Couestracker

Hi Mike, I sent you a PM. Couestracker

Hi TJ, My wife Julie and I plan on stopping by. I'll bring some elk or antelope summer sausage, cheese and crackers. Thanks for hosting. Tommy Martin aka Couestracker

Does anyone know what the formula/conversion to estimate live weight from field dressed weight is? Thanks in advance, Couestracker.

I called the NM Game and Fish today about leftover tags. All I got was "any time now, keep looking on web site for posting" Couestracker

Opening day of my unit 37B H.A.M. javelina hunt started out promising, as I caught wind of them in two different areas. A real strong smell with the breeze in my face, but I never saw any all day. On the second day, I was seeing some fresh tracks here and there, but just one or two pigs worth. I decided to follow one set of tracks, and after about a mile from where I had started, I jumped about 8 javelina. They ran off behind some brush and I didn't have a shot. I stopped to see if there were any stragglers, and then I heard one crying/screaming! I remembered a friend told me to make a loud smacking noise with my mouth with some grunts mixed in, so I tried that. Of course that didn't work, so I proceeded to head the direction they ran off to and within another 100 yds, I saw through the brush two javelina jump up from their beds. One ran behind the brush and the other one stood there looking my way, not quite quartering away. So I brought up my pistol, aimed for its neck and fired-and dropped it in its bed! I ran over to it, but it was down for good with an entry wound in it's neck. It turned out to be a boar and I weighed him at 51 lbs. I ranged the shot at 42 yds after I went back for my empty casing. After high-fives and pictures, I field dressed him and weighed him back in camp at 36.4 lbs. When I skinned it out, I discovered that my bullet had caught the lower back corner of its jaw and took out a chunk of bone before entering the neck. A keeper skull for sure! CouesTracker

A good place to learn the answers to your questions would be to join Phoenix Varmint Callers (PVCI). Meetings are the first Tuesday of the month. Of course, it's the end of the season right now, but there is still a lot to learn by talking to veteran varmint hunters that are on hand. We have guest speakers at most meetings that cover related items of interest. It's a family oreniented club and it's a lot of fun. Also, the Sept meeting is aimed at teaching novice hunters the ropes. Experts bring in their gear to check out and speakers focus discussions on basic varmint hunting techniques, such as camo, setting up stands, calls/calling, weaponry, tactics, etc. The club hunts are the weekend after the monthly meetings. The first hunt will be in Sept after the novice meeting and is the novice hunt. Each member must have a novice on his team to qualify. It's how I learned and became addicted! Also there is a novice bootcamp (seminar) in the fall, which is a weekend event held in the field. All aspects of hunting predators will be covered. Feel free to PM me if you want more information. If you (or anyone else) are interested, the meetings are held at the F.O.P. lodge #2, 12851 N. 19th Ave at 7:00 P.M. first Tuesday of the month. (No cost to attend the meetings). Couestracker (Tommy Martin)

I'm hunting NM a few days then Az unit 27 early hunt this year-can't wait! Couestracker

It's a Rock River Arms A4 pistol, 5.56/.223Rem, 10.5" barrel with an EoTech red dot sight. It's manufactured/sold/registered as a pistol and it is fun to shoot. I see now they make them in 9mm and .40 S+W also. CouesTracker

