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It all started 10 years ago. When I was growing up, and showed an interest in hunting, my dad grew that interest into a passion. He taught me how to shoot. He taught me how to glass. He taught me how to climb up and over that next ridge to get away from other hunters or relocate the buck that we watched go that way. He taught me how to wait for the right time to make a move on a buck in order to be in a position for a shot. He taught me how to take tasteful pictures of the buck afterwards and how to clean the animal and utilize all the meat that the animal had to offer. My dad is awesome and he taught me all those awesome things. I always hunted with my dad and brothers. My dad was with me on all of the animals I shot...until 2008. In 2008, we had 6 tags in camp. We decided to split up into two groups of 3 to increase our chances. I was hunting with my older brother and my brother in law. We had been watching some good bucks in the area and we made a plan for opening day. Long story short, I glassed up the bucks and my brother and I pulled a double, killing two bucks that were running together. It was awesome because it was the first time my brother and I had hunted without my dad. It was awesome because we pulled the double. We learned a lot and we learned that we were confident to hunt on our own because of how well dad had taught us. Fast forward 10 years. This year, 2018. We killed two good bucks, again without dad present (he drew a different unit with another of my brothers). We did not pull a tenth anniversary double but it was still an awesome hunt. My oldest boy, Tanner and my brother’s oldest boy, Zac had drawn a general rifle tag for Coues deer in unit 32. We have become a little familiar with the unit over the years and both Zac and Tanner have killed bucks in unit 32 previously. We also brought along Tanner’s brother Parker and Zac’s brother, Colton. My dad was also there to help. We got into the unit on Thursday and got camp set up. Glassing Thursday evening only yielded does and some javelina. Opening morning brought high winds and more does. We glassed up about 25 does that morning. We relocated for the afternoon and fought more wind and found more does. Finally about 20 minute before dark I glassed up a little two point buck about 900 yards out. He was not in a huntable spot for the timeframe that we had and we decided to hunt that area in the morning. Saturday morning found us on a great knob that gave us 360 glassing coverage over a lot of great country. My dad had to stop sooner as to not run out of gas in his quad and was glassing other country. The wind was brutal. We were trying to stay out of the wind and also glass stuff that appeared to be out of the wind. We started finding does right away. Then we heard some shooting nearby and found 4 bucks running out of the country while being shot at. Finally around 9:30, I decided to glass a ridge that was out of the wind for the 3rd or 4th time. Within minutes I glassed up 3 bucks about 1500 yards out. We watched them for about 30 minutes until they bedded down within feet of each other. We made a plan to get closer and felt we could get to the 300 yard range. It took us an hour and 45 minutes to close the distance based on the terrain and our 6 man crew trying to not be too loud or get anyone hurt. We left Colton and Parker with some gear under a cedar and moved up another 30 yards to the top of the ridge with Zac and Tanner. As we eased up we relocated the bucks in their beds. We also ended up a lot closer than we had planned. 190 yards. It took us a few minutes to navigate the brush and rocks on the ridge top and get Tanner and Zac set up in seated positions. Tanner’s buck stood and began to feed while Zac’s remained bedded. The plan was for Tanner to shoot first then Zac. After a few moments, Tanner told me he was ready and I told him I was ready and watching the buck. When Tanner shot, I watched his buck do a back flip into a bush and slide out onto the ground not moving. Zac shot next and went just over the buck. The buck came unglued from his bed and stopped. Zac’s second shot found its mark and I watched as his buck made it about 10 yards before crashing! Another double! 10 years after the first one and we had just watched our boy’s pull a double! It was incredible to watch. We had such a great time and of course the success makes it that much sweeter. Tanner’s buck: .270 win, 150 gr Berger VLD, 190 yards Zac’s buck: .243, 95 gr. Berger VLD, 200 yards Sorry for the long winded story, just trying to give it some context.

