COOSEFAN

Thanks for the info! It all sounds good! About the most adventurous I've gotten with bear is taking bear breakfast sausage and crumbling it into a block of velveeta cheeze melted with some tomatoes and onions and makeing dip for chips. That was outstanding but I got sick eating too much of it, not to mention gaining a few pounds! JIM>

Awesome story and congrats on the bears! I've gotta say, I think you are the first person I've heard refer to them as "Tastey Bears"!!! We always pack out the meat and process them into various types of sausages or even jerky but you can do that with any critter and make it taste good. How do you process or prepare your bear meat that makes it so desireable? Thanks for posting and again, congrats! JIM>

Doesn't matter what broadhead you are using when you hit that bone! I've witnessed an arrow bounce off that bone and come cartwheelin' right back at my hunter and I, and the bull was only 17 yards quartered away! JIM> The good thing is it's "Catch and Release"! The bull may have a limp for a while but he'll live, gotta be thankful for that.

It's definitely possible, especially going from a bad growth year to a really good growth year, you'll see some huge growth on certain bulls. The bull needs to have the genetic capability as well as the right antler growing ingredients in his environment. One of the bulls we took went from an estimated 385-390" to an official 436" in 1 year. And both years were good growth years. Like has been said tho, you need to have all the right ingredients and genetics. JIM>

Here's another great bull we had the great fortune to help with this year! I got the call from Bob Horchler early on stating his son Cole had drawn a great muzzleloader bull tag this year! Cole only had a couple days to hunt as he just started college, so we knew we had our work cut out for us! The tag he had is one that you don't want to just shoot any bull, even with limited time you still want to take a good bull and that was our goal! As everyone knows, the rut was very difficult this year but we had some great bulls lined up and the hunt was on. On our first morning, Jeff and I took Cole to an area where we had 2 bulls located. Both bulls would bugle very sparingly early and late but we knew their bugle and basically where they lived. We had Cole's mom and dad, Bob and Heidi, with us on that first morning as well! Right away we had the bugle we wanted. This particular bull is named "Floppy" because of a damaged ear. We moved in on the bull and played cat and mouse for a long time with him. Floppy was very educated and was smart enough to keep brush between us and him the whole time! It was frustrating being within range of him but never getting a shot! We didn't get the shot that morning but to have the family there to experience it all made it very cool! I had to leave for home that evening and Jeff took Cole and the family back to the same area. The evening was quiet so they split up on two different waterholes that were close to each other. Cole's dad and brother were on one and Jeff and Cole were on another. They had only waited for a short time when Bob clicked the radio indicating a bull was visible where he was at! Jeff and Cole snuck over to the waterhole and got a visual on the bull that was now in the tank and right in front of Cole's dad and brother! Jeff knew instantly this wasn't a bull to pass on and Cole sent a perfect shot into the bull! The bull wasn't even down yet as the celebration started, everyone knew the shot was perfect and the family had a front row seat to the show! . It was great meeting the Horchler family and hunting with them! Cole is a great hunter and we were all excited that he tagged a great bull! Congrats Cole! . View the full article

