couesmagnet

Am i missing something here, what's this about? Am i missing something here also?

Congrats wingmaster on your tag. Although not known for producing lots of big bucks, unit 8 is a great hunt. I've logged in a lot of hours in unit 8 over the years, and i would like to help you. I pm'd you my phone number and will share everything i know for you, especially a few specific spots where there is almost always a low 80's buck. I had the tag in 2004 and killed a net 82.5, but had to look at over 50 bucks to see him. Call me.

What an awesome story!! Way to never give up. Congrats.

Awesome bucks good job!!!

I was hunting in new mexico in the early 2000's for elk and had a mom and 2 cubs come in from the other side of the waterhole. I had a archery bear tag in hand , but obviously wasn't going to shoot any of those bears. It didnt take 15 minutes until a giant 450 pound male black bear came in with his head to the ground right on the other bears scent trail. He came in smacking his teeth and huffing like crazy. Momma and the 2 cubs shifted to my side of the tank with mom sending her own insults back to the male on the other side of the waterhole. this male bear didn't look horny at all but looked like he wanted to take out the little guys instead. With mom less than 10 yards away i drew my bow and burried my arrow in the giant boar. the boar ended up having over a 21 inch skull and the same size body to boot. I have heard that male bears will kill cubs so that the female will come back into heat so he can breed her himself, and i think that picture is what's going on here also. Hope the little guy made it!!!

Awesome bucks, wish i could get one like that with my bow.

Heading out this morning to go on my first buffalo hunt. Going to the good ole kaibab. I dont have any idea what i'm doing, and don't know what to even look for. I hope my buddy who has the tag can teach this first time slow learner a few tricks. I love hunting, and so does everyone else on this site, so lets all try to enjoy it a little more next year together. I can't wait to learn a bunch more stuff from all you guys and your posts about your own hunts.

I think the far more disturbing trend on this site revolves around not being able to say your opinion without having to defend yourself against personal attacks. If a guy is for antler restrictions, he's selfish to some. If a guy is ok with higher tag prices, he's selfish to some. If a guy wants to shoot long range with his rifle, or hunt over bait with a bow, he's cheating to some. If a guy buys a gov. tag , he's cheating to some. If a guy hires a guide, he's cheating to some. If a guy wants to pass certain animals based on any criteria, he's being cocky. If a guy road hunts, or doesn't do some marathon hike from the truck, he's not trying hard enough. I know i'm missing several prime examples of other things that are bad to some, but i think you get the point. When will it be ok again to say what you feel or think, or hunt like you want too and it be ok. this whole post of the disturbing trends named in the original post is a perfect example of not being able to state your opinion. Why is this so disturbing, the only reason those opinions of others is disturbing is because you don't agree with their opinions and nothing more. are the people that had those opinions that disturbing, when they are just their opinions. What's more disturbing, having an opinion wrong or right, or not being able to have an opinion at all!!! Like i said just pay attention to your hunt and how you hunt and everyone else can take care of themselves. How simple is that.

Nice buck, especially with a recurve. I wish i had the juevos to even try hunting with a recurve. Awesome job.

what a giant ev, sickly long tines with mass to boot. Evan's six foot two and those horns make him look small. What a deal!!!

