COOSEFAN

I don't understand why the huge negativity about having helpers. Everyone knows it's not the same as if you did it ALL on your own...BUT, WHY down talk or make it a point to take credit away from guys who have additional help on a hunt? I applaud guys who go out and do it all on their own, and I sure as heck don't try and take credit away from guys who incorporate their family and friends into their hunts! I also don't think any less of a hunter who hires a guide because he can't scout like he wants to becuase of a job or because he lives too far! YES, there are a few guys who hire guides that kill big critters and they didn't do anything to deserve it, but in that case, my hat's off to the guides and staff for their knowledge and skill. Yes, there is guys out there that break the law, hunt un-ethically, use radios, fly during the hunt, etc..........but it only makes you look like a fool when you jump to conclusions and surmise that just because there happens to be more than 1 individual in the photo, that it wasn't deserved or some law had to be broken!!! I think it's BS when guys make accusations not knowing the full facts, simply going off a photo or a rumor, or because there's more than 1 hunter in the photo then the animal had no chance! I would say to just keep it in perspective, and chalk it up for what it is, but don't automatically assume things off of a photo! AND, for the record, we did not use any radios on either of those bulls this year! JIM>

I would agree that it would be better to have a draw for the fall bear hunts. I also know that alot of those "small" bears are killed just because it's a bear. Most people can't tell if a bear is big or not.......they just know it's a bear and they kill it. As long as they are proud of it and hunted it in an honest fashion, who cares! It's their tag to fill and it's legal, but it does suck when it shuts units down. What I wonder is do some of you guys get upset when somebody shoots a big bear too? That is one less bear for you to hunt just the same as if it were a small bear they took. Just curious, but I believe in "to each his own" and also that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"! I know a bunch of guys who would love to shoot a stateland bear and it wouldn't matter if it was small or not, and I would never look down on them for doing so My $.02

I'm tryin to run through everything to catch casey's posts as fast as I can!

What da heck?..........Where's my thanks for my tips and info?........My advice was the most valuable of all.....remember?...."Stay away from Bun Huggers during prime time"! Just kiddin'...... you did a great job scoutin' and doin' it right, and that's awesome you had the will power to pass on the smaller critters. Sounds like it was still a successful hunt! JIM>

Awesome Antelope! I just got back from Montana with one O' them things as well.......what a blast they are to hunt! Congrats and great photo! JIM>

The "hall monitor" is leaving again Finally headin' to Montana to cash in on a Antelope hunt that I bought last year at the AES banquet. I unfortunately wasn't thinking straight that night with the help of Mr. Daniels and his buddy Coke! My hand decided to raise itself at the wrong time and I became the highest bidder of something, and i didn't even really know what it was until I went to pay for it! Anyway, now I'm finally going and I was actually not looking forward to it, but I talked Pops into going with me, so that makes it alot better! They don't grow 'Lopers up there like we do here in AZ and NM, so I'm leaving with the hopes of at least a 70" class 'Loper or maybe something with character..... we'll see. We get to hunt Partridge and Grouse also, so that in itself will make the trip worth it. I will have a ton of pics when I return....hopefully Take care, JIM>

