Scooter

Shoot at them on the ground with a Zwickey Judo point... you won't lose the arrow and it is REALLY hard to break one using that particular design. The only modification that I would do is to super glue the nock inside the arrow so it never comes out. Also, next time you get to a decent archery shop- get two flu-flu arrows made. I promise you'll never have more short-range fun with a bow. Flu-Flus are only about 8 bucks a piece and unless you shoot one straight into a rock at less than 10 yards, you won't break them.

You ol' pup-slayer you!!! nice job... I wish that some of those would cross in front of my rifle too!!!

The DPMS without the forward assist at Wally World is the Sportical and it is actually a wonderful rifle to shoot. It isn't a Mil-Spec, but it would work very well for most varmint/target applications and it's under $600. If you save the cash, get an RRA or a Stag.

It heated up quick- but it was chilly setting up, especially when you get wet pant legs from all the grass! Can't wait to try it this coming weekend again.

I have shot a bobcat, a coyote, and now a fox all within a hundred yards using the homemade e-caller and varmint Al's 16 minute sequence.

That wasn't that bad...

It sure did... My truck said 48 degrees down in one of the canyons early- but when I got back to it, it was already almost 70 at 8am

First set, 7 minutes into the sequence I put a nice little grey fox on the ground at just a hair inside 75 yards with one of my .223 handloads... I chose to just call it a day after that.

I'd say if you have your bow, even if you are on your way back to camp, you are still participating in the archery only season and it would be illegal to use your pistol to take any wildlife. Exactly how I interpret the written law as well... But when exactly does your participation in the archery-only season end? Couldn't someone just say that they were not participating in the deer season and using the bow/handgun combo to participate in the year-round general season for rabbits?

My question was more along the lines of probing folks' opinions on when one is considered participating actively in a hunt for a specific species. If I have an archery only deer, turkey, and bear tag in my license holder along with my license- does that mean I am considered actively pursuing all three? There is some grey area to that blurb from the AZGFD regs and I was trying to get some lively discussion going. I carry a small 9mm concealed just about everywhere and especially during archery hunts, and I can't shoot that thing accurately past 10-15 yards- so for me that ficticious bunny gets a Judo point if he's anywhere within 60. I don't really understand your comment about "pick at it"... I don't think anyone here has done that at all. Maybe I should have used a coyote as the example instead so that it wasn't about the "archery skills not good enough" and more about fur damage. Your example of the Duck and Quail situation does parallel the original question. You stated walking back to your truck from a water tank... Yes, in that situation you should only have nontoxic shot. What if you went back to the truck, unloaded your ducks in the cooler, and then wanted to walk the fields for quail? Could you then load up with lead shot and pursue quail/dove and refrain from shooting ducks? Could you shoot those birds on the same tank with the lead shot? Does your truck/camper/tent, etc. constitute a place where your active pursuit of one game animal stops and another begins? Maybe I should state my position more clearly... I'm a pretty staunch liberatarian when it comes to game laws. I really don't think it does the spirit of hunting any good to limit the weapon or try to force-focus the intended game species. I think (only my opinion and I follow all game laws) if you are hunting deer within an archery season, nothing else matters but shooting the DEER with archery gear and if you wanna bring a critter slayer like a .22lr for small game or a varmint rifle with you to knock off a coyote that happens by your path- so be it! As long as you don't shoot the DEER with anything but legal archery gear- then you are good to go. I also think it's bad that you can't just "go hunting" and not specify what exactly you intend to hunt! It's great that you can carry for defense, I would do that any way even if the regs said I couldn't because that's my God-given right to self defense and I'd just fight it in court... Again, nobody is picking on that reg, and I really had no idea that it was such a fight to gain that ability to carry a handgun during archery!

I also keep 2 Judo points in my quiver for that exact same reason...

The regulation books (even some of the updated ones) were printed/posted before the August 1st implementation of the passed bill. The august regs were printed but the exceprts from the revised statutes in the back end were unfortunatley not part of the update on the last version... As for my opinion- I'm pretty much a Liberty first kind of guy so hunt with whatever you want. If the stupid deer stands there for 30 rounds from one magazine, it woulda stood there for a few 5 rd mags too. I've never had a situation requiring more than three rounds!

Since I am not from or familiar with that area and the FS maps usually don't really DETAIL out the roads... I would just go wherever wasn't blocked, signed, gated or fenced off and hope for the best. At least in court you could honestly say you made every effort to comply and show them the map and pictures of where you got onto the closed road. I'm pretty sure you'd come out with a warning as long as you didn't ruffle too many feathers in the process.

It was passed and signed into law (I forget the exact implementation dates) but the actual law you are looking for is HB 2640.

After you set that 30 pin, try a a 20 yard shot ! Most likely you'll still be in the kill zone assuming your bow has average speed... Train yourself to aim two or three inches low on those 20's and you'll be spot on..Even if you forget to aim a little low in the heat of the moment , you'll still be in the vitals. Good luck with the December, January Hunts My bow pushes arrows out around 285-290fps, so the 30 yard top pin should work out just fine. My old sight was set with 25yds being the top pin which was deadnutz on at 20 and had very minimal drop at 30. I'll use the same index mark on the riser with the new sight to start with. Thanks!

Thanks for the suggestions guys! Looking like I will bump that first pin down and start at 30. Pretty sure my December and January hunts will be spot and stalk anyway...

