Rembrant

Bullwidgeon's right. The bears ate 'em all. And the Couse Painting "Solitude" is in unit 24A. That buck is for real. Mark Clark killed it - scored 114 Gross (but from a different location in 24A). I think a photo of that buck is in the photo section of this site on one of the very first pages. Cousi1: whitetail detection synapses??? In binoculars??!! What th??!! Mike

Thanks for the invite Bcoover. I'm gonna hike in the day before the hunt and stay gone for a while. I don't think you'll see me in Young. I Appreciate it. Mike

Thanks for the story Hillbilly. I respect your sense of responsibility. Mike

Good job m1280! This kind of thing would come before our state legislators and senators in the form of an initiative. If the legislators rule in favor of something like this then the Game Dept would be ordered to enforce it. It is not the Dept's job to be politically active. They were in court with USO because they got drug in there and sued! Our job is to find out who our legislators are and then contact them via mail, e-mail, and phone calls to express our opinions - whether there is a bad initiative before them or not. But especially if some looney tunes go before the legislature, we gotta raise a ruckus. Here's an example: 11 States just passed amendments to their constitutions that say that marraige can only be between a man and a woman. This was brought up to a public vote in eleven states and was passed soundly in all eleven. Before this happened the same thing was proposed for our Federal constitution. This Federal amendment change was brought before the senate and did not pass. Why? because the senators have to listen to their constituants (thats us) and the people in favor of not passing this amendment were louder than the people who wanted it. We gotta start paying attention to what's goin on in the senate and the house so that we don't get caught sleeping. Do you think any corn-ball initiative would get passed if every sportsman and woman in the state said NO! We have tremendous power people! Mike

Bcoover, Unit 23 is a big place, a big deerless place. Sounds like you know some pretty good spots. I've killed a bunch of whitetails, but I still haven't killed one over 100". Since I started backpack hunting, a number of seasons have passed deerless. I just don't care to pack a deer out if it isn't special. This is what it took to become a trophy hunter, 'cause I love to knock deer down and take 'em home. I like to compete (especially basketball) but I am not competing with you for a bigger deer. I will be perfectly alright if you kill a bigger deer than I do. In fact, I hope you kill a screaming TOAD. I am gonna bust my butt getting into the wilderness and brave the elements only so I can have a chance of killing the biggest whitetail of my life. I might not kill a deer at all. But most importantly, after I reach my destination, I am gonna relax and glass, glass, glass. I plan to move very little. I expect to see some decent bucks, and I will let them walk on by if they aren't special. I have a buch of vacation days carved out for this hunt and I'm gonna spend quality time with a brother, the mountains, and my God. Sounds like fun, eh? I can hardly wait! Mike

Arizona is NOT mostly private like other states. Arizona is mostly FOREST, and STATE and BLM land. That is what makes a proposal like this absurd. These turkeys are trying to eventually lock up their LEASES. Very few ranches in this state have enough private land to make this proposal work for them. Even the Big Boquillas in unit 10 is checkerboarded with state and BLM land. The land is not all theirs - it theirs and OURS. Yet they locked gates during hunts this year. Everybody, pull out a good map of your favorite hunting places. Look at how the land is devided between private and public. Now think about the closed roads in your whitetail area that you know about. Look again at the land that is affected by these road closures. Is all that land that you can't drive to prive or public??! This tag proposal is not all about tags for private land. These ranches are already closing roads that keep us out of tons of public land, and this is what they are gonna want the tags for - the giant leases of public lands. Mike

An 80" 2x2 is a handsome mature buck. You should be proud of that. Mike

The double speak involed in this bullpucky makes it sound like it was written by John Kerry, i.e: "The quantity and quality of wildlife is not optimal...because of an imbalanced relationship between the rights of private land owners and wildlife, which is managed by the state G&F Dept." (Will someone who is smarter than me please tell me what this means?) "...wildlife can benifit from the restricted access hunters have on private land, which can encourage the residence of wildlife." Now what the heck is this guy saying?? Too many elk? Not enough elk? What?? The age old arguement as I understand it is that there are too many elk on ranches, right? So then the guy says, "...hunter densities are too high leading to less enjoyable and less succesfull hunting experiences." So theres too many elk AND too many hunters? How else are the elk gonna get killed? This guy implies that coues deer also compete with elk. And that deer tear down fences. And he makes it sound like the Game Dept has victimized ranchers. Here are some things the Dept and WE sportsmen have done to appease these whining victims: LAND ACCESS PROGRAM and our cooperation - without which there would be NO ACCESS granted. DEPREDATION HUNTS - to reduce elk populations in sensitive areas. ADOPT-A-RANCH - Voluntary ranch clean-ups by sportsmen and women. RANGE MONITORING by the Dept. (this costs money) NATURAL RESOURCE GROUPS like The RMEF, Mule Deer and Antelope Foundations and others spend thousands of dollars and man hours fencing out elk, building water encatchments, cleaning out stock tanks to benifit wildlife and guess what else? Livestock. If this kind of proposal is granted then the money that the ranchers get for the tags would NOT go towards law enforcement. And I am really suspicious about the reference to actual private property, of which there is actually very little. I think this is a smoke screen. Aren't ranchers already denying access to BLM, State and Forest lands just because the main road goes through a tiny piece of private property? These guys are gold digging. Cousi1 is right, we gotta figure out how to write our congressmen and get our voices heard above the ranching lobbyists. Mike