The Chiricahua Mountains hold many great memories for me as my late Father and Late Grand Father took me there on their deer hunts when I was 10 years old. Returning there many times since I have been old enought to hunt, some nice bucks have been seen (none close enough for a shot) and several spikes & a couple of fork-horns were passed on. Once while glassing at a fork-horn, I realized it was a 3x3 but by the time I got my scope on him he disappeared behind a bush never to be seen again. Each year brings on new confidence & hope (along with the disappointment that follows), but this year I'd shoot anything bigger than a spike if I saw one. On the 4th afternoon of a 4 1/2 day hunt, we decided to climb up on a new ridge and see what we could find. As I glassed from the edge of the ridge, there were several ridges that lay before and below me. On the nearest ridge it was noticed that there was a small clearing with a distinctive double-yucca plant with one "head" missing. As I ranged the spot at 210 yds, I thought that it would be a good place for a deer to show itself (ha ha). Well, wouldn't you know it, a half our later I saw some movement and out of the thickets and into this clearing came a whitetail buck. I glassed him up and he was a fork-horn! Quickly trading my bino's for my scope, I found him as he passed behind the double yucca. I aimed, fired & watched him run, seemingly unscathed, into a series of junipers. Not wanting to take my eyes off the junipers, I tried racking in another round as it seemed that I might have missed. I couldn't get the bold closed on another round so I had to look at the reciever and realized my left gloved hand had blocked the ejection port such that the spent case wouldn't come out. Jeeze! So I fixed that issue while trying to to keep an eye on the junipers, but didn't ever see the deer. I hiked around a bowl that was formed from the ridge I was on as it connected to the ridge the deer was on. I made it down to the double yucca just before dark. I looked under the juniper, no deer or blood on the ground. Dang-it, I missed I thought to myself. I looked up to the point I shot from & decided to range it: 190 yds. I thought, "That's not right, it was 210 yds". So I started looking around & found another clearing with another double double yucca with one head missing. Yes, the same side missing! I ranged up to the shooting point; 209 yds, cool! Excited again, I looked under the juniper but no deer. By now it was pretty dark so I started looking around with my flashlight and found some blood behind the yucca. Following the blood trail for 30 yds, I found my deer! I hit him low in the chest, probably due to the angle of the shot. He was a small forky, but my first Chiricahua whitetail and I was happy.

That was a cool video and well made. If you look closely at around 4:47 in the video, you can see the bullet on the way to it's mark! Really! Couestracker

Just curious about the cost, hunt dates and tag availability with San Carlos turkey hunting. Can anyone help with some facts? Thanks, CouesTracker

Sorry, my bad. I went and looked up the regs-never hunted fall birds-saw any turkey /fall. I would be thrilled to even see one of those color-phase birds. Excellent job on the taxidermy too Tommy. Do you have a shop in Taylor? CT

That is a beautiful bird, but I thought only bearded turkeys could be taken in Az?

Give Dave a call at White Cloud Custom Gunsmithing 602-292-1986 or www.customrifleman.com. He does rifles for the Governor elk tag holder. He hasn't built a whole rifle for me yet, but I have had some custom work done by him, don't think you could go wrong there. CT

Those are awesome! What unit did the NM buck get taken? Thanks, CT

Uh oh, maybe Gov. Nappy swept the money already? Hope Not. I'd rather it be my sheep tag! Good luck in the draws. CouesTracker

My Browning BAR .308. Took my first bull, first cow, first coues, first muley and 5 antelope with it. It shoots great and a fine looking rifle. CouesTracker

Got my antelope refund (for the 8th time ) yesterday, no elk tag yet. CouesTracker

Unit 27 next week, leaving Thursday morning. I'm going to try to get one with my bow this year. CouesTracker

Ha ha, we got tag #1 and tag #2! CouesTracker

I drew a Nov archery tag for 7W 1st choice.......by mistake. Someone used the wrong hunt #, it was supposed to have been the Sept 7W hunt. There went my 8 bonus points . This is my first time applying for an archery elk hunt. We're going to make the best out of it. CouesTracker

I have been considering the Ranger also, but now am probably going with the new Kawasaki Teryx. You may want to check that one out, it's pretty awesome. I have two polaris sportsman quads I bought from 4 Seasons in Rye. I have been very happy with their service, they always get me in/out same day since I bring them up from Phoenix. You won't beat their prices either. CouesTracker

Something is happening! Maybe today? I just tried to check "draw results" like I have the past few day's, now the site is down, can't check bonus points/spring results like I could before. I know, worse than kids at Christmas........................... CT

I thought the intent of going with the earlier draw was to aid in other fall hunt planning. The Wyoming deadline is already passed (Mar 15), Colorado's deadline is April 1 and New Mexico's deadline is April 9. I sure hope to find out what Az hunts I'm drawn for prior to Co and NM! I also hope someone on the G+F commission is reading these posts. Good luck to all. CT

I'm a PVCI member, been going out about once a month during the season. Tom Martin (Couestracker)