AZcoues_addict

Awesome buck, congratulations! Thanks for sharing the pics, I really like that first one where you're admiring your buck, good stuff! It's better when it happens so fast, I know I've blown way too many chances where I've had too much time!

Awesome buck, and with a bow, I'm totally jealous! I've hunted that unit a few times, and the hills in the background look very familar? Anyway, congrats again on an awesome trophy buck!

I think its a bad idea to have an elected commissioner, it would have to be voted on by ONLY hunters and outdoorsmen, and then its still a debate if all of those who call themselves by this name really are or not! Hawkeye, how many BPs do you have for antelope? You got me thinking, I should have 10 for Elk, maybe we can work something out? Anyone else interested?

Wow, that's an awesome buck! Congrats, lucky is for sure! Thanks for sharing the pics of a true trophy.

Really wide and tall, impressive! Great buck, congratulations and thanks for sharing!

Wow, that's an absolute amazing buck and story! Persistence pays off, congrats and thanks for sharing!

I think he's just short of 110" gross. Shoot him and tell us the score!

I picked up two of the Moultrie 4.1 enhanced Outfitter cams at Cabelas that were advertised for $99 a couple weeks ago. I had over 600 pics on one, and 450 on another both in a one week time span, and the 6v batteries were fine so I left them out for another week after changing the sd cards out. Darn quail and doves set the thing off like crazy! I think its not only how many pics, but how long the cam is left turned on and sensing. I feel that both play a factor, so the # of pics is not a true indication of battery life. I'll let you know how many pics I get before I have to charge the battery. Hope this helps.

Wow, mass, tine length, points, unique = totally awesome buck! He'll make a beautiful mount, congratulations and thanks for sharing the story and pics!

Awesome buck with definite unique character! Congrats again on a job well done, scouting and all, and thanks for sharing!

I noticed fewer deer as well and I think the heards are way down in numbers, as well as the buck to doe ratio! We still saw quite a few whitetail bucks being shot during the Oct hunt from one area, but nothing to really brag about, mostly small bucks and a few 3 points. Lots of hunters in a few areas, that's the one bad part about public access in this unit. As far as the lions go, one person shot a lion, and I heard of three mature lions photographed at the same time on the same tank (trail cam). I hope someone seriously runs some dogs in there to thin out the cats! In the last 3-4 years I haven't even seen a muley buck up high in the mountains like I used to, I think the combined drought and predators have cut the heards way down in number, as well as pushed the mule deer down to the flats. However, in the last few years we've spotted lions up in trees down on the mesquite flats in the thick washes too, so I think the lions are adjusting their hunting tactics more to follow the deer heards. IMO - This unit definitely needs a new plan of action by the Dept., you can't simply rely on deer population numbers to stay stable with such limited access. Not only is the deer population hard to control with such limited access, but the predator #'s as well. If the deer are concentrating near the public access one year, they seem to get shot up; while in other years they are concentrated in isolated areas and very few deer are harvested. This has to do specifically with the feed and water in dry years, and where the deer are foces to congregate. Also, I think currently less often ranchers are taking care of predators, mainly due to a shift in diet - less cattle, more deer! Of course this is all just my opinion and what I've observed over my 15 years hunting this unit, which my family has hunted for over 30.

Very nice bucks! Congrats and thanks for sharing the pics!

Illegals is scarier IMO hands down. With lions its scary but exciting, you can shoot them if you have a tag and they get to close. But with illegals, it's an ucomfortable feeling, especially when you've spotted illegals EVERY day during a hunt, it makes you feel uneasy and there's nothing you can do but report it. Not only that they are coming across so easily, but where the illegals are, the drug smugglers or coyotes are there too! Once, my uncle even spotted drug smugglers in the a canyon we hunt often with 100+ lb packs on their backs, all hiking in a line, and the men in the front and rear of the line had automatic weapons! Now that's scary, can you say its time to lie down and hide!

I used a .243 on my first javelina and after the 1st was out of the way, I decided no more gun! Now I use a 100 grain G5 montec broadhead, on the front of a 29 inch carbon express 300 arrow ! I personally think 30 cal is overkill, but if its the best or only rifle I owned, then I'd use it and not worry about it.

Wow, great buck! Amazing story and glad to hear you finally got a trophy class buck and he was still in good shape. I would have headed across the canyon with my headlamp and gutted and hung him right there or boned him out, you must have more patience than me to wait till the morning ! Thanks for sharing. Do you have any more pics of the rack, he's wide and tall but its a little difficult to see his antlers' details? If so, thanks, it will help me to get my antler addiction satisfied !

Awesome trip, with some of the best pictures of any post I've seen lately! Thanks so much for sharing and posting. I need to get some cash saved for a trip like that someday, its on my long-term to do list.

Awesome buck, I love the forks and mass. Trophy buck if you ask me! Congrats and thanks for sharing!

Great desert mule deer! All the hard work paid off, congratulations and very nice buck! mattewp45 you have a PM. Jason

Nice buck, job well done, congrats and thanks for the pics. To see 4 lions together is absolutely amazing! I heard of someone catching 3 mature lions all together on a trail cam at water in one of my hunting areas. Crazy to see them all together like that and hunting together too??? To draw on the pics, right click on the pic, go to open with, and open the file in paint or an equivalent image editing program. Once the pic is opened in paint, go to save as and save the file as a new document name so you don't overwrite the original pic! Click on the lines, thickness tool, and color and draw on the pic. If you mess up drawing the lines, immediately go to edit, undo.

Great buck, congratulations and thansk for sharing. I had him near 92+ spread 12 2/8 G1 3 1/8*2 G2 3 6/8 *2 G3 4 7/8 *2 Beam 14 6/8 *2 H1 3 7/8 *2 H2 3 4/8 *2 H3 3 3/8 *2 H4 2 7/8

Great job, awesome pics, congratulations! Thanks for sharing. By the way, what type of muzzleloader is that you're using/borrowed?

Wow, ride rack is for sure. Very nice, thanks for sharing.

Very nice buck indeed! Congrats to the hunter and thanks for sharing all the pics.

Monster dream buck for sure! Thanks for sharing!

First, great post, I love reading it. Very good comments so far! I agree with most of the difference people are noticing but also once the shooting starts, look in the most secluded or least pressured areas. These areas are sometimes the most overlooked, especially because they might not look like the best whitetail areas. Example, we were hunting a popular mountain, which everyone was hunting up high due to the cover and vegetation. On the third day of the hunt the deer had all been chased hard and I'd come to find one of the largest (solo) bucks down off the mountain in muley open-country with no whitetail hunters around! It was in Nov., so the temp. might not have been as much of a factor for him to drop into low country. Also, the largest bucks I've located are usually solo in both Oct & Nov, while the decent 85-90 inch bucks will still be bachelored up or even occassionally with does.