Just wanted to do a quick share of the buck I killed this year. I was lucky enough to harvest my first 100"+ coues buck. The area I hunted this year had a lot of people hunting it, which made it tough. In fact the morning I killed this buck 2 other groups of hunters were sitting just above this buck, and a bigger one. I sat patiently hoping they hadn't seen them. At roughly 8:30 am, they got up and left. I couldn't believe it. I got my stuff together, and hiked almost 2 miles around to a better vantage point, and got set up. I glassed the bowl I had seen them disappear into until 4:45 pm. I hadn't been able to find them the entire day. Just when I thought they had given me the slip, I saw them sneaking out. The big one slipped out with no shot opportunity, but the smaller buck decided to pause for one last look. I ranged him at 502 yards, dropped my bag on the ground, dialed my drop, and held for 8 mph for wind. I settled in, exhaled, squeezed the trigger, and the shot went off. I watched the cross hairs come back, never leaving his vitals. He dropped dead before he hit the ground. The old 7mm Rem Mag still lives up to its history of one shot, one kill. I quartered him, and packed him out that night. Although he wasn't the biggest of the two, I'm still proud to say that I finally killed a truly mature coues buck, and I broke the 100" mark. He was scored by a friend of mine, that scored him at 102 7/8" (16 7/8" and 17 1/8" main beams, a 14 4/8" spread, and 27" of mass). He didn't quite make book, but he still made it over to the taxidermist. Lol. You can see by his teeth, that he was an older buck. I'm not sure exactly how old he was, but we're guessing 7-8 years old. Any ways, thanks for looking. Hopefully I can draw a tag again next year. I can't wait to go back.

Not the spitfire but my other has had problems. I’ve sent it back 3 times in the last 8-10 years and they repaired it for free or at little cost.

Nate picked up this tag during the draw and I grabbed the same tag through leftovers. We put in crazy hours on maps and probably 3000 texts in the past 3 months. We hit up our camping spot on Thursday and did a quick run through of the area, spotted a bear which is always cool. Opening day came and we had passed up 4 decent bucks til this guy came out. As soon as we found him he quickly bedded down. We worked our way over couple draws and got setup at 198 yards. Didn’t have to wait long, bit 40 minutes and buck stood up, Nate shot and it was all over. Congrats to Nate, buck is equal to the amount of time he put down scouting and prepping. We didn’t see much that afternoon just a bunch of does and small bucks. Sat morning our buddy came out to help me fill my tag. We covered ground and had passed up 12 bucks til both Nate and Josh spotted a decent bedded buck at the same time. Worked our way over, again it was a waiting game for him to get up, after an hour the buck got up and bullet flew true at 238 yards. I’m a sucker for g3’s, when I see them longer than 3 inches I wanna shoot.

Well short story. Hunted three hard days. One missed shot opportunity. Had to work 2 days. Watching the clock waiting for the time to get back to my glassing spot. Hoping for redemption. Finally Wednesday morning came and 10 minutes into glassing turned up 3 coues bucks feeding with 2 muley bucks. Range 255. One shot later from the Savage 7MM and patiently/impatiently waiting to make my way across the canyon to retrieve him. Not my biggest coues but a tough fun hunt. One heck of a pack out of the canyon. Big thanks to Josh for dropping everything and helping me with the pack out. Well I just bought a new truck and was waiting to get back on the board with my second coues deer. Does anyone on here know where I can get a coueswhitetail window decal. Thanks.

DIY wyoming elk this past September was very good to us. We went 3 of 4 and all of us had multiple opportunities to make it happen. It's tough to hunt and try to film solo so don't give me crap about the footage. hahaha! Hope you guys enjoy and one day have the opportunity to hunt Wyoming. It's my 2nd hunt there and it's a special place for sure... Wade

