COOSEFAN

A big congrats to your wife! Beautiful buck! Not to take away from the rack...but...WOW, look at the size of them ears! You didn't by chance measure the tip-tip ear spread did ya? On the West side we had one that was 23 1/2" and another at 25" and looked to be about the same age class. Just curious, congrats again, JIM>

sorry.........i'll stop now and keep quiet in the new "hole" I dug for myself......Jorge Gonzales

That just about sums it up Daverp. Out of fairness to all the other guides out there, I should probably not speak up like I am, but I feel strongly about what I do and how I do it. Last summer I felt I was ready to try and keep up with the competition and felt the pressure to do so. Flying was the ticket and I put my opinions and thoughts about it on the backburner and gave it a try. My main goal was to offer that edge to my clients and to cut down on my scouting bills and equipment wear and tear. Flying will most definitely accomplish all that but the downsides appeared after I had purchased and learned to fly my PPG. The risk involved is not worth it, and the hit to your pride is overwhelming. You can't openly talk about what you are doing, even though it's legal, and the thought that your friends and acquaintances think less of you for doing it makes it even less desirable. We have always taken pride in being successful doing it the hard way even though we may not kill 200" Mulies and 400" bulls every year, we still kill big critters and we can honestly be proud of every one. I won't use my PPG for my business and if I can sell it I will, but if not.....it is fun as heck flying around the desert by my house! I know of a guy who most of you have heard about, who has crashed three times and finally gave it up and now pays guys to fly for him after his last crash because it cost him so much in plastic surgery on the third crash! That's "Crazy" if you ask me. I won't personally bash anyone for using one, it's their own choice but I look at their successes differently than I normally would. Like has been said before...."if you can still look in the mirror and feel good about yourself".......than more power to ya! I just hope we don't hear of any more crashes JIM>

This is crazy........This is a discussion/debate that has no right or wrong answer! This is not a debate of whether or not its legal.........just merely whether you like it or not! I thought I would benefit from it and went full-bore into trianing and buying all the right stuff.........then.....I realized flying was way too risky to do outside of a controlled environment such as a small airport or near my home. I may continue to fly during the summers for fun around the house, but you won't see me swooping through canyons and over mountains up north! My first and only flight in higher elevations involved about an hour of serious panic attacks followed by a good tree trimming and finally sliding to a stop on my knees! It was ugly and I'm not proud of it but I walked away from it knowing I accomplished a goal I had set, and I knew I would rather ride the Rhino around scouting than go on that roller-coaster-ride-in-the-sky ever again! Like I said before, just keep it all into perspective.....if you see someone holding a big monster dream buck, and you know he flew around for a week to find it........be happy for him, he probably worked hard from that point until he killed it.......but if you see someone holding a big dream buck and they didn't fly for it.....I'd go up and shake his hand and congratulate him for doing it the hard way! Like it or not...it's legal, guys are going to do it, it's not for everyone and it will never get as popular as quads or other ATV's. From the outside looking into the sport of PPG's, it is not as easy and free flying as you would think. You won't have guys come flying up to you and landing on some glassing point, you'll never see them flying around all day and they can only fly on perfect weather days. Also, I have never heard of anyone flying to locate Coues deer? Mule deer is probably the most sought after critter with Elk being a close second when it comes to flying. Flying in canyon country is very dangerous and if you do it enough, you will have problems, so I bet Coues deer won't ever have to worry too much about hunters with wings! I also bet that if flying machines become any more "user-friendly" and more people use them.....there will be new laws restricting or prohibiting them. .......and that ther's my 2 cents..........thanks, JIM>

