CHD

Shiras & .25-06, You guys have to contribute positively to this forum to have credibility here. That is how the forum-thing works. Posting simple responses only just don't get it.........understand? I am struggling to find your pics, stories, advice, good units, etc... in your posting history. Looks like you guys just wanna criticize here in something that ain't even your business. Where were you guys when I took the time to post my pics last fall when Josh decided to be negative and counterproductive in what I thought was a positive post??? I stand behind my statement about shed hunters and antler collectors. And I do indeed remember....................everything. My initial impression of Josh was exactly as I stated. Why shouldn't I treat him the same? Josh posted his stuff, and I posted mine. It's that simple. So when can I expect your great pics and stories???

CHD, That is a killer deer man. I was gonna say that with your digital camera you take some great pics. However if you don't mind a little constructive criticism I'd like to offer some. The only reason I'm mentioning this to you is cause I've taken dozens of what would be killer photos only to have them half in the sun and half in the shade and they are never what they could have been. What I usually do now is wait for a cloud to come over so it's all in the shade or drag my subject, be it a shed antler or dead critter, into the sun completely. The flash you mentioned can only help so much. Just a little advise from one hunter who appreciates good photos to another, take it or leave it. Killer deer man that is awesome. Beautiful deer and great looking country. Thanks for sharing, Josh Didn't come out of left field Josh, and you dang well know it. I was (and still am) trying to encourage others to post their personal great stuff on this forum.............even if it's not perfect...........to make this forum better.................and you pissed on my efforts. With egomaniacal, domineering responses like yours above, why would anybody post here?

Josh, I know you can take some constructive criticism, same as you can dish it out, right? The credit for a shed or pickup goes entirely to the animal, not a human being who did nothing but happen to be in the right place at the right time. I am sick and tired of shed hunters showing off their finds and acting like they actually harvested the animal using hunting knowledge and abilities when all they did was pick up a piece of bone lying on the ground. Give me a break would you? Shed hunting and collecting has nothing at all to do with 'live animal hunting'. The use of a person's name in conjunction with a pickup or shed or ownership is nothing less than outrageous and egomaniacal.

Had to break away from that last post as things were acting funny and I was afraid I would lose an hours work. Here is the rest. Here is another Utah buck taken on the north slope of the Bookcliffs in 1998. This is only a mediocre unit and I had located a 78-79" buck before the season. Unfortunately, he was in an area near major roads and a guide had found him also and his lady hunter whacked him before I could find him opening morning. AARRRRGGGGH! I ended up taking this buck that I shot right thru the heart with my .25-06 and he ran and squirted blood like I have never seen. Pretty country, ain't it? Here is my best pronghorn taken in eastern Utah that I showed on this forum last fall. He is 17 1/4 ". His right cutter is unbelievable and measures exactly 7". Man, that thing is longer than my............uh.............uh............uh..........index finger, LOL. And lastly, I have a new tent and a new truck, believe it or not. Haven't tried the new tent yet, since I caught Pertussis last year and missed my unit 22 Coues hunt. But here is my new truck, an '05 PowerStroke with 6-speed and limited-slip rear axle, as always. But no cab lights this time. Take care everybody.

Hey Ernesto, Good catch considering this is a Utah topic. Here is a closeup of the mount. Here he is in the field. Evidently, I was not in the mood that day to set up for a proper pic (a week without whiskey makes me grumpy). And no, I didn't gut shoot him, he was quartering away and I got his lungs with my .25-06 @ 270 yards. He is 15 1/2" and scores about 78 or so. He was the best buck I found in 7 or 8 days. He is also my 3rd Utah pronghorn. That buck came from the West Desert-Snake Valley unit in far West Central Utah in September 2000. The unit had a prior history of a few big bucks, so I bought an auction tag from RMEF and went over there and had a blast. I hunt goats by taking the week before to scout before the other hunters arrive and have one picked out to whack opening morning. This has worked VERY well for me. That is a very desolate area and I didn't speak to anyone for a week while I looked at bucks. Since you spoke of Casper area goats, here are a couple of mine. Both score in the mid 70's, and were taken in unit 61 (a good one) in the 1990's. The first has long, outward cutters and good hooks and is about 15". Here he is on my wall And a closeup in the field. Here is the second taken in 1992 at about 15" with good hooks. And the country they were in.