I'm not going in order here but I'm excited to share this story with you all! We had 2 hunters, Davey and Gene, in Unit 10 this year on the early rifle hunt. Bryan would be the guide and my brother and myself would be helping throughout the hunt. Bryan did a great job and scouted for weeks before the opener and had some giant bulls picked out! Our hunters, Davey and Gene and Gene's brother Robert, are great guys and the atmosphere in camp was awesome and I only wish I could've been there during the whole hunt! Camps like that are why I love doing what I do and killing big bulls is only icing on the cake on those ones! Matt and Bryan took both guys out seperately, Matt with Davey and Bryan with Gene. Bryan had some big bulls hitting a tank so he took Gene to sit it. I'm very surprised anything came in because I know how much I laugh being around Gene and I know Bryan had to be rolling in the dirt trying not to laugh out loud in the blind! Gene is one of those characters that even when he's not trying he gets ya laughing! Bryan would keep getting out of the blind to splash in the water in hopes a bull could hear it and come to investigate, but I know he was just needing a break from Gene! LOL! Eventually a big ol' bull came in to check out the noise and Gene was ready for him! Gene laid the smack down on him and tagged the biggest bull of his lifetime! Matt and Davey were close enough to hear the shot and they all were excited to see Gene killed a great bull! Now it's Davey's turn! Matt and Bryan tag teamed and even with the help of Gene's brother Robert they relocated a bull that Bryan had some history with from the earlier archery season. Bryan had his archery hunter on this bull on opening day and his hunter shot him with what they thought at the time was a high lung shot. Unfortunately another guide ran in on the bull even though they knew Bryan's hunter already shot him! A whole mess of unfortunate events followed and everyone thought the bull ran off and died....but that wasn't the case! The arrow had actually passed through the back straps just above the rib cage and the bull was healthy and rutting his harem of cows 2 weeks later! Matt, Bryan and Davey hunted this bull hard for several days with some very close calls but no shots fired. Bryan knew this bull intimately and everytime he moved Bryan knew exactly where to relocate him! Matt had to go back to work so I headed over to take his place. On my first evening there I watched as Bryan and Davey moved in on the bull but unfortunately bumped him again. Bryan told me exactly where to find the bull in the morning and the plan was set! The next morning Bryan headed to a high point as Davey and I moved into the country where Bryan said the bull would be. Sure enough just after light we hear a bugle! There are no other bulls in this area so we knew it was him! I grabbed Davey and moved quick into position just as his cows came across a clearing at 200 yards! I threw the tripod down, Davey dropped his gun into place, I ranged the opening, here comes tines....It's him, 210 yards.....BOOOM! WHOP!!!! He's hit, He's down!!!! I called Bryan and assured him that 5 weeks worth of watching him and all the drama he's endured with this bull, it was finally over! Davey and I walked up to the beast first and it never gets old for me, something about walking up to a giant bull and seeing the emotions on the hunters face is why I do what I do! Bryan came up shortly after and it was dead quiet. Davey and I didn't say anything and I could see through Bryan's watery eyes as he picked up the rack what he was feeling. He spent a crazy amount of time trying to kill this bull and had gone through some crazy bullcrap with other hunters in the process. This was his second hunter to shoot this bull and getting to put his hands on the antlers was a long time coming! Even though I loved every second of the short time I spent with Davey and Bryan, it should have been my brother Matt standing there with Davey when he killed this bull. Matt had been there for everything but the kill and I felt bad just showing up for the finale...but I'll get over it, I had a blast!!! LOL!! Here's the beast named "Sidekick"! Average 61" on beams, over 44" wide, 390" straight 6! Again, it was a great hunt, and I know it was an awesome camp with great folks! To kill two great bulls in the end was just icing on the cake and I'm glad I got to at least see one of em' hit the dirt! Bryan and Matt did an incredible job and their hard work was obvious to all that shared in the hunt. Thanks to Robert and Glen for all your help in camp and Dad and Gary for their help as well early on! Congrats to Davey and Gene on your great bulls! Mullins. . View the full article

