COOSEFAN

TJ, You are da man!!! Awesome job on an amazing hunt! I just got back from helping my dad this past weekend so I can relate to what you described! Congrats to you three on a great accomplishment and great birds! JIM> I love the pic with Lexie owning that bird!

I would say the crowds of people would be my least favorite aspect, but then again, those crowds of people help me find deer! I just use all those people as a tool, sit up high and watch them. Make notes on where everyone hikes, rides or camps and then make notes on where they don't go, notice the small ravines or hidden bowls that nobody wants to hike into or climb up to and most likely the crowds have pushed wary bucks into those places. Pretty much the only thing that REALLY bothers me about Coues hunting is waiting for opening day, that's rough!!!

I'd have to say that Grong, AZ402, and Scottyboy were always my favorites because they used to get really creative with their avatars! Those of you that are fairly new to the site have missed some classic avatars from those boys

Awesome trip right there! Thanks for sharin' the pics with us!!! JIM>

Now that's a big fish! Congrats and thanks for sharin'!! JIM>

Awesome thread guys, some very cool info, stories and history here! I remember when I was a kid I wanted to be the youngest to take the Big 10. I had most of them early on but then I ate a couple archery Antelope tags and it wasn't until 7 years ago when I finally took my first Antelope. That Antelope was #6 of the 10 with archery equipment and my #8 of the 10 overall for me. Like everyone else, I now grow old waiting for my Sheep and Buffalo tag.

Needing a break from the snakes I snuck away for a couple half day trips to Dinkville. Dinkville is close and quick so Drake and I headed up and stayed the night fully expecting to make a full day of shed huntin' but unfortunately Drake nose dived off a ledge into a cactus! I had to carry him most of the way back to the truck because his legs weren't working right After getting him home, I spent the Sunday with the wife and couldn't stop thinking about the matching sides to the sheds I found on Sat., so Monday found me back up there for the afternoon hunt! I quickly found a couple more sheds and one of them was a match to a small 6 that I found on Sat. That set was .53 miles apart on the GPS!!! All the sheds I found were brownies which was awesome and surprisingly a couple were bigger antlers than I was expecting to find there. To top it off, I glassed the flats on my way out Monday night and glassed up a muley shed that was laying in his fresh tracks. I didn't have enough light to give it an honest effort looking for the match, but I'll be back Here's a bunch of pics, they are all ATL and are a mix of Sat. and Mon. pics. Thanks, JIM> Check out the genetics on these two, if one was white I would've sworn it was the same bull, but both are brown so must be brothers! These sheds were about 100 yards apart so you can imagine my excitement at thinking I found the match then realizing it was the same side! And here's the last pic I got of Drake before he jumped off this ledge onto a cactus pile that he obviously thought was a boulder, I then learned he won't fit in my backpack and is a lot heavier than I thought! He's still sore but OK now.

Alright folks, I'll let ya in on my favorite dinner around the campfire! For those quick trips into the woods and when you are on a limited budget this is the cheapest, easiest and tastiest meal! You can have it for breakfast, lunch or dinner, it doesn't matter 'cause it' tastes great anytime! Here's what ya do: -Make sure to have some wire, sharp stick, or a fancy hot dog cooker. -Stop by any Taco Bell and buy a bunch of bean and cheese burritos. -Build a fire and roast em' up! -Enjoy! I'm serious, fire roasted Taco Bell bean burritos are awesome!

Here's the bull that I was thinkin' of. I don't have pics of this bull from the 08' season, but he looks a lot like your sheds! There are some slight differences but alot can happen in the velvet, especially with how early my photos were taken!!! This bull was a stud early on and disappeared quick, probably traveled a long ways pre rut 'cause we never saw him again. Heck, this bull might not even be in the same unit as those sheds, neat to see the similarities though JIM>

Awesome sheds! That bull looks very familiar, I'll see if I can find a pic for comparison. Congrats on the finds and thanks for sharin' the pics! JIM>

Dang, that's what you call a head shot right there!!!

