rossislider

Hey CWT Community: My son is trying to raise his own money for his school football fees next year. It is close to $1000 this year! Man have fees gone up since I was in school. Anyhow, there are some pretty good deals on here. I know with my family's DQ addictions, we will get more than our money back at DQ alone. I will post pictures of the front and back of the coupons so you can get a feel for valid locations. Some are valley wide, and some are east valley. Past experience suggests that most locations (even ones not listed) will accept these. If you are interested, please let me know. We will try to find a way to come to or meet you if you are in the east valley. We could also mail them if you don't mind us folding or cutting the card down to envelope size. Payment could be face to face cash, check, or Venmo. $20 per card Thanks

Thanks Chris. Anytime next week would be great.

I received my glassing seat in the mail yesterday. Haven't had a chance to give it a fiend run through, but it looks very high quality and should work great! I love that it will clip to my pack! Thanks Anthony

Great point! I almost stepped on a coiled rattler on my son's hunt in mid October as we here hiking back in the near dark.. Didn't see it in the grass and rocks until I was about to step on it. Just about had a heart attack as I jumped back. I hate those things.

I also think that hunt success numbers put out by AZGFD are garbage. They not accurate due to voluntary reporting. Also, people use a lot of points to get December tags and often go home empty handed because they expected that hunt to be something it is not. They incorrectly assume that their late December Coues tags are "rut-hunt" tags, and likewise assume that they should expect to see multiple 100+ inch deer on those hunts. They are not rut hunts. At best they are pre-rut, and in a good year, you might see a little rut activity the last few days. The advantage is fewer tag numbers and a longer hunt period.

I just attach this to my glassing tripod. I also have a bluetooth remote from Phoneskope that lets me take pictures without touching my phone. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072KNBV21/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.phoneskope.com/store/product/2/217/

If I ever have to dumb a tank going through Flagstaff, it is going in someone's backyard!!!

Glad I saw the reminder. Just got mine ordered. Thanks

Ha! I love all this rain. I have what may be the best tag of my life on what is looking like a perfect weather year to follow up a bad weather year where lots of otherwise great bulls likely got a pass. I hope I am not jinxing myself, but this is shaping up to be a potentially epic fall for my crew.

Watch for sales. Every couple of months you can find pork butt roasts on sale for about $.99 a pound. A little late now, but Sprouts had them for $.99 a pound last week. As hunting season approaches, I will often buy a whole case (8 pork butts) for an even bigger discount from many places, especially restaurant supply stores. Even at regular prices, these places are usually under $1.50 per pound if you buy a case. I'll smoke half of them, shred, seal in the freezer vac, and freeze. When ready to eat, throw the bag of meat in a pot of boiling water for 30 minutes. This makes a FANTASTIC a super easy camp meal, or just for easy meals at any time for the family, BBQs, etc. But at times where I haven't wanted a whole case, I've never had a hard time finding buddies to split a case with, especially as hunting season approaches. I also like to add bacon trim to a good percentage of my burger. I have found that the best place to buy it, by far, is Restaurant Depot (Country Club and Baseline in Mesa). You have to have a membership, but it is free and anyone with a business/tax ID can get one. The sell a 25 pound box of bacon end bits and mis-cuts for about $25 (price may fluctuate), perfect stuff for grinding.

Lots of great ideas suggestions already. I will post a couple more that I like: Yes, as others have said, you can defrost, make something else, and refreeze. I like to make up a big batch of Italian Sausage seasoning mix. Then I just add it to my burger when I am ready to cook for some very lean Italian sausage patties (we eat on burger buns), use it for spaghetti, etc. I'l make up a bunch of meatballs using my recipe in 5-10 pound batches at a time. I bake them in the oven and then freeze them after for quick and easy meals later (sandwiches, pasta, on rice with cream of mushroom soup, etc.). Each time I make a batch I think they will last a few month, but they never last that long as the family always devours them.

