sophie

Great story! Congrats!

I always do my own. Had some bad experiences w/ butchers early on and have always done my own since. We usually do the butchering right in camp, take a vacuum packer and its ready for the freezer when we get home. Whoa, listening to the news while typing, a lady just died after being bit by a Mohave.

There were two interesting things that I've seen while out hunting over the years. While archery deer hunting in unit 5b I had a doe bed down about 30 yards in front of me. With nothing better to do I sat in the tall grass and with the doe. After about 20 minutes or so the doe raised her head and looked straight at me. We locked eyes for about 3 seconds. Then she jumped up, wheeled around and came down about 6 yards from where she was lying. Her front feet hit the ground just behind the rear end of a large bob cat that had been sneaking up on her. It was quite a sight. She was stamping her front feet and was just missing the cat with each jump. And with each jump that cat's rear end was tucked under to keep from getting tagged. They zig zagged around for 30 seconds or so until she treed the cat. Then she stood under the tree snortin and stamping the ground as the cat was hugging the trunk of that ponderosa. The cat would shimmy around this way and that, trying to get a clear spot to jump down. And the doe would follow around the tree stamping...Daring the cat to 'just try and get down!!' Finally the cat took a long backwards leap, over the doe, and the two of them ran off down the hill. I sat there amused and amazed at what I had just seen when the doe came back and layed down in the same spot she was bedded down in. The clouds were turning red and I had to go. When I got up and left the doe just watched me walk away. Was she thinking " Oh Crap What Now?" Another interesting thing happened back in '82 archery deer season. My buddy and I got a late start and were driving in to set up camp in the dark. About 9pm we were driving in the forest NW of Parks. It was a very dark night and Howard was using a spot light out his side window. He said "stop, look at this". He shined the light down through the forest. I said " I can't see anything". He said " now watch through here", and he turned the light off. Just then a red flare shot up into the sky from where the spot light was shining. It looked to be about 300 to 400 yards away. I said whoa thats unusual. Somebody fired off a flare. He said 'No., watch again." He shined the spot light in there again, turned it off, and there was the flare again. He said he saw it three times before he showed me. We a sat there 15 minutes, shining the light over and over. Each time a flare shot up into the air. We turned to truck down that way, hollered, honked the horn. Couldn't hear a response, couldn't see anything. We got kinda spooked and left. On the way out toward town we passed a cabin and decided to stop to borrow the phone to call the sherriff, in case someone was lost and had ten cases of flares to be rescued with. The sherriff's office did not seem interested. I think they thought we were kooks. The lights were similar to marine flares, red ball fire at the head with a waivering tail. They would go up into the sky to just over the tops of the trees, 90-100 feet or so. A few years later I told my physics professor at ASU about it and asked if he knew what it could be. Again, did not seem interested, looked at me like I was a kook. Anybody ever seen anything like that?

!!!!WOW!!!!

Wow. Congrats, that is what I have been looking for. A sweet little basket. I would not pass up a bigger buck. But I would rather have one like yours.

Very nice buck, and great story. Glad you held out.

Merry Christmas Good People The Wittekinds

Nice buck.. Thanks for the pics.

we hunted 36b for the last two years. Last year I saw a lion at a water hole. ( didn't have a tag) This year we heard a lion caterwalling within couple of miles of the one I saw last year. It was quite an experience. We never were able to see it, but we followed it for quite a ways. It seemed to always stay close to us. We think it was a female in heat. Have you ever had a house cat that was in heat? It was kind of like that. It would go on for 4-5 minutes YEOW,YEOW,YEOW,YEOW. Then it would stop, and then something would set it off again. Once it was a helicopter, another time Max coughed and that set it off. It was in some pretty steep rugged country. If a fella had some dogs they would get a lion in that area, maybe two. Oh by the way, we got a couple of nice bucks last thursday. Packed out the meat and antlers a couple of miles. Will post pics when I figure out how too.

That was just sad

Congrats... nice buck.

We got Nov tags 36b. If there's a get together post it. Could go for some frosty. We hunted 36b Dec. last year. We saw not one illegal or druggy on the hunt. But when we were scouting in Oct/Nov you had to watch where you step so you didn't trip over one. We had no trouble camping out on the hunt but we stayed in a hotel for the scouting trips. Has there been any trouble on Nov hunts in the past? By the way guys, Sophie is the name of my best dog. My name is Brian. I know poor choice for screen name, just wasn't thinking.

Road hunters and e-scouters (I had to read on for a while till I could figure out what an e-scouter was) don't deserve our scorn. They deserve our pity. I don't care if somebody is scooting around at a snails pace to try to find game. Long as they pull over to let me by. But if I give em a second thought it is to pity them because they don't get to see what I do. Their wilderness experiences are somewhat pale. That nice buck is the cherry on top of the total experience.

when is your hunt vjeep? We'll wave you down if we see you, huntin Nov 10-19

My cousin Max and I will be in 36b for the 12/16 hunt. It appeals to us to camp with others for safety. We are planning to camp somewhere off of Ruby Rd. in the vicinity of the ridge rd. and will welcome others to camp with us, or if we are welcomed to an established camp thats good too. We are in a white Chev 4x4 and a white jeep. Thx Sophie

I drew a December WT 36B. Any advice?