Alright guys and gals.......I put a little pressure on myself when I posted on the "Wrongway" thread stating that I would show you pic's of Ocho with my hands on em'.........well, we followed through and made it happen! "Ocho Grande" is a bull that I found several days before the archery hunts started. We had several incredible bulls already picked out and named and had been following for some time, but Ocho was a new guy. We can only guess where he came from, but it didn't matter, he was there, and we were very lucky to find him every day. We hunted him on the first day of the archery hunt, but lightly pushed him, so we gave him a break to settle down and went after Wrongway and you guys know what happened there A good friend of ours "David" was fortunate enough to draw the early rifle tag in this same unit, and after seeing the video of Ocho, he decided that was the bull for him! We finished our archery hunt and began the arduous task of patterning a bull that seemed to not care about the rut! He was by himself most of the time, and he rubbed very little and bugled even less. We lost Ocho for a little while and couldn't find him in his typical haunts. David would take his wife out with him on his days off from work to look for Ocho and amazingly he found Ocho again and got some amazing video of him! Ocho had moved about a mile from where he originally was and was now in an even more secluded spot. We were hopefull that Ocho would stay there, but to be safe we watched over other areas to catch him if he moved again. David and his wife went back to relocate Ocho on Thursday night and she spotted him moving out of the treeline. They got some incredible footage of him feeding by himself in the sage and sunset and it was fitting that she found him and got to see him that night because she would be missing opening day due to work. Still covering the bases, I, along with David's friend Brad went to cover Ocho's orginal hideout on Friday morning. We would be in an adjacent canyon from where we expected Ocho to be, and my brother Matt and David would be right in where Ocho should be at daybreak. David's dad Dan and his friend Wendell would stay back up high and hopefully get to watch the hunt take place. Everything was set and as daylight broke, Brad and I had no elk where we were, so we sat waiting for gunshots. Matt and David had elk filtering up to them and unbelievably a 390"plus 6x6 bull stepped out screaming his head off! Matt videoed this bull and amazingly watched as David NEVER raised his rifle! Matt kept telling David he's nutts for passing that bull and asking what the heck he was thinking..........and David just said he wants Ocho! I saw the video later and I told him he was nuts also!!! But you gotta give it to him, he said it more than a week prior that he wanted Ocho and to his credit, a monster typical wasn't going to stand in his way! It wasn't but a few minutes later, while Matt was still givin' David grief for the pass, that Ocho stepped out presenting a shot at around 200 yrds! Matt flipped the camera back on as David put a fatal 180gr bullet right through Ocho! A couple shots followed in order to anchor him to the ground, but it was all over with the first shot! Brad and I heard the shots and were already running full tilt their direction and Wendell and David's father were right in on the action as it happened! Once back at camp we ran a tape on all them tines and came up with a rough score of 417"!!! David (and his wife ) did an amazing job staying with this bull as he moved around for close to 2 weeks and saw it through to the end, even when tempted with a different bull of a lifetime! I know what I would have done there's just somethin' about big typicals.... We've had an incredible year so far, and it really shows what scouting and hardwork will do for ya! We were fortunate this year to get some great guys with tags to trust us and allow us to help them on their hunts, and it gave us a chance to prove what we can do! We don't have a big team of guys, and we rarely make any money, but we are proud of who we are and what we do and more importantly the way we do it. As it's been said before.....we do it the right way and we were blessed this year to have it all work out like we hoped I do want to thank our good buddy David for letting us share in his once in a lifetime hunt for a once in a lifetime bull!!! Way to go dude......Great job.........oh, and by the way.....you ARE nuts for passing on that typical Thanks, JIM> I'll get better video pic's once I get the tapes back, but here's some from when I first found Ocho...... And here's the beast himself.......the bulls not bad either ........ This is my favorite pic of David and his pops............ And here's our team that day.........note: I made the other 49 guys that were part of our team stay behind the camera

David......it wasn't that he didn't see you......he just didn't want to pick you up! I don't blame him, I probably would have kept driving too BTW...I love the Predator stuff and really like the Nat. gear......but neither company gives me anything for free, so....... KING'S IS THE BEST!!!

Thanks, I'll probably need all the luck I can get on this one! I just got off the Montana website and realized I might not be huntin' them upland birds after all! They want $110.00 for the permit! I may only get one day to hunt for birds, so that's a little steep for me.....oh well, at least I get to hammer a 'Loper! JIM>

I forgot all about the fireflies....I've seen em' too down in Fossil Creek by the dam. Very cool critters! JIM>

Dang.....Those are awesome finds! I wish I was that lucky! Great job, congrats! JIM>

There ain't nothing wrong with that shot! Pinwheeled both them lungs on that one Just kinda wierd how the arrow is exiting angled upwards.....probably from the body tighting up from the hit? Amazing pic though, thanks for posting! JIM>

I can see it! I know which one of us is doin' the beatin' too! Josh, that is my alltime favorite cam picture right there! It makes me laugh everytime I see it! Great quality pic too! Thanks, JIM>

Dang! I always knew I was huntin' too hard in that unit! All I needed to do was hook up to Pop's Triton and go fishin' while keepin' my eyes on the hills!