Because it's close to home and because I've got a serious itch to catch some fish I ran out again today. I decided to try fishing one of the new spots I found and armed with a pole, tackle box, camera and flip-flops I made my way to the spot. I wore flip-flops because I knew I'd have to get in the water but soon realized it was a dumb decision! I found a road that gets me close but I would still need to hike an open trail for a ways and then down through the "snake infested" thick stuff to get to the water. Walking the open trail, feelin' safe but dreading the hike through the brush I kept thinking about snakes! The weather was perfect and I was wearing flip-flops, finding a snake was pretty much a guarantee! Sure enough, as I glanced about 50 yards down the trail I could see the inevitable suspect laying there waiting for me. I laughed to myself and said out loud, "I'd better turn back now"! Of course I didn't though, I was on a mission to catch fish! This one was a Diamond Back and wasn't very photogenic, well actually I was too chicken to get in the bushes for better pics So, after that I make my way down to the water with no more snake sightings on the way. I caught a few small bass, nothing worthy of pulling the camera out for, but it was mission accomplished! I head back way early with plenty of light left fully expecting another snake. I VERY cautiously made it past the thick stuff and almost to the open trail when I glanced off to my left and sure enough, there's another! This one was only about 10 yards out and in open stuff so the camera came out for a full on photo session. This snake was a Mohave Rattlesnake which are a lot more photogenic as you can see in the pics. He was one pissed off dude! Both snakes are still slitherin' around out there and I guarantee I won't wear flip-flops again! JIM>

It's been years since the last time I bowfished off the boat, and last Monday I illustrated how much I had forgotten about deep water shootin'! Mjmhunter (Manny) had never been bowfishing so this was gonna be fun! Not 5 minutes after arriving at our first spot, a carp came flying by in shallow water and Manny instictively nailed it with his first ever shot at a fish! We both thought with this early success that our trash bags would be full of carp in no time! Boy were we wrong! After that first fish we realized most of the fish were in the muddy water which is full of branches and sticks which aren't too friendly to a boat that costs 3 times more than my truck! With the lake level so high the shoreline is full of trees and stumps so we were forced to hunt deeper water which had better visibility but we were forced to shoot deeper which is A LOT harder! We each launched at least 100 shots throughout the day but by the time we gave up we only had 11 carp in the boat...pathetic! Using recurves didn't help us with shooting deep, but I've already got the Matthews rigged up and I guarantee those bass egg eatin' suckers are in trouble next time! We planned on taking pictures of the pile at the end of the day, but by that time we were too tired so we just chucked em' and i never got anymore pics. We did get mostly 8-10 pounders, biggest was probably pushin' 15lbs. Here's Manny's first archery fish..... Here's Manny "Road Huntin'"! Another of Manny texting while driving...very dangerous! Takin' pics of myself is the only way to prove I was there The hoodie helps block more sun off your glasses to see in the water better, didn't help my shooting though Ready to hunt!

LOL! Rubios "carp" tacos! That's hilarious! I was boat #15 in that bowfishin' tourney at Roosevelt and I think there MAY have been 21 or 22 boats total. We all started at Windy Hill but the teams were scattered from one end of the lake to the other. I never saw any bowfishin' boats that weren't part of the tourney, could've been though. My boat was the only one without a shooting platform so I was "under cover"..... and handicapped! Most of those guys in that tourney were professionals and proved it! Manny and I got SPANKED to say the least, we have A LOT to learn! JIM> Here's our biggest Buffalo, which didn't even compare to most of the fish the other teams brought in! Manny stuck this one...... Here's a pic from when I realized we were WAY out of our league! This is at Windy Hill and as we were rollin' out for Day 2.

Thanks guys. Truth be told, I actually like snakes and it's been a fascination of mine since I was a little kid. After getting bit I've become A LOT less interested in them, but every now and then it's cool to see them and photograph em'! I do have a knack for finding them and knowing where they will be, I can pretty much go out any day and find one if I wanted to. I'll kill one if I feel it poses an immediate threat to someone or if it's one that goes out of it's way to try and bite me, Sidewinders have a tendancy to do that! If I have my dogs with me and we run into one, it'll die as fast as I can make it happen. And if I find one in camp or if we have kids around they most likely won't survive long either. Other than that I never kill them, they usually try to avoid ya and I think it's nice that they "usually" try to warn you to leave them alone, gotta give em' credit for that The Mojave's are the most aggressive snake we have down here and the most potent. I didn't think they had them in the Blue range, but I know they have the Blacktails up there which are usually green like a Mojave and sometimes a bright green or yellow. Here's a couple Blacktails I found up that way, they can be just as bad if not worse than Mojaves as far as aggression!

