COOSEFAN

I for one would like to see this thread lighten up, especially because it really has no place here in this forum or on this site for that matter. Nothing good ever comes from discussions/debates such as this, nobody will change their mind or change someone elses...it's pointless.

Hey guys I just heard the results were up!!! sorry!

I learned my lesson, I get the heebie-jeebies just thinking about picking up another one.....ain't gonna happen!

Nothing but MY ideas here, based on MY experiences, and only for the sake of sharing.....just for the record I've hunted alot on the early Oct. hunts and I've noticed that quite a few of the bucks, especially the older smarter ones, will be tucked up in the thickest pockets on the north facing slopes. In order to effectively glass into these areas you need to be closer. You'll miss bucks if you are too far away. I've also notice alot of the bucks I've seen aren't too willing to jump up just because they see you or smell you on the opposite side of a ridge.....not always the case obviously, but they can and sometimes do stay put! And as far as the thoughts about busting deer out because of hiking into these closer areas, I believe there is a time and place for doing this. I wouldn't do it during scouting and as I said earlier, I would hike in no later than 1 1/2 hours before light, and I would take the red dotted route illustrated in my pic becuase it keeps me in the bottom and not skylined. I also would have enough time that I can hike quietly and slowly. If I showed up late, I would do exactly as Doug illustrated in his pic and I wouldn't move further up into the area. Also, no matter where you go or what you do you always run a risk of busting out deer, that's what I call collateral damage , it happens! With this scenario being an Oct. hunt, and with the fact that there is a good chance somebody will ride up that trail on a quad, I would be situated on the east side up in that area. This puts me in a position to intercept any bucks that may get pushed by the hunters showing up later and puts me ahead of those hunters in case they decide to hike up into that country. I don't like the looks of the country on the West side of the road and I wouldn't want to get stuck on that side of the road should somebody else show up to hunt the east! One thing I've learned by hunting the Oct. hunts, especially in areas that are hit hard with hunters is you need to be aggressive. If you don't hike up into that bowl and find that buck hiding in that little pocket on the north facing slope, somebody else will! Even if you are certain you are the only person for miles in there, somebody seems to always show up! And my definition of being aggressive is hunting harder and smarter, getting in earlier, hiking farther and glassing more effectively into the high odds areas......it works for me, take it for what it's worth Lots of great ideas here, thanks for sharing! JIM>

that's about the truth Jade, and there still aint no better place to be!

??? Aint my site and not quite sure what this is about! PM being sent.

Heck guys, I was bored and it's been a while since I played around with photoshop. Please add in wiriting what you would do at least, doesn't have to be detailed and there's enough colored lines now on the pic's to use as referrence points. I think it's neat to hear how people would hunt the same country differently. RR makes a good point about staying low to add more time to your glassing before the sun crests over and also being able to look up under the trees for bedded deer. I personally would still want to be higher up in this situation as it appears to give me more options for moving locations covering more country after daylight without disturbing much area. I also play the odds game, I know there can be deer anywhere, but I'll focus my attention on the areas with the greater odds of holding the deer I want, with all the variables of the given situation taken into consideration. I'll cover the low odds areas quickly, but spend most of my time glassing areas like the purple shaded ones in my pic. I always try to position myself to give me the best veiw into the high odds area and the best position to quickly shoot or stalk into the high odds area. Everyone has different thoughts, experiences and talents, there really isn't a right or wrong plan of attack here!

