JACK

No doubt HB2072 isn't perfect "as it's written"...However I believe a lot of spin has been put on it and the intentions of the AZSFW. There is a group of guys there that have done a lot of good, contributed a lot of time and money to conservation and wildlife in Arizona...Yes, maybe They made a mistake in the way they handled and introduced HB2072...It happens...they realize that and apologized for it...Let's move on...Personally I think there is WAY more to it than "political rhetoric"...and rich guys wanting more tags...AZSFW is not the "enemy" as some of you have labeled them...The real enemy to what we love to do...Hunting...are the Anti hunting and animal rights groups...We as hunters need to band together and quit this turmoil amongst ourselves...whether you are an Average Joe hunter or can afford to hunt anywhere in the world, whether you are a traditional bow hunter or a long range shooter, whether you enjoy hunt high fence or hike into the middle of the wilderness...ultimately doesn't matter if the Anti's get their way......Its real, it's a problem and it's not going away....it's going to be a political battle...not a street fight...It takes time and money to fight these fights...The critter groups do a great job but money and time is already spread thin...Who's going to do it? Wheres the money going to come from?

Do you see a difference with the new style lens?

I had some tag soup with my leftover Coues tag...but I wasn't to bummed because that meant I could go chase mulies after work in December...and I had yet to kill any deer with my bow in Arizona. I found a few good bucks... I was able to make a couple of stalks on this guy...Had him at 60 and 75 yards but never had a good shot. But I did watch him breed a doe and was able to get a little video and a few pictures of him...still better than work So after blowing a couple stalks and passing lots of little fellers..it was the end of the year before I knew it... December 31st...Me and my dad decided to go check out a new spot. As the the sun was rising up we found ourselves sitting in the wind...ugh...seems like I did that a lot in 2011. Right away I glassed up a few does and a little buck but nothing I wanted to go after. After a few hours we moved up the ridge a ways and looked into another basin. We sat there about an hour before I glassed up a nine does and a decent looking buck about a mile away. We watched them for a little while and the eventually feed out of sight. It was around ten o'clock and I figured they would probably be looking for a spot to bed down. We could see a road not far from were the deer were we just had to figure out how to get there... An hour later we were about four hundred yards from the last place we saw the deer. The wind was still blowing...and in my favor. We made our way up a wash and around the end of the mountain so we could see into the draw they fed into. I crawled up the bank and peeked over the edge and they were 150 yards away. Some were bedded a few were feeding...there was nothing I could with them...so we just watched them for an hour or so...eventually they all were up and began to feed away from us and into a bunch of little drainages. As soon as the last deer went out of sight I hurried as fast and quietly as I could...I closed the distance to 100 yards as they fed up out of a drainage...I waited as they fed into the next drainage and out of sight...I gained a few more yards...again they fed up out of a drainage. The buck was checking does and pushed them back into the drainage they just came out of...I gained some more but I was out of cover as I crept up to the edge of the drainage...I could almost see into the drainage when a doe fed out 50 yards away...I froze...I was in the wide open...she looked my way for a second and went back to feeding...I just stood motionless...a few minutes goes by and she lays down! 50 yards! Nothing but a little wash between me and her...Great...So I just stand there...pretty soon another doe and a fawn feed out...and guess what...they laid down as well...So now I have three deer between 50-60 yards and I am standing in the wide open with nowhere to go and nothing to hide behind...So I stand there...and stand there...and stand there...this part takes a while...I stand there in one spot...for TWO AND A HALF HOURS! I tried to kneel down a few times but the does would look over whenever I tried to move. All I could do was shift my weight from one leg to another to try and stay comfortable. And I never thought a pair of binos would weight 50 pounds after a few hours...but they do... So finally...a spike shows up and starts sniffing the does. They were having no part of that ...they get up and start to move off...and that's when the buck comes up out of the wash... He chases the spike off and stops where the closest doe was laying...52 yards...I was already at full draw...settled my pin and touched the trigger...watched my arrow disappear into his side...he runs into the drainage...as I am nocking another arrow he runs out and up to me about 10 yards...and about falls down when he sees me...then up the mountain and stops about 75 yards and I can see blood starting to flow...but dang it...it's a little far back...By now I am shaking pretty good...I try to shoot again and miss...he runs up and out of my sight. I look back at my dad and I can tell he can still see him...So I go get my arrow and it has good blood on it...maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought...I make my way back over to my dad as the buck goes over in to a draw...We discuss all that just happened...he informs me I am crazy for standing that long...I agree...we have a good laugh...We give the buck about an hour and make our way up to the last place we saw the buck and find blood. We get to looking around and there was really no place for him to go but into one little cut...I sneak up to the edge look down the cut...nothing...then I look up to my right and see horns sticking above the brush...so I back out, sneak around, draw, peek up and all I can see is his head and neck...and I got another arrow in him and it was all over...With only a few hours left in the season and the year I tagged my first Arizona buck with a bow! It was awesome!