Lark, Sure took you a long time to reply. I was beginning to think I hurt your feelings or something. 10 used to be a real sleeper, now it's as popular as 9. Too bad the Navajos are gonna own most of it someday. Just one of the many bad changes that are gonna occur in this state over time - like that Rancher tag deal that's brewing. I'm gonna go over and read that string real good. Haven't done it yet cause everytime I get started, I get ticked off! Mike

Hey Cousi1, "Rut" is a scientific and otherwise well known term for breeding season. Stick with this forum, buddy, you're gonna learn alot! Mike

Tell you what Johnnie, If you wanna pm me with an approximate location of your camp, what you are driving and what time frame (dates) you'll be there; and If I kill one of those imaginary deer, I'll bring him by and show you. It would be fun to meet you. Mike

Muskeg, I like your attitude. If I wasn't gonna live off my back for the entire hunt in a place where only crazy people venture, I'd try to hook up with you. And I didn't say there are no whitetail deer in 23. What I said is, "There are no deer of any kind in 23." I don't know why people don't believe me!!? I hope you and your son can find those illeged bucks. You guys weren't hittin the beer a few hours early on that cow hunt were ya.... when you saw those bucks? I appreciate your effort! Mike

Cousi1, I think you're dreaming. I told you there are no deer in 23. Mike

Its interesting to see all the Jan. Archery pig hunters show up on this site. Isn't that just the funnest hunt!!?? It's hard to beat chasing them pigs around the desert with a bow. They're fun to glass and they respond to grunts and varmit calls. and what a kick to hunt with family and friends - youth and the older fellas. What a blast!! But, wait a minute... isn't Jan. the month where Arizona has a month-long archery deer hunt? Doesn't the Coues Deer rut right about then? Just a thought. Mike

That's what I mean about making stuff up, Lark. Sand dunes in unit 10? Catarack is limestone. Mike

Unit 10 abounds with good bulls. Have fun! Mike

Chris, You are one deer killin son of a gun. Mike

I have to admit that I choked a little at the price of the hat, but I really wanted it so I sucked it up and bought it. It showed up at my house the next day! This is a high quality hat! The band is adjustable AND stretchy. I was thinking if I didn't like the emblem on the front, I would simply remove it. Can't! It's not a patch that is sewn on - the entire design is sewn in! Not only that, but the place where the camo meets the solid color is also sewn together in a major way. AND the logo in the back is also sewn in! There's a whole lotta work put into these hats. This is the nicest hat I own. I love it. (well as much as a man should love a hat, I guess). I don't think Amanda is making much money on this deal. Thanks Amanda for the way-cool hat. I'm gonna wear it alot. Mike

Thanks for sharing Chris. Whimpy fifths don't matter when they come with a front end basket like that. That is a monster bull. Look at those thirds! Mike

Get it to a taxidermist before the hair falls out and its too late. Salting isn't enough. It must also be fleshed of all the meat, fat, and connecting tissue so that the salt will penetrate into the roots of the hair. If you can get this done then salt it heavily and put it at a slant so the grease will drain. now you can let it dry out until you get the alum and formic acid from the taxidermy supply house to pickle and then tan the hide in the plastic garbage cans you will need to buy for this. After this process you will need to "break" the fibers in the hide as it dries. Tanneries use big tumblers. Don't use your home dryer (especially if you're married), so just work it with your hands for about half a day or more. When you're done, it won't be near as good as if you had taken it to a taxidermist. So...Get it to a taxidermist before the hair falls out and its too late. Mike

Maybe desert bull is the guy in the photo; the big guy sitting at the computer? You know the guy that was purported to be CHD. By the way Chris, thanks for sending in the photo of yourself with that strip buck. I'm glad you're not the big guy sitting at the computer. Desert bull, have you looked into the Atkins diet? Mike

300 yds at a coues buck is a chip shot. I get to tellin people at what distances I've killed whitetails at and they think I'm fibbin. Shoot whatever you feel good with. Period. Mike

I think I just ordered a hat!! I have some cool hats, but this one is the most stylish. I see someone wearing one of these hats I'm gonna know he or she is cool!!!! Mike

If a kid is on a high school football team, he better play. I can understand that one. Mike

I still can't believe the Game Dept actually takes money for a deer tag in unit 23!! Well Cousi1, go try to find a deer, and after you get burnt out from walking all over that rock pile called the Sierra Anchas, you can settle in for some good football on TV, or maybe catch a suns game or two - I think they're gonna be really good this year. Chalk this one up to experience, keep reading this forum and maybe you can find a good unit to put in for next year. With my deepest sympathy, Mike