Amazing find! Thanks for posting it!!! I LOVE the mass!!! JIM>

I do feel that camo is over rated and it it is WAY more important, no matter what your wearing, to always break up your outline by staying close to objects in your terrain and never skyline yourself. When I cross over a ridge I walk up to a bush or tree and then cross over, if I'm following a ridge I try to stay off to one side and not on the very top. The cool part about the new camo that is out there is the new materials being used. I only use Kings Shadow camo and love the different fabrics they use.....they've got stuff for when it's hot, and stuff for when it's cold! Kings is very well constructed and very durable also. I know a bunch of guys who like the Desert Shadow, but I mainly use the new Mountain Shadow for all my hunts.......it's awesome in every type of vegetation. Unless you are sitting in a ground blind or a treestand, always avoid dark, intricate patterned camo. You will look like a dark blob at a distance. It's almost always better to stick with a lighter colored camo that has highlights and/or a larger open pattern to it. Predator camo is very nice for these reasons and so is Natural Grear.....but Kings is better Jimbo's $.02

Fantastic buck! Congrats to your pops and you! JIM>

Casey..... you know smokin' that stuff is bad for you...... you need to quit 'cause yer gettin' dilusional! Those shirts are awesome! I will buy some before my deer hunts this year and make sure to have em' on for the pic's! (then maybe I can win the photo contest) Great job Rembrant! JIM>

I've never heard of the antlered critters gettin' loose ...... unfortunately. That would be fun!

Huge pee-pee pants? Little squirrel? That twernt no squirrel, and I have no clue what a pee-pee pants is The only thing that makes sense somewhat is a young Javalina or lion, but I can't see a Javi out at 3:30 in the am and it's below zero out? It ran as fast as I was and would only stay about 30 to 50 yards ahead of me, plus it would stop when I stopped! I kept trying to hold my breath and move to the side so I could see past my breath with my headlamp, but I could never see eyes! It didn't sound like it was a hoofed animal, as it was really quiet while running...BUT it broke quite a few branches as it side stepped around the back of my blind! Craziest thing ever! Shortypants had two lions sneaking in on him the previous year while sitting the same blind after dark.......heard something and noticed some big eyeballs in the sage sneaking in on him when he turned his headlamp on! Same year we had a lion eating on a elk quarter hangin in a tree right behind the hunter as he washed his knives in the tank! It could've been a cat I guess.....they make a bunch of wierd noises. JIM>

"Hind" I think is what they call a female Red Stag?

What's up with you passin' and lettin' bulls get bigger? You think you're gonna draw that tag AGAIN next year Just kiddin'.....if I had a 370" bull on my wall, then I would let em' grow too. NOT! Go tag one of them darn bulls and get some pic's up on here ASAP! Oh.....and just a little tip for ya........sittin' at "Bun Huggers" at 5:00 PM is NOT going to help your chances Best of luck dude.....you deserve a biggun! JIM>

alright......Tyson wins 1st place without a doubt!!!! I will have to seek counseling after reading that! JIM>

Man, I've got a ton of "weird" stuff that I've seen.......especially because of all the time i've spent out in the woods with Shortypants! I have seen and heard the crazy mating rituals of the porcupine, and always thought the screams and moans were because of the quills The craziest and saddest thing I've found has to be when my brother and I found a human leg, the sad part was that it was from a young person The scariest happened last year and I still have no explaination for it. A client and I were set up on a tank about 2 hours before light on the late elk hunt. The temps were at a record low last year and I know it was below zero that morning. We packed in our sleeping bags to sit in and stay warm and had just gotten comfortable and turned our headlamps off. All of a sudden branches broke not more than 15 yrds behind me and "something" started screaming it's head off at us! The critter or creature I should say, sounded like it wasn't very big by the sounds of the branches and sage breaking as it ran sideways to my right. It kept screaming as it moved and you could tell it would turn away as it screamed and then turn toward us while still screaming. I was all tied up in my sleeping bag trying to get out and finally got the light on it but I could never see any eyes even though it was still within 30 yrds or so! The screams were something I've never heard before anywhere! I've been in the woods huntin and chasin critters my whole life and I believe I've had encounters with almost every critter in this state, but this was somethin' new!!! The screams were very loud, very angry, and non-stop! My client was yelling at me "what the --- is that" and I was yelling " I don't ----- know! over and over again as I tried to get the light on it. The problem was that each time I breathed out the frost from my breath blocked out my light and I couldn't see past it! I don't know why I did it, I think because I had to just know what it was, but I took off running after it! The critter stayed ahead of me and I could tell it would stop and scream back at me and then start running again! My client was too afraid to stay so he was runnin' behind me yelling " what the --- do you think you're doing?" This client NEVER cusses so this obviously had him shook up too! This lasted for several hundred yards and then it shut up and dissappeared! I looked after it had gotten daylight and couldn't find any tracks but I was originally guessing it was a Javalina, bobcat or lion, but it sounded like neither! What ever it was it was very upset with us! I got the goosebumps all over again just writing about it! Maybe it was a Chupacabra?! Thanks, JIM>

Yep, there's still some remnants of the escapee's runnin' around