Draysen (my son) and I spent every weekend and day off since January 1st chasing deer and javelina with our bows. We had more heartbreaking close calls than I want to think about, but never quite could close the deal. By the time the youth javelina hunt rolled around, we felt pretty dialed in on a few herds and just needed the piggies to cooperate. Kembria's first javelina hunt this past November was a new type of hunting "experience" for me, and tested my patience in ways I had not yet experienced. We had her lined up on so many pigs, so many times at close range, but it didn't work out. I took a lot away from that hunt about what my daughter needed from me to best help her, and about patience. We didn't make it out for the opener Friday morning, but were on road before 4:30AM Saturday morning. We got to the top of the mountain just as it was getting light and were treated to watch multiple groups of whitetail, including some solid bucks, as the sun rose. A little before 9:00 the herd of javelina showed up right about where I was expecting them. Kembria made a great shot from long distance. This particular area was not conducive to close shots. After hiking down to her pig, we took some pictures and I sent Draysen back up the mountain to another ridge to look for another herd. It was his turn, and I knew we would be a few hours field dressing and packing Kembria's pig out. The pack out was ridiculous! By the time Kembria and I got back to the truck with her javelina, it was around 2:00. We got her pig in the cooler and called Draysen to check on him. He had seen deer, but no javelina. So we came up with a new plan. It took him about 30 minutes to hike back to the truck. We jumped in and headed about 45 miles north to check on another herd. As we approached the area, Draysen jumped out with his rifle and pack to head up a ridge. Kembria and I headed about 1500 yards down the road to check out another ridge. We hiked up our ridge and proceeded to glass the area. The afternoon started to grow late and the sun was on the verge of dropping below the mountain. I then heard the gun shot and spun my binos back to the opposite ridge, about a mile away. I looked just in time to see my son holding his arms in the air victoriously. He had found a herd with his ears and had "woofed" them in. By the time he got a visual, this old boar, with teeth ground down to nubs, was at 36 yards for a quick shot. Kembria and I made our way to him, reaching him at the last bit of light. It was a great (and exhausting) day that didn't have us back to the truck with field dressed boar until a couple hours after dark. What a great day, but we are all three feeling the effects of it today! "The Crew" hadn't stopped all day to eat, so a late pit-stop at Taco Bell on the way home was definitely in order.

Dang! Everything about this sucks. It was totally preventable and 100% his fault. But my heart goes out the little girl, him, and the entire family. I can't imagine the horror of accidently shooting your child. The long term impact on this entire family is heartbreaking.

