thegunsmith2506

I have never been a trophy hunter, and after watching over 30 quads and trucks buzz by my camp opening morning, I decided to shoot the first buck I could. Just after daylight I glassed up 4 bucks and one doe heading to water. I had to move quick to cut them off, so I bailed off my perch and headed down the trail. I started glassing the brush ahead of me as I got close to the water and soon spotted all 5 deer feeding in the open. I crouched down and pulled out my shooting sticks. When the deer had their heads down I stood up and put the rifle on the sticks. All the bucks looked to be about the same size. When the closest buck turned broadside I touched off the .243 Ackley. He was hit good but stayed on his feet, so I hit him one more time. Both shots were right behind the shoulder at 212yds. I had him skinned and in the ice chest in camp by 9am. The wife came up Friday night and we hunted for a few days trying to get her a buck. We were into deer everyday, but she could never connect. I only saw one good buck on the hunt, and it was just too dark for her to try and shoot. Talked to a lot of hunters that never saw a deer, so I was glad I took the shot I had. Here are a few pics.

I bet he voted for obama

Yup.. you said it

lol I am a sucker for the Ackley. I need to get around to making the 25-06 an Ackley. That would make a great Coues round.

We will be in the Northern half of the unit also.

Hey Blake , My wife and I will be out hunting fri-tues next week. We haven't been out scouting too much, but we did glass up a few last weekend. I will be out this weekend too tryin to find a few more. We are going to be camping up there for the next 2 weekends. We will be on a polaris 500 Mossy Oak edition, or in a Black 06 Chevy, both have CW stickers. If you see us stop by and say hi.

Picked up the cams today and here are a few of the pics we got. We had a few more of the big bull but I erased them by accident. I hope he made it through the archery hunt. The last pic we have of him was last weekend. Even with the rut starting it seems the bulls are still staying in the same spot. I just hope they stay till November.

Any of you guys wanna share some of your video? We would love to see it.

That was a heck of a fight!

Thanks for sharing! Those are some huge rubs!

I figured if the right side was as good as the left he would go higer. He has great mass and really long fronts, but I can't score elk very well at all so im not sure. We really don't care what he scores, he is a great lookin old bull.

Here is a set I am selling on ebay if anyone is interested. http://cgi.ebay.com/Pentax-PCF-16x60-Binoc...id=p3286.c0.m14

Looks like he has a wound on his shoulder?

Here are a few pics from the last week. I was surprised to see the Coues Deer, and was shocked by all the bulls we have in the same spot. All of our cameras are within 100yds of each other. This was our first time out with the new Cabelas camera. I was really happy with it for $89.00. It work a lot better than the Wildviews. http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii101/thegunsmith2506/MDGC0027.jpg[/img]

I spent several hours today looking for a mid-priced pair of binos. I was amazed at the Bruntons! I thought they were a great buy for the money. Just my opinion.

While the wife and I were on our way home from scouting today, we passed a CW sticker on a white jeep. I stopped and introduced myself. It was DBARCHER. We chatted for a few minutes and he offered a few tips on where to find some elk. It was cool to meet another member.Thanks!!

Went out to scout for thr wifes elk hunt today. We have had the cams out for 3 weeks. I need to learn how to set the cameras up a little better, but we got a few good ones. We wouldn't have got the pictures of the bull, but a bear turned our camera almost 90deg. Here are a few I thought I would share. Some you have to look at a little while to figure them out. Saw lots of bear sign, can't wait till the season starts in a few weeks!

Silver Lifted Dodge at the Cheveron in Cordes Jct. at 5:30pm today.

The wife and I went out and pulled all but 1 cam untill archery season ends. The one camera we left is in front of the pop up blind I will be sitting come Friday morning. Its a long hike back in there, but we are seeing lots of bear sign, so I hope its worth it. We only left the cams out for 1 week this time so we don't have a lot of pics, but at least we still have a few elk. This week we had elk, deer, coyotes, javalina, and a racoon all at the same spot.

Looks like Deer Creek to me. I love that area. Lots of good deer.

I know of a nice 6X bull taken out of 6A yesterday. That is the only one I have heard of.

She has the Nov. rifle tag. It will be a lot of work trying to keep tabs on this guy till then.

I was worried about 1 of the cameras. We had one set on a water tank but I had it way up in the tree looking down. There was a lot of traffic in that area, but nobody messed with it. The camera with the bull on it is a good 2 mile hike from the closest quad trail, so I wasn't too worried about that one. I have had them stolen before, so now I am very picky about where I place them.

I haven't posted much on this site, but I have been "registered reader" for a few years now. I was lucky enough to draw a Unit 32 December tag this year, and I don't know where to hunt. I was hoping you guys might help me out a little. I am looking at 2 different areas to do a backpack hunt. I have hunted in the Winchesters several times for different game, and have taken 2 small Coues out of there in the past few years. I usually hunt the southern end of the range, but for this hunt I was looking into hunting north of Riely Canyon. I have hunted my usualy spots in the December archery season but I have never seen a nice Coues buck. I am not looking for a monster, but I would like to tag a good buck. The other area I am looking at is the Galiuro Wilderness. I have never hunted in there, but I have hunted China Peak a couple of times. Do these areas get a lot of pressure during the December hunt? I am looking for any info or advice on hunting these or any other areas in December. I will be packing in to do some scouting the end of September. Will the deer change location much between then and my hunt? We like to pack in for 3-5 days at a time, but can go longer if needed. Any help would be great. Thanks!