Rembrant

Knock down don't mean nothin if you don't put a pellet in the head. A dense pattern is everything. I know that I know what I know. Don't ask me how I know. I just do. Know. Mike

God bless you Amanda! I am glad that you are in the world. Mike

I recently put a velvet rack in the fridge and then bought it out for a few hours at a time to enjoy it, and then back in the fridge. A 2 and a half hour, in the back of a truck, ride helped and then back in the fridge. After 2 weeks it was visibly shrinking down pretty good enough to keep it out of the fridge. What Lark is saying about the freezer is correct. All that really has to take place is a "drying-out", but this has to be done at a temperature that retards/restricts bacteria growth. Mike

Happens all the time. I always make sure and watch my meat cutter tag my animal. And then try to not look into the cooler at the animals that mine might touch up against!

Report it!! Mike

I hope he does too. I have two rolls of pics that Clay let me shoot of that buck, but they are for my reference and not mine to share on the internet. The pic of that buck in the Arizona Record Book does not do it justice, because it is shot at an angle that does not show the tremendous palmation. The ink drawings on the t-shirt show off the palmation: The skull on the front of the shirt gives somewhat of a top view, and the 'live' deer on the back of the shirt has his nose purposely stuck up in the air to show the palmation from the underside. This buck scored a net 148.6 NT, and a 155+ Gross, with a major portion of a big tine on the right side and a major portion of the palmated left beam broken off. Clay thinks at least 10" was lost. I think that estimation is conservative. The King buck scores 159.0 net NT. If all of the Goldman buck's antlers were in place, it could be bigger than the King buck - without having a double main beam on one side. Also the inside spread of Clay's buck measures 18.5" which is wider than any of the top 10 bucks in either the non-typical, or typical catagories. An absolute giant! Mike

Wowie Zowie!!!!! Ain't it sweet that there are deer like that walking around??! Mike

Thanks Coosefan, I appreciate that. I have been a bit concerned about the lack of posts on this string, thinking that may equate to not many shirts being sold. I don't know if Amanda is turning many shirts or not. The shirts aren't about me, they're about Amanda making money to help this great site that we all love. Besides that, the Goldman buck is just simply awesome! If anybody has a friend who has killed a ranked buck, please talk to him about gettin the buck on a t-shirt. A series of giant Coues Bucks on shirts is the idea, and a financial help to this site. I bought a handful of these shirts and handed them out to friends - They love em. Mike

Yep, at least 10" broke off. Yep, unit 23, though I believe it was the last known deer to have lived there, so there's really no use in going there to find any left over genes. That darn Clay, he coulda at least left the last known deer in the unit. Amanda wants to put more giant bucks on T-shirts. Anybody know anyone with a high ranking buck well enough to ask permission for its use on a T-shirt? Let's get 'er done. Mike

The kid wasn't getting enough playing time, so he quit. Now he gets no playing time. He tried to poison the teams' attitude towards the coach, but those guys didn't want to throw away a whole season, besides the kid that quit wasn't that good anyway (thus the limited playing time) and wasn't willing to stick it out like a man and do everything he could to improve the situation and be of help to his team. The team took state! And you know what? The coach wasn't all that good, but because the team refused to accept the negativity, they perservered and achieved their dream. What happened to the quitter? Who cares?! Mike

If you are suspicious of the data gathering and what they do with the data, refusing to give the data in the form of a boycott reminds me of the high school basketball player that quits the team because he's not getting enough playing time. Logic askew. Mike

I will fill out all my hunter survey cards, report kills when mandidory (like I did this week), I will pay my taxes, obey traffic laws, and pay public officials the respect the position deserves- even if I don't like them. I will also report civil disobediance when I see it. I don't do this to make myself feel good, nor do I do it purely for a better society - though I get both of those; the main reason I do my best to be a law abiding citizen is to bring honor to God by my actions. Mike

Nothin unethical about bait and cams. We can debate that until Jesus comes back if we want to. I gotta agree with Lark, "If its legal, it's ethical", (for the most part) or at least ethical enough to stay legal. Last time I checked, legal is good. However, bait and cams (along with fast bows, high-powered rifles, quads, 4 wheel drives, horses, optics, range finders, etc) have increased hunter success, especially in the bowhunting for deer world. So if the Game Dept. wants to increase hunter opportunity and maximizing the resource, what do you think may possibly be made illegal; the list of items in the brackets, or cams, or bait? So are we talking about ethics? or effectiveness? or are they kinda blending here? Why is spotlighting out of a vehicle with a rifle not legal? "Cause it's too darn effective!!! And thus deemed unethical. Get your deer over bait if you want to WHILE YOU STILL CAN. 'Cause guess what? It's pretty effective. Someday when bait is made illegal, it will also be considered unethical - as it is in other states. I think the biggest factor involved here relates to the overall success percentage; bait (salt) has never been a problem in this state historically, but nowdays, lots and lots of hunters are baiting and the success (effectiveness) is rising. Closing note: Information sharing on the internet should be included in the above list of effective tools, and perhaps THE ONE that is doing us in. Mike