Cool topic Doug! There's a bunch of variables that come into play for me when deciding how to hunt an area. If I was standing right there when you took that picture I may have an entirely different idea than what I've drawn up. The temperature, wind, and hunter pressure are the biggest factors in where to look and by having only a photo to go off of I'll describe the scenario as I see it. The purple shaded areas are where I would focus my attention when looking for bucks in this scenario. I'll assume the scenario is hot, swirling winds, full moon and i've seen more hunters near the roads than rabbits! Plan A (red+yellow): This is what I'd do if I felt nobody had been into this spot yet. I would park away from the area 1 1/2 hours before light and walk in without the use of lights (remember it's a full moon). The red path is my trek before light and I would stay in the bottom as much as possible until I reach my first glassing spot. From this spot I'm glassing/facing South and looking directly into the North facing slope and into the West facing part of that bowl. I'm expecting deer to be higher up on the mountain at first light as they make their way coming from the "sunny side up" East and SE facing slope and moving over to these North facing slopes to bed right at first light. I expected they had fed all night on the open East and South face but with the heat of the sun they won't be there long at all at first light. After picking it apart for several hours I would back down out of sight in the ravine and move farther down the finger, this appears to open up a new vantage point looking into the different shaded cuts on the North facing hill. This also appears to put me closer to really dig into the vegetation with my 15's looking for antler tips or eyeballs! Even if it's 200 yards across, I'll use my 15's on these early hunts and I'd be telling myself that a big, smart ol' buck was already bedded there before light! With that in mind I'm constantly telling myself there's a deer watching my every move so as I change vantage points and move over the finger i'm always acting as though I'm stalking a buck. Now it's about midday and with the changing shadows I'm expecting a buck to get up, stretch, feed a little and then bed back down in a new shady spot close by. I'm also aware that if I do find a buck, there probably is another buck with him becuase of this being an early hunt and they usually have buddies nearby. I glass just as hard between 10:00-2:00 as I do at first and last light....especially on this early hunt! Lastly, if I haven't found what i want by the second vantage than I'll move down again because it appears to open up some more of the North facing slope and possibly uncover a buck that has been pushed up from the lower country or one that has been there all along chewing his cud and watching me all day Plan B (red+green): This is what I'd do if there had been hunters already in the area. Same thing, park and hike in the same way at the same time. I'd sit in the same spot as I would in my previous scenario and I would focus on all the same areas. The difference is I would then stay high and I would have already noticed on my topo that there are some small ravine/bowls just over the top of the mountain in front of me and another great South facing vantage point behind to the north. Those areas will have shady pockets which are away from the road and over more difficult terrain. My thinking is that bucks have already been pushed and have already moved into these hidden, less pressured areas. I would make my midday vantage point up there looking into these more secluded bedding/hiding areas. I would do as before and never skyline myself, I would crawl over the finger or at least make sure I'm walking up to a bush or tree to hide my outline as I go over. From here I would stay all day or move along the ridge to open up new country at a different vantage point. I still focus on the shady thick areas and I like to glass at close range with high power binos. You can use the focus ring to pick apart the vegetation and really look into and through it this way and constantly be looking for small peices of a deer. If this plan doesn't work than I would go back to the topo and find more hidden pockets farther away from the roads or in areas where hunters are just walking/driving past and not hunting....sometimes the good spots can be right next to the road! That's definitely a very huntable area and looks awesome! There's tons of ways to hunt that, but it comes down to just effectively covering as much of the country as possible and hopefully before any of the deer know you are there. There's my $.02 JIM>

Awesome!

Keith pretty much summed it up! It is a few hours away but Alamo would be my favorite lake to fish for cats...especially if stuck on the bank, you can catch the numbers there. For the bigguns we would haul our expensive bass boats and dump em' into the spillway right below the Horseshoe dam...got a lot of strange looks from the guys in rafts and canoes, kinda embarrasing I guess but we were die-hards and that was all we had that would float! We would use cast nets (you can do this from the bank) and catch bluegills. Run a big hook just under the dorsal fin and from the bank cast out as far as possible. Some giants lurk in those waters. If you can borrow a raft or canoe it's best, just park out in the middle, drop the bluegill to the bottom, leave the bail open and wait. It's a rush when you see the line start runnin' out not knowing what exactly is down there and is about to get slammed with your hook, and after you set the hook you feel the tremendous weight of an unseen creature! I FREAKIN' LOVE IT! Best of luck and be sure to take pics! Here are a few from the spillway.....

Congrats to the hunter AND to the pups and their trainers! Awesome job! JIM>

Yep, Scott Adams' posts were the ones that I just couldn't wait for, he really set the bar here for how a great story should be written up with supporting photos and even added arrows and markers to photos which really put the reader on the hill with him! This site is the best because of all the folks mentioned and all the others who aren't that take the time to share their hunts or experiences with the rest of us! BTW.....MuleyMan, I remember all that from way back when. I would like to say that whatever we are doing here, it's working! This site has continued to do nothing but grow at a fast pace and has one of the best reputations out of all the popular forums that I know of! It's the attitude of our members, the quality of their character and their unselfish willingness to share knowledge or experiences...without expecting anything in return, and help others that makes this site what it is! Amanda is the driving force and the creator, but the contributions of the membership is what has helped make this site what it is today! Thanks to everyone that has taken the time out to share in detail their experiences, tips and knowledge with the rest of us! JIM>

