BML

He will get a check for $250.

How in the world did they catch them just from knowing the carcass was there?? Good job reporting it and kudos to the GFD for following up.

Anyone who knows the real Romulus and Jonas knows how to have a good time!!!! Talk about hilarity! Congrats on a nice deer and a fun hunt.

Sweet bucks!! Looks like some gnarly coues country. Congrats.

My season this year was FULL of mistakes!! It's a year I won't soon forget. On my archery antelope hunt, I rushed a shot on an 83 or so inch buck twice and missed him both times. Earlier in the hunt, I had a low 70's buck at 30 yards. He never knew I was there. I drew, took plenty of time to aim, shot and missed him completely. Have no idea what I did, but I missed. Next was the archery deer hunt. I had two upper 90's coues bucks patterned pretty well and was sure I would get a shot at one of them. I sat in my blind from dawn to dark the first two days of the hunt and nothing. I was so wiped out from hunting the 7 straight days prior on my antelope hunt that I decided to take Sunday off to refresh my body and my psyche. Went back on Monday, checked my camera and the two bucks were there all morning long the day I took off!! Should have sucked it up and gone hunting Sunday too. On to the rifle coues deer hunt. Made mile long stalk through some nasty canyon country on a great buck only to come out on top of him, instead of in front of him. Didn't see him until it was too late. Hurried a shot as he was getting ready to leave the country and hit a branch from the cedar tree he was standing behind. Even with all these things that I did wrong this year, I still consider my entire season a success. Mistakes like these sometimes just have to happen to keep me in check and help me continue to learn how to be a better hunter.

Might be forced into buying (yes forced, long story) a 2008 4.8L Silverado 1500 4x4 soon and I am looking for some real world input on fuel economy. EPA estimates are 14 city and 18 HWY but those usually just get you close. Also, this truck has a 6 inch lift with big tires (not sure what size yet) and I would like to know how much that is going to hurt the fuel economy. Anyway, if anyone has this motor in their truck can you please let me know what kind of mileage you are getting. If you have one with a lift, even better. Thanks

Thanks guys.

Same thing happened to my brother a couple years ago. He has a ton of bonus points for antelope and decided to go for an archery tag. He was nearly guaranteed a tag with the points he had. My dad filled out his app and shorted the check by .25. He was obviously rejected and he did lose his loyalty point. I joke around with him and tell him that's what he gets for not paying for his own tags!!

Those are pretty cool. Thanks for sharing.

I'm sure it's just the camera angle, but the facial features make him look pissed off!! Great buck!!

WOW!! Year after year you guys put some monsters on the ground. Congrats to you and all your hunters.

Nice bucks!! I see you are from Dewey. I live in Prescott Valley. If all those bucks are from around here, you guys really know what you are doing. Shoot me an email if you ever want to get together and talk hunting. coues09@gmail.com Congrats to all the hunters on some great bucks.

That's a great buck in any unit, but a monster for 20A. Congrats to your gramps!!

You guys are all making me jealous!

Is that the one with the crazy mass? I have that picture as well. Awesome buck!!

My now ex wife's cat loved to urinate on my backpacsk when he got into the garage. To this day, I still have no idea why, but whenever he got in there, he went right to them and did his business. After the second time, I had to start putting all my hunting gear inside cabinets, but occasionally I would get busy and forget to put all my stuff away in between hunts. To get the smell out, I usually had to wash it with scent killer detergent a few times and let it air dry each time. Then I also had to store it outside for up to a week each time. Eventually the smell would just go away.

Awesome bucks man! Is those some sort of food plost you planted? Interesting how green they are and they seem to have borders where the growth just stops. Thanks for sharing the pics.

Thanks for the comments! Almost made it 3 for 4 this evening, but it just didn't work out.