Rewind to early December of 2018. My phone rings and I get a call from Justin Watts, our regional director of the NWTF. He called to inform me that Draysen's entry into the NWTF's JAKE'S National Essay Contest had won, and that he and a chaperone would be going, all expenses paid, to the NWTF convention in Nashville and to El Dorado, Kansas in April where he would attend and participate in the Kansas Governor's One Shot Turkey Hunt/Competition. Rather than go on for paragraphs and paragraphs about all the lead-up, the convention, etc. (which I believe I posted about previously) I will jump to this past week. We got up about 2:00 AM this past Wednesday morning to head to the airport only to receive reports about potential problems with our Dallas connection on to Wichita. Fortunately, we were a little ahead of the worst weather, and despite some bumpy flights met up with Pat Post in Wichita just a little before noon. Pat and his wife Janet, the director of the Kansas Governor's One Shot Turkey Hunt, have been in volved with it for the past 32 of it's 33 years. Talk about great people!!! We had met and spent time with them while at the convention in Nashville, and enjoyed getting reacquainted on our drive to El Dorado. The Kansas Governor's One Shot Turkey Hunt is a by invitation only event. It is largely made up of leaders of industry, celebrities, pro athletes, a handful of "hunting hero" vets, a few Kansas youth hunters, and of course our Draysen. Each of the 78 hunter participants is pre-paired up with a mentor-guide for the experience. Lucky for us, the JAKE'S essay winner gets one of the best, Melinda Duff. Melinda helps maintain a very special piece of property owned by the Raymond Criss family. Many people told us that this property may be one of the finest pieces of turkey property in all of Kansas. Having spent two days on it, I am inclined to agree. Sadly, the owner, Raymond, passed away in a tractor accident a few years ago. Raymond was one of the founders the Governor's One Shot Turkey Hunt 33 years ago, and was a major part of the JAKE'S essay winners inclusion into the event. As a memorial, the family spread his ashes on the top of a hill in probably the most prime spot of their 400 acre property and have designated this as a spot to only ever be hunted by the JAKE'S winner. Not even family and friends are permitted to hunt to spot. I don't have the words to express how humbled and honored Draysen and I were to be there. The first afternoon was spent getting checked in, getting Draysen's licenses and tags, passing Melinda's shotgun shooting test she implemented a couple of years ago. She has a special name for the test, but I probably shouldn't mention it publicly 😉. During the shotgun test, we had a BIG Tom come into the field across the property line to watch us while strutting across the field. That really got the excitement going. We then had a get together social with all the other hunters. We finally we hit the sack about 10:00 PM exhausted, but super anxious. The next morning, Melinda picked us up about 3:45 AM. After a breif stop at headquarters for breakfast and sack lunches we were on our way. It was only a short 10 minute drive and 10-15 minute walk to the blind, but we ended up doing a circle or two around the hill as we fumbled through the dark. Once set up in the blind it wasn't long before we began to be treated to a pre-dawn gobble party. I've never before experienced so many gobbles coming from so many directions at the same time. It was incredible! Shortly after shooting light, the birds began to show themselves. First wad a big group of jakes to fed 10 yards right in front of our blind for what seemed forever (video below). We saw a couple of really nice Toms beyond the group of jakes and slightly down the hill. They were absolute shooters, but wouldn't commit to coming in. At one point one of the jakes began to sense something wasn't right, alerted the group, and the did a slow walk away. About 30 minutes later, they were back! This time the big boys trailing the group came in! Draysen lined up for an easy 10 yards shot waoted for a nearby jake to clear, pulled the trigger, and "click" but no "boom" (video below)! I had one job, properly load the shotgun, and I totally blew it! The shell wasn't fully chambered. By the time we cleared the shotgun, the birds had heard the click, and again had done a slow retreat. Would he get a third chance? Absolutely, and only 20-30 minutes later. This time the biggest Tom was in the lead. Draysen wasn't going to wait for him to get too close and get mixed up with all the rest of the birds preventing a clean shot, and took him with one clean solid shot at about 25 yards. Tag #1 filled! But rather than going to get the bird, we decided to sit tight and work on a double. There were way to many birds still in the area. It about 45 minutes later a new group of 3 big Tom's were spotted and on their way. As the lead bird approached, he began strutting and heading for Draysen's first bird. Draysen had pre-determined to memorialize this trip by getting a bird mounted if he got a good one, and his first bird was awesome! So he didn't want to allow this second Tom to beat up on the first and took his shot before the second bird got the chance. "Boom", second tag filled. As we celebrate, the other two Toms that came in with his second bird, being the bullies that Toms are, came and started beating up on their downed buddy. We also wanted to keep this second bird in good shape and tried to shoosh them off, but they weren't having it, and lingered for another 10 minutes until we started to get out of the blind. Even then, they only went another 50 yards down they hill. But at that point they had cleared the JAKE essay winner hunting only area. Melinda had her own tags, so we encouraged her to go after them. Eventually we convinced her. Only a few minutes later, a third bird was down. Draysen's first bird had 10.5" beard, a really nice long spur on one leg, and slightly rubbed down spur on the second. The second bird had a 9.75" beard but huge sharp 1.25" spurs. We headed for competition weigh in, measurements, and lunch. The Kansas Governor's One Shot takes amazing care of their guests! While we ate lunch they completely plucked and processed Draysen's second bird to look like a grocery store cleaned whole turkey (we froze the first whole for taxidermy), and put it in camo soft sided cooler for him on dry ice to take home. That afternoon we got a good nap and headed in for the evening banquet and auction. For that night's auction master turkey caller Preston Pittman had brought 20 custom box calls. Preston was there guiding the hunting heros. With his tags filled, Draysen got the opportunity to play the part of guide the following morning to help Melinda fill her second tag. We sat the edge of a recently planted corn filled and again were treated to a symphony of pre-dawn gobbles in the full moon light. Our blind was almost directly below the roost trees. So in the low light of the morning, we watched an estimated 50-60 birds fly down and work their was across the field in front of us. It was a scene we will never forget. The many Tom's were all hened up and didn't seem interested in our calls as they strutted hundreds of yards across the field in front of us, but just out of range. Once they were all out of sight we determined our best opportunity would be to set up a couple of hen decoys and try to call a Tom back when his hens left to lay eggs. While I was dozing off, Draysen and Melinda spotted a lone gobbler about 500 yards across the field. Game on! With a little coaching Draysen called this gobbler clear across the field to about 200 yards. Then a hen showed up that got his attention. So Draysen shifted gears and called in the hen with him cutting the distance. About the time the hen was about 5-10 yards from us, she began to sense something was up and alerted the Tom. He stopped dead in his tracks, puffed up, but wouldn't come any closer, but he had already come to close. A great 40 yard shot from Melinda and our hunt was over. More banquets, auctions, thank yous, and farewells that night. Draysen didn't win the top gun contest for biggest bird, but was given a beautiful rifle from the C.O.O of the NWTF who said some very nice thing about Draysen to the crowd. We then returned to our hotel packed up and went to bed. It is now the following morning. We are now at the Wichita airport and have a long wait for his flight, hence the long write up. This has been an experience of a lifetime for Draysen and me. So many great people did so many great things to make this great experience happen including: Mark and Kathy Nixon who kead out local East Valley Toms NWTF chapter. Janet and Pat Post of the Kansas Governor's One Shot Turkey Hunt. Mark Elliot who foot the bill for the trips. Melinda Duff, Draysen's mentor and guide. Mom, (my wife) who had to stay home with the siblings. So many more, sorry I can't begin to name them all. I know the write up was long, hope you enjoyed it, the videos, and pictures.

