looks like a great time! You all got impressive bucks, I got to sign up for one of these trips sometimes

Now Colin Morse is a good buddy of mine! Good to see his ugly mug on here! Congrats on your first archery kill!