Went to help some buddies on their coues deer hunt Monday and glassed up this lion right at dark. I borrowed a gun and missed twice at 573 yards...I was pretty bummed...So I got on the phone and called a couple guys I know with dogs and one could make it Tuesday morning. I called my clients and told them I was going blind and couldn't see myself working Tuesday...and I went Lion hunting. Long story short she had a deer killed where I shot at her the night before and she was in the same spot that morning...the dog were awesome and had her treed five times, she jumped out four times and fell out once...it was all over by 8:30...both the houndsman and G&F guessed her to be 3-4 years old.

Found a pack this weekend and would like to get it back to the owner...Tell me where I found it and what is in it and I'll get it back to you

Probably yours then...it kinda has an interesting smell...but looks like they left your Playgirl mag ...

Shaynec...sorry but it doesn't sound like it is yours

Get a copy of the regs for the last 5 years or so...take a gander at the number of hunts and tags that have been issued for 6A...and do the math...doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where most the elk have gone...at least you just get the opportunity to take your gun for a walk...doesn't mean you get to see an elk...

Dang...sounds like it has been tough down there this year...It does seem like the lion population has been on the rise. We have seen 4 in the past couple years...Headed down for the whole week after Thanksgiving. Hopefully have good weather and better luck...110 or bust Anybody have or know anyone with hounds that will hunt in southern AZ?

I put a camera out on a new spot I found 6 weeks ago...The cattle knocked my camera and the brush around a little but it worked out...I had almost a 1000 pictures 950 were bovines...but I did get my first trail cam pictures of a potential 100" buck and a lion...pretty cool I thought! Lots of pigs and a few mule deer as well. Enjoy

I know the dates are right...the pigs and the lion are at night...the rest are day time...not sure but looks like the time may be 12 hours off...

Here is a couple...almost exactly same pose and almost exactly a week apart...

If have ten minutes and get bored....I have finally got around to uploading a few of our hunts...Just ordinary average Joes doing what we love! Hunting coues deer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7UakLPX2-Q

Assuming it is a 6x6...45" is only 3.75" per point and beam...not counting mass or spread...very possible and probable IMO

Suppose you happened to find a seep that looked similar to this is not a river running out of the mountian by any means but it is flowing...and it is the middle of summer and the area has gotten very little rain...What would you do just to caputre and hold a little water? I have a few ideas just curious what some of your thoughts would be...

There may be a camera on it already... I was thinking the same thing...pretty sure the seep is already on the bed rock and there is a pretty good place to build a dam...looks like it stays pretty shaded...is there anyway to "tap it" to control the water flow? Either that or I thought about chipping a channel in the face of the rocks...

Here is my buck I shot Monday morning...We watched this buck for a few days, he wasn't the biggest buck on the mountian but he did get in a spot that gave me the opportunity to sneek up on him. We watched him go into "the slit" and he never came out so we figured he had layed down. So I made a loop and got the wind and some elevation on where we thought he was. I eased my way down the the draw stopping and glassing every few yards until I spotted him and four does bedded in the bottom under a canopy of choke cherry trees. They were about 100 yards below me...30 minutes later they were 50 yards...but if I could get to that next bush they would be 40 yards...got to 40 and still had some oak brush to hide behind so I continued down the draw...got to 30 and all I could see were antler tips over sage brush...but there was one tall clump of sage brush left for cover...I got to the big clump of sage undetected...23 yards...Wow! I thought this is almost to close...all five deer were literally asleep...I was above him, he was curled up and laying at kind of a funky angle, figured I was either going to hit him in the neck or lungs...I don't even have a 20 yard pin so I put my 30 right where his neck went into his body...touched the trigger and WHACK! sounded like a .22 went off...I hit him right in the neck, shattered his spine and cut the gugular...he never even moved. I made one of the best stalk of my life and killied my biggest archery buck to date with my good friends watching! It was awesome! Pretty sure I am addicted to spot and stalk archery hunting!

I made the biggest blundder in archery history today...blew the shot of my life time on the biggest antelope buck I have ever shot at...for 7 days I have only been hunting him and have been within 75 yards of him at least 20 times and as close as 26 yards all spot and stalk but never was able to get a good shot...but today I had him at 60 yards no idea I was in the country and...I muffed it...big time...still wanna throw up in my mouth a little....I shot a javelina at 60 yards in January for cryin out loud...ugh...but I can't end the season on that note...so I am going back!! Thursday for one more go round...

Just curious what some of you think he may score...

Thanks for the replys...From the pictures I come up with 15L 6P 18M and give a few 1/8 and 1/4s...so 79ish...but seems like taking pics through my binos compress the picture or something...He looks better in the 15s I But regardless like your guys scores better than mine...hope you guys are right! I'd Be stoked to kill a B/C goat with my bow...Doesn't really matter thought...I love his cutters and because of his location and habits I am going to hunt him...For the last two years I have been watching him he has been in the same spot and has done the same thing...so we will see if I can get a Rage in the cage!

Woohoo...My credit card got hit for a limited entry Utah deer tag Not sure if it's an archery or muzzleloader tag yet...only problem is if it is the archery hunt it will over lap my Antelope hunt What a problem to have

Found one awhile back while I was out farttin around...looks like maybe last years...it was laying on a south slope baking in the sun...so I decided to take it home and put it in the shade As it layed... 18" MB...8 1/2" G2...7 1/2" G3...little over 50"

that is cooler than any ol' elk antler. Lark....+1...great find!