A guy from Kentucky passed away and left his entire estate to his beloved widow, but she can't touch it 'til she's 14. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ How do you know when you're staying in a Kentucky hotel? When you call the front desk and say, "I gotta leak in my sink," and the clerk replies, "Go ahead." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ How can you tell if a Kentucky redneck is married? There's dried tobacco juice on both sides of his pickup truck. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Did you hear that they have raised the minimum drinking age in Kentucky to 32? It seems they want to keep alcohol out of the high schools. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What do they call reruns of "Hee Haw" in Kentucky? Documentaries. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Where was the toothbrush invented? Kentucky. If it had been invented anywhere else, it would have been called a teeth brush. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Did you hear about the $3 million Kentucky State Lottery? The winner gets $3.00 a year for a million years. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The governor's mansion in Kentucky burned down! Yep. Pert' near took out the whole trailer park. The library was a total loss too. Both books-poof! up in flames and he hadn't even finished coloring one of them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A new law was recently passed in Kentucky. When a couple gets divorced, they are STILL cousins. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A guy walked into a bar in Kentucky and orders a mudslide. The bartender looks at the man and says, "You ain't from 'round here are ya? "No," replies the man, "I'm from Pennsylvania". The bartender looks at him and says, "Well, what do ya do in Pennsylvania?" "I'm a taxidermist," said the man. The bartender, looking very bewildered now, asks,"What in the world is a tax-e-derm-ist?" The man says,"I mount animals".The bartender stands back and hollers to the whole bar..."It's okay boys, he's one of us!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A Kentucky State trooper pulls over a pickup on I-64 and says to the driver, "Got any I.D.?"and the driver replies "Bout wut?"

Poor pic of a super duper Region G (Grey's River) buck taken in 2000. Scores 215 gross B & C, 32" outside. How's this for a wall full of hawgs from western WY and SE Idaho? All mounted in same year by this taxidermist in Afton, WY. The Kaibab 3x4 made me think of the biggest 3x4 I've ever seen dead. Here he is taken in Region H (Hoback) in the mid-90's. I went into a small plumbing shop in Rock Springs when I lived there, and couldn't believe my eyes. This buck was killed by a kid and scores 210" as a 3x4! You can't see it it the pic, but the eyeguards are 6" long and grew forward! The unbranched tine must be 23"! You could mess with your buddies if you whacked this one and show up at camp with bloody hands and say I whacked a thin 3x4, then watch them sheet when you showed it to 'em! This is a prime example how most big animals never show up in magazines or on the net. Would you shoot a 3x4??? Here is my best eastern whitey of the 6 or so I've taken, whacked along a creek bottom south of Casper in 1992. See Amanda, this post is whitetail related, LOL. Here is a Shiras moose I took in 1999 right near dark. Had to butcher him by lanternlight. I had dislocated my knee the year before and didn't want to do it again packin' out a moose from a mountaintop, so I hunted near the roads. This is just an average one that was a good eater and was 8 years old and most importantly, was 70 yards from the truck! Butcher one of this pigs yourself, and you'll never complain about a Coues deer again! Here is the buck in my avatar that has been seen on this forum before. All tines over a foot long plus the front tines 13"+. The second pic is EXACTLY where he lived and died. Here is my camp on my last WY hunt in 2001 along with the drought-stunted buck I whacked at the end of the hunt that just about reaches the 30" mark. This is typical of my very basic, low-key camps. Have I got any of you diehard Coues addicts convinced to try Rocky Mtn. muleys yet, LOL? How 'bout you Bullwidgeon? How 'bout gettin out of AZ and NM for once and huntin' some other states?

I like my new HP Scanjet 4070 Photosmart scanner! Only $130 @ Office Depot. Get one everybody, and post your great pics and liven this forum up (it needs it)! If you guys like these pics, then say so. Don't just look and then not post a response, okay? This will encourage others to post theirs as well. Nobody likes an unappreciative or silent audience. This is Sherwin Scott's buck taken in 13B about a decade ago. If I'm not mistaken, it was the first ADA auction tag buck. Scores 202 gross B & C. This buck has been in the magazines. This buck was taken on Mt Trumbull in 13A in 2001, not by the lady in the pic. Scores 219 gross NT. Look at that mass and that hanger! These are sheds from the Kaibab 1990. 278" NT. This buck has been in mags also and was taken on the Kaibab West 2001. Scores 209 NT. Would you whack a buck with only a 3x4 frame??? This is Robin Bechtel's 13B buck takin in 13B in 1972. 33.5" outside, 208 frame, 221 NT. Look at those double drops!!! Enjoy boys and girls.