. Well now that we got these bulls and this crazy rut figured out Jeff and I tag teamed our second hunter, Rich. Rich, an accomplished archer and hunter had his sights set on one of our biggest bulls for the first part of the hunt. He had the same issues with the hunter pressure and although he had some close calls with the giant bull he decided it wasn't worth the hassle. Jeff and I took Rich over to our secret spot where we killed John's bull and again had the area and the bulls to ourselves. The first night there we had some close encounters with smaller bulls and had a game plan for the following day. The next day we came in the backdoor on an area that holds a big bull and immediately had a good bugle. We set off after him with Jeff and Rich going low and myself heading high. The country is broken up cedars with sage draws and not knowing the bull had cows we bumped into them. We heard the commotion and then noticed the bull heading up the draw alone. I bugled at him and he stopped and looked back. The bull didn't know what busted his cows but after I bugled he thought maybe another bull ran into them! This bull turned and started coming back to find out! Jeff and Rich noticed this and Rich took off to get between the bull and where his cows went. I sneaked down towards Jeff and bugled again which got the bull bugling back at us which helped to keep tabs on his location. Once behind Jeff and Rich I started rattling the two antlers I carry to simulate two small bulls sparring. This was enough to assure the bull that there were other bulls there and he kept coming! In the process of rattling I had a small bull sneak in behind me and watch me at 30 yards throughout the whole event! I could see the big bull coming and knew any second he was going to get an arrow in the ribs! Rich had snuck up closer than we thought and as the bull passed through an opening at 30 yards Rich sent an arrow through the beast! We all watched as the bull blew out across the sage meadow and knew he was a dead bull runnin'! . The tracking was easy with the recent rains and we had our bull! We had Rich's friends John and Scotty there with us and they got to experience it all with us! It was a tough rut this year but we adapted to it, got away from the pressure, made some changes to our calling tactics and produced a couple outstanding bulls within the first week of the archery hunt! Congrats to Rich on your biggest bull to date and thanks for letting us share in the experience! Mullins. . View the full article

So with the elk hunts finally here, our anticipation and excitement is boiling over! The bulls were screaming and the rut seemed like it would be good prior to the hunt but that would not be the case! The rain storms started rolling in and kept rolling in one right after the other and the rut seemed to wind down more and more with each storm! I was in our main camp in Unit 9 with 3 hunters and even though the rut was slow and the pressure was heavy we still made it happen! First up was John. John's expectations matched ours and we were wanting to kill a huge bull! We had several picked out and hunted them hard but we soon realized the competition for those bulls was too much so we went to find a bull of our own. After relocating to the other side of the unit we found what we were after! We had big bulls all to ourselves and they were talking enough to locate them. We knew cow calling was not productive so we changed up tactics. We had a bull bugle in the treeline shortly after light. We grabbed our gear and ran to get ahead of him. After about a mile of getting into position, Jeff ran back as I took John ahead and set up. The bull bugled once more and that reaffirmed we had set up correctly. I ranged the shooting lanes and told John that this is gonna happen fast! Jeff let out a perfect bugle and the bull was interested in checking him out! We saw his legs first and just before he stepped into our shooting lane he stopped and put his head down. As he swung his head up I got a good enough look to know this was a shooter class bull and it was about to get western! Jeff's perfect subtle calling had this bulls curiosity and he wanted to check out this new bull in his area. The bull then started into our lane, 35 yards was the mark as the bull veered broadside and just as I stopped him John's arrow was on it's way and smacked him perfectly! We sat and listened as the bull ran and crashed within 100 yards! We were all excited for John and his incredible archery bull! John kept his composure through the tense moments and made a perfect shot at the perfect time to claim this huge bull as his own! It was one of those moments that I live for. We took a tough hunt, adapted, relocated and smacked a whopper of a bull in the end! Congratulations John on a bull of a lifetime! Mullins. P.S. Thanks to our packers, Vance, Matt, Glen, Dad, and especially my nephews, you all made it easy! Thanks! . View the full article

..."This bull ended up scoring well and we're very happy, but next time anybody gets the chance to draw an elk tag, try not to focus on the score of the animal, but enjoy the experience that not everyone gets to live-out like the rest of us"...... This is my favorite line from your story, love it! Great job adapting to your surroundings and conditions and great bull, congrats to all! It was a tough year up there! JIM>