With the bow you'll have to wait until December 14th for the units down here... Also, on-post there is NO December archery hunt, you'd have to wait until January 1st. That is of course unless you talk to your people and find out if there's any deer out on the airfield that need to be removed... There usually isn't.

Well, I spent the last 6 days of the season hunting harder than I ever have in my life... We were up in 22N and our original plan was to sit water holes, but mother nature really put a wrench in the works with all the rain we got up there. I will break down the days journal style: Day 1: we arrived at camp the previous evening during a rainstorm that would last a few hours. We set up only the camp essentials, and headed out to still hunt and mark our water holes with GPS. We were a little bummed to see all the small puddles sitting on the flat rocks, knowing that the deer would just stay close to bedding areas on top if they had water and food- thus making this hunt kinda tricky. We walked about a mile up to a ridge with an excellent vantage point overlooking where our holes were and started glassing... No deer in sight, which didn't surprise us given that it was a little later than bedding time. After about 20 minutes of that out of nowhere we spot a bull elk hitting one of the holes and just tearing it up! It was awesome and he bugled several times from over a mile away we could hear it like it was next to us. We hiked down to our spots and bumped a few elk, but no deer. On our way back up to the ridge we spotted a dandy shed laying on the ground which we picked up. We headed back to camp for a quick lunch and back out again to set up the blinds in the afternoon. We set up on three different holes and hunted the evening- none of us seeing anything, which did not surprise us. Day 2: We got to our blinds well before light. Daybreak found us looking over big water holes with nothing coming to them. We sat all day. When I drove over to the ridge to meet the guys at the pick up point, only one of them had seen deer- 2 does in the early afternoon. We returned to camp to eat and sleep and of course, strategize about the next couple days. Day 3: I dropped the guys off at their starting point and headed to my blind for the morning hunt. I sat until early afternoon and fought off the mosquito barrage. Nothing. So I pulled the blind and headed back to camp to drop it off and head out for the evening.... Only this time I was going to still hunt and glass the ridges for deer moving. I saw 2 muley does really early in the evening at 20 yards. They got up from under a JP and ran across the road in front of my truck. I was excited to actually see deer and it reinvigorated me for the next few hours. I would not see any other deer that night until we had to beep at a big Muley buck to get him off the road. Deer were moving- or so we thought. It rained very late that night for a few hours and it changed everything. Day 4: Since the deer weren't hitting any water, we decided to take the morning and scout a few spots up on top of the rim... MUD!!! It was really muddy but nothing the old H3 couldn't handle. We drove up there and scouted about a dozen spots and saw very little sign. After a few hours, we went back to camp and ate. The evening would find us hunting tree stands in the pines near where we thought deer would travel... Not a thing. Now we were getting worried! Day 5: I still hunted the morning and re-set my blind at a new spot. Sat the evening there and only heard elk bugling and coyotes close by. This trip is almost over and we were all pretty beat up, bit up, tired and sore. That evening we had a beef stew strategy session and decided we would put on a three man still hunt/drive in the a.m. Day 6: We started out in a line about 200 yards wide and slowly worked our way to the distant water holes the other two guys had blinds on. We bumped a few elk and a few jackrabbits, but did not see any deer again. We retrieved the blinds and headed back to camp. That evening we headed down to Payson to grab a burger and a pint. Our hunt was over. No tags filled. We had a blast, but the deer were just not anywhere we could find them. The next morning we packed up camp so that the early elk hunters could move in... And driving the long way back down 87 we saw a ton of campers and ATV trailers... Good luck guys!!!

I had an old hunting buddy from NY that was here picking up his elk mount from 2011 and he used to live up there. I kinda wish I'd have convinced them to come down here! Oh well- maybe I'll invite them down in December. I'm gonna do a ton of scouting (read: coyote blasting) until then...

Thanks! I will be putting in the time getting ready for December. No rifle tag this year...

I have a lot of contact with illegal border crossers in my occupation...I don't think they were Minutemen....I'm pretty confident in saying they were dope runners. But...just my opinion. Yeah they probably bugged out pretty quick after being spotted... The armed guys usually don't stick with the group for too long after they get the drugs across... They were probably headed home or they were the really bad guys who are looking to ambush a rival cartel drug/people train.

If it was on public land... get there earlier next time and hide your stand better. I know what that person is doing is lower than snake sh*t, but causing a big scene isn't going to enhance anybody's hunt. What I would do is ask nicely if he'd remove himself from your stand, if the answer was anything but apologetic I would probably (for a treestand) very quietly take the steps/ladder/climbing stick down and maybe that would provide him some motivation to relinquish his seat. If you call the GW, you'll probably have to wait longer and he's gonna tell you that if you leave a stand on public land anyone can use it. That is the risk taken whenever you leave gear out on public land. I've had folks (back in Texas) in my duck blind on a COE lake at 1:30am and I just left them alone knowing that they REALLY wanted to hunt there badly to get there earlier than I do. My advice is to have several back-up locations, get a climber, or spot and stalk to avoid this issue altogether. Sorry man, it's a bitter pill to swallow that there are lazy arse folks out there who don't give another thought to taking someone else's gear!

I bought an OTC tag for an upcoming hunt in 22- but they probably will not be the main focus of my hunt. It's almost unfair to hunt turkeys from a ground blind...

It could also have been some "minutemen"... as they do wear camo and carry semi-automatic rifles from time to time. I'm with John-O... did they see you? Were they on the road?

I just now got the ability to sign-in... I was getting the same error last night and this morning.