Scouting pics

[CouesWhitetail]

Hi All,

 

I have done a couple scouting trips trying to find a big buck for my dec hunt. Unfortunately, I have been skunked both times. Bad weather and lack of water have made my trips devoid of big bucks, but thought you guys might enjoy the pics anyway.

 

Found my first desert tortoise while out the other day. he is a very old one, maybe 70-100 years old. He is about 10 inches long and 6 inches wide and I almost ran him over if my husband hadn't spotted him in the dirt road along with all the other rocks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then on Thurs and Friday I did an overnight backpack trip and found a baby tarrantula, which I haven't seen before either. It was only about an inch long. You can see the penny in the photo with it for scale. Cute little guy.

 

 

 

 

 

And where we hiked up there were quite a few shell fossils in the rock. I think they are from the Devonian period, which is about 400 million years ago.

The first pic shows the kind of rock they are in. They are the reddish brown flecks you see in the big rock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did the backpack trip with my husband and friend, Natalie. We got to camp around dark and commented on how lucky we were the wind wasn't blowing. But after dark the wind started building and it howled all night. It was so strong it could move us in our sleeping bags! in the morning it was still blowing and we hiked up to a point to glass. Up on the point it was hurricane force winds! It would stop us from making forward progress and if you weren't bracing yourself the gusts would knock you off your feet. Well, since I had backpacked all the way in there, I glassed anyway. I tried to find areas where the trees and bushes were not whipping around, but I found none. I had a really hard time even holding my head still while glassing. I am guessing the wind at 50-60 mph up on the hill. Anyway, we gave up after an hour or so and came back down. The day warmed up and the wind was much lighter down lower. Here is a pic of Natalie and I on the way back down (i am on the left of photo):

 

 

 

Well, we didn't get to see any deer, but at least we had an adventure! That wind was pretty intense; thank goodness it was only in the high 40's and not real cold. Otherwise I would have frozen to death!

 

Amanda

[azhuntnut]

Those are some great picks. What type of camera are you using? David

[CouesWhitetail]

It's a Nikon Coolpix 4500. 4 mp camera. It has an excellent macro lens along with regular lens. It's a relatively old version of the Coolpix line. I like it because it takes decent pics and isn't really large.

 

Amanda

[muskrat]

Very cool, Amanda!

[rabidApache]

I also went out scouting with a "bro" yesterday 11/18/05. Located two old lion kills within 200 yards of each other. Both kills probably a few months old. We both could not locate the heads,just the lower jaws. I thought they were mulies. But while hiking in I found an old rusty cartouche style knife. It looked pretty cool so I stuck it in my pack and trucked on. Later I examined the knife and noticed it was stamped with ATLAS WORKS above the hilt. Pretty cool, I wondered who lost it and when. Funny thing was I found the knife a ways out there, no trails or roads.

Well we sat and glassed into some excellent country and moved on. We finally began to see some deer movement at 4:39 pm. We glassed up 3 WT does, 1 muley doe and spike in a cedar/hackberry patch.

I was curious to see what was using the spring below, so we dropped our packs and headed down. We found a set of bear tracks, 4 1/4 inch across the pad, I thought this dude was pretty big barr. Numerous deer, kayotes and "javies" have been using this spring /seep. One set of Mtn.lion prints at one end, small paws no bigger than 3 inches across.

It was getting late and the hike back out was gonna take at least a good hour and a half to the road and another 30 min. to the dropoff point. The last two miles of this road had been washed out years ago, its now just a two track that only the "Moo" cows now use . We were dropped off at 7:30 am in the morning. We were tired but satisfied with our little adventure.

[az4life]

Great pics Amanda. I am sure you will find a good buck during your hunt.

 

In 24 it sure can get windy on those hilltops. I have been out in some of that type weather too and all you can do is try to hunker down for the blow.

 

The tortoise pics are pretty neat. Glad you saved him from being mashed.

 

Later

[DEERSLAM]

Very cool. These are part of these reason I love to get outdoors, you never know what you are going to find

[CouesWhitetail]

You are right, you never know exactly what you will see.

 

We also saw a troop of coatis feeding in pinon pine at close range, but I had left the camera back at my vehicle! So no pics of them, although it would have been great! There were at least 10 of them all scrambling around the tops of the pinons eating the nuts.

 

Amanda

[Chef]

Love the fossils Amanda.

Thanks for taking us along.

Although a lot of us don't post often here, we do check out the threads.

Especially the ones with pictures.

 

Chef

[crazyaboutcoues]

Pretty cool pix Amanda!!!!!

 

I might have the privilage to hunt AZ with a buddy from Morenci. I sold him my Kifaru yesterday. I asked him if he needed an extra set of eyes during his Late December hunt. This guy might take it a little easier on me than Scott. hehe

 

good luck on your hunt

[coues7]

Amanda,

 

Thanks for sharing the pics. On a windy day like that I saw one of the larger of the whitetails that I've seen. He was burried in some scrub oak. Good luck on your hunt come Dec!

[GRONG]

Great pics Amanda. Love the turtle and the tarantula. I've seen a couple of them little guys lately, one here in the yard and another elk hunting. I'm a rock hound too so I loved the fossil pics. Thanks for posting them.

[BowhuntCoues]

Great story and photos Amanda. Trips like that are what makes hunting so memorable. Thanks for sharing.