Switching gears from Bears to Goats! We had just got done with the Bear hunt and headed up for Dad's Antelope hunt! Dad has waited a long time for this hunt and even though it's a trophy unit, the trophy bucks were hard to find! Dad only wanted to kill his biggest buck to date so any 80" class buck would fit the bill and with what we were finding we felt we had a good chance at that! Bryan came down from elk scouting and Gary came up to help Dad and I. On opening morning we scattered to find a buck that Bryan had found the night before but with no luck so we then ran over to relocate our initial Plan A buck. Once there we found several hunters flingin' lead at a smaller buck and working him and his harem around in circles. We looked past the circus and relocated our buck several miles out so Dad and I loaded our packs, grabbed the Zebu decoy and headed out. It was 100 degrees and we knew we were on a death march across the prairie! We had gone about 1 mile when we noticed the buck those other hunters had been shooting at was headed our way. We stopped and got a better look at him and then noticed we had underscored him! Dad and I dropped behind the decoy and waited to get a better look at him. Eventually the does appeared at 150 yards and following behind them was the buck! At 112 yards we realized this wasn't a buck to pass up with a smokepole! Dad leveled his canon and BOOOM!!! The buck humped up and stood there while his does just stood looking around confused. Dad excitedly reloaded and hadn't packed the powder tight enough but after several missfires we realized what happened, packed the powder tighter and BOOM! The gun finally fires and the buck dropped dead at 112 yards! We called Bryan and Gary to let them know that we didn't feel like hiking the extra miles so we decided to shoot this buck instead! We knew once they saw this buck they would realize it had nothing to do with the hike we had ahead of us, this buck was an absolute stud! The mass is insane and he's absolutely gorgeous! He didn't seem that impressive to us at a distance but up close it was appearant that he wasn't a buck to pass up and most likely scores better than the buck we were originally after. It was awesome to see Dad get all worked up and excited and it was even better to see him tag such a great Antelope! Thanks to Bryan and Gary for being there to help out and share in the experience! Congrats again Dad! Mullins. View the full article

Hey guys, I've been off killin bulls for a straight month now but finally back! I am in the process of trying to get all the pics together but saw Tony's post here. This was by far the longest track job I've ever taken part in and to end it with a tagged bull was absolutely awesome! Like Tony said, it had rained hard just before Tony shot the bull so tracking conditions couldn't be better. We lost blood after a few hundred yards and only found leaves and sticks that rubbed his side from that point on which helped verify we were still on em'. I too thought it was a lost bull when we watched em' jump and run like a healthy bull. Once we got back on em' and Tony sank a perfect shot in the bedded bull, we all knew our hard work and determination would be rewarded when we heard him crash! Great job staying positive and stickin' with it bro on a very well deserved bull! JIM>

Howdy folks, I'm back from an amazing trip to Texas! I couldn't possibly write a story that fully and accurately described how insanely awesome Texas is! This was my first trip and I now completely understand why Scottyboy loves that state! My dad, Jim Sr., brother, Matt, and close friend, Wayne, and I jumped in the truck last week and headed to Texas. We had shotguns, rifles, bows and fishin' poles and most importantly, an invite to hunt a friends ranch outside of Albany, Texas. The owners of this ranch are amazing people and were very gracious to let a group of blood thirsty hunters have full reign of their property and amenities! The ranch was absolutely huge and overwhelming. The stock tanks were full of bass, crappie and perch, and the feilds were full of Rio Grande Turkeys and giant Hogs! The Turkeys were still gobbling and we called in a few. We each had multiple tags for Turkeys and if we could shoot better we would've had more birds by the end, but all said and done we still went 4 for 4 on the beautiful Rio's! The Hogs were a BLAST to hunt and I quickly learned how tough they are to kill with a bow, especially those giant boars! I put 2 arrows in a huge boar after stalking to 18 yards of him and only to watch him walk off acting pissed off and un-scathed! Even after breaking out the 7mag I realized I didn't have enough gun to get the job done quickly on those tough critters! Actually, after walking up to my first Hog, a big sow, I turned to yell that I found her and she jumped up and charged me!!! I didn't even aim and luckily slammed another round into her at 10 yards! What a rush!!! Any chance we got we would fish the ponds and caught a bunch of fish. Dad had a giant bass break his line right at the bank and I'm sure that will haunt him for a long time. He caught plenty others but I could tell he will always remember that huge bass jumping and breaking his line! Here's basically the photo essay of the whole adventure, enjoy...I know I did! JIM> I ran out of room for pics! I'll upload the rest now.

