Becker

I am not well versed in the "proper" ways. The most important "proper" thing is IMO, trigger pull or control. Nice even building pressure until the gun goes off with follow through. As far as other techniques to me it always boils down to what is comfortable to me. What works best for myself. Its a VERY VERY good thing that you are noticing differences in how you hold the gun and what that means towards the point of impact down range. Practice Practice Practice. Knowing what your gun does is very important. Its one thing to be able to go to the range and shoot a tight group off of a bench. More important is to know what your gun is going to do in different situations. You will notice differences in just shooting prone off a pack vs a bipod. Bipods tend to raise the POI a bit. What ever method you choose to go with my general thought is to pick a way of shooting, whether you grip tight or loose, cheek pressure on the stock, etc. and be sure to repeat those SAME techniques/habits every time. No different than shooting a bow and having multiple anchor points. As long as you do everything the SAME every time, you should be very consistent. Granted hunting situations don't always allow for the same set up every time, but if you have done your homework, are consistent in how you shoot, you should be able to over come small obstacles in a hunting situation, because you know what your gun does. My 2 cents.

That panorama deal is pretty sweet. I know a ton of times I get pics of a deer in the middle with the butt end of another. Sure is a cool feature to see all that is standing around.

Last couple have sold for $25000

I am sure some of you guys remember this deer. Got him all finished up. Thought you guys would like to see him again!

It's mounted. Just needs to dry a bit more and a paint job!!!

I did not shoot him. A customer of mine did.

I have seen a fair share of Coues with what some call white stockings or socks (bottom portions of the legs white). Briskets get pretty speckled and what not. I have seen myself a few does with lighter patches on their sides but not white. Sometimes I see the white from the belly go up a little higher on the sides than normal. I have never seen one with white on the face like this. He also had the white socks and had pink hooves but other than the face and legs no other white markings. The deer was taken in 34a.

My best guess right antler 16 beam 4 eye guard 6 G2 5 G3 14 mass (high estimate) 45 total If doubled 90 with a 13 spread gets you 103, but the left antler is smaller because of the G3. This is a buck I killed in Mexico. Same type of shape(high and tight). Beams almost touch and are 17. He has 10 inch G2s, a 9 inch G3 on the left, I think the right G3 is 7 and has a 2 inch G4. Grosses 118. He has such long points that he makes back up what he lost on width. I personally don't see 110 anywhere on that buck. I could be wrong BUT If they are narrow they HAVE to have soooooo much going on in points and mass to make up for it like my example above. You have to keep a level head and always revert back to what average coues antler measurements are. Your average mature buck is going to have 15-16 inch beams, 4 to 6 inch points, 13.5 to 14 inches of mass, 13 to 15 inside spread. It takes a special deer to get to 110 or bigger. They have to have something exceptional to crest that 110 mark. Anything (like a short G3, narrow spread) is going to bump them way back off.

Nice RIG? What sight is that you have there?

Depending on the size of bait you are using and the necessary weight to keep that bait at your desired depth, a good old fashioned balloon can be a CHEAP but way effective float. We used balloons a lot on Elephant Butte for stripers using big live baits. We needed some extra floatation because we needed a pretty heavy weight to hold the bait at our desired depth. Of course that was before we had a Cabelas and Bass Pro just down the road and getting fishing stuff was a bit harder

