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Howdy all, I recently just got back from this amazing trip and here's a couple short videos of some of the action. The first is where I checked 2 items off my bucket list and the second is some of the bonus action. JIM>

Howdy all, I finally got some time to sit down and slap a video together. There's no fancy footage and because it happened during our "dress rehearsal" for the hunt the video wasn't over the shoulder and not the best, but I think it's awesome…for obvious reasons! Ha! I called it a "dress rehearsal" because my buddy and I had to pull an all-nighter because of a broken Rhino and last minute shopping. We didn't' even have enough time to make it to Plan A before light so we opted to hit the Plan B spot. We arrived 2 hours before light with still a 1 hour Rhino ride to the spot. Our trucks were loaded for the full hunt and had intentions of doing a "backpack" hunt into Plan A but with no sleep at all we figured we would hit Plan B first, take a nap mid day and then attack our backpack hunt that afternoon. We left the trucks loaded and just grabbed the essentials, jumped in the Rhino and off we went. We made it to the parking spot for the Rhino and started our walk in with several bugles up ahead to keep us awake! I had not seen a shooter class bull in this area but I loved it because it had potential for one to show up. You'll see on the video that my buddy hung back and let me sneak in to the bugles and go "shopping". The first bull was a cookie cutter 6x6 and exciting but not what I wanted. I waited for him to move off and then moved up to look down at the other bugling bull in the next draw. When I first located him he had his head back bugling and I could see his insanely long G2's and G3's and turned to my buddy and said "I'll shoot that one"! The video shows what all happened next. What you don't see is the whole time leading up to the shot, I kept questioning what I was doing because I had waited so long for a tag of my own! I had dreamt for many years about all the call-ins, close calls, pass ups, and just the overall experiences I would hopefully get on my own hunt, but there I was getting ready to end my hunt in less than an hour! Once I was where I felt I needed to be and the bull started stepping into my shooting lane all that questioning and hesitation went away. He was indeed the biggest bull I had seen during my scouting and although his top end was shorter than I had hoped, his bottom end made up for it and I knew he would at least hit my predetermined mark of 360" class or better. As you'll see, both my shots hit left which I'm sure was my bad habit of gripping the bow hard when excited, but fortunately with the slight quarter to angle and good penetration this story had a happy ending. Surprisingly, even the second arrow penetrated the chest cavity but wasn't needed as the first arrow did the job. I was using the cut on contact Grave Diggers for the first time and after seeing that penetration through an elk shoulder at 55 yards I swear by em'! They were also the best flying broad head I found.…I just need to remember to relax my grip when the adrenaline's flowing! This was the biggest bodied bull I've ever walked up on and even his head was huge which all made his rack look smaller, so as I walked up to him I realized he definitely surpassed my goal of 360"! As he is he's mid 370's and if his right G1 was intact he would be closer to the 380" mark! You'll hear me say in the video, "Ever since I was a kid", and it's been ever since I went on my first bull hunt at 10 yrs old that I dreamt of walking up to a big bull with my arrow in em! I've killed bulls since but nothing like I had always dreamt about, until that morning! Thanks everyone for all the awesome reply's on that previous thread and for any you post here. I have very little free time nowadays and what little time I have I spend with my daughter so even tho I read new posts here daily on my phone I just haven't had time to log in and post anything up till now, so i'm sorry for that delay and take care, JIM>

Howdy all, I don't have much time as I'm turning right around and heading north again, but wanted to share this with ya. Ever since I was a little kid chasing Elk with my dad I dreamed of the day I would walk up to a big bull with my arrow sticking out of him! It's been 28 years since my first Bull tag and I've had several since but that dream didn't come true until yesterday morning!!! My hunt lasted only 45 minutes but when I stopped this bull in an opening at 55 yards I knew I couldn't pass him up! The bull then gave me a second opportunity at 78 yards so I put a second arrow in em' just for for insurance and It's all on video! I've lived vicariously though others over the years and it's always exciting but nothing compared to wrapping your own tag on that huge rack!!! Thanks all, congrats to the successful hunters already and best of luck to those still hunting! Take care, JIM>

Hey all, doing this from my phone so gonna try and keep it short for now just wanted to share this with you all. I'll share more details and pics soon. My friend Ian had purchased one of the Coues auction tags this year and our team has been working very hard to come up with a "special" buck for him. I've been insanely busy this season with a new business, a very pregnant wife, and multiple hunts to juggle so I've had to rely alot more on our small team of family and friends this year and everyone has done a great job, especially with Ian's Coues hunt! We've hunted a lot and have spent countless hours scouting for that special buck and even passed up a beautiful 130" class buck in the process! Everyone thought i was crazy having Ian pass up that buck but yesterday evening we proved it was a very smart decision! I'm tired of typing with my thumbs here so basically in a nutshell, i glassed up the buck and Ian made him dead. Ha! Seriously, there's more to it and more folks that deserve credit for all their hard work and without everyone's involvement this ghost would not have been killed! I'll get more pics and details of this amazing experience up soon, check out this giant!

