lucky2hunt

Great looking bears! The Blonde is beautiful! Looks like a great trip, Congrats.

Welcome to the site! Fantastic archery buck, congrats. Love the pictures as well!

Great pictures!

SHOOT!!!

Great video! Congrats on your bird. I was wondering why they looked so far away.... Have you tried one of those on a bow yet?

Beautiful work of art! Amazing deer too

Dust off the bows and come on up to the North Country!

Fantastic! Beautiful bird, Congratulations again!!!

TJ!!! You are killing me Every time I see one of your fishing stories I want to get out there on the lake... NOW, I see all these fish AND the tacos, Wow! Glad you and your dad had a good day, I am way jealous my friend!

A day fish'n is much better than a day work'n! Sorry the fish weren't biting, still looks like fun! Hey, I like the hat TJ

Great! It'll be good to meet you guys, I'll be working registration most the time so say "hello". Spread the word, we want to see lots of shooters!

A few pictures from last year: Registration Site-in Long Shot Off to the courses! (or to the Blue Baño)

Whoop Whoop!!! Congrats, that is so exciting! Figure out that phone and let's see some picture!

Beautiful!

Congratulations on a great bow kill!

Nice! Congrats! Good luck on getting the last of the 'Slam'

Thanks to a winning bid at the ADA/Antelope 2011 Banquet, a few weeks ago I took off to hunt Red Stag on the South Island of New Zealand with Wilderness Quest Outfitters! I would also be hunting Feral Goats, Arapawa Ram, and as a last minute add-on, a Fallow Deer. We left Flagstaff to drive down to Phx airport and 26 hours later we arrived at the beautiful hunting lodge. Our own personal cabin River in front of cabin . I was amazed at how dense the rain forest was, it was not possible to walk through the forest unless you were on a game trail, plus it was so steep I thought my lungs were going to burst! Here is the trail leading off the mountain back to the cabin. Topping out on the ridges there was small, open, grassy spots where some of the animals would come out feed. This being the first of April, (autumn in New Zealand) the rut was in full swing, the stags were roaring their heads off! What an awesome sound! After several days of very hard hunting, chasing roars but having a hard time getting close... everything came together and I was able to arrow this beautiful stag at 30 yards while he was roaring and challenging another stag. Roger and I I often curse the wind, but not on the morning I was chasing feral goats. With a very strong steady wind to mask my noise and scent, I was able to creep behind a group of 3 feral goats and let my arrow fly at this guy from 15 yard! The arrapaw ram was a super tough hunt. The rams ran in a pack of 9-10, which means I had that many pairs of eyes to try to hide from. I chased those guys all over the mountains and hilltops! Several times getting within 20 yards or closer, but as I moved to draw I’d be busted and the chase was back on. Finally, I was able to get within 30 yards and I killed my ram that has wool like ‘Bob Marley’s hair’. I’m very proud of my Fallow Deer. Up until now, no one with this outfit has ever shot a Fallow with a bow, the deer are so difficult to get close to they have always used rifles. I was lucky enough to be strategically standing on a jungle choked cliff face across from another cliff face where the last few days we watched the deer disappear into the thick jungle when spooked. They would dive into the thick cover and weave their way up this cliff, then end up reappearing on the top ridge. I had a 2’x2’ opening to shoot through the brush on my side of the cliff, I stood there afraid to move because of the slick ground and the fear of slipping off the cliff and dropping the 30 feet down. Sure enough those bucks followed their routine and after being spooked by something they started up the side, this guy made the mistake of weaving in front of my little shooting window and I stuck him at 12 yards!!! Pretty Cool Roger back at the cabin celebrating a successful hunt! After we finished up hunting we rented a campervan and took two more weeks to tour the rest of the South Island. What an amazing place New Zealand is! Around every corner we drove, the phrase “Oh, Wow” was said over and over again. There were so many beautiful sites. Once again I have to thank the guys at Bull Basin Archery in Flagstaff for all the help and support. As always the biggest thanks goes to my husband and best friend, Roger. (We even still like each other after the 2 weeks in a campervan that really, really tested our ‘friendship’)

+1 Well said TJ. Prayers sent!

Awwwwww, to me nothing compares to hunting elk in the rut, and I mean nothing! Basically we followed the roars, we didn't do any calling. I thought calling would work because they were all so fired up but my guide said no. The one I shot was coming in to another bull scraping, it made him crazy to think that this guy got close to him. If we saw hinds we would follow them because there would always be a stag close somewhere. The roaring was incredible, but, and I know I'm biased, nothing like the spine tingling sound of a elk bugle!

Ouch! Kind of harsh! I almost feel like you are 'preaching to the choir'. Yes, there may be a lot of room for improvement, but.... I think many of us on this forum DO get out and do our share of volunteering for wildlife, I know there is always more to do, but I have been to quite a few work projects and I have seen more than one CWT sticker on a vehicle. My husband and I did Adopt-a-Catchment and had a blast with it, a lot of work, but well worth it! Also, I've been to the banquets where CWT'ers also 'put there money where their mouth is' donating a lot to wildlife which helps make the projects possible. I agree with you though, there's plenty to do!

Done deal! Thanks TJ AND... Thank you Amanda!!!!

We had one of the premier fly fishing rivers 40 yards in front of our cabin. We are definitely 'novice' fly fishers, when our guide told us we needed to wear camo to fish we knew we were out of our league. We went down to look for fish, the fish would spot us 30 yards away and bolt! April is the end of the fishing season in that area, the fish have been fished hard thus they are very very clever!

Ha TJ! By far not the best... maybe one of the luckiest (fortunate to be able to take this trip). The beauty there is almost overwhelming, too much to take in sometimes I hope to share a campfire with you and Peg in the near future!

Thanks everyone! It was truly a fantastic trip! Here are a few more pics out of the 800+ pictures we took... Milford Sound Southern Alps Mount Cook - Where Sir Edmund Hillary grew up and practiced to get ready to conquer 'Everest' Queenstown New Zealand roadblock!

Prayers sent for comfort and healing. I hate Cancer with all my heart!