What people don't realize is that trophy hunters success rates in the field are way lower than a non trophy hunter. By letting go so many animals as the hunt goes on instead of harvesting one just to harvest one is allowing a whole bunch of animals to live another year. If most people think there's to many tags now, just try to imagine if there wasn't all those nasty trophy hunters around and everyone's gun was going off the first 2 days. Success rates on all hunts would shoot thru the roof and the g and f would have to do drastic tag reductions on all hunts to compensate for the "new " success rates without trophy hunters. All non trophy hunters would immediately see less game that fits their criteria, cause the 3 trophy hunters that would have normally "passed" on these animals shot them instead opening morning. When a trophy hunter sets a personal bench mark, that's a personal call made from within. I can't speak for other trophy hunters, but for me, trophy hunting allows me to spend more time in the field doing what i love,hunting. Instead of being done early in the hunt, and going home to unpack and take care of the meat, i get to stay longer and enjoy the forest for a couple days more and probably eat a large bowl of tag soup at the end. Remember by eating the tag soup, i have just increased the non trophy hunters odds of seeing an extra deer the next year..... I hope i can get to a day when i am passing 390 bulls and 120 inch coues deer personally, and eating tag soup almost every time i go. It's not about killing any deer of any size that makes a hunt fun or successful, it's the thrill of chase only for me. I can't tell you how many non trophy hunters walk into the field thinking they have to get a deer no matter what, so they can say they just got one to their friends. That's not hunting for yourself either. What's wrong with a guy having certain score benchmarks, and how is this affecting the next guy with lower or higher benchmarks. The answer is it isn't affecting either unless one of the 2 people is paying attention to the others hunt to much instead of his own. I've thought of giving up hunting a few times along the way, and just picking up a camera with crosshairs in the lens and a rangefinder built in. Until then i'll just keep raising the minimum scores i'm willing to shoot until it's pointless even carrying a rifle or having a tag...... In summary next time your in the field look around at the game your hunting and subtract at least 20 percent of it, with out trophy hunters being in the mix. Next time you look in the regs for how many tags are in your favorite unit, thank trophy hunters, cause with out them those tag numbers would be a lot lower... The real answer is to hunt for yourselves, and quit paying so much attention to other people's hunts. That's the real problem with what's happening on this site. Just hunt for yourselves, whether that's for a velvet spike or a 130 incher, who cares. The minute you start caring what everyone else is doing is when things tend to get weird. Hunt for yourself, shoot for yourself, and things will all work out.

Gotcoues, i really like that buck you posted, and thanks for a prime example. Becker very well said and i agree with drought not affecting coues deer that much. I also agree with the tag numbers being at least 25 percent to high in the southern units. Thanks for your reply, i like listening to what fellow hunters have to say.

Every 100 inch deer i see gets me excited, and looking at one is always a pleasure. Every 350ish bull also gets me cranked up like the 100 inch coues deer does. That being said i would almost always pass any bull under 365 or so, or any deer under 107. I say this cause we already have 10 or so deer sitting in the garage over 110 unmounted, and at least 5 bulls over 370 unmounted. I feel like we will never catch up on the taxidermy side of things, so why shoot anymore unless they are really really special. I would rather admire them in the binos, and dream about the next year hunting them. It's always a double edged sword with regards to harvesting any animal, cause watching them alive is half the fun!!! Now archery coues deer is a whole diff. story, cause i haven't been very successful at it yet.

What a dandy ev, but big mexico bucks belong in the hunting mexico section.

Let me rephrase the question. All things being equal (water ,feed,ect) from one year to the next, do you guys think that if allowed to mature very many bucks would even have a chance of going beyond 110. I've stood with to many people looking at low 100's deer, and we all seem to think that these low 100 inch deer are going to get bigger the next year. My answer as of late is probably not. I think a lot of the deer all of us are looking at that are over a 100 , are going to stay right there over their whole lives. Very few deer we see that are over a 100 will ever get bigger than 110.

I did give what i thought, but what do you think the percentage is? The question is what percentage of bucks do you think will eventually go over 110.

