2008 season.. a year's review

[CouesWhitetail]

Great thread!

 

Well, I had some great tags this year but didn't kill a deer or elk on my hunts. Guess I was being a little picky. Oh well, had a great time with some fun people!

 

Some pics:

 

 

Rica lizard hunting at camp:

 

 

Took my non-hunting friend along for several days of my elk hunt and she loved it. Here she is with the elk decoy. We had some great times with some very close bulls.

 

 

a sunset during my archery elk hunt:

 

 

One of the biggest elk rubs I saw:

 

 

My deer hunt with Scott was a great time with some backpacking hunting and day hunting trips out of his house. Saw a buck I wanted but couldn't get on him before he bedded.

 

Scott with his new custom rifle in some gorgeous country:

 

 

Also did some squirrel hunting on the San Carlos. Had a great time with my friend Barbara and her two boys. This lady had never hunted until I took her two years ago, so this was her second time out and let me tell you, she is deadly with that rifle! She was introducing her boys to the outdoors and we got to hear bugling elk all around camp, coyotes howling, turkeys gobbling on the roost near camp and all kinds of other great stuff.

 

her and one of her sons walking in the early morning fog along the lake.

 

and Barbara and son with some squirrels

 

Had some excellent camp food including these perfect bisquits I made in the dutch oven:

 

 

My old dog Molly likes to chew on the squirrels a little bit. She gets upset when I take them away from her!

 

One of the elk I saw up close out there:

 

 

 

Also saw some nice WT and elk sheds/skulls during summer owl surveys. That's always a treat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a great year even if I didn't come home with lots of meat. I spent a lot of time hunting and shared some great times with my husband and friends.

 

 

 

 

Amanda

[bchoitz]

Short and sweet, this was a great year for hunting in Arizona!

 

2 Jr hunts,

Elk in 4A in October with my son Curtis,

 

 

Deer in 12A West in November with my Son Curtis and my daughter Carolyn.

Unfortunately Carolyn didn't get a shot opportunity due to wanting to sleep-in the last day

 

 

And my wife and I had another frustrating December hunt in 35B. I tagged out, she hunted two days, then made a "quick" trip to Idaho and Oregon to help my daughter move, which lasted through some great snow storms and took 13 days instead of the planned 5.

 

The spring and summer were taken up with several fishing trips with my kids.

 

Crystal River, Colorado

 

 

East Fork, San Juan River

 

 

Looking forward to another great year in 2009!

 

Bret

[Mr. Jonathan]

Archery Nevada Mule Deer August

Coues Shed

Big Tom

Little Female

Hill Partridges

 

Wasn't able to hunt much this year with moving to AZ, but hunted hard when I could.

[azcouesandelk]

I had probably one of the best years of hunting that I could ask for in 2008.

 

Started out with Javelina

 

 

Then was able to chase some deer with buddies.

 

 

Then went scouting for elk for a long time. Chased some deer with the bow and even got to see some world class elk be taken.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was time to get serious with coues

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was time to help buddies with archery deer.

 

 

 

[adddict]

I love these posts! We should've waited till March when things really cool down-- The offseason is tough on me.

 

Being new to AZ I have been grateful to have drawn tags so quickly but more for the help I've had from guys on this site and others like it. It's great to be able to give/take help to fellow hunters that take it as seriously as we do. RedRabbit has been my compass! Thanks man.

 

I shot this deer the last day of December last year so I counted him for 2008 : )

 

 

I also drew an archery elk tag that was a long and exciting hunt. I was able to take this bull and the last day of the hunt.

 

The X-Force and Undertaker made a nice entry. The bull fell and expired within about 2-3 steps.

 

 

No mule deer on my Utah hunts but my Dad about lost his life after he set this sucker on my face during my nap.

 

I restored some big mmule deer sheds and mounted them on a skull kit. Not from the same deer but they look cool together and the bases and g1s are close enough. The wallplate gives good perspective on their mass and length.

 

 

Wyoming antelope.

 

 

 

[coueselk]

Well, didn't get to hunt AZ this year due to our move to the Congo to work. But the whole family got to see parts of the world we've never been.

 

The kids and I did have time to do a little hunting in Africa though this year. Was a little difficult for the kids, not being able to practice shooting months or weeks before the hunt started. But they did alright.

 

We started our year off with a trip to Victoria falls. This is the whole clan at the bottom of the falls.

 

 

Here is a happy young fisherman after a half a day of trying to catch a Tiger fish on the Zambezi river.

 

 

A shot of the family watching the zebra outside of our hotel room.

 

 

 

Next trip was our hunting trip.

 

My daughter Alex's pride of the hunt.

 

 

She also did well with this fine impala. She took a second one not 20 minutes after taking this one. Then called it quits.

 

 

Chase, my son, took his first big game animal ever. I would have loved it to be a coues, but have to get what we could get. A fine steenbok.

 

 

His second animal was the winner, at least to him. You can see it on his face as he sits behind his warthog.

 

 

I was able to connect with a steenbok as well and this blue wildebeast.

 

 

 

I then had a nice fishing trip to the Lower Zambezi for Tiger fish. This was my best of the trip.

 

 

A sunset pic from our last night on the river.

 

 

After that, no more hunting or fishing. But we did get to see Paris and Italy.

 

 

And of course, if you go to Paris, must go to Euro Disney.

 

 

Daughter and I at our hotel in Tuscany, Italy. An old castle.

 

 

Finally, after a whole year. I was able to return home for a whoppin 9 days. No time to any serious hunting. But was able to put a few rounds through what Santa brought me. Then had to return it to the safe for another year or longer.

 

 

 

My last night in Arizona again, for who knows how long. The sunset shot December 31st in Douglas. (We left on January 1st back to Congo)

 

 

 

 

All in all, was a good year for the Howard family way over here.

 

[krp]

coueselk, that's fantastic. Family pictures are my favorite and you are a lucky man.

 

Kent

[Hiker]

Excellent stories and photos. Thanks for sharing.

[Hiker]

We had a great 2008 hunting season.......

 

It started off with my daughters and I in Wyoming antelope hunting.

[Hiker]

Then I had my Colorado deer hunt.

[Hiker]

Over Thanksgiving my 10 year old son & I headed to NM for his first big game hunt.

[Hiker]

I then headed to Kansas and had a great time hunting whitetails. It took me 3 or 4 points to finally draw this tag.

[Hiker]

We finished up 08 with an elk hunt for my 14 year old daughter. She is also our counties rodeo princess this year. Here is a photo of her helping out in the Professional Rodeo that came to our town. God blessed us so much this year, Thank you Lord!

[azrcks]

cool thread...this was my most productive year ever....way fun

 

1st bow kill Jan 08 Javelina

 

1st Antelope in WY with buddy George in Sept 08

 

580 yard shot at this coues with buddy Lalo in Nov 08

 

Pompano and Yellowtail Tuna off shore in Rocky Point Nov 08

[bchoitz]

Hiker,

Is there any state you didn't hunt in last year?

Those are some nice animals, congrats.

 

Bret