Hey all, I found some more pics and took more pics of the buck with the sheds so I wanted to share em' with you all. Here's the story... So, back in 2008 we get the sheds from this buck and we know exactly where the sheds were found. A year later another set was found in the same area and the buck was bigger. I tried to buy the sheds but the owners felt they were worth thousands of dollars so I didn't get them. Over the years of hunting for this buck and this same area we find the Shed Buck along with several other great bucks and gain tons of knowledge about how to effectively hunt this area. So, with confidence that I can find at least one of the big bucks during the early season and with a client willing to do a backpack hunt, I have him apply for the tag, he draws it and the hunt is set! I went in early and packed in most of the water and when the client arrived we made the trek in with all our camping gear. I had several bucks that lived in the same small canyon figured out. The buck that the sheds came from, the "Shed Buck", I felt was the least likely to be there because he hadn't been seen in a while but I still felt confident at least one of the bucks would be there. The problem with this canyon is you have to sneak across an open hillside to get into position to effectively glass into the thick bedding side. You have to have the wind right in order to do this correctly and for the first 2 days of the hunt the wind was wrong so we waited and glassed different areas. We saw good bucks elsewhere but nothing over our lofty goal of 110". Finally on the 3rd day the wind slowed down and was finally blowing the right direction so off we went. We snuck down to our pre-determined glassing spot, I set up my tripod and binos and before Steve even had his backpack off I glassed up the "Shed Buck"! Here he is... I immediately knew it was the Shed Buck and told Steve to get set up for the shot because we need to kill this deer! Steve set up but was hesitant with shooting this buck just yet. We knew there was a higher scoring buck in the area and we hadn't even glassed the hillside yet! I agreed that we needed to look around in case this was a bachelor group but couldn't find any other deer. The Shed Buck laid there in his bed for over an hour as we watched him! We had the wind right, he was well within Steve's effective killing distance and we wanted a standing broadside shot. During that time frame we searched hard for the other bucks but it appeared he was all by himself. Steve still seemed hesitant to shoot this buck just yet but after I told him I'd give him the sheds and reassured him the character of this buck was off the charts, he agreed we needed to kill him now! Finally the buck stood up to stretch and without any delay Steve put the buck right back into his bed with a perfect shot! We hiked across the canyon and walked up to an amazing, once in a lifetime buck! The palmation and character of this buck is second to none! I have held the sheds for several years and as soon as I grabbed the rack and held this buck it felt exactly like the sheds, the curves, texture and angles were all the same but now one of his sticker points had turned into an awesome "J-hook" dropper! We packed him back to camp and savored the rest of the day! We no longer had to ration our water or food so we ate and drank like kings that night! Here's the mount that my buddy just finished last week along with the sheds!

Hey all, here's another short video I just put together. You all might find this one a little crazy but it really happened, his tail gets perfectly shot off! Fortunately the buck was quickly relocated and taken with a great shot but unfortunately in the chaos, that part didn't get filmed. Stubby was a great buck and the hunter was very happy with em'! This same hunter killed 4 bucks with us between 102"-118"... all in less than 1 year! Thanks for checkin it out, more to come! JIM> Details: The guide and hunter snuck in as close as they could because there was a strong crosswind. The shot was 455 yards and the hunter didn't hold far enough into the wind, blowing the shot off course. They then relocated him, snuck in closer to 350 yards and held better for the wind making a perfect shot. Lesson: Practice with your hunting rifles in windy conditions to become familiar with how wind affects your bullet and learn to judge wind speed and keep a cheat sheet handy! Here's a closer up look at what happened. The buck was quartering to the shot and the impact was not as far off as it appears in the video. With the quartering angle, the bullet hit the front side of the back hip and came out taking the tail with it.