Jim, well put with regards to spending money on so many other things having to do with the outdoors that the tag increases aren't the end of the world. It's nice that everyone has been able to state their opinions in the final stages of this post. I was waiting for certain arm chair warriors to chime in with stuff that has nothing to do with anything but grabbing the arm chair to hard all day with a computer in their hand. Also I noticed all the wonderful awe inspiring advice has ceased to come in from a few. I woke up worried that I might not make it thru the day today without some advice from a certain few. Could it be true they woke up on the right side of the bed this morning. Lol

New mexico does have a stratified structure on their fees. They have 3 diff fee structures. Standard, quality, and quality high demand. I wasn't refering to weeding out anyone based on economic class at all .what I'm talking about is weeding out all the applicants that are in the game not really to hunt. Many diff people put in many other people some of which don't even really care to go hunting in the first place, like uncle bobs 3rd cousin. Uncle bobs third cousin could really care less about hunting but because someone in his famiily occasionally goes ,they tell him to put in also. Also the are many people that put in several of their friends and family each year who normally dont or might not ever go hunt so they can build a reserve of bonus points to tap into in the future and higher prices could weed out some of that. There are several diff classes of people that the higher charges could weed out and non of it has to do with economic status in any way shape or form. If you can't handle a increase then how the heck can you even pay for the gas to go hunting in the first place. Relax everything is going to be ok everyone, and yes I do hope they raise fees and yes I hope it weeds out some people indeed . There is a lot of people out there hunting that really aren't there for themselves but got talked into it or were just thrown on a tag app. Theses are the ones that might not want to pay more anymore just to have a tag for some reason when they didn't really want one in the first place.

+1 I thought the exact same thing! . I thought the same thing also,wow that feels better.plus two hundred..everything is so much better now .thanks fellas just awesome advice

Posting from the my barely alive phone is diff at best so forgive the mistakes please.

I thank all of you for your responces even the lame ones. I appreciate the advice from people who know nothing of my situation. I've made my dad close to a hundred thousand dollars this year from several diff investments so again thanks for all the. Advice about priorities and all. Hunting has almost always come first to me and I will admit it has been a distraction at best at times. I live with my dad for several reasons and one was to pay down some student loan debt and to get back on my feet again. Its been a pleasure to live with him seeing he is the most awesome dad I could have ever asked for at every level and he is my best friend.if spending time with him at the age of 42 is to be looked at in a negative way then so be it but I think I'm lucky for it.hunting is my number one passion. And it is very high on the priorities list and I'm dam proud of it. It won't be long till I'm out of dads and making some good dough myself along with continueing to make my awesome dad even more money. Again thanks for all the attempted life leasons some offered. Anymore advise from from the perfect few?

I am all for kids having their tags prices dropped or reduced from current prices to being free. It's not about being selfish at all, but a a matter of numbers of applicants. I appreciate all the attacks for stating that i was ok with tag prices going up and for what reasons, and i'm sorry that you feel that angry with my opinion. Personally i would sell just about anything i have which is very little, to go elk hunting in our awesome state, so with that mentality some might understand where i was coming from with my opinion. I might live in scottsdale, but that's only thanks to my dad, cause i live with him after losing my house. Can anyone even try to imagine how brutal these web sites will be in under 2 years at the astronomical rate of increase of lameness that comes from stating your opinion to any post. Holy smokes , grab the oh sh't handle we're going in to the ditch clyde!!!

I put in all over the west each year just wishing to get drawn anywhere i can. In new mexico for instance i put close to 800 dollars on the line each year to get drawn for elk. I consider paying anything under 500 a real bargain to go elk hunting in any state including mine, and i hope that the tag price increases will decrease the number of applicants. I don't have a lot of money either so this isn't some kind of rich guy poor guy thing, so i hope this doesn't get twisted around on me by someone else. It's to hard to get drawn as it is , so higher prices tend to weed out some people from putting in including their grandmother's second cousin who married uncle bart so they can go for a couple of days. I hope there is a tag price increase every other year or so, just to curb the numbers off applicants if anything.

I almost forgot, i went to my second ever D backs game on friday night. Right in line with the third base, and 9 rows up. What a nice stadium!!! Had my eye on a couple of those 12 dollar beers, but couldn't get myself to fork over the dough. I would have thought i was at a bon jovi concert from the old days with all the pretty ladies around. Kind of made it tough watching em all with all the foul balls flying around. What a spectacle!!!

It's sad it always comes down to this. Just having an opinion is never good enough.