rossislider

It's a pretty solid tripod/head combo for the price. I used one for several years before upgrading to a Slik/Manfrotto combination, but that over doubles your price point. I definitely prefer my Slik setups but did just purchase another Vanguard 264AO in January becuase of the growing number of hunters in my house.

I've spent the last three falls in 3C on multiple elk and deer hunts. Congratulations, you have a great hunt! Koury and Burnt Timber are probably the primary "locals" in that unit and are both great guides. I think both of them book up pretty quick, so you might have availability issues. I do believe they differ a little in style and approach. Shane is a great hunter and solid guy who I consider a personal friend. I have and would hunt with him any day. I've also had multiple interactions with the various memebers of the Burnt Timber crew. Awesome guys, very friendly, and they know their stuff. I really don't think you can go wrong with either. Feel free to shoot me a PM if youd like more specifics on either.

I have the Big Buddy heater that I run in my 10x14 flexbow. Warms it up really quick. I have the attachment and hose to hook it up to a big propane tank outside. I do not run it while we are sleeping, but it is great to warm you up at night before getting into bed and when you get up in the morning. It does have an oxygen sensor if you want to run it at night, but I don't think I would risk my family's life on that sensor. If I ever did decide to run it while we were asleep, I would have the tent well ventilated with a back up oxygen sensor in the tent at head level.

The Tom my son shot last weekend was brought in by his hen. He was quiet and not interested, but we had a clucking "argument" with his hen till she got mad enough to come looking for us and had him follow her in.

RTIC does have a 110 and a 145 for sell in their lineup. That sell off was a little over a year ago and they were back up and going by summer.

I think it was a tough opening weekend all around. The unit 1/27 camp turkey count seemed way down. I think they were at around 8 birds when we last stopped by Saturday night with around 130 kids in camp.

They also posted this to their Facebook page. The problem I have with it is timing. This happened the same time that many other companies are caving to pressure dropping the NRA? Maybe it is spin and backtracking once the poop hit the fan, maybe it is true. I don't know, but it is suspicious. Regardless, these days you can get equal if not better products for much less. Who still buys Yeti?

I must be doing something wrong because I see the Braggin' Board buy can't see anywhere to upload a picture.

Nice! I will get Draysen's Tom posted. Thanks Mark.

Last year they came out online on April 28th.

I was pretty surprised too. Wish I had the need to justify it or the extra funds.

Get one of these to work the foot. Roll it around on the floor while putting as much pressure on it as you can handle. Probably the best thing I did for my planter fasciitus a few years ago. Hurts like heck, but feels great after. You can find them locally at REI and probably a lot of foot stores. https://www.amazon.com/Due-North-Massage-Plantar-Fasciitus/dp/B002QEY6NK

Very cool find! I'd call that a successful hunt.

It is a blast! I regret not getting into it sooner than I did. Like most types of hunting, it can be a bit intimidating getting started (how to call, when, what calls, where, etc.) But there are a lot of great groups and individuals in Arizona anxious to help and mentor. I'd recommend hitting up some of the free seminars that are offered each spring. Ammon from Little Creek Calls usually does one in the east valley that we enjoy going to. There are several others throughout the state. I still consider myself a novice (three seasons under my belt), but would be happy to help in any way I can.

Thanks everyone, so after my last post about our morning stand, we took a little break to rest a few minutes and grab some lunch. We had a plan for that afternoon in a different area. We had also formulated a plan for the following morning. We were going to return to the same spot we hunted the first two mornings using everything we had learned about those particular birds. We were feeling good about our prospects. During lunch we received some news that was going to require us to abandon our plans for the next morning. So we shortened our lunch break, knowing we had to find a new area for the following morning before moving on to our evening plan. We talked a bit about ideas and decided to beeline to an area where I had seen plenty of birds in the past on camping trips, but had never hunted. We found an area with a lot of sign that we felt would be as good of a spot as any for the next morning. Since we had a little time before we wanted to be in the area of our evening setup, we decided to throw the decoys out in the path we felt birds would be moving through, made a make shift natural blind, and got set up for a few calls. It wasn't long before Draysen whispered to me, "Dad, I see them behind us!" Sure enough, about 80-100 yards through the trees we saw a hen and a Tom. We pivoted directions and I made a few quiet clucks. I don't think they heard them in the light breeze as there was no reaction, so I increased my volume. A few clucks and the hen shot her neck up high and started looking in our direction. We proceeded to exchange a few series of clucks over the next few minutes. At that point she started walking away from us, taking her boyfriend with her. I quickly changed it up with a short but hard yelping sequence. She spun around and started right for us. I should also mention that our decoys were set up in the opposite direction, so the birds never saw them. It couldn't have been more than 30 seconds before the hen was walking past us within 15 yards with her boyfriend in tow about 5 yards behind her, he never once made a sound. As soon as she went behind a tree Draysen whiped up the shotgun and took care of business at 17 yards. We were jumping up and down with excitement as we ran over and piled on top of the flopping Tom. It was a perfect shot thay made a big mess of the Tom's neck. Don't know if I mentioned this previously, but we only started turkey hunting a few years ago and I have yet to have a tag of my own. Draysen shot his first Tom a couple of years ago that a friend called in for him. This was my first successful unassisted bird called in and killed so it was pretty special for me and my partner. About 1000 pictures later we headed back to the truck. Such a great trip! Can't wait for the next one.