It was a tough hunt this year with the weather, but we managed to find a few deer. My hunt was a bit of a mixed emotion hunt. I took my 4 year old daughter on her first hunt and really didn't know what to expect, other than to not get much hunting in! Even still, I knew the experience would be an awesome one. My daughter goes with me on all my scouting trips so I knew it was time for her first hunt. We also had JT, great young man in camp for his very first deer hunt. His parents are very good friends of mine and I promised him and his dad last year that I would take him on his first deer hunt if he put in for the tag. I was a little worried that I had my daughter in camp and wouldn't be able to really show him a good hunting experience, but I also knew that my dad and brother would help as well. This kid is only 14 but he is well liked and well respected among my family. Late morning of day one, my daughter and I rolled into camp. We unpacked some gear, jumped in the rhino and headed over to a nice canyon that I knew would just be a short hike to get to a good glassing spot. We glassed about 30 minutes or so before the "I'm bored", "I'm cold" and "Daddy I have to pee really bad!" started. :lol: I was able to get another 20 minutes out of her and started packing up. One last quick check revealed 2 does that appeared out of nowhere, as coues usually do. I unpacked the 15's and the tripod and set them up. I told my daughter Ryanne she better give it one more look in case a deer just woke up from it's nap. She looked up through the binos and snapped her head over to me and in her loudest "quiet voice" said "Daddy there's a deer!!!" "No way!" I whispered back to her. She looked again and said "There's two deer!!" What an incredible experience that was. I was the proudest man alive at that point!! Shortly after that, it started to sprinkle on us so we hit the road. Unfortunately, we didn't make it far and the skies opened up. Even with the roof on the rhino, we were soaked and freezing by the time we made it back to camp. She never complained a bit the whole way, but she was unable to make it to the trailer where there toilet was! :lol: "Oh well" I told her. "At least you were warmer than I was on the way back to camp"!! My dad and brother showed up after we did, and about an hour later JT's dad dropped him off at camp. We hung out for a couple hours until the rain broke and we were off again. My dad stayed in camp with Ryanne so my brother and I could take JT out. We went back to the same canyon Ryanne and I saw the does. We glassed for a few hours before decided to call in a night. Just as we stood up, a spike blew out of a little cheater canyon to our left. JT got set up but we couldn't get the buck to stop. Finally, he stopped but the angle wasn't good. JT let one go anyway, but it was a clean miss. Day 2 was awesome. My dad headed out alone and my brother Charlie took JT with him. I waited for Ryanne to get up. We had breakfast and decided to jump in the truck and do some driving and glassing. A couple hours later, I was surprised to glass up my brother and JT a ways off. They must have seen me coming because both of them were waiving me over. I parked, grabbed Ryanne and we hiked all the way over to him. My brother said he had just shot a deer. He knocked it off his feet, but it still managed to get up and move to the other side of a big cedar. JT couldn't get a shot. He was bummed, but he knows that it just happens that way sometimes. So Ryanne and I set up the binos and watched them head over. Out of the blue another shot rings out and I hear my brother yell out that he's down. Yet another hike with Ryanne on my back and we were all there celebrating my brother's biggest coues to date. My brother: JT, Ryanne and me Last night produced nothing but high winds and chapped lips! haha This morning we had hope that we would get JT on a buck before we had to go home. My brother stayed in camp with Ryanne and my dad and I took JT to an area we had seen some smaller bucks in the past. As hunting goes, we never saw a deer. We headed back to camp, had breakfast and started packing up. My brother then said "We aren't done until JT get's his deer!" Charlie said he could stay through tomorrow to help him. A quick phone call to JT's dad to get the OK and then another phone call to JT's boss(yes the young man is already working) and with two "Go for it's" Charlie and JT left again. Unfortunately, my dad and I had to go home. At around 3:00 my brother called to say that he had done it!! The wind was howling like crazy so my brother tried to find a good canyon with a thick brushy bottom. He found one and after an hour or so of glassing two little bucks came busting out of the bottom. They were winded!! My brother said it all happened so fast. He was able to get them to stop some how, said "250" to JT for the yardage and "BOOM". The buck went 10 yards and piled up!! It all came together and we all couldn't be happier. I am just bummed I couldn't be there. JT Thanks for reading my usual long winded story. Sorry about the pictures. They are all cell phone pics. I don't have any from the cameras yet.

Man that really sucks. They obviously wanted that thing bad!! As far as the bolts go, I know of a FS guy in unit 8 who wrote tickets to hunters during the archery deer season this year for those screw in steps. He actually hid near the stands until the hunters showed up. After confirming ownership of the stands, he wrote a ticket for EACH STEP that was screwed into the tree. He did it to several different hunters too. He was obviously trying to prove a point. I don't use lag bolts or boxes, but I do use big heavy chains. It's a lot more weight to carry around, but I have yet to lose a camera, knock on wood.. They can still be stolen, but so far I have been lucky.

Good shootin' Kade!! Congrats on your first big game animal. There will be lots more for sure. Tim, You should have told everyone about the hike involved with those pigs. I am pretty sure after that day I had a great idea of what sheep hunting is like!! :lol:

Absolutely awesome man!! Congrats to Greta and the 3 other kids in camp. I have 6 more years to wait until my daughter has her own tag. I can't wait.

I have that same stove and it's awesome!! Figured I would throw that out there for a little plug.

Very cool! Congrats to your son. The smiles tell it all!

Well I have decided that I am going to take my 4 year old daughter on my deer hunt in a few weeks. She has been going with me on all my scouting trips all summer and she really has fun. Not exactly sure how I am going to hunt since I know her patience level will be very low! I might try some glassing early morning until she gets bored and then maybe take a break for a while and go sit in a blind on a trail or water for a while in the afternoons/evenings. I will more than likely bring some toys for her or maybe even bring a mini dvd player and let her watch a movie if she wants to, even though she's not really big on TV. I will basically let her dictate how things go. I am actually pretty excited about taking her. I know I probably won't kill one, but who cares. I have a daughter who loves to go into the woods with me. What more could any dad ask for!!