gotcoues

I can't help but believe this whole ban has to do with an outfitters success in say Unit 29. I could be wrong no doubt. But average joes were just caught in the crossfire IMO.

This is disappointing to say the least. I was hoping they would postpone any type ban until more data was introduced. I find it amusing at best that fair chase came into play. B&C, P&Y and Safari club allow animals to be entered under a baited scenario. They do not allow radios, rangefinders to be used for animals to make book. Rangefinders and possibly radios are common gear used in hunting. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, because this is how I understand it. For the life of me, I can't see baiting a deer into 30 or 20 yards easier of less ethical than shooting one at 400 to ........... 800 or more yards. Did they pass a mandatory harvest report for all animals? We all get one deer per year, does it really matter if they were baited into range. What's awesome is a rifle hunter can still hunt bait all day long! How can anyone prove he was hunting bait from 300 yards away LOL. The archer's who choose to bait get the shaft, and the long range zoo crew (100 yards or more arrow flinger club) get a free pass to keep on keepin on. A short response from Mr. Davis about my email I sent in. He was the only one to respond out of the commissioners. Thank you for your email. I appreciate you taking the time. The baiting issue is not being discussed because of harvest rates but instead, because of concerns related to communicable disease and because of fair chase/ethics reasons. I will read your email again, as well as the others I have received and listen to the presentations before making a final determination. Again, think you for your input. Regards, Kurt Davis

Nice job on the recovery, good looking muley

I'll take one of those for my B-day any year! Very nice buck.

10 coues with a bow is an amazing accomplishment! I'll guess very few people have had that kind of success. Congrats on another successful hunt Brian.

My question is, in cold conditions (no snow), old long is still considered "viable" or "good" to track a lion? IE; A hunter glasses up a lion and tries to find someone who is willing to chase with dogs. Does terrain matter, desert vs. pines? All be damned if I didn't carry a rifle even on short scouting trips last year every where I went with a lion tag in my pocket dreaming of putting my first lion down and yesterday while out with my son javelina hunting I glassed up a lion at 1400 yards. No rifle of course, and I might not of had time to get to a good shooting distance to take the shot before he went over the ridge. But still, it hurt bad to sit and watch! Another question, Is it illegal to carry your rifle while actively bowhunting? I assume yes, but I don't think that is far if your carrying a lion tag while bowhunting. I'm crazy enough to lug it and my bow around if it is legal!!!! I don't know if and when I will be willing to flat out hire a guide to pursue a lion, but I do feel better about glassing one and then calling around to pursue "my lion" as a DIY kinda guy!

That's pretty much how I understood the handgun rule, I just hadn't read it from the regs for verification. That bums me out that I can't tote the long range man cannon in my scabbard while out archery hunting. I'm guessing lions are more active during the day in the colder months just like other animals.

I would tend to think these cameras are about worthless until they are compatible with the same network as Verizon uses. T moble, I believe uses the same network as AT&T and is all but useless out in the field.

Holy smokes, DB..... I'm at at loss of words for once. All of us gun owners should already know that is old news. I guess some people just aren't too worried about facts.

Bravo Bravo

False

What an eye popping stud! Some real eye candy! I can't believe my eyes! All kidding aside, that is a beautiful buck. Congrats

Good luck, better buy new while you still can bro. I think everyone is "clinging to their bible and guns" right about now!

The people who prefer to put in more effort and get away from the roads rely on the masses doing the opposite. Don't ruin a good thing my friend. "Road hunting" is illegal and it surprises me that lots of people don't realize it. In fact, soooo many people do it, I wish they would make it legal because it's almost impossible to prove intent anyway. Keep on trucking on road hunters! Please don't take this post too serious, all in good fun.

Congrats to your son on his first coues. Very cool you guys did a father/son pack in hunt. Do you have any idea your load weight going in or out? That picture depicts you working pretty darn hard to pull this off.