We had a good afternoon! Story coming later.

Were your decoys motionless?Yes, not really any wind early so they weren't moving much if at all.

Well we had a fun but frustrating morning. Since Draysen has been insisted on using his boy, we hiked in around 4:00 to get the blind, chairs, and decoys set up well before light. Once we were within a few hundred yards of out predetermined location (meadow at the base of a hill they having been coming down to water) we were greeted by gobbles from the roosts. We got set up as quickly and quietly as possible. The blind was right at the base of the hill, sandwiched between larges bushes. The decoys (breeding Jake/hen combo and an upright hen) were 15 yard in front of us in the meadow. About 5:15 we started yelping with the nearest Tom talking back every time. In short time we heard the fly down and within 15 minutes we had multiple Toms talking to us. Draysen and I thought it was game on! We only had the windows facing the decoys open so couldn't see behind us. Over the next couple of hours we had four different birds come in behind us gobbling up a storm. Unfortunately we never saw them. I am guessing each came into the 20-30 yard range behind us, hung up for a couple of minutes, and were gone. Any thoughts? I think that 20-30 yards range where they were hanging up was right about where they were getting a visual of the decoys and blind. Might they have had issues with the blind or didn't like the Dave Smith decoys we were using? About 8:30 things went quiet for the last time. We hung out until about 10:30 hoping one would come back but no luck. Exciting and frustrating! I think I may have Draysen convinced to use our remaining time with the shotgun so we can be swift and light without blinds, decoys, etc. The uphill hike out with pack, blind, decoys, and chairs did me in. I think it is nap time.

Unit 1. He is insistent on using his bow againt dad's suggestions and pleading. I have the shot gun with me on stand by if he wises up.

Gobbles all around us, nothing committing at this point. At least 4 different birds talking to us.

1 and 27

Well, we had a good day but didn't get a turkey on the ground. We got into our first spot well before sun up. Called for a couple of hours, but didn't have any turkeys come in and didn't her so much as a cluck. It was windy, so that made it rough. It got real interesting about 7:00. As we were calling we heard a deep growl from behind us, very close behind us. Not sure if I was hearing things, I looked over at my son who was staring back with wide eyes. Then we herd it again. I reached over for the shot gun thinking, "things are about to get real western". We were leaning up against a giant pine and couldn't see behind us. One more time we heard the deep growl. Another minute goes by and I decided to get up and look to see what our visitor was. What ever it was must have retreat back into trees because I couldn't see anything, but we are thinking it was likely a bear. Shortly after that we decided to move to our mid morning spot. We had a place where we thought they were coming in to water mid morning. Sadly, as we got a few hundred yards away, we got busted. They had come to water earlier than expected and all we saw were fleeing birds to far for us to do anything about it. We explored the area and made a plan to get back there in the morning well before first light. Then, we hiked back to the truck and were heading into camp for lunch. Unfortunately, we were met with a low tire pressure warning. So ran into town. We couldn't find a leak so grabbed air and headed to camp. The air pressure light came back on a little later. Long story short, we spent a couple of hours in Springerville. By the time we left we had four new tires. If you ever need tire service in Springerville, I highly recommend you see Tony Martins at Alpine Tire. Great guy, hunter, and outdoors writer. By that time we had to beeline to our evening set up. Long story short, we found turkeys. Unfortunately, they found us first. We couldn't hear them any earlier due to the wind. The snow was coming down heavy at that points and we were losing light, so we strategized on how we could get in on that group tomorrow afternoon and called it a day. Lots of lessons learned, and we have a strong plan tomorrow based on what we learned today. No turkey on the ground yet, but a fun (and expensive) day! FYI, he had warmers clothes on, but after the hike back to the truck, he started ditching layers quick.

I'll update you on our morning a little later. It was a morning of missed opportunities. Currently at the tire shop in Springerville with a flat tire.

Deer don't follow a calendar so it can vary. People like to call December coues hunts "rut hunts" because they don't know any better, and it is the closest thing Arizona has to a rifle rut hunt for coues deer. But more often than not, they are pre-rut at best. If you do see any rut activity in December, it will usually be the last few days of the month. Mid January is GENERALLY the prime rut time.

Yeah, the wind hasn't gotten any better here 30mph all day with gusts a lot higher. We did see a couple of Toms to go after in the morning. We saw a plethora of other animals and cleared a lot of back roads while checking areas. If you haven't left home yet, bring a chainsaw!