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I have been out a couple times during archery pig season helping friends and have not seen pig or even fresh sign. After about 2 hours into Thomas' junior hunt we were able to get him onto pigs. Had a little tense moment because it took us about an hour to find it after the shot, but it all worked out. Great day!!!

This site is awesome. Thank you all for the incredible offers to help!!! SHOCKING TWIST UPDATE: Called the store to see if they had cameras rolling, and manager said there was a homeless guy with my pack in the store! He came back in to the same store. He left it and walked away. Returned 45 minutes later and left a full page handwritten apology along with a few items he had stolen from the bag. Said he felt bad and was not a thief. Other than a few things out of place, all was still there! Just rushed down to there from Cottonwood and back. Stunned. Just. Stunned. All still there, even unopened food and snacks. This NEVER happens. Nobody ever gets their stolen items back. Maybe a little positive karma after all I have been through these last few years? Maybe I need to see it as a sign or something. Thank you all for the amazing offers of help. The hunt is back on and the kids are so excited again!

E-verfy, armored helicopters flying the border, motion sensors, severe penalties for all criminals, In other words whatever it takes to keep criminals out of our country. And if farmers want some workers then apply to immigration as to how many they want, how long they stay, post a bond, insure them, and be responsible or them when in our country. Any crimes including parking tickets, spitting on the side walk, etc.,committed by illegals in a sanctuary city and not reported to INS will be a felony on the officer , mayor and council, board of supervisors, priest, etc. Anyone harbouring illegals will have their building sold and proceeds go to building more prisons. In other words get serious. I am sure there could more added to the list.

HOSS guided his hunter to this great buck recently.

Wow that is crazy! I knew there would be offers from some great guys here to help out. I can't believe he returned it that's just crazy. I'd want to try to find the guy and buy him lunch for doing the right thing and bringing it back. Im blown away right now. Good luck on your hunt!

I absolutely agree that the most effective Border Protection will be a combination of methodologies... Should be no problem putting some openings in strategic locations for Jaguar and other animals to cross from one side to the other... those Crossing spots don't need to be big enough for a vehicle to pass through... Of course cameras and other detection devices would be installed right at that those openings to catch the Border crossers that you know will be attempting to cross through at those spots... A solid wall would not be possible along every inch of the Border... Concentrate your men and cameras strategically along the most likely Crossing spots... I still think the Border can be made as tight as a bull's butt in fly season with the right amount of planning and the will to follow through with those plans... By the way I have spent quite a bit of the last 50 years putting down boot leather all over the southern border hunt units... so that's where I've come up with my opinions about border security.......

Bears and Mountain lions have been photographed climbing over the 20ft fence on numerous occasions... so go find some more fake news...

Illegals must be kept from entering the US. That's a fence a wall a human barricade. Nothing else is as important in this debate. Drones and sensors tell you where they're at but doesn't keep them out. Once an illegal sets foot in tthe US, its catch and release. What a nightmare. Seriously, they are undocumented Democrats. Why do you think the left is against voter ID? Even the illegals that aren't voting, cluster into latino neighborhoods, swelling the population and creating more left leaning congressional districts that certainly don't vote Republican.

if they enforced the laws on the books already and didnt give out 4 billion in tax refunds to illegals they wouldnt come and we wouldnt need a wall. but they dont

Add to the list. Eliminate government hand outs

Stiffen the laws? They already have plenty of laws that aren't enforced. What is adding more regulation, laws, etc... going to do?

There should be a separate trophy book for solo hunters. A lot of the trophy pics floating around these days look like high school football team photos with an animal in the front and a water mark.

Good luck on the rest of your hunt brian. Thanks for donating your money to aZ wildlife.

Brian, I appreciate your effort to clear the air. You did so without throwing accusations and name calling and considering the fact that you and Ben are the two people that got dealt the worst blow you still came on here with class to speak your position rather eloquently. That's pretty commendable and I respect that. Good luck to you on filling your tag, luckily you have plenty of time to do it. I am wondering though how the buck made it's way from 1300 yards to 300 to the knob Duwane was on without anyone noticing? That is a heck of a distance to travel with lots of eyes looking at all the deer. Im just wondering if there really are 2 big deer in there, or are you guys certain its the same buck? And for whats it's worth, this is an absolutely great forum. Tons of guys on here helping each other out on a regular basis, often with 0 expectations in return. I can't tell you how much I've learned since joining this website. Sure we all have our moments but overall I have a great deal of respect for the guys here. As far as my smart butt remarks here, CJ came on here name calling someone I have utmost respect for and look up to as a mentor. Obviously Im going to have something to say and come to the mans defense. Duwane is one of the nicest dudes I never met. I joined him on the Kaibab this past year with sub par gear. After seeing me freeze my butt off he sent me home with HIS PERSONAL -30 degree sleeping bag and a nice XL cot. And his good buddy Butch gave me his sleeping pad. I mean, they just gave it to me! That's the Duwane Adams I know! Awesome people in his camp and I'll argue the point til I'm blue in the face. Good luck on your hunt brother.