Hey guys, I've been watching this thread for a while to see how bad it got. Flying has always been under scrutiny and has always been a secretive thing because it is so scrutinized. Many feel it's unfair and most feel that way not because it's unethical, but because they can't do it. It follows along the same lines as hunting becoming a rich man's sport! You wouldn't believe how many guys have and use flying machines to help their scouting! Several years ago laws weren't as strict or enforced and there were actually guys chasing down deer and elk with planes and then sending GPS coordinates of the worn out critter to a guy on the ground to walk in and shoot it! Some of you might even have videos in your collection where a deer gets shot that has its tongue hanging out for no appearant reason! That was wrong but thankfully the majority of it has stopped and those individuals were caught. Now days you have to stop flying 48 hrs. before a big game hunt and most everyone abides by the law. In Randy's defense, you still have to relocate your animals and kill them, all flying does is narrow your search down to a smaller area which CAN be done on foot or quads which most everyone can do. Most of the guys who use planes are under some sort of pressure to succeed. These are the hunters and guides who HAVE to produce year after year to provide a paycheck or reputation and that pressure leads them to use every legal tool they can, and flying is #1. Flying isn't just used to find a certain animal, it is useful in just locating all the water sources, hidden pockets, and the majority of the herds in a given area in a fraction of the time it would take on the ground. Sure, this seems unfair to most, but the fact is, anybody can do it and to get the best paraplane equipment and training will cost the same as buying a new ATV! I know it may ruin my reputation with some of you, but I bought a PPG (powered paraglider) last summer and had all the intentions of using it for my business to try and save scouting cost and equipment wear. I had flown it about 10 times down here in the desert while training and went up north for my first scouting flight last August. Paraplanes are hard to fly in high elevations and I learned that on my first trip, it was the scariest thing I've ever done and I will probably never do it again. My intentions were to use it for scouting, but I soon realized it's not worth risking your life. There has been several accidents lately with guys other than Randy and it just makes it all more clear to me that flying just isn't worth the risk when you can just take your time on the ground and be safe. Flying has never been a part of my successes in my business and I'm proud of all that we have done because it has all been due to hard work. Flying seemed like it would be a great tool at first but you couldn't be as proud of your results in the end and that is how I look at everyone elses results, keep it in perspective. I give alot more credit to the guys who work harder for their successes. Randy and others are incredible archers and hunters and deserve the credit they get, you just have to keep things in perspective. I hope Randy recovers soon and continues his great service to the archery world. BTW....I have a brand new Powered Paraglider for sale with all the gear and very low hours if anyone is interested (i'm not joking.....i'll make you a great deal) thanks, JIM>

Thanks for the replys! I am trying to round up all the pic's from our late elk hunts, we didn't kill any monsters but we did get a few big bulls and three of them were NOT broken believe it or not! It was a great time but EXTREMELY COLD and really makes you appreciate the warm bed and hot shower at home! Pop's buck was a fighter, he had a few holes in his face and neck and bruising under the skin and had a big roman-nose, he was probably only a 5 1/2 yr old according to the teeth. Thanks again for the reply's! JIM>

Hey Johnny, I heard you were cooking for me on the hunt? I want steak every night with smashed taters and corn, also dutch oven peach and cherry cobbler for desert, and bacon n' eggs with hashbrowns every morning served to me in bed, coffee must be lightly sweetened with real sugar and cream....shaken not stirred and don't forget about the foot massages after dinner every night Just kidding, there won't be any time for eatin', them little couesies better run and hide with our team in the hills! It'll be a blast, see ya down there, JIM>

"as the buck literally exploded in my viewfinder!!! " You weren't exaggerating when you said that! I was wondering what you meant by the exploding part, and after watching the video, I now understand! A huge congrats to your wife and to your whole family on such a successful season! Great job gettin' that all on video too! JIM>

That woulda been priceless video footage!

I have a witness to this same thing! I wasn't laughing though My bro and I in 21 late WT hunt, he had the rifle, I had an archery tag and a bow. No deer so we started a series of fawn in distress calls to see if we could call in a cat. We were sitting on a small rock bluff surrounded by shin daggers and a long dropoff on 3 sides into cactus and shin daggers. I was on the right side of the bluff and my Bro in the middle. I started calling and 3 WT does came running at us from below, growling and blowing, with their hair raised up and you could see the whites of their eyes ( I bet Becker knows what I'm talking about ) We let it go on until they were directly below to the right of me and outta sight from my bro. I then looked at the deer that were searching around for me and said "boo".....that's all it took, and it was as though the lead doe said, " there he is.....GET EM'! One by one they kept trying to climb the cliff and coming close enough for me to hit em' on the head with rocks, and one I actually hit with my fist! I was SCARED! My bro was laughing histerically but didn't realize the seriousness of it....if they got up....we were going to get our butt's kicked or go off into the cactus! I was actually yelling for him to shoot and I would have if I had a gun All he could see was their heads bobbing up and down and me hitting them, luckily the rocks were loose and steep and they couldn't get up and they finally stiff legged walked off grunting and growling. I couldn't imagine being on the ground with them like that! They actually growl like a dog when they are that upset.....no joke! JIM>