Hard to beat that 20 gauge 870 for a youth shotgun.

I had a buddy try one. It would not hold zero, so he returned it and got an identical one. Same problem. That was enough enough for me to steer clear.

What are these glassing pads stuffed with and how well do the hold up? A couple of my glassing knobs are on some rough jagged rocky stuff that have torn up a couple of other pads. But better pads than my camo and backside. Thanks

Well here is the short and sweet version of my wife's first elk hunt. She drew a limited opportunity "Any Elk" HAM hunt. I knew it had the potential to be a tough hunt so contacted my friend Shane Koury to help us out. We got on a monster bull early on day one that none of us had ever seen before, but he wasn't in a shootable location. As we moved in on him, he and his cows busted us. We were determined that he would be our target bull and set about to pursue him the rest of the hunt. The first day and a half were great. He was a very silent bull and bugled very little, which made it tough to find and trail him in a flat, cedar heavy unit. Late on day two the weather started moving in and for the next few days we were pelted by rain, snow, sleet, hail, and heavy wind with little to no breaks in the weather. This weather effectively killed the rut in our unit. The bugling slowed to just one bugle before light by day two. By day four the bulls were back in bachelor groups and there was zero rut activity or behavior. On day five Shane and I did an evaluation of my wife's mood. We agreed that we (mostly me) were putting our standards and expectation of bull size/class on her and encouraged her to be more open with us about what she was looking for in the hunt. It was clear she really just wanted to shoot a mature bull, and we didn't want to kill her enthusiasm with the continued grind for our target bull. After we "adjusted" our expectations and plans, we quickly came across this guy in a bachelor group of three bulls. Kursty made a good 235 yard shot with the muzzleloader. We heard the loud unmistakable thump of the bullet making impact, but he ran off into the thick cedars. After a short time we began tracking him. No blood, but because of all the moisture, a blind man could have tracked his deep prints in the mud. After bumping him a couple times we agreed to back out and give him four hours. It was probably about 40 degrees at the time so we weren't too concerned about meat spoilage. We could tell he was struggling to stay ahead of us and was done, but needed some time. Those four hours drove my wife to a near nervous breakdown. After picking up the trail where we left off that morning, we found he had bedded up not far from where we left him. Kursty put one last shot in him at 21 yards and he was done. This was a fantastic first elk hunt for my wife that had a little bit of everything, highs and lows, grinding it out, crazy weather, a little rut activity, etc. I am super happy for her and can't wait to get her out in the field again.

Unfortunately no on those vaulted ceilings. 😢. It is a good problem that I hope to have. I hope to do a pedestal if we can turn up something special this year.

I hadn't mentioned it previously, but during our 4 hour wait, we drove back into town to get the kids. We knew they would love to be there and see her bull. We had the idea to put them in camo with us for that year's family picture. I hadn't shared this picture previously because we ended up saving it for our family Christmas card.

Thanks Andrew. Interestingly enough, it was on this hunt that the symptoms of her tumor really began to manifest. At the time we assumed it to be weather related. It wasn't until February that the tumor was diagnosed. Her surgery went almost 9 hours! But they were able to remove about 99% of the tumor. There was one point near the end where things went bad! I thought I was either going to lose my wife, or she would come out of it with severe brain damage. Fortunately, she had a team of pretty amazing surgeons. Two weeks later and she is ahead of pace on her recovery. She should be in great hunting shape by fall.

Looking for a qualified mechanic in the south east valley to install a leveling kit on my 2013 F-150. I will provide the strut extension blocks. I have done one before, but contemplating just paying someone to do it this time. Thanks

My tag came today.

What is this code for? Percent off or just for certain items?

I was extremely lucky as I only had 9 points.