My name is Brian Rhoton I was the "A3" hunter referred to in this post, I have not been on this website in years but was made aware that there is some controversy on this site and guess facebook over the giant buck that Tol killed with DA outfitter's. I don't have and will never have a facebook account so l am on here to clear up all the FAKE NEWS that seems to be circulating the web. I have spot read through the 14 pages of posts here so i don't know exactly what all has been said but got the general idea I think. Here is what happened I got a call on the Saturday morning prior to the buck being killed from my brother who is an owner at A3, he had been contacted by Ben Brochu about a large buck he had found while archery hunting that morning, he had almost killed the buck with his bow and had got good video in the process. I looked at the video and was immediately interested in the buck. I could not make it down that day as I was on the Navajo reservation watching my daughter play basketball but was able to talk to Ben. I could not hunt the following days because of a daughter getting a surgery until thursday the following week. My brother and I showed up on Thursday morning met ben, one of bens friends and one of chads friends who wanted to help hunt the big deer. Ben had been able to keep track of the deer every day except for the prior day in which they did not see the deer. Ben spread everyone out to different glassing points and we all went to look for the buck. From the first video I had seen of the buck I was concerned that the deer was a hybrid, the concern arose from the location of the deer and the lack of whitetail in the area, obviously the size of the deer as it is huge both antler and body, and the general look of the deer in the video. Obviously I was willing to take the chance that once killed the deer might be a hybrid, I was fine with that fact as I believe anyone in their right mind would be. After about an hour of glassing in the morning I glassed a deer up at the edge of the mountain and the flats and immediately told Ben I have a whitetail, we had seen allot of mule deer that morning and this deer defiantly looked to be a whitetail. Once the buck cleared some brush it was immediately clear it was him, the buck is giant. To make a long story short we lost the buck midday and did not get him killed on Thursday. Friday morning we went back to same side of the ridge we glassed the buck from and sent another guy to the other side. The guy on the other side radio and said he had glassed up a pile of mule deer does with several mule deer bucks and one smaller buck with a whitetail rutting the does, about 5 min later he let us know the large buck had joined the party. Ben, my brother and myself immediately began to relocate to the ridge directly above the deer, while on route to the deer we got a call from the spotter asking us if we had just pulled up in our truck under him on the knob he was on we said no. About 5 min later he called and said it was Duwane Adams and that he had the raffle hunter what should he do, we asked him to let Duwane know that we had the buck located and were moving in to kill the deer. Duwane asked which deer he was told and he said they were two deer and they would look for the other one. In the meantime the rutting party broke up with a few bucks heading up the ridge and the big buck heading downhill to the flats where everything bedded up. Duwane and his crew and our spotter started glassing together and we made it up to the top of our knob. When we got up on the know Duwane did call Ben and asked for prices on two sets of 15s, Ben told him he would talk to him later after we got the buck killed. We quickly picked up the group of deer 500 or so yards below us most were bedded and started trying to find the buck as our spotter had lost track of it while talking with Duwane and his crew. We were not concerned at all about Duwane and his hunter as we believed the buck was with the does right below us about 1200 yards from the knob everyone else was on. It was flat desert between us and our spotter and Duwane with his guys and 1300 yds. After some time i glassed over to our spotter and Duwane and saw a mad panick going on our spotter called and said the buck popped up 300 yds below us they want to shoot it what do you want me to do right then the buck bedded. The buck had worked to 1000 yds from me and 300 yards from them and bedded, we told him do nothing if they are really going to shoot help them out, hopefully their hunter can't shoot, we can't shoot from here the buck is bedded behind brush. After a few shots the buck was dead. We made our way over to the buck helped them set the buck up for pictures and had some great conversations. Tol is a great guy, I could not be more happy for him he first drew a tag of several lifetimes and than sealed the deal on a buck of several lifetimes. We all went our separate ways as while there was obviously some upset feelings everyone there felt it was not worth ruining a great hunting experience for Tol. A few hours later I believe a few phone calls were made between DA and Ben and some of the others that were in the field expressing some frustration as to how the whole situation came about. A few clarifications, some in-site and thoughts i had while spot reading this threat. 1. I feel the worst for Ben, he pulled off archery hunting the deer because I was interested in hunting and killing it. He is the one that "lost" the most in this situation with not continuing to hunt a once in a lifetime buck and waiting on me to show up. Many will say that he made the choice and can live with the consequesces True that doesn't mean consequences don't suck. 2. I regret not killing the deer, I would have been excited and had decided to shoot the deer even though I suspected as did most that knew of the deer that it was a hybrid. After looking at its glands and such I believe if DNA tested it would be considered a hybrid. That deer was the "bird in the hand" every other giant i know of is tough to locate. 3. I have been shown or told about several deer just this year that are similar in score to this deer, none of them as close to as easy to relocate, but each of them have been shown to me by at least 2 people or I know of at least 2 people that know about the deer. I know this deer was know and seen by a minimum of 3 different groups of hunters this year. Giant coues deer have to have significant age, i was fortunate to also have the auction tag last year, the buck I killed last year has been same size or bigger for 5 years prior to killing, he had to be at least 4 or 5 years old when he was first located by the guide that showed me the deer which means the deer was at least 10 years old, I suspect he was close to 12. It is hard for a giant buck to remain a secret there are allot of years to locate a buck in his prime with allot of hunters that have great glassing skills, high tech backpacking equipment that lets them get to remote locations and stay much easier than 10 years ago, improved hunting sills combined with the use of trail cameras and its hard for those bucks to make it unseen like they used to be. On a side note the buck I killed last year had the opportunity to create a lot of drama between mutual friends as both parties had significant time watching the deer year to year, no drama made the hunt. 4. There have been several posts about people glad that the raffle guy killed and I did not because I bought the tag, i agree completely with those comments. Tol is a great guy that got lucky and drew a great tag and killed a smoker buck. 5. While big bucks are not necessarily a secret they are tough to find. I have probably spent more time and $ in the field than the majority of people trying to locate a truly giant deer and have never personally found a deer I thought was giant. Biggest I have found on my own and killed is 128" typical; I have seen plenty of 120 and 130 inch deer but never a true freak. I know those that have found multiple true giants, my hat goes off to them. If some believe me to be a "sell out" or not a "true hunter" because I decide to go and hunt a deer someone else found and compensate them for it I don't care, I will continue to do it. If you got a deer I would be interested in hit me up lets go hunting. 6. The number one problem with hunting is that we all love it and obsess about it to death, so much that that many hunters invest all, some invest most and most invest a substantial portion of $, time and energy into it. When things don't go our way it pisses us off. Just like it would with anything that means a great deal to us including our families, work or any other hobby. 7. When the result of one hunter or group of hunters success results in the failure of the other hunter or group of hunters it naturally creates great conflict in most situations and any flaw in the opposing parties actions is naturally attacked. I was happy that there was no conflict in the field everyone acted in a professional matter congratulations were given even though it was a tough situation everyone left on good terms. Personal person to person calls were made a few hours later so that opinions could be expressed. I think the internet has made that conflict and ease of attack worse than ever before. 8. This site is drama city, I have heard facebook is too and many other internet sites. Everyone get over it, its just a deer they are a renewable resource others will grow hopefully bigger. 9. Name me one person that has not made a mistake in the field, in life, at work or anywhere. Crap happens we all make mistakes, especially in the heat of the moment. Did Duwane make a mistake, who the heck cares, no one has a spotless reputation and everyone has a different perspective. I don't care about spelling or grammar. This will be my only post.