Both are great units and have just as big a bulls as most other units, just pick one and get to know it better, good luck Thanks Neo, I've had alot of practice hiding broken points in pic's, there's alot of tricks, mainly just try to make it blend in with another tine or a beam, you can even find a light colored branch in the background and line it up with that This one is from last year on a late hunt, he's missing his entire whale's tail on the right, lots of broken bulls then too! JIM>

Hey Dave, you bring up valid questions. I believe a person can evaluate an animals state of awareness in a certain situation.......but does that mean it should make a difference of whether to shoot or not on a broadside animal at all? If I have an antelope at say 30 yrds broadside standing still.....I'll shoot regardless if he's feeding or looking at me, it should be a perfect shot......right? I guess you never know what they'll do at the release of the string, but as long as you take all the neccessary precautions with practicing and your equipment, you have done all you can do..... follow through and hope he stands still On the other hand, you can compensate for the probability he'll duck at the shot and aim low.....but if he doesn't....it'll result in a bad shot or luckily a miss It's a tough call on that one but I know it's better at waterholes to let them start drinking 'cause at that point, they're calmed down and distracted, anywhere other than that....it's unfortunately a gamble. I have heard farther shots will have less probability of them ducking, and I tried it on my 'lope, but it has never held true for me. I have it on video of my 'lope, feeding broadside, calmed down by the decoy I sat behind, jumping and turning completely around only after the arrow was halfway to him at 60 yrds! I was on my game for that hunt and was completely confident in my ability and equipment at 60 yrds....and it didn't matter. I would never say bowhunting is an un-ethical means of take on any animal.......BUT, I have wondered a couple of times. I will still try to tag another archery 'lope or finally get one of them Couesies, I just hope he doesn't jump the string like the one in that video did Thanks, JIM>

I did the same thing, except when it hit the opposite side it was far back, two days later and two more arrows later i finally had em'. Made me wonder how ethical archery 'lope hunting really was? I was shooting a fast bow, perfectly tuned and shooting more accurately and consistently than ever before, and it still happened! Had it happen on a Coues at 18 yrds.....watched the arrow pass right where the lungs were a fraction of a second before the shot.....unbelievable reflexes! JIM>

Thanks Tracker, There's big bulls in every unit, but I feel this year, the Eastern units did better in growing bigger tops on bulls. This isn't the case year after year though, but seemed to be the case this year. Unit 10 is a great late hunt because of glassability as opposed to unit 9 but I think because of the high bull to cow ratio in 10, there is alot of competition for cows and the antler breaking fights are more common. This is just what I believe but it may be something in the water, I just know broken bulls are common every year in 10. I actually hate the late hunts in 9 and 10, too much competition, usually turns into a waterhole hunt, and because of the units history, expectations are usually way to high for a late season hunt. The biggun's are still there, just a needle in a haystack and not enough of an elevation change in these units to help pinpoint where they'll be JIM>

I just got back from an incredible hunt in NM. We didn't kill a buck but saw a ton of them! We had found a couple great bucks before opening day and never could relocate them during the hunt. It would snow off and on and never enough to really push the BIG bucks down. Everyone was shooting the smaller bucks that had moved down and we were seeing some nice ones every day but the rut hadn't kicked in enough to help us out with the BIG bucks. The bigger bucks would act rutty, tearing trees apart and had swollen necks but would never hang with the does, just the smaller bucks would. I know I would have shot any of the big bucks we had and we could locate these same bucks almost every day, but my hunter was there mainly to be with his son, enjoy the hunt and hold out for a special buck, but that would have been just icing on the cake for him! It was great to see someone with that much admiration for his family and the outdoors and wasn't out there to just kill a deer, although......I really wanted a deer to hit the ground, more than you know! I was so stressed out trying to relocate our shooter bucks I never took too many pictures or video, but these are a couple of the bucks that would show up most days and get us excited. I hand held the camera and took the pic's through the 15's, so they aren't great. I also found and left another great bull elk skull but it's on video, when I get my video camera back that actually snaps pic's off the video, I'll post them for ya. Thanks, JIM>

Hey DB, I found two 340+ bull skulls, saw 5 bulls total during the hunt, and very little sign. They are there but would probably be hard to hunt with the lack of elk. Two of the live bulls were 340+ as well and one was probably over 350, very nice and heavy. Matter of fact, when I glassed up the biggest bull, I had first glassed up a nice 3X3 mulie and noticed the tan background behind him moved! They were feeding together and no more than 20 yrds apart in a small clearing. My hunter got a big kick outta seeing that! It would be a tough hunt but nice bulls there, I think it's easy to draw also. JIM.