Yes I am going to draw this out on you folks, no single sit down read thru and be done. You will get just enough to pique your interest but leave you wanting more with one post a day for each day of the hunt. I will give the 1st two in one big start post though. Each will be edited as it is easier to post pictures via tapatalk from my phone and text from my laptop... Photo's are not cooperating with my poor internet connection, i will get them added as soon as I have a real connection. Pre hunt Like anyone else that hunts out of their home state, the build up and prep is often longer than the actual hunt. Planning starts months in advance guessing at weather, gear needed, scanning maps for hunt locations and game plans. Working up a reliable accurate hunting load for your rifle. Changing options on the gun and verifying and re-verifying that they are good and how each change affects your point of impact. Making sure that your gun is dialed in and ready for the hunt. Packing, repacking, getting new gear from recommendations of others that have hunted the area and packing again. Realizing that there is no way on earth you are going to fit it into two checked and two carry on bags. Plus the fact that if you did you would have no room or ability to bring meat back without dropping serious coin on shipping meat overnight, or paying baggage fees ($75 with 50# limit). So that means finalizing the gear and shipping it early enough to get to your hunting partner in their hometown at least a week before the hunt begins so that they have time to load in their rigs for the drive to camp. It had everything in it except for one full set of hunting clothing, my primary glass and of course my weapon. Multiple sets of hunting clothes and options for expected weather, sleeping bag and pillow, kill kit, bags, backup bino's, spare rangefinder, radios, solar panel and batteries, etc, etc. With the hunt rapidly approaching I shipped my 45# box of gear down 3 weeks before the hunt. Whew, one thing done. Now on to pack the carry on's. T-2 Days to hunt I wake up at my normal 5am since it is a work day and realize the backpack with laptop and some gear in it is just too big to fit under an airline seat, and my hunting pack is already maxed out. I panic and try some reshuffling but to no avail. The only option is to ditch the second set of boots, I will have to hotlap the one pair on this desert hunt, Ohh goody! I arrive at SEA airport with my hunting pack, laptop backpack and rifle case @ 830am for the 11am flight to Phoenix. I go to the ticketing agent who gives me the proper firearm declaration forms and points me to the TSA area. TSA goes smooth, the agent was a nice guy who actually caught that the ticketing agent had not tagged my rifle case, so I had to boogy back over to get that done. The middle (biggest and busiest) security check point was closed with a line going all thru airport. I jammed down to A gate check point which was open and shorter line but still had a 45min wait to get thru. Waiting in the gate charging my phone and dreaming of Coues deer makes the time waiting to board fly by. We take off a few minutes late, but the flight was shorter than expected, either the pilot had a date tonight or the jetstream was in our favor We landed and I hustled off to baggage claim, then had to wait 30min for them to bring my case up a special elevator. I called Ben (step-dad) and he arrived shortly and we loaded my gear in the truck. I hopped in and we started heading south. After "quick" stops at In-n-out, his buddies house for a tent, and Sportsman's warehouse for my last tag, we left Tucson heading south! We get to camp around 8pm and have the privledge of setting up the tent by truck headlights before rolling out our sleeping bags a crashing out for the night. To be continued...

That's awesome and thanks! I told him about this on our way to TKD. We're thinking elk hair caddis, parachute adams, griffiths gnat (#10 and #22), and some pheasant tail nymphs. Will that work? I'll pm you.

Nevada, I believe, does that. I think AZ's system although flawed is the best system in the west. It rewards people who have been trying for years and still keeps those with no points a realistic chance at getting a permit, thus keeping hunter recruitment higher.

drought and predation make an impact.

Cool video! My only suggestion would be to buy a phone scope so you can video animals and shots. Congrats!

sure miss his posts

3rd victim has.died. What a tragedy. Rest in peace Ashley sanchez.

You know, oddly, this is one of my most accurate rifles, 1/2" or 5/8" three shot groups at 100 yds, more accurate than I am. Recoil is 69 ftlbs energy, 20.4 ftsec recoil velocity. No brake really needed if you cuddle up firmly with it. I fired 30 rounds at Usery sighting in with different loads after the stock work, and no issues

Ethan nailed it as usual. Three and a half hours hunting- I think that's a record for him. Anyone have the address to check the tag for CWD online with F&G? Also, whoever was using an RV on 462 and left your leveling jack, it's still there..

I don't think you should be dropping the price. I think you should toss it up on Craigslist and it will sell fast.