If you can find some water that has some sign on it...start there...get a high spot and go to glassing...or if you prefer hiking...go tromp around and see if you can jump something up...scouting, exploring, finding new spots, all part of the adventure to me Oh and remember...at times they can pretty much be in the open and still be trick to see

White-tailed Deer Overview: Whitetail deer can be found in Unit 21 in a variety of different habitat types, from semi-desert grassland up to ponderosa pine. The majority of whitetail deer seem to use the typical whitetail habitat from about 3500 to 6000 feet in elevation. Whitetail can also be located in some areas that are not considered traditional whitetail habitat at elevations as low as 2500 feet. There is a stratified hunt structure in Unit 21 that allows hunters the options of hunting in the early or late seasons. The late season hunters will generally find whitetail bucks starting to rut. During this time, bucks can be found on the move almost any time of day. There are very low numbers of hunters in the field during the late season compared to the early seasons, which can be crowded in popular areas. The drawing odds for the late hunt, however, are much lower than the earlier seasons. The early seasons can have other advantages along with better draw rates. Bucks can be much more predictable during the early seasons, as they are not on the move to seek out companionship. Whitetail hunting in Unit 21 occurs primarily on public lands, free of access issues that affect some of the southern Arizona units. Tonto and Prescott National Forest maps can be used to identify roads that can be used to access good whitetail country. Unit 21 is located near the Phoenix Metropolitan area, and is a popular unit to pursue mule deer in. It is likely that camping and hunting areas will be crowded during the opening weekends. While hunting whitetail deer in Unit 21, it is not uncommon to see mule deer using the same areas. Be certain of your target. Areas: The areas below are meant to provide you with good places to start scouting or hunting whitetail in Unit 21. The areas are broken up into the three main land management offices. Prescott National Forest: South of Camp Verde, whitetail can be found in the Black Hills. This complex includes Squaw Peak, the Verde Rim, and Pine Mountain. The Verde Rim is a large escarpment overlooking the Verde River drainage. Squaw Peak and Pine Mountain are both high points along the Verde Rim with elevations above 6500 feet. Drainages coming off of these areas to the east hold good numbers of whitetail. To access Squaw Peak, travel east from I-17 at exit 278 on the Squaw Peak Road (Forest Road 732). To access the Verde Rim and Pine Mountain, travel east from I-17 at exit 268 on the Dugas Road (FR 68). There are two wilderness areas on the Prescott National Forest in Unit 21. Cedar Bench and Pine Mountain Wilderness areas offer great places to pack in if a whitetail hunter wants to get away from most other hunters. Tonto National Forest: Southwest of Pine Mountain, whitetail can be found in most of the country along the southern portion of the Verde Rim. Rugged Mesa is a good place to start. To access Rugged Mesa, travel east from I-17 at exit 259 on the Bloody Basin Road (FR 269) and travel north on the most easterly portion of the 44 Loop Road (FR 44). Hutch Mesa is also a good place to locate whitetail. To access Hutch Mesa, travel south on FR 58 from the Bloody Basin Road. Southeast of Pine Mountain, whitetail can be found in most of the canyons that drain into the Verde River. The Red Creek area holds good numbers of whitetail. To access Red Creek, travel east from I-17 at exit 259 on the Bloody Basin Road and travel north on FR 16. This area can also be accessed by traveling north from Cave Creek on the Seven Springs Road (FR 24) to the Bloody Basin Road intersection, then going east towards FR 16. Near the intersection of the Bloody Basin and Seven Springs Roads (FR 269 and 24) whitetail can be found in the East and West Cedar Mountain areas as well as the drainages between them and Tangle Creek. North of Cave Creek, whitetail can be found in much of the country north of Seven Springs. The Cave Creek Fire burned much of this area in 2005, but deer have started to use habitat that has recovered from the fire. To access this country, travel north from Cave Creek on the Seven Springs Road (FR 24) and use a variety of short spur roads that go both east and west from the Seven Springs Road. Hiking a ways from the roads will decrease the probability of running into other hunters. Bureau of Land Management: Northeast of Black Canyon City, whitetail can be found in some portions of the Agua Fria River drainage, such as Larry and Lousy Canyons. To access these canyons, travel east from I-17 at exit 259 on the Bloody Basin Road (FR 269) to the 14 Road (FR 14). Travel south on the 14 Road to FR 610 (the second large steel gate south of the Bloody Basin Road). Travel west on FR 610 to Larry and Lousy Canyons. Tips: Using the very best optics in your price range will help you become a more successful whitetail hunter. Quality binoculars mounted on a tripod used systematically to glass whitetail habitat is the most effective method used to locate the elusive Coues deer. Spend most of the day out in the field behind your binoculars, not just the morning and evening. Deer are often located during midday hours, and are easier to stalk while they are not moving. Pre-season scouting is not only a great way to spend time outdoors with friends and family, but can pay off when the hunt rolls around. Hunters who scout are not only more familiar with where the deer and deer sign are located, but are also more familiar with roads used to access areas and the lay of the land.