Hey Rich, Thanks for your post and your perceptiveness. I'm truly desperate for action here, man. Maybe..............just maybe.................since I now have a scanner.....................I should post up the Kirt Darner pics from our neverending thread from last fall???

Hey Lark, Based on the responses here, are you on Percocet or Demerol or just plain 'ol Morphine, LOL??? Ya know that painkillers plus homemade hooch = bored, wasted troublemaker, don'tcha?

Hey .25, Coues deer are a great animal to be hooked on. Sorry, don't have any pics of lions or bears. I'm not into 'paws and claws'. 'Hoofs and horns' is what does it for me. I have a buddy in Show Low that has killed 4 lions in his lifetime while hunting Coues deer in AZ. One he spotted chasing a jackrabbit down the opposite hillside. Know how he spotted the other 3? He saw their tails twitch like cats do while he was glassing rocks looking for a big ol Coues buck. Take care.

This buck was taken in 2000 in unit 10. I scouted and hunted for this buck, as my buddy had found the shed on the left in '99. The buck was known by the Rangely locals who were pretty tight-lipped. He was whacked on the winter range along the highway on the last day of the season. Scores 244" B & C. Taken in unit 21 south of Rangely in 2002. The muley scores 202. Taken in unit 21 in 1997. The hunter was from WA state and spotted this buck in '95. He had to skip '96 to build a preference point. He drew in '97 and looked for the same buck in the same patch of oakbrush. And there he was..................hint, hint! Taken in unit 21 in 2002. 24" outside, scores 200" on the frame. Look at those tines! Taken in southeast CO in 2003. Looks like 200"+ to me! Taken in unit 44 Eagle County in 2003. Taken in Eagle County in 2003. WHAT A TOAD!!! Taken in Pitkin County, 2004. Look at those tines!!! I understand this buck was taken in the Basalt area in the 1940's. I wonder if his rack is still around. What a monster! Easily scores 220"+ on the frame.

Just found this pic in one of my albums. This is a pickup from a unit adjoining the San Carlos that scores 124"!!! The Coues rack ain't too bad either! Just kidding, couldn't resist the humor. The lady is actually a good friend of mine, and she is just a nice, georgeous, sweetheart of a lady as well as a super duper hunter with many trophy AZ animals to her credit. But, this rack is indeed a pickup.

Here are some pics from my latest Colorado hunt in '03. Do you guys ever run into these conditions in southern AZ, LOL? Do you guys even know what tire chains are? Is this NW Colorado or the moon? Classic PJ/sagebrush/rimrock country. Would you believe I camped here for 10 days all by my lonesome and had a blast? Only talked to a few hunters the whole time. Had chains on for 8 days! My faithful Ford PowerStroke was worth it's weight in gold on this trip. My biggest problem was............... my case of Mtn Dew and the 6-gal water jug in the pic froze solid the first night, LOL. Here is a buck I whacked 15 years ago in SW Colorado. Scores 175ish with heavy bases. Yep, that's me there.

This buck was taken in 1997 in 12A East on a very bad drought year with poor antler growth. Scores 193.6 gross. This buck was in the mags and was taken in 12A East late in 1995. Scores 217 gross NT. This buck was taken in 12A West late in 2000. Scores 203 gross NT. 24.4" outside. What an ugly, narrow, unbalanced rack but the strong backs make the score. Score ain't everything, tho. This buck, evidently, was the highest scoring typical frame taken in AZ that year, which was a semi-off year due to drought. Anybody interested in seeing some Colorado hawgs taken recently???

Them's nice birds boys. Here is a couple from Collbran, Colorado taken last weekend by my buddy and his friend.