Still putting in the time scouting and trying to find some big rams for my Rocky tag. Wondering if anyone has any idea who might have one of the tags for the first hunt that starts this Friday in 27 south, 28 North. Would love to get in contact with them once they are tagged out. Thanks

Well I think I nailed it today on the sausage, it came out excellent. I followed the YouTube video that I posted earlier. It talks about getting the proteins to set up, and temp setting. I did not use their kit (hi country) this time, I visited my buddy at the pork shop in Queen Creek and he mixed a standard sausage mix for me that I used. things that I did differently: mixed 15% fat to the venison porkshop sausage mix ground the meat more corse cooked for 130 degrees for 1.5 hours then 150 degrees for 2 hours then smoked at 180 degrees until internal ten hit 155 degrees

This morning I became aware of the Super Bonus Point proposal. This was my comment online to AZGFD on the proposal: "BONUS POINT" BACKGROUND: During a 1986 hunt, my guide expressed an idea for a draw system that gave applicants increased draw odds after each unsuccessful year of applying. In 1988, I drafted a letter and sent it to most of the western fish and game departments, including Arizona. In that letter, I described the concept and actually coined the term "bonus point". I received letters back from New Mexico, Oregon, Idaho, Colorado, Nevada and Oregon. In 1991, Arizona adopted the bonus point system. Nevada and Utah have as well. As a nonresident of Arizona, I have accrued max deer points (22 points), one less than max for antelope and sheep (29 points) and 20 points for elk, so I have been INVESTING in AZGFD's bonus point system for nearly 30 YEARS and am on the verge of enjoying the fruit of that long term investment. Since I don't hunt Arizona on years I don't draw, the thousands of dollars of hunting license and application fees have been paid strictly towards future tag opportunities. I have even flown down to Arizona to take Hunters Safety. If a "super bonus point" option is only allowed for ONE SPECIE and those points are retained until drawn, I will be forced to choose which of these four species to move forward on and which three to leave behind. It will DEVALUE a point system people have ALREADY INVESTED in! It will most deeply affect those who have invested the longest. I hope AZGFD sees the ethical and legal problems with this. This would not be the first time AZGFD has devalued points. With the recent change to nonresident tag allocation (5% cap in the bonus pass), my "certainty" of drawing certain tags in my lifetime (13B AZ Strip rifle deer for example) has already vanished. That change has already devalued the investment of long term nonresident applicants. The new "super bonus point" (for one specie) proposal would again further damage that investment for residents and nonresidents alike. For me the problem compounds. As a divorced parent, I have been buying licenses and around 20 points each year for my six children for the past 14 YEARS to eventually create hunt opportunities and memories with them. I have also been applying my wife for the past 9 years. Our family is on the verge of several high quality hunt opportunities that we have ALREADY MADE a huge financial investment towards. The "super bonus point" proposal could threaten the investment by forcing us choose a single specie to move forward on. Actually, I am not opposed to paying slightly more (say $10 per applicant per year) to help with AZGFD's funding through some method, but please make certain that any adopted plan does not DEVALUE THE INVESTMENT ALREADY MADE by your most LOYAL and LONG TERM customers. Here is the way I look at it. Imagine if an investment company offered a retirement savings plan, and drew customers into that plan with certain future expectations. Then 20 or 30 years down the road, just as people began to reach retirement and enjoying their investment, the company cut the benefits down to a fraction of what was originally offered. That would not only be unethical, but likely illegal. I entered AZGFD's bonus point offering with my eyes open to the investment I was making, and under the ground rules laid out by you. Please to not devalue that investment nearly 30 years down the road.

Very sad to happen anywhere, wish all peace and prayers.

Jerky and sausage ? Come on man that's like putting prime fillet in a crock pot with beer and corn nuts ????!!!!!!!

Also comes with original butt pad and reloading dies

You're welcome, congrats. I really like that wall pedestal form. 56 days from fleshing to delivery... my fastest yet. Ed F

1 species per year and permanent BP makes no sense mathematically or marketability. The draw is already too gimmicky. All but the top tier BP holders will ditch the gimmick after a couple years and the revenue will be very low. 13 bucks is way to low for a permanent BP, 100 bucks is more realistic but then becomes a game for haves and have nots. Back to money buys public resource. 1 BP per species for that year, I apply for deer, elk and antelope, that's 3 purchases as a customer instead of one, others apply for more species. 5 bucks per BP and that would be $15 every year, at 13 bucks it would be $36. I would be good with either or anywhere between, I can afford it to further education, a family may need it to be less and I'm good with that. It's a good idea but the parameters are totally wrong. Kent

What is in the proposal to ensure the additional funds will be used for education. Arizona has a long track record of creating new taxes for a ‘cause’ then through legislation or administration, diverting those funds.