I ran out to scout for fishin' holes this evening and got distracted by the sight of indian ruins up on top of a mountain. I started up the mountain with a big stick to poke in each bush just certain I'd find a snake but never found one thankfully! One thing I didn't count on was runnin' into bees! I came around a small rock ledge and right into a swarm of upset bees! Luckily the wind was blowing hard up there and I only got stung twice as I ran screaming like a girl up the mountain! After my "near death" experience I started taking pics of all the cool Indian art which seemed like it was on every rock! There was pottery shards everywhere and the entire mountain was layered in old walls that have since been knocked over. Ancient remnants from the past are always cool to see, figured i'd share the photos with ya, enjoy. JIM> And only because I was excited to photograph something alive, here ya go....

I'm glad you liked it enough to use it! Here's the pic that I used for my desktop pic if anyone wants it! This dude sure got creative with his striking pose, don't see this pose very often!

Yeah, my nerves are TOAST right now. The wife had to kill a GIANT spider in our bedroom just a few minutes ago and now I'm sittin' indian style on my chair and starin' at the floor! I know what I'll be dreaming about tonight I knew the flip-flops were a bad idea but didn't think about it until after I left the house, It's a whole different feeling knowing your toes and ankles are exposed! Once the water flows slow down I'm sure I'll catch some better fish outta there, but by then it'll probably be time to start living with the bulls!

No pics of the snake? What the heck! LOL! I've run into 3 snakes in 3 days and the wife just killed a tarantula sized spider in our bedroom a couple minutes ago, my nerves are shot right now and your snake story just got me all jacked up again! Awesome pics and thanks for sharing the trip! JIM> *And yes, the wife had to kill the monster, man-eating spider for me

Yeah the petroglyphs made up for it, she already knew we would find a snake, it's a rare occasion when I don't! I was just hoping we wouldn't find one without a light and that far from the truck!

I took the wife out hiking today to check out some more possible fishin' holes and to look for some more petroglyphs. She wasn't too excited when she saw the mountain I wanted to climb and the distance I planned to go! She REALLY wasn't excited when she noticed that I was walking like a blind person with a stick feeling the ground out in front of me too! She knows all too well my knack for finding or running in to critters that bite...or sting as I recently found out! We made it over the mountain and down a long ridge which gave us the view of the water source that I'd hoped for. We made that part of the trek without bumping into anything that bites and didn't find any signs the indians had been there either. The new fishin' hole looks promising, I'll be back there in the near future to see what it produces! We followed the ridge down and finally found the petroglyphs! There were just a few scattered around, nothing like the spot i found yesterday, but cool stuff for sure! My wife was running around snappin' pics while I was checkin' out my new fishin' hole. Heres some of her pics....... And here she got a pic of me trying to figure out how I'm gonna carry a boat over this mountain and down to the new fishin' hole! So it's starting to get late, the sun had set and I'm trying to haul butt back to the truck. It just felt "snakey" out there tonight and I knew that if we bumped into one she would FREAK OUT! It's a rare occasion that I get her out there with me, so I really didn't want any bad experiences to happen. Sure enough, as we are cruisin' along the flats, low light and still almost 1 mile from the truck, that familiar, unmistakeable shape and color appears! The pattern of the lines and spots, which camouflages them so well is what catches my eye everytime. I think it's the consistency of their pattern that stands out, but thankfully I can pick up on it fast and this situation was no exception! I slammed on the brakes and she immediately goes on "Snake Alert" before i can say anything! I just turned around to look at her and she's wide-eyed and backin' up fast! "IS IT A SNAKE, IS IT A FREAKIN' SNAKE?"!!!! I was laughing because her reaction was classic, she knew something was up! I said yes and she was dang near climbing up my back once i pointed it out! The snake was just chillin', no rattling or aggression, but after a couple pics and some serious screaming from my wife he finally flipped around and made it for the brush. By now it's flashlight time and we had no lights so the rest of the hike was very nerve racking! I doubt the lil' woman will go hiking with me anytime soon, maybe next winter JIM>

So what about the one that did bite you? Where is he? Do you want to tell what happend or should I tell how you were showing off for the girls and how it didn't work out to good for you? That 1% sucks Jim... Yeah, that 1% almost killed me! If it wasn't for your ability to drive a full size bronco like it's a sprint car I probably wouldn't be here today! LOL! C'mon, I wasn't showin' off for the ladies And yeah, that snake lived, it was my fault not his

Ha! No, I didn't scream like a girl, I knew my wife would take care of that for me! LOL! And since this snake didn't try to bite me I let him live, which is the case 99% of the time. I really don't like the ones that try to bite ya, which is rare, but those ones die!

Hey guys, I'm pretty sure the binos are spoken for. I'll let ya know if the sale doesn't pan out. Thanks! JIM>