Coues 'n' Sheep

The accorn crop is really good... should be lots of bears up high this year. I am going to miss opening weekend.... so all you trigger happy guys don't shoot little bears!!!! They might be sows!!!! I sure hope I get a whack at the bear I found last week.... he would make a great bow-kill bear! Best of luck to you all!!

That bull is what dreams are made of...... We have all wished for a critter like that to walk past us while we had a tag in our pockets!!! I sure wish I had the 2008 raffle tag in my pocket, knowing that Matt & Jimmy have another toad just waiting to take a dirt nap!!!! I'd be going to the bank for a loan to pay those boys some coin for a hunt!!!! It is a "Once in a Lifetime" tag.... those boys would already have my check!!!!! Congrats again guys!

Yes, I know what it looks like.... ...... Looks like a TOAD!!!!!

You too! She's taken! I think you two should never go back to that unit again.... it sounds too dangerous..... You should leave that kind of big game hunting to professionals.... Like Casey and Chrissy!!!!! I would recomend unit 41 as a better/safer place to hunt!

As always...... Thanks Amanda! Loved all the live and trophy photos it really got me and my wife pumped up for the fall... even though our house was once again Skunked by the Drawing Gods.... PS..... I would vote for more up beat tune-age..... AKA, music with a beat! I felt like I was at a funeral for the first half of the video..... Sure loved all those coues pics!!!! Thanks again!

HaHaHa!!!! No pics tonight.... Those fart smellers are sound asleep in there Butlerbags in land of giant bulls! You all will have to wait another 20 hours..... But while your waiting.... try to imagine what 76 inches of mass look like!

All I can say is the bull is a PIG.... an absolute Dandy bull.... amazing! I spent hours on the phone with Jim yesterday evening and got the play by play as the deal went down! What an amazing hunt over the last 3-4 days! The hunter is a better man than me to have passed up the 400 incher's to get this guy... nerves of steel. A huge shout out to Matt for his hard work and dedication to this one hunt... a true hunt of a lifetime!!!! Jimmy and Matt have busted their A$$es this summer using only cameras, optics, feet and hard work to find these monsters!! A true monster taken with perfect ethics is far more rewarding than how many of these monsters are "found" today! Congrats to Mullin's Outfitters!!! Oh and the wait for the pics will be worth it!!!!!! Jim will not make you all wait too long for them, I am sure! The bull is a typical 6x6 scoring in the 425"-430" range..... Can you say........ Grunt!

I often wonder how many redundant retail stores say open..... It is sad to see a SW close... that is the one SW store I had never been to.

ha ha ha I have not been on here much cuz it is summer time and the days are long..... and lots of work to be done. .....But, I got frickin' phone calls about this thread in the late afternoon, cuz many that know me have benifited from the"gutless method".... and I won't do it any other way, if possible. Not only is it cleaner for the meat, but it is cleaner for the hunters too. It may occur to us down here where our worst Preditor is a Mtn. Lion, but go hunting up North in Griz country and you DO NOT want to be bloody up to your elbows! I learned the method some years back from my good friend & hunting partner, Lee. It makes in field processing a breeze! He and I did a very large bodied bull gutless in 5B a couple of years back that netted 286 lbs of boned out meat on the scales at Casey's when we got there. I am pretty sure we did not waste any... ...that pile of bones had more white showing than red when we walked away packing just meat cape and horns ...and the meat was cleaner than 99% of the meat that comes out of the woods! You use the animal as a barrier to the ground..... Most animals are laying on their side any how, so you simply split the hide from tail to scull plate, down the spine. Peal the hide toward the belly, and when you run out of room to work start your cape cut at mid-body (if lifesize caping no cut!). The back half of the hide can be hacked as needed to get the job done, but you have to be patient up front. (Learning where and how to cut quarters off a carcass is something every hunter should have to learn before getting a tag IMO, because that is how meat gets waisted!) Skin off the the rear and front quarters, hang in tree or lay on a shaded rock. Then starting at the pelvis startworking the backstrap off toward the front. I like to take the entire backstrap and the entire neck"filet" (all neck meat) off in one chunk if I have some one to hold it up for me..... If not, it will be two chunks. Some critters have more meat on the ribs than others, but a good "rib role" will net some great burger, and if done right will get as much meat as any bucher can get off that cage. Last, but not least, Tenderloins!!!!!! They are hidden right under the "short ribs" and it is always hard to do the first one every year.... but a short paring knife works great on this task. Once ALL the meat you can salvage is off the side facing the sky, it is time to turn it over and repeat the process! The only thing that does often get a bit messy in this is the cape... but they wash. Oh, and that is why I most likely would not recomend trying this for the first time on a speed goat. Once all 4 quarters are hung to cool you can start loading packs with the coolest deboned meat first. We use heavy garbage bags for pack liners and then transfer the meat to gamebags as soon as we get to the wheelers. I bone the the quarters as they hang in one chunk and drop them right into a pack (a front and a back quarter, boned out is about a pack full and a fair load for most guys). With cape, horns, and boned out meat you are still looking at a one trip out with 4 guys ( but, 3 Bad A$$es can do it in one trip).... without the cape, 3 guys=one trip is no brainer. I have used this on coues & sheep (no pun intended) 2 ways.... with help or close to a vehicle, leave bone in on the quarters just bone out the torso..... and/or..... if alone packing or way out there, do it just like an elk and spare the space and weight. Every pound counts on a long walk. I totaly agree with Troy on the concept that meat processers hate boned meat because they are not getting paid for the weight of the bones. For the guys that do their own processing..... you are half done before you even get it out of the woods and it cools out faster without the bone in the middle. And for all you guys that Never get more than a 1/2 mile from the truck.... we still do elk that you can drive to (trophy elk as TJ says), gutless with bone in quarters and bone out the torso..... ..... a little something for everyone! It is a no brainer... learn it, use it, benifit from it! It is Way easier once you have been shown or done it with someone else... just like everything, there is a right and a wrong way to do it.... don't be a nay sayer if you have not seen it properly done. Good luck on the draw results... hope you all get your first choice! ..... except for those that might have put in for the same units we did!!!!

