matthewp45

At least do a semi sneak. Personally I don't like the up right. It doesn't look very natural.

I will say 98 7/8". Who cares it is perty.

That is a buck of 10 lifetimes. Unbelievable.

Very nice buck and welldeserved. Congrats.

I have a 109 and an 85 and I love them both the same. I don't have them to show off really just having them to remember the hunt and deer every time I look at them. To each his own.

First of all a major thanks to Davis Dude Jr., Randy Hopkins and of course the great Amanda. I think I am finally coming back down to earth after an absolutely great hunt. Amanda was such a great help and an absolute pleasure to be around. We had no problem making fun of each other and had a great time. Like Amanda said, we had stalked 3 or so bucks and did the old sit there and watch them at 300 yards. We talked him above and below a hundred about a hundred times. Well, I am very glad I forgot to put a shell in my gun and missed the first buck I tried to get last weekend. We had been glassing for about an hour and a half (well hold on Amanda was sleeping for about an hour of it but she did have a cold and only got 2 hours of sleep the night before) when Davis glassed a buck and immediatley every piece of glass there was on him. It took maybe 10 seconds and we were up grabbing guns, packs, camera gear and blazzing up the hill. We started making our way up the thick drainage next to the open prickley pear patch where he had been chasing a doe. 30 minutes later we were where we thought we should be. No buck. The doe he was with wasn't having any of him and ran into the thick drainage we had walked up. We decided to sit it out hoping the doe would came back out and drag him out in the open. When I say open it is thigh high grass, tons of cactus big rocks and some catclaw and a juniper every now and then. I got set up and the wait was on. Well when we took off it was pretty nice out side and all I had on was my longsleeve tee-shirt and thin pants. Which was great going up there and getting hot but after we got set up it started getting cold. So after about 30 minutes we find the doe and figure maybe he would make his way out to her. About 15 minutes after that Randy found him with just his butt facing away at only 200 yards. He turned west and disappeared back into the thick drainage again. Wait some more and get colder. 15 minutes after that I see a doe explode out of the drainage and he is right on her I am thinking this is it. They ran a huge circle and right back in to the thick. By this time it is getting low light and very cold. I look over at Randy and he is so cold he can't keep his binos from shaking like crazy. Mental time, block the cold out and think about making a good shot. With about 5 minutes of shooting light I picked him up again walking straight away. I told them if he quarters enough away I am going to take the shot. Finally he quarted and stopped. I put the second line on his shoulder and squeezed. BOOM muzzle flash and I loose the deer turn and ask is he down, Randy was shaking to bad from cold and Amanda lost him in the camera after the shot. All I could say was I know the the right crosshair was right where it should have been when it went off. We trek up the hill and walk up to where he was standing at the shot and there he lay. I can't even explain how I felt. Amanda I am sorry if I acted like an idiot and I hope you didn't mind the hug. All in all it was a great hunt, great time and great people. I will never forget it ever and I thank God for letting me be there. Very much respect to such a great animal. Good luck to everyone else in 2009 I hope all your hunts are as good or better than mine. I would add some more photos but Amanda took them all so she has already posted most of the good ones. Thanks again to everyone involved and Amanda I hope we can hunt together again some day. I guess I can't claim Amanda's pictures for the photo contest but, my vote goes to the one she took with the horns and horizon in the back ground.

I wanted to thank Christian and Amanda for coming up to help me glass on my coues hunt this weekend. They were a huge help. They also watched me get too excited and try to shoot a 102 type buck with out a shell in my gun at 250 yards, instead of a boom it just clicked. The buck ran off and we got him to stop for a second @ 415 yards(I was rested on a bobwire fence like an idiot) shot under him. I am going back Thursday to redeem myself. Amanda and Christian said I should change my name to Click on the forum. I am not sure about that yet. Thanks again for all your help.

As of yesterday one guy that was with them killed a forkie but they hadn't seen anything big yet.

Good luck to you and your dad on your archery Javelina hunt. I hope you guys smoke some big piggies. Maybe a deer or two as well.

Nice buck. The width is awesome!

Thanks guys! I went and shot my gun again today and shot a 1" group in the bullseye @ 200 yards. So I am ready to go 3AM Thursday morning. Hopefully I will have plenty of pics of a good buck.

It's on the San Carlos it is open until the middle of January. I am going Thursday thruogh Sunday. Sorry to ruin your detective work elkaholic.

Hunt the rim on both sides of R-100. You can glass them up all day.

Great job. Congrats on a nice bull.

Nice shootin there Tex. Awesome video you are lucky to have that to watch and remember the hunt.

I say 2,733 beans.

I really like what you did as well Amanda. It really gets the old Christmas spirit goin.

I am looking for a good gunsmith. I want to find someone that has a good shop and does gunsmithing full time. As long as it is in AZ I will travel. I live in Yuma and we have very little resources in our area. I am having problems with my 7MM DAkota heating up and I am looking at some different options. I know this subject comes up quite a bit, but thanks for any help.

Happy Birthday!

Congrats on a beautiful, monster buck. You are gonna have one heck of a trophyy room.

Thank you very much. That helps tremendously. I appreciate all of your input.

Do the laminate stocks resist scratches pretty well? They sure do look good.

Shilen is the maker of the stock? I will check it out thanks. Does your have a cheek piece?

It is a Mauser M98 action with a douglas barrel. Thank you for the input though!

I also am looking at putting the cerakote on the gun. I was wondering if anyone knew where I could get that done as well. Thanks.