I haven't posted my son's youth deer yet and my daughter has taken another one out of the general late November hunt. I decided to do a family post rather than two stories. As a family we have never done better than %50 success for deer and this year turned out to be very special for us. Along the way, I've met some great new friends and literally scouted my tail off with one of my new buddies Andrew. Helped him on a first for both of us, a pack in hunt which was an awesome experience. So far I've helped kill and pack out 7 coues deer this year and I've loved every second of it. Hopefully two more to go! There is no animal I'd rather hunt then our very own coues deer! I'm sure some of you will remember, but I'll start off with my best archery buck to date. I took this buck in January and I'm chopping on the bit for 2013 to come! Second is my son Dillon's first archery big game animal at age 13 taken in the August/September season. He also insisted on trying to hunt javi's in the Nov jr hunt with his bow. He came to full draw once and had pigs at less than 20 yards in the brush. I believe we have a bowhunter for life in my youngest son who has already said he'll be holding out for a 3 point next year. Anyone who hangs out with us knows this kid is so pact with personality, that he could give half of it away and would still be the center of attention in the room. D is hardcore, doesn't matter who as the tag, he'll always volunteer to help. If you told him you were gonna hunt grasshoppers with a blow gun, he'd jump on board. My boy D is gonna be posting up some big trophies in the years to come! D's first archery kill. Third is my 15 year old son Cody, he has been trying to take his first coues since he got his first deer at age 11 which was a big two point mule deer. He's been dragged to the top of the mountain many a times to get on a buck. We lost a big 90" in 2010 and he opted not to shoot another deer and finished that hunt still in search of his lost deer. This deer is so well deserved, I couldn't be happier for him. He has worked so hard soooo many times and although he has two bucks and cow elk to his credit, it seems now a days, he lacks the ambition to get up early and bust his tail on the hunt. I'm hoping this great buck will help add some enthusiasm back into hunting for him. He doesn't come out in the field much anymore and I miss those days when he was always in the truck. Last but certainly not least, my daughter Ashley has also harvested her first coues buck and Javelina this year. We've chased bucks year after year and it was always something. Amazing how these deer can vanish after an hour stalk up the steepest mountain we could find. She has sat blinds, treestands, spot and stalk with a bow and been on a good handful of rifle hunts in pursuit of the grey ghost. Luck was never on her side until now. All the close calls and hours of chase has led to the biggest buck to date a Leitner has taken. Ashley has set the bar high and the whole family is a bit jealous to say the least. She made a perfect shot at 320 yards after we waited over an hour for him to get up and step out. My buddy Nelson glassed this deer up a week earlier while we were in search of pigs to close out the youth hunt for my boys. We had planned on his wife hunting this deer and Ashley hunting another 90"plus deer we had also found the same weekend. The 90" buck was killed on Tuesday of the jr hunt and we needed a plan B. Nelson and his wife didn't find the big buck opening day and decided to go into a completely new area. Ashley only had Saturday morning to hunt, she had to be to work by one. She had taken the second weekend off for this hunt. Nelson suggested we go look for the big one and the rest is history. On Sunday, I got to help Nelson and his wife Erika take her first coues as well. My good friend John's daughter Tina took her first coues in the Oct jr Hunt. I was fortunate enough to be a part of this awesome day. I spent more time with Andrew in the field this year than anyone else. We probably glassed over 100 different bucks scouting and hunting this year. Here's Andrew's 2012 coues buck, he made a killer shot at 500 yards and the buck expired within feet of his bed. Andrew waited over an hour for him to stand up. We packed in over 4 hours in a large bowl for his early October hunt and saw tons of bucks. He put a stalk on a really nice one while we were in there, but the buck gave him the slip right when he was in range for a shot. We came out Sunday night and opted to hunt an area where we'd seen some good bucks. We found this buck in Velvet, it was one of many plan B bucks in case the backpack hunt didn't go as planned. On Sunday I was help to go out and help Andrew and his wife Erika on her hunt. Erika took this old buck on Sunday morning. We guessed him to be over 8 years old. He had no teeth, he was blind in one eye, his knees were all just scar tissue and he had a two inch curled up funky dew claw on a back leg. Erika's buck was definitely the oldest coues buck I've seen. Congrats to Erika on a fine first coues buck! I, we have been blessed this year. Spent time with old friends and new on almost all these hunts. To top this incredible year off, my smokin hot wife as finally showed an interest in more than cooking all these delicious animals we bring home to her. She is the proud possessor of her first big game tag and hunting license and we'll be chasing pigs in February with her favorite pistol! She is really interested in bears and lions, but no hound hunts. I put her in for spring bear and if she had drawn the tag, I was going to make lots of phone calls, cause I am NO bear hunter LOL. Maybe we will try an OTC bear hunt next year if her javelina hunt goes well.

Thanks for sharing these pics, they just can't be beat.

I have a 6 wheel ranger with about 315 hours, also a custom trailer designed for three quads or a ranger plus one quad. You can side load quads from either side front or back. I'd like to get $6000 for the package, if your interested I can send you pics.

You just can't go wrong with Ozzy bucks! Good times indeed, Congrats fellas

Looks awesome, glad you decided to fix that tine. He looks a little lonely up there. In less than a month you can go out and find him a friend.

Thanks for the kind words guys. My daughter works at Sportsmans and is enjoying her 5 minutes of fame for killing such a great buck. Ralph, burger sounds good to me! So how big was the monster you let get away?

Very cool, congrats to the ladies!

Great story Ilene! I'm glad you got a buck at the end of it all. I'll confess, elk hunting has done this to me as well. These tags are so hard to draw, anyone can fall victim to the numbers game. I hope you and Roger will look back at this years from now and laugh. Many good times to you and your hubby in the future. Congrats on a great buck.

That's a great deer! An amazing first deer for sure. Congrats to you Ashlynn! I'd like to see another angle on that buck if you have more pics.

Sounds like a lot of fun. My friends and I ran into some similar problems when boar hunting in Texas. They are definitely an animal that has to be quartering away or shot low through the leg under the shoulder into those oh so small vitals! I wish we would of done our homework on those critters before we went. Congrats on a neat trophy!