LMAO!!!! I'll second that! Happy late B-day! Oh and as for Lark and the cake............ Bah Hahahahahahah!!!!! You Desert Rats sure know how to party! You're gunna need that Banjo! Hahahaha!!!! HaHa! Happy Brithday, Waterboy!!!

Well, some family duties are going to keep me from being there Friday and Sunday.... But I am gunna try to make it up there with Extreme Coues on Saturday if I can. If not, I hope you all have a great time.

Way to go Briggs!

Sorry about your Pal. We have buried two of ours in the last 3 years.... it is way hard to let them go. It amazes me that people think we are cold blooded killers.... and yet we go to pieces over our dogs.

We will be there if my schedule holds up... I'll know more in a week.

I agree with you Mark.... The cards create false data. That data has hurt bow hunters.

Helluva rack! Regardless of what it is..... I have to agree that it is a mulie...... but I also think it could be a coues.... Kinda odd that it got posted without permission!

That is a helluva buck, Dan! Thanks again for sharing him with us all. I feel very fortunate to have held more racks over 120" than I can count on both hands, and a few of them were over that 130" mark..... it is truely humbling. I know one thing...... When you do glass or see a true monster (over 120") if you don't start trembling all over you don't know what your lookin' at!!! Cuz, I go to peices, shakin'! I Love Big Racks!!!!!

18 years........ that should put you at max BPs!!!! Good luck on the draw! My Bro-in-Law has Max BPs for Sheep and he does not have his Desert yet..... I think this might be his year! I hope! I am up to like 8-9 for BPs toward my Rocky.......and Prayin' like a MoFo!!!!

I'd love to have the VX2100... but not in the budget for me right now..... BTW..... Congrats on your article in Huntn' Fool! Great story and a great buck, too! It was cool to read about people that you know of in a national magazine. I was glad that they used a small blurry picture of me in Eric's article.... a large pic of my mug in there would have ruined the whole dang magazine!!!! Anyhow..... Congrats.

You might want to point out to your grandpa, that 46a is a young man's game..... that is one of, if not the toughest hunts in the state. Just an FYI..... if he knows what he is up against then, good for him, and good luck.... but putting in for that should not be done without some fore-thought... just my $0.02....... Um.... and you all you Rocky guys.....there are no more rocky rams left in AZ!!!!! ...... And a new state record was killed out of Foote Cr. last year.... in case you did not know that! They already promised me a Rocky tag.... but are having a hard time getting it to me.....

Try shooting at a smaller traget. I like to make dime sized dots on the target bag and shoot at those... it makes me concentrait more....if that does not help then maybe a week off will help. Your geear is good so it is probably the "nut behind the string".... Best of luck.

Nice find!

Does anyone know much about or have seen those rattlers that are not allowed to be killed??? Be handy to know what they looked like.

Congrats what a deer! Good P/U heads are hard to come by. It sure is nice when you find them with no hair on them so as they are legal to pack out of the woods! Congrats on a great find!

Hey SS, Was that your archery mulie article in Huntin' Fool???? If so Congrats!!! Great buck, Great hunt, and Great story!