Very nice buck, nice character! That pic of your big buck looks like he's a toad! Go get him next year! JIM>

cool pic! I saw two Mulie does doing the same thing a couple days ago. I have never seen deer go at it as rough as what I saw! These does where beating the you know what outta each other and kept landing on top of each other! It lasted for about 1 minute but you could tell they were tired and beat up after that minute. thanks, JIM>

I'm curious how durable and dependable these trailers are. I have never seen one in person but heard they will hold a UTV such as my Rhino or Prowler on top of it. It is a problem when trying to haul a camp trailer up and also find a way to get the quads, Rhino etc. up as well. I have looked into camp trailers that have a deck on the front or back of it, but these are all too small for the Rhino. Will this trailer get the job done, how is the construction, interior room, quality of materials, etc. Thanks, JIM>

If you use a 30. cal rifle.......you would have less pig meat to worry about eating One shot through the shoulders.....a second shot through the back half and you pretty much just processed the whole pig right there on the spot! Just bring a little zip-lock baggie to haul out the rest of the meat I've used the .223 Contender on a pig and my wife used a 22-.250 on one and they work perfectly, no need for anything bigger, if you do.....shoot em' in the middle broadside to take care of the guttin'. JIM>

What's scarier? No contest. Illegals. As has been said, you can ( with a tag ) legally shoot a lion and actually would hope to do so. Illegals are humans and I would never want to shoot someone no matter what, and the thought that you stand a chance of having to do that is scary in itself! I'm not worried about the guys who are coming over to better their lives, the ones that we've run into are always nice or avoid you. But just being down there elevates the possibility of you runnin' into illegals that aren't so nice and shy! We have never had anything stolen, I have never seen an illegal with a gun or even one that I thought was smuggling drugs, but I know they are there and that is scarier than the thought of runnin' into a lion, by far! I won't back down and let them alter MY lifestyle or change what I do every year in MY country, so I will continue to hunt down south, just gotta be on your toes. I carry my Glock on ANY hunt or scouting trip I do down there, and hope to never need it.......unless a kitty tries to bite me........I only wish

I have tagged 12 of them stink pigs, gutted, skinned and packed every single one out.......and have never even taken a bite outta one! I've always thought they would taste like they smell and can't bring myself to do it. I donate my pigs to a guy who makes tamales and burritos out of them....I guess with enough spices and salsa, any meat taste good I think I've had one of azwtcrzy's piggie sausages though, it must have been good, don't remember eating any bad ones? He probably told me it was deer or elk and giggled behind my back 4 Peaks has always done a great job for me and every one else I personally know feel the same. Southwest Processing also does a great job and are great guys, I would reccomend either one! JIM>

Hey Dan H, If I had the tag.......there would have been a nice buck in the back, and if NM G+F let you keep skulls.....I would have had a couple big elk racks in the back as well We are going to have a woman stay in this trailer on the late 12AW deer hunt and I'm sure she'll be fine. All you need is a good heater and a lantern and your set. Shortypants, raising the windsheild made a world of difference as far as the dust goes, but after the snow came.......it made it too darn cold with less wind deflection so it stayed parked in camp the rest of the time.

Alright Shortpants........i'm back and I didn't hurt the JJtrailer one bit I took the JJtrailer on it's maiden voyage and slept in it for close to two weeks in snow, high winds, and FREEZING temps. It did awesome! I believe it will withstand alot of snow on it. The frame and construction overall is VERY sturdy.......more so than any tent trailer I've seen. We never had more than 2 inches of snow on it, but it never sagged and never leaked. It does not have a stove jack in it, but it does have two small vent flaps that will allow a propane hose to run into the tent for a heater........I'm getting one of those before I use it again! We used a small heater and it held the heat in nicely but I hate being cold at all, so I'm gonna buy one of them industrial sized heaters and run it off the big propane tank! It pulled great and I never worried about the Rhino. I would definitely reccomend this trailer I forgot to get pic's of it set up, kept saying I'll get it before we tear down, but forgot so here is what I did get.

Thanks Bret,......and thanks for staying on the phone for so long last night while I was driving back, it kept me awake JIM>