Dangit, I was hoping you guys would at least leave the "old" whitey's for me to pick up!!! Awesome find! JIM>

Great job guys on a ton of sheds! Also thanks for taking the time to get and post up all the pics! JIM>

That's awesome TJ, can't beat spendin' time with the family regardless what your doin', but fishing is one of the best ways! Congrats on all the fish, I bet the cat got the blood pumpin'! JIM>

Awesome! I wish I had your energy, time and passion....i think i got the passion, but you need the first two to make it all come together as you did! Great job and great pics! JIM>

Awesome photos! I love those things and have been fortunate to see a handful of em' as well...I'd much rather run into one of those than a big ol' rattler! The cool thing is that each one is different in their coloring and markings, no two are the same!

Gorgeous pics as usual Doug!

Well I finally got Manny (mjmhunter) out on the water last week at the newest "secret" fishin' hole that i call "Bigfoot Pond". I didn't realize he turned it into a competition until i realized he was counting out loud each time he caught a fish! I then started gettin' serious about the fishin', BUT... I had to steer the boat while he sat back and fished.....that's my excuse becuase he beat me badly! We each boated 9 fish, Manny had around 30 lbs. total and I had around 20 lbs. for my total. Big fish went to Manny at around 4 lbs, but he did have a whopper break off right at the boat that was considerably bigger. That big fish that got away is haunting him and I guarantee it won't be long before you all see a pic with him holding the "one that got away"! I never caught a fish worthy of a picture, and every fish that Manny caught was between 3-4 pounds so they all looked the same but here's a few of his pics.

Hey guys, Manny talked me into goin' back out fishin' for about an hour this evening. I knew I shouldn't go but I did anyways and he showed me up AGAIN! Check out this 7lb. 11oz. whisker fish that slammed Manny's flippin' jig! We were all excited that he hooked into a giant bass but after some serious fightin' we could finally see it was just a big ol' ugly catfish We definitely weren't expecting to catch one of those while flippin' jigs into heavy brush! Way to go Manny, but I still don't think catfish should be eligible for the contest

Shortpants, being the die-hard coues fanatic that he is, talked me into an overnight backpack trip in his favorite unit. I thought he was crazy because it is just weird to head south at this time of year when I should have been headin' north where the elk are! Our goal was to locate hidden springs that he had only seen on a map and see if we could find better routes into his "hunny holes". My goal was only to not get bit by any rattlesnakes or scorpions and I prayed all day that I wouldn't have another "CLOSE ENCOUNTER" with a freakin' GIANT spider in my tent like last time! We used Shorty's "Fat Boy Chariot", as I like to call it, to get us to our starting point. Then we loaded up and proceeded into our first destination which according to maps wasn't very far, but we had to cross multiple canyons which took all the fun out of it as each canyon got increasingly deeper! We finally reached camp and from there we could see our objective actually existed and was full of water...not really a surprise, there is water everywhere! We didn't glass a whole bunch, just enjoyed being out in Coues country with it's overwhelming appeal and found our hidden springs in the process! Quite a few deer were seen but no big bucks were found. We did hike around a bunch looking for sheds and like usual we found none but Shorty did find an old skull so we weren't skunked on the trip! I almost hate shed hunting for coues, it's gotta be one of the hardest things to find........but that's what makes em' so special right!

and very stylish too

I actually thought you folks wouldn't notice My thinking was that with how rare I dress up, it would be better to ruin those shoes than the ones I wear daily and yes, I had to look nice while sportin' the CWT.com colors!

Thanks for the reply's! The weather was perfect and it was awesome as usual to get away from the beaten path and it's definitely nice to get out there with very few other folks around. Shorty has A LOT of history in this area but has always wanted to find a few hidden springs and check out access from different angles so that was our goal with this trip. We likely may never go to this spot again but we now know how to get there and what advantages it has. We didn't find a better route out, so we just beelined it back to the "Fat Boy Chariot" straight accross all the ridges. Shorty is an animal but I didn't do too bad, I kept up with him, what helped was that I made sure that my pack was lighter to make up for my shorter legs and fatter belly! Great to see ya on here Jay and thanks!

Welcome to the site Coues&Bass! I have to say though, your pictures illustrate the reason why I drive a Ford! Good luck fishin' and be sure to post up some pics! JIM>