The big question is.......................did anybody important get liquored up and make an a$$ of himself??? LOL

My buddy Mike Herrick and I were out in the hills south of Casper during the winter. We were having poor luck blasting 'yotes and having very good luck emptying whiskey bottles, LOL. We came across this young, defeated doe that had her foot caught in a trap that some irresponsible, selfish, yahoo had set next to a tank. I wanted to move in on her gently, so she wouldn't hurt herself. But Mike had lots of energy, and before I knew it he was on her, but not before she tried to yank her leg off trying to resist him. That had to hurt her. I'm sorry I took the time to snap the pic. This is the first time these pics have been seen by anyone other than Mike and I. Mike held her while I opened the trap. Her foot was a liitle rough but not badly damaged. She had given up, so Mike and I got her up and shooed her away. She crawled off in the cattails behind Mike. Mike said "let's get her up out of there or she will just give up and die there". So we shooed her up out of there, and she slowly climbed the ridge in the background. I hope she survived and had a pleasant live in the wonderful Wyoming hills.

Got to tooling 'round on the net tonite, and had a look at the ADA website, which I financially support. Came across Dan Smith's MONSTER Strip buck from a few years ago, and I just about had a myocardial infarction (an effin heart attack!). What a disaster of a mount! Even September bucks don't look that lean! Would you all just look at the thin, frail-looking, pathetic, half-assed, pencil-necked mount of that magnificent, beautiful Strip buck! Holy cow, what a dang poor representation of this buck when he was alive! I have the vid of this buck when he was breathin', and he surely didn't look like he had cancer! What a travesty! Here's what a big ol Strip buck should look like on the wall. Here is another, with a REAL neck and REAL face, that required so much clay be added to the form that the mount weighs 40 lbs or so. Here is a monster from the Kaibab that had winter-killed and was repaired a looooong time ago. What a brute! Strip bucks are big-bodied with muscular frames and thick necks and big heads. They are extremely healthy, and they show it. They are the epitome of mule deer bucks, IMO...............the best of the best. The wussy looking mount of Dan Smith's buck is a big disappointment for such a great animal.

Here is a back view of the Kaibab buck that was found in 1966, is 44"+ outside spread, and scored roughly 291" with some broken points!

The Great Rattlesnake Hunter from Proctor, Texas has been out looking under rocks again, this time near Alexander. On Valentine's Day Jim Bob Basham, holding the snake, and his fellow hunters, Danny Fincannon and Johnny McClatchy of Dublin, uncovered a den of rattlers that yielded this monster. This snake is even bigger than the one Basham caught last November that made its rounds on the Internet. Big Charlie here is more than 6 feet (an exact measurement was not attempted) and weighs 11 pounds. He boasts 15 rattles and a button. He was sharing the den with 11 other rattlers that were all caught alive.

The Year is 1904 Maybe this will boggle your mind, I know it did mine! The year is 1904 ... one hundred years ago. What a difference a century makes! Here are some of the US statistics for 1904: The average life expectancy in the US was 47 years. Only 14% of the homes in the US had a bathtub. Only 8%of the homes had a telephone. A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost $11.00 There were only 8,000 cars in the US, and only 144 miles of paved roads. The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph. Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California. With a mere 1.4 million residents, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union. The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower. The average wage in the US was 22 cents an hour. The average US worker made between $200 and $400 per year. A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year. A veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year. A mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year. More than 95 percent of all births in the US took place at home. Ninety % of all US physicians had no college education. Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard." Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen. Coffee was fifteen cents a pound. Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo. Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason. The five leading causes of death in the US were: 1. Pneumonia and influenza 2. Tuberculosis 3. Diarrhea 4. Heart disease 5. Stroke The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet. The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was 30! Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented. There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day. Two of 10 US adults couldn't read or write. Only 6 % of all Americans had graduated high school. Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores. According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health." (Shocking!) Eighteen percent of households in the US had at least one full-time servant or domestic. There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire US. And I forwarded this from someone else without typing it myself, and sent it to you in a matter of seconds! Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years ... it staggers the mind.

Dangit, looks like I missed another post that got deleted. Story of my life. Those are usually the most entertaining ones. It sounds like she was..............hairy??? Relax Amanda, women and huntin' is what life is all about for us. We should be commended for havin' one more hobby than the average one-track-minded man. We all know Amanda, that YOU are the ultimate lady deer huntin' partner! Wanna put in with me and Wetmule in a group application for 36C Dec this year?

Stay back boys, 'cause she's all mine! She could even pack out my elk and moose whole. Ya think blood and guts makes her squeeemish? LOL