Ron G.

Darn, I was afraid of that... I'm at 3/4 of a tank and was planning on filling up there on my way up north this evening... Still will stick to that plan, but won't save the couple of bucks I was hoping. Amazing timing!

Both have advantages/disadvantages, but having said that a ground blind allows another person to be with you a little easier. They do get warm in the early season, especially if they are in direct sun. I was trying to decide last year whether to buy a ground blind or treestand. My dad and friends have tree stands I could borrow, and I have little kids I'd like to start bringing out with me, so it was a pretty easy decision to go with a ground blind. Safety played a big role in going with a blind also. I have had deer, elk, and a bobcat come VERY close to the blind without being spooked. Just make sure your window is open wide enough so the arrow won't catch on the bottom of it when a bobcat is less than 10 feet away... You can definitely get away with more movement in a ground blind if set up properly.

If you are going to leave your camera out for long periods of time make sure you select the setting that will give you the most allowable pictures (lowest resolution) and set the time between pictures to be fairly long, otherwise your battery could die before you get back up there and it would be sitting there dead for a week or two. In saying that, a rechargable battery and solar panel can come in very handy if you can't check your camera but every month or so... If it was an area I knew there were deer in and the camera was getting action, I'd leave the camera there until you harvest your deer (as long as it is well hidden and won't get stolen).

Thanks for the review Jim. I'll be adding this to my 'want' list, no make that my 'must have' list. Ron

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing them.

I've only had the Geovids for a few months now. I bought the 8x42 geovids to complement my Swaro 15x56's. I originally had Nikon Monarch 10x42's. I often found the 10x was too shaky for me, especially after hard hiking or getting buck fever. The shakiness was probably accentuated by the lightness of the monarchs. After doing a bunch of research and comparison shopping I decided on the 8x. So far, I am very happy with the 8x42 geovids. Only drawbacks is the range finder button is on the left side (makes it difficult to push while holding a bow in my left hand) and the size/weight. They are a bit heavier than my older Monarchs, but the same weight as my Monarchs and Bushnell rangefinder combined weight. There is a noticable improvement in optical quality over both the Monarch binos and my Bushnell rangefinder. If I only had 1 pair of binos, I would have probably gone with 10x geovids. So far, I haven't really missed the extra 2x, even on wide open javelina and bear hunts. For what I lose in magnification I gain in steadiness and FOV. I picked the Swaro 15x56's over the other 15's based off of other's feedback, how they felt, optical quality, and tripod adaptability. I originally looked at the geovid 15's and the Minox 15's, but felt uncomfortable with the tripod mount on the Geovids and didn't like the eyecups and weight of the Minox. I don't have a good spotting scope (yet), but plan on getting one that is lightweight and hopefully able to be used for digiscoping. For a rangefinder, I really like the one incorporated in the Geovid. I've gotten ranges of 1300+ yards.

Congrats on a nice bird! Good job!

I've put trail cams up over salt, and last fall was the first time I actually hunted over salt for archery deer. The problem with outlawing salt would be the time of how long you can hunt the area after it has been 'removed'. Salt soaks into the ground and deer tend to eat the dirt. It's not like regular bait that once it's gone it's gone. If the same 10 day rule applied for salt as for migratory game birds, then it wouldn't be an issue. Salt would still be in the ground even after the visible salt was removed 10 days prior... I heard this was coming in regards to bait, but heard salt would be excluded. Maybe it was just wishful thinking... If hunting over salt was illegal, I'd probably still put salt out as an attractant and to put trail cams over. Just wouldn't hunt the salt. Have done that for years already. What if you hunt along a trail leading to your salt 200 yds away from the salt? Is that still considered baiting???

Amazing! Thanks for sharing!