WOW!! Great buck!!! Congrats to you and Mark! JIM>

Very sorry to hear about your horse Tommy! Take pride in knowing you gave that horse a great life and a he lived a long one at that! Also very sorry to hear about your dog Phil! I wish the best for you and Tommy both! JIM>

Awesome bears! That's a TON of work, skinnin' and packin' right there! Congrats to all involved! JIM>

Congratulations Justin! I too love that cake topper, very cool! Thanks for sharing the pics! JIM>

Hey bud, that was me! I wish I had been up checking my cams but instead I was down here sweating it out! I was trying to figure out what I was doing wrong to make somebody honk at me, but then I saw the reason on your back window! I was driving pretty slow and daydreaming about big coues and bulls. Take care, good to see ya! JIM>

What a gorgeous bull of a lifetime right there! 400" class typical 6x6's are, in my mind, the rarest trophy to acquire! Huge congrats to Alan and the Mossback boys, I know they worked their butts off and deserve the success! Congrats guys! JIM>

Very tough heads and they do fly great but make sure to sharpen them as sharp as you can get em' prior to shooting at any critters!

I still love those Bloodrunners and will be using them this year for deer in AZ, TX, and MX and I can't wait! They always cut, deployed or not and they are very sharp and strong. What has impressed me the most was the fact they expand fast enough to create some serious entrance holes and still have great penetration. I put one completely through the ribs on a huge broadside Hog and I feel there is no tougher animal, at least in the U.S., to get an arrow to pass thru on! There are other great heads out there but the Bloodrunners are my favorite, at least for now! JIM>

Awesome video Jake! Glad you got Jim's hunt captured. Good folks all around right there! AWESOME video! That would be a hunt to remember! Great job all around and thanks for sharing! JIM>

Ever since I was a kid I just knew that Coues had to live underground! You can glass an area all day, front to back, and never see a deer....but in the blink of an eye there will be 10 of em' standing out in broad daylight! Or, you can watch a buck for an hour, take your eye's off em' for 1 second and he dissappears without a trace and is nowhere to be found! Similar scenario's are endless with these crafty little boogers and the only logical explaination is that they live underground in tunnels! Well check it out, I finally have proof and it all makes sense now! These sneaky critters DO live underground!!! I placed my camera at the entrance to one of these secret tunnels and I caught em'! As an added bonus, I also found the reason why these bucks don't drink water....notice the 1 antlered buck, the explaination is stuck on his face! LOL! The older bucks in the areas I hunt rarely drink water outside of the rut. When the rut was on they were showing up on occasion, but when the rut was off they'd never show up! I watched numerous deer eating cactus and other succulents which I'm sure gave them quite a bit of water. Very interesting but not near as interesting as me finding their "secret tunnels"!!! Alright, truth be told, this is a mine shaft entrance that is about 10 yards deep and has water in the back of it. It's still something that amazed me with how spooky and careful Coues are in nature, I had to see it to believe it!

Hey AZbowhntr, very sorry to hear about your loss! You are absolutely right about taking more pics, I learned that with my first Lab and now I never miss a chance to snap pics of my 4 legged kids! I've got a GSP that is almost 10 years old so your post hits home with me. She is a seriously affectionate dog and is a huge part of our family. I treat everyday with her and my boy "Drake" as though we don't have many left! Sorry again for your loss! JIM> Here's girl Harley!

My wife and I are praying for Jennifer and the rest of the family and sincerely hope for a fast recovery! If you need help with anything Josh let us know!!! JIM>

Great job on a heck of a trophy bear!!! JIM>