OK Lark, you asked for it. Here it is: Thanks. Mike

People with addictive problems don't think they have a problem. This is called denial. These people can always look around and find someone or something worse than what they themselves are doing. They can rationalize (rational lies) all their bad and selfish behavior. And when things go wrong for them, they never look at themselves, but instead blame their problems on someone else. I use attractants and cameras like everyone else, yet when the time comes when the powers that be make it illegal to use bait and cameras, I will not blame my fellow hunters or the game dept. I will blame myself for my part in it. So is there something wrong with using this stuff? Nope, it's legal! And killing a trophy Coues buck is an extremely difficult task. That's why we do these things - to help us get some kind of edge, and the success stats are revealing this. Good job of bringing up this topic, Doug. Lots of replies. Lots of rationalizing. I like the way we are "intrepeting" rule #7. Really guys, a camera isn't helping us locate game? Then why use it? I know seeing a pic of a buck doesn't mean I'm gonna kill it. Boy, do I know that! But I can sure sit in a spot awith a lot more patience knowing that Mr. Big pays a visit every once in a while. Keep the rationalizations coming. Some of em are funnier that Tony - and that's pretty dang funny! Mike

Lee, Wouldn't the Dept make more money with unlimited tag sales? When forced to make a choice, a lot of bow hunters will choose the rifle hunt and forsake the bow hunt, so the Dept won't get that app fee or the tag fee. So, it's not all about the money. They are in the business of maximizing the resource. It's been going on for decades in the form of splitting units, separating mule deer from whitetail hunts, statifying hunts etc. All this is because of the ever increasing demand (too many people) on the resource. Historically bowhunters have had limited success on deer. Lately we've been getting a lot better at it, which translates to increased demand on the resource. When should the Dept step in and protect the resource? 10 years from now? after you and me and all our buddies get our trophy deer? What about the resource? Mike

I like it! Mike

A friend, my younger brother and myself got this Nov. 36C tag. Mike

You're the Man, effenjeff. That is a lot of time on stand! You and I should start our own club. We could call it, "The Brain-Dead of America Unite!" or, "Meditate 'r' Us" or, "The Power of Muse" or, "Patience is Virtue". Last weekend I wrote a song in my head. This weekend I'm gonna draw some pictures, because I'm sitting in a pop-up ground blind. Oh my! I hope you are not putting in all those hours in a tree stand!? Someday you and I are gonna kill trophy whitetail deer. Mike

SLAMMER!!!!!!

Trail cams are wonderful, guys. I'm just singing the blues about there being too many people in the woods. Mike

Yeh, what shortpants said! and besides that the theif is guilty and doesn't want to be caught. If he's in the area at all he will place a salt lick somewhere close, but not too close to yours, in the hopes of luering that buck away from you. But guess what? That buck is conditioned to YOUR lick. Don't be foolish. Kill your deer. Didn't you ever play sports? What, you can't handle a little competition? Isn't it really satifying to beat the guy - fair and square - who feels he has to cheat? Go back and read every note in this thread, and then go do the right thing. The pay-off is big! Mike

Did better than I did DB. I inspected materials for the company I work for all day, trying to not go crazy bouncing on and off this site - and its a slow day for CW.com. Tomorrow baby, tomorrow!!!!!! Mike

When I talk to hunters, I say Cooos. When I talk to scientists like Amanda, I say Cows. Different audiences require different languages. When I'm talking to a hunter, I may say, "Yep that bear was laying under that pinon tree like a deer. I took my time and took my best shot at his boiler room. He sprang up and ran as if I missed him! I shot three more times and he dissapeared. Turns out, the first shot was perfect and he only went 60 yds and died. When I'm talking to a non-hunter I say I put a well placed shot in the heart lung area and the bear expired in a matter of seconds (which is also the truth). I don't talk to anti-hunters. Sometimes in the art business I unknowingly wind up talking to them, and until I know who I'm talking to, they are all non-hunters. And like Keith said, it don't matter what you say to anti-hunters, when they find out that you may be willing, to possibly, some day, maybe, kill an animal, they become irate and run screaming off into the sunset. I hate political correctness - hate it!!! There is a gigantic part of me that totally agrees with Bill and Tony. However, most of our modern population lives in the city and are completely ignorant about hunting. I don't think it would hurt us too much to be careful about how our words may sway future attitudes and VOTES that may directly affect our future hunting opportunities. I am careful to put a bucks' tongue back in his mouth before snapping that pic, and I'll show that pic to anyone who wants to see it and not to those who don't. So we're stuck with way too many people that think wildlife is just like a Disney movie, when we know that the West wasn't won with a water pistol. Heaven forbid we ever become politically correct and yield the truth to nonsense, but at the same time, there is nothing wrong with being wise. Great topic, Great responses! Mike

There's just something really special about those magnificant cliff-carp!! Mike