Hey all, I've been trying to get all my pics and video together from this past season but the time to do so has been scarce! I did finally slap a short video together of my dad's hunt and will post it here. We had a great season in 2012 and so far 2013 has been a success as well! We had several safe and successful hunts in Mexico and killed some great bucks. I'll get more pics and video up as soon as I can! My favorite hunt took place in mid January and was a hunt consisting of my dad and two close friends of ours, Manny B. and Gary. It was a blast as always with this group and I'm already excited for our next trip in 2014! Everyone tagged out on older age class bucks, we ate like kings, and enjoyed hassle free trips down and back across the border! It was a great hunt! As you can see Pops hammered a great buck! We found this buck on the first evening of the hunt. He was close to 1000 yards and at the top of the biggest mountain around. All I could tell was he had a big frame and had a G4 on one side. Pops and I made a valiant effort climbing up that mountain and ultimately got 200 yards across from where the buck was but couldn't relocate him. We could hear some rut activity below us but with light fading we decided to back out. It took another day and a half before we saw this buck again and Pops put the smack down on em'! I initially thought the buck had a broken G2 but later realized it was just short and the G4 was actually broke. Even without eyegaurds this buck still scores over 108" and had the G4 not been broke he would've been around 111". As always it was a great experience shared with my dad and one I won't forget! Congrats Pops! JIM> Here's a link to the video:

Hey everyone, I saw that this video was finally posted up on Wired Outdoors website and wanted to share it with you all here. I unfortunately was booked up elsewhere and could not be on this hunt, but our friend Dusty Mathis stepped up to the plate and donated his time to organize, outfit and guide the hunt for us! My brother Tommy and a bunch of other great folks donated their time and talent as well and you'll see they all shared an unforgettable experience! Wired Outdoors was able to participate and film the entire hunt and as you'll see in the video they are awesome folks! Thanks to Wired Outdoors for all you do! I posted this on my site as well but I saw the video didn't show up on here so here ya go. It's kinda long and you might also want to have a dry hankie or tissue handy, I know I got choked up pretty bad! [media=] [/media]

Alrighty guys and gals, I seriously wanted to write a big story filled with pics for ya'll but I absolutely have no time and I just found out that I'm headin' down tonight to 35B to help fill some tags! Kaibab will have to wait, there's Coues to kill! I'll write a full story later, but here's a very fast version... Steve and I backpacked up a big mountain. Steve made a one shot kill at 408 yards. We packed the buck off the mountain. Obviously, there were several days involved with the hunt along with plenty of prior history and amazing experiences throughout...but I gotta wait till I have more time! Here ya go, it's not the highest scoring buck but I guarantee you'd have a hard time finding one with more character! Congrats to Steve, it was an unforgettable hunt! JIM>

Hey all, congrats to all the successful Elk hunters, looks like there's been some great hunts had by CWT.com members! I recently bought a new computer and software and just spent the last few days screaming at it, throwing things at it, and pulling all my hair out over it. Eventually I won the battle and finally figured it out...for the most part at least I don't have all the footage yet from our first hunts but since I have no patience I slapped together my first video with what I do have. Keep in mind this is my first attempt with this new software and my projects should get better from here on out! There is a special treat towards the end of this video that I know you all will love, and it's the primary reason why I just couldn't wait any longer to share this with you all! A buddy of mine, David, happened to be in the right place at the right time with the camera and it just happened to be one of my favorite bulls! Enjoy! JIM> [media=] [/media]

Howdy guys and gals, I've been sittin' on this since last January but now decided to post it up. This is a buck that was found on one of our ranches in Mexico. It was several years ago that I aquired it and and I've kept it in my friends ranch house ever since. I had put an old archery tag on it which had my name and address so just in case somebody visited the ranch they wouldn't take it. It was great to take hunters every year to this ranch and show them the rack, but then it disappeared!!! My friend had let another outfitter hunt his ranch early last season for Mule Deer while we were hunting Coues on a different ranch nearby. After that hunt was over and that outfitter had left, we showed up to find this skull missing and the tag I had on it cut off and in the trash! My friend has been trying to track this guy and this skull down and get it back but hasn't been able to. I know who this outfitter is and he's always at the big shows in the states. I've recently been told by several of his past clients that he uses racks and pictures at his booths of bucks that weren't killed on his ranches or he had nothing to do with, but he claims they're his and books hunts using them. Because I have no hard facts, I won't say his name, not even in PM's so please don't ask. He is NOT a sponsor of CWT.com either! I have heard that he may have already got the rack across the border and is intending to use it in his booth at the shows and may have already displayed it this past show season. I'm posting this in hopes that if any of you see this rack you'll please let me know! The guy that took it knew exactly what he was doing and by cutting my tag off and taking it he blatently stole it, and that just pisses me off! If it is on this side of the border I won't be able to get it back, but I can definitely make sure this dude regrets cutting my tag off and taking it! Thanks! JIM>