I sure hope some archery elk hunter doesn't screw up my archery deer hunt. Everyone knows the odds of harvesting an archery elk during the rut are much better than harvesting an archery deer in September... Everyone blowing on their bugles will probably screw up my chances at an archery turkey also! Seriously, even though I don't have an archery elk tag this year, it doesn't make much sense to me to have the seasons overlap. I honestly would rather not have the archery elk hunters out there while I'm after a buck with my bow. It's bad enough that opening weekend of archery deer season is Labor Day weekend... I also wouldn't want to be taking the chance of hurting someone else's elk hunt. If these dates end up staying, and I'm not helping someone out with an archery elk hunt, I'll probably head to Kaibab to deal with that circus instead of chasing deer in a unit with an elk hunt going on...

Here's my 2006 AZ mule deer. Ron

I agree! Leave it alone...

Is that the 4BN tag? I received a call yesterday that my name got pulled for that hunt. I think I'm going to turn it down. My thought was like yours in that it'd be like hunting along the Gila River by Arlington... Really thick with salt cedars. Timing is kind of bad to for me also... Ron

I have a pair of 8x42's I purchased in January. I got to try them out on some friends' pig hunts, but haven't had them very long. So far, I've been extremely pleased with them. I upgraded from Nikon Monarch 10x42's. I originally first looked at the 15x56's when I was researching 15's. The major drawback for me was I felt they weren't as stable when mounted on a tripod as compared to the center tripod mounted bino's. The thought of having a range finder on them seemed very handy. I liked the quality and idea of them so kept them in mind for around the neck bino's, which is why I purchased the 8x42's. Also, for bowhunting, I'd need to still carry another rangefinder for close up use when the 15's were packed away or not with me. As mentioned above, and probably not a big deal for you since you are interested in the 15x, but the range finder button is on the left side, which may be an issue for bowhunting. If I grip them just right I can push it with my right hand, but for a little while I might pack my compact range finder while bowhunting until I can convince myself under pressure that I can reliably work the rangefinder with my right hand only. It's very handy having the range finder incorporated into the binos and I've found it to be very handy so far. They are a little different to adjust to your eyes than most binos, so if you go to look through them somewhere, you may want to download the manual on them and see how to adjust them to your eyes. I've gotten ranges as far as ~1350 yards so far. No issue seeing the display at any time of the day I've used them so far. Optics are very crisp. There's an article on 24hourcampfire.com about 'Big Eyes'. They rate these (15x56 Geovids) as 2nd, only following the 15x56 Swaro's... I think the tripod adaptor method is the only thing that hurt them, if I remember right...

Here are two bulls that were hanging out together. Both have 'deformed' antlers, but I just realized that one is on the right side, and one on the left.

This one wasn't so much of a freak as a 'this had to hurt'! I found it this past Sept during archery elk season. The antler was still mostly covered in velvet and was really light. I have a couple of pics somewhere of a couple of elk in velvet that both have the same funky antler configuration. Must be genetic because both bulls in the pic had the same configuration. I'll see if I can find it...

Awesome buck! Thanks for sharing. Ron

Here's a few that I have handy that are my best memories of the 2006 season... From scouting this summer... Ron

Very nice! Congratulations on winning the tag and being able to put it on such a nice deer! Thanks for sharing the pictures and story! Ron

Great story and awesome pics of some great deer! Really like the way you set your pictures up so well. Those are all amazing deer and while it sounded like a rough hunt, it looks like everyone had a great time. Thanks for sharing the pictures and stories! Ron

The little dial or wheel in the middle of the grip is the tension adjuster. I usually keep mine pretty 'loose'. It could get tired if you hold it all the time, but I find it is not that difficult to pan with it, and only really need to squeeze the grip to move it vertically. There are pros and cons to the pistol grip and the fluid heads.

Congrats to Erik on his javelina and Greta on her trophy! Glad you were able to squeeze it all into one weekend. Ron

Congratulations!!!

Simply amazing!!! Congrats to the hunter!

Awesome job on the spot and stalk buck! Congrats on a job well done!