So wait lol, the a3 hunter wasn’t even there? That’s the reason many people think auction hunts are bunk. Just wait till you get a phone call. And then be pissed someone got there before you? How can someone be pissed about that

DuWanes not known for blocking roads into an area and trying to keep other hunters out of an area. DuWanes not known for having tons of dudes on ridges glassing one animal to walk one hunter in to kill it. DuWanes also not known for ordering pallets worth of trail cams and having every deer or elk in a unit catolaged. Sorry but if A3s hunter was not there and Duwane himself was with his client that buck is fair game.

Several People in real life thought he was bigger too so idk. Also after scoring this I realize a lot of people online are full of shoot about thier scores

Check this out^^^

Apologies whale, there's a lot more to that story then what I remembered. I thought he just got sick and died out near ajo somewhere. Those pics are crazy, I guess the wall ain't much of a deterrent for wildlife after all.

Brian I got stuff you can borrow as long as you need to. I can drop it off if you like. 15’s, tripod, whatever. Just let me know.

I have some stuff you can borrow. 67th and bell.

I have optics, pack, tripod, and gps you can borrow if it helps your hunt, I-17 and greenway. Nothing I hate more than a thief..

I am in Camp Verde. I have some 12x50 razors and tripod. Also have a pack you can use if it will help? Can deliver. Let me know. Hate theives.

worst case i can go to the lions den and get faded all day