Couesmagnet, I agree with you that SOME bucks are genetic freaks and can reach 200 inches at a very young age (3 yrs old). I also agree that moister plays a huge role. However just because it rains a lot does not mean bucks will be huge. There are multiple factors that have to line up. There has been a really wet year since 2010 on the strip and we did not see huge antlers that year like everyone thought was going to happen. They do need moister for big antlers though no DOUBT. How much moister, when? thats a whole other topic. No matter what 200 inches of Mule Deer Antler is HUGE. However the odds of that happening in a 3 year old deer are not that great IMO. A Major point that I think everyone can agree on is that not every single deer grows up to be a monster 200 plus. While the strip is a special place with good genetics there is still a vast majority of the bucks that will never come close to being that caliber of deer. What that percentage is that will be huge bucks is I don't know 5%, 10%???? I disagree with you that AGE is not a factor. It doesn't matter where you are AGE plays a key role in antler size. It has been proven in study after study that AGE is one of, if not THE biggest factor, when it comes to antler size. If you don't want to read studies just look at all the TV shows of guys hunting Eastern Whitetail. Those deer have it as good as can be, food plots, water, supplemental feeds, mineral licks. Most of the guys shooting those big deer don't do so until they are at least 4 and usually wait until they are 5. Coues deer don't reach their full potential until 6 to 8. Plenty of proof on this sight about the coues, just look at some of Jim Reynolds shed collections from bucks over their lifetime. Most of your proven examples of BIG deer involve deer that are 5 years old, one being 4. If that is the real case (which I agree with you on) then the bucks REALLY need to be 5 to reach that 200 plus inch mark. Those that were born in 2010 will be expressing their genetics and showing what they are capable of growing this year. Every year past that 5 year mark the potential to go extremely huge into the 220's and higher only gets better. The 285 buck that you mentioned..... the year before he was not even close to that big. He absolutely blew up into a giant that year. WHY, IMO he was 5 years old or older and was able to express what he was capable of. With all that being said and I am only talking about 13A, if you look at the 2010 year, a vast majority of those 5 year old PLUS aged bucks got killed. Those were not the only deer killed though. Lots of people are thrilled with shooting a 160 to 190, so a bunch of those got wiped out as well. It really boils down to a numbers game. How many bucks are actually alive in 13A. That number, whatever it is, is spread out through age classes with the youngest bucks accounting for the majority, and those 5 year plus bucks being the fewest. If you wipe out the entire upper class (like 2010), and also 1/2 of the 3 and 4 year olds, (because the strip is generally full of TROPHY hunters) what happens the following year? There are not going to be nearly as many 5 year old bucks. Math would say about 1/2 as many. So the next year with 1/2 as many 5 year old plus bucks, those get targeted heavily, and with there only being half the number of the monsters after 2010 MORE people settle on the 3 and 4 year olds. The reality of the situation is that after 2010 in 13A you had a far less chance of seeing a MONSTER buck. FAR FAR less. I don't think you can argue against that. The numbers of them just were not there. You CAN"T take out that high percentage of the trophy bucks and expect it to bounce right back. Couple that with some dry years and you are even worse off. So then guys were counting on the FREAKS, those young bucks that can explode to do just that, and some did, and some of those old bucks did not get killed because lets face it not EVERY SINGLE OLD buck was killed. So for a couple years 13A has bounced along with still some giants getting killed. The unit HAS to recover from what happened in 2010. That won't happen in just one season (and DIDNT) because hunting continues. Bucks have to slip through the cracks for a couple years to get that higher number of giants back up. And with as good as hunters are these days that is taking awhile. The proof of all this in the major outfitters up there. They really have cameras on every single water source. There are not many bucks that they do not know about and 13A has really been down on the numbers of BIG bucks. We will see what this year has in store for the A side, we are all hoping it is finally bouncing back to pre2010 status.

Concentrate on finding the cows. If there are cows there will be bulls. Since you are not looking for the new world record I would imagine any good group of cows will have a bull with or around them that you would likely want to shoot. With the amount of tags like mentioned before in this post, calling can be productive early, but everyone is so hot to trot to call in a big bull that the bulls tend to get quiet pretty quickly. They are not dumb unless the rut is going off the chain. Even then I think the BIG boys are always somewhat suspicious. The whole unit is good elk country so I don't think there is a bad place to go. The last time I hunted it was the year of the fire. The rut was pretty spotty for us. We went 3 days without much action and the places we went were crawling with people. We branched out and did some late night scouting/listening sessions and managed to get into some of the craziest rutting activity I have ever seen. Bulls screaming non-stop all day long for two days. My wife had the tag and she managed to slip an arrow into one of the bigger bulls we had seen. The main meaning behind this story is don't get stuck in one particular spot, unless you are after a particular bull. Adaptability is key if things are NOT going the way you like. Focus on what the bulls want AKA the LADIES, and you should do just fine! Here is the bull Jody ended up killing on that hunt!!!

I would not recommend putting it in a storage unit unless it is temperature controlled like some have already mentioned. High temps and mounts do not go well together. Best bet is at a friends house.

Check out tines up adapters

13A vs 13B The problem with 13A is that the good deer habitat is all scrunched drown into the south west corner of the unit. A good portion of the unit is flat open grass land. That being said there is still tons and tons of deer country. But what generally happens is everyone crowds down into "good" stuff around Trumble and Logan. Condenses the hunters somewhat. A few years back if you all remember, and I don't remember the exact numbers, but a TON of the big bucks in A got killed. It was ridiculous. 220+ bucks were getting taken day in and day out. A couple factors played into this but the major one was a late Storm that caused an unusual green up in the valley bottoms. It pulled a huge portion of the does down out of the thick stuff and the big bucks followed. That upper age class got almost wiped out. The unit is still having to recover from that. Obviously the next season with all those older bucks gone, the next round of up and comers were targeted. That coupled with a couple sub par antler growth years has made A a little less desirable to a lot of people. 13B is a unit that is deer country from one end to the other. It spreads the hunters out a lot more and thusly a lot of those biggest bucks slip through the cracks every year. That being said there are a few key areas that always hold big monsters and people get clumped up chasing the same bucks but if your heart desires it you could hunt in B without seeing another person. Regardless of any of that, big bucks are taken every year in both units. The main thing to keep in mind, there are not huge monsters under every tree. It is not a hunt for the faint of heart. If you REALLY want to harvest one of the BEASTS that call the strip home you better be ready to be tested. I have had my butt handed to me more than once up there and have left wondering what had happened to me.

Like 1uglydude stated, sitting out a year isn't going to improve odds to make any difference. I don't care what odds are I want at least a chance every year. Its a lottery after all. I am however kind of interested in the squared bonus point idea. I'll have to look into that some more. What the whole situation really amounts to is that the bonus point system is starting to get clogged up. If you look at bonus points its a pyramid. The top little portion being max point holders, bottom being those starting out with one point. With such few tags for say sheep as an example, it is going to be almost impossible for people starting out to ever get a tag. There are too many people in that pool and when it finally gets to the max point pool (top of the pyramid) Odds are going to be pretty dang small regardless. Same goes for some of our "Premium Elk and Deer hunts". I don't really think the system doesn't work BUT we are getting to the point where there are so many people in the upper end that odds are decreasing even when you are at the top. I don't know what the best answer is if any. Like some have stated perhaps leave it alone. You are either lucky or not. And for the record I am the unlucky type. Only had 1 Elk tag my whole life so far and that was like 6 years ago

Depends on where you are at for the Mule Deer rut. The RUT starts in mid-November on the Strip. But not till December in the desert down here around Tucson.

We would be more than happy to put together a mount for you!!! Give me a call anytime to talk specifics if you would like. If you are from Arizona (which I am pretty sure you are) I will even deliver it to your house when its done so you won't have to worry about transporting it One major thing to keep in mind, which a lot of people going to Africa or out of country for that matter don't catch onto, is that the taxidermy may have a better price but you are going to end up paying more than you would with your local taxidermist because of the shipping costs. I would think even coming out of Canada shipping a moose mount is going to be outrageous. We have shipped a few here lately back east and it is not cheap. Just something to keep in mind. Check out our website, we do a lot of exotics as well.

Never mind got it. Didn't read through post and got way excited for a sec hahaha sorry

You have a picture?

I have actually found one myself. Was archery hunting with my wife. We glassed up a decent buck and headed after him. There were two draws in front of us with a small ridge in the middle. We dropped in the first draw and headed up the little ridge. There were big juniper trees on the north slope we were headed up. We when were getting close to the top I saw white bones under the tree ahead. I stopped and turned around and told my wife oooooooh might be a nice rack as the bones were tucked up under the tree. We eased closer until I could see the base of the tree and sitting there looking back at us was a human skull with a bullet hole in the forehead. Pretty FREAKY. When we got off the mountain that evening I called the Sheriff Department and took them out there the next day. A month or two later I actually got a nice letter in the mail. Turns out it was a long time missing persons for a young man that seems to have committed suicide. The family sent me the letter thanking me for turning it in and allowing them to get some closure on the whole ordeal. I don't remember now how long he was missing but it was over 5 years. They had found his car parked and searched for over a week and never could find him. Crazy thing about the ENTIRE thing, as if that wasn't crazy enough, is that my father in law actually knew the family. I think he had worked with the Father of the deceased.

Hey guys, Have a pair of Docters for sale. Comes with the hard case and Jim White adapter so you can attach a tripod plate to them. $2500 Let me know if your interested. NO TRADES PLEASE.

SOLD!!!

Was out a week and a half ago. Driving around with some buddies for a BIG RABBIT Competition and we saw a mule deer buck bedded just off the road we were on. He only had his left antler. After the deer got up and disappeared over the hill we walked up there to see if that antler was there. Didn't find it but 20 yards down the hill where he ran that left antler that was on his head was laying on the ground!!!!!! Almost got to see one fall off!

Why wouldn't he be able to hunt there???