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Day 4. Great faith in day 4. the Golden Child(T's daughter who has more luck than any 1 human being should have) showed up last night. Today will be good. Morning- right off we spot 1 ram and 3 ewes. of course they are on a sky island at 1600 yds. HARD pass. Afternoon- wind STILL SUCKS!!!!!! So maybe she's not all that goldden after all. We start heading back down the mountain. Over a little rise at teh bottom of the ridge and "STOP!" T yells there's barbary ram at that water hole! We BAIL out of the sxs (I grab my gun) and T is down off the side prone. I yell out 530yds and he says "on it!". Fires. HIT!(sort of) and off the dang thing runs... This time I don't just watch though. I shoot and mr barbary takes a flop. Jumps up and flops back and rolls off the hill a bit. I was certian I missed and the ram was down from T's shot. We gather everything up and head down. He calls me over to have a look and tells me we need to figure out who's ram it is. I said, "well it's yours". It was a no brainer. He saw it, he shot it first and it was his. He disagreed. We ran back through the shot sequence and he AND his daughter made a very persuasive argument that it was MY ram. The Ram was shot twice. Turns out T shot it in the lower front lip and busted its lower jaw and front lower teeth. T is actually a VERY good shot but just had a monkey on this trip for some reason. I had NEVER seen him miss before this trip. Based on how the second shot completely disabled him, they convinced me I should have the ram. I graciously accepted and quite honestly almost cried at his selflessness. Yes, my friend just GAVE me a 30 inch ram that he could have rightfully claimed and NOBODY would have been upset. This entire experience was amazing and truly a TEAM effort. easiest pack out EVER the team

OK, back to the hunting. My new friends and I discussed the real challenge with hunting coues out of tree stands is burn out. It's hard to keep a positive attitude when you haven't seen a deer in days, then to be ready when one appears is another ballgame. In the past I only had 7-8 days to hunt so felt compelled to grind it out no matter what. My hope was to shoot one early then explore new country but that never happened. Most days I'd come back for lunch then go back out, which is a lot of work. Otherwise I'd pull an all dayer. But now I had 3 weeks, no need to push that hard. So at the end of the first week I decide to go check out new country and refresh my spirits. Besides, I also had a javelina tag so I took the afternoon off and went to an area that might have them. I went up a hill to glass and saw 8 coues does come out of a creek bottom. Despite the date (1/11) no bucks ever materialized so where's the rut? But that gave me the idea to go check it out. It was about an hour till dark and on the way back to the truck so off I went. When I got down there I got a whiff of skunk, hey that brings back memories. But then I thought, why would a skunk spray here, and now? Then the light bulb went off, this could be javis. So I worked my way upwind. I found it fascinating to be stalking by smell like a coyote. Suddenly I hit a wall of stink. Man, I don't think they smell this bad. Three steps later I round a bush and jump a big boar. He runs about 10 yards then stops and woofs at me. I know they have bad eyesight but this was ridiculous. I'm in the open. So I take a few steps, his head pops up and woof! I stand still for 30 seconds and he goes back to shredding some plant. I move closer draw and try to shoot several times, but he never gave me a clear shot. Eventually he walks further away. Since I was on the opposite side of the creek I jumped down and started rock hopping. As I tried to get further downwind I came across one bedded, which turned into a stare off. Eventually it got up and wandered away and then it turned into shooting gallery. Javis were moving up and down the far bank so I got the the edge and waited. Two little ones run by and all I can see over the bank are floppy ears, that made me laugh. Too low, need more height. I found a rock that would give me more elevation and a decent sized javi comes by. It's not the boar but the light is fading. As I drew it turned quartering towards me but I know what my setup is capable of. To me I was shooting giant woodchuck so put my aim right on it's front shoulder. The arrow flew true and it piles up after 10 yards, by the time I got there it was stone dead. Wohoo, my first javi! Broke the front leg going in and poked out just behind the last off side rib. Perfect! That attests to the power of EFOC weighted arrows. So now the fun starts, what was that I read about field dressing these things? I really wanted to get one to eat it, just like shooting a recurve I enjoy a challenge in the kitchen. What was odd is this sow didn't stink at all, so was it the boar that reeked? I took my time with the gutless method. When I got done and looked at what I had for meat I was like wow, these really are a big woodchuck. The next day I fried up a piece of backstrap. It smelled normal and it tasted great. If anything it was very mild. I was happy, and my hunting mojo was back to 100%. The story continues...

Day 5. Another super windy day. winds on this trip were clocked at steady between 10-15 mph and gusts as high as 28. Dust was choking. No sheep today but we tried HARD to get one for T and Golden Girl. The only consolation is they are NM residents and get to go back next weekend to try again Golden Girl on the "Victory Drive" back to camp. She started a new tradition where we have to run all our flashing colored lights any time we fill a tag. the price we pay to hunt with a "chosen one" 17 yr old girl.... Sunset. Goodby NM

Put in for 8 hunts on Saturday without a hitch.

I have a good buddy who trained other A10 pilots at DM, since retired, but he knew I was taking my boy out to unit 33 in Molina Basin for his JR hunt. I texted him my gps cords. He told me to keep my eyes peeled. I was just south of the Az trail just above the pay station on a peak and looked south towards DM around 0900, low and behold I could see a tiny object getting closer. He flew right up Mt Lemmon Hwy/Molina Basin and buzzed us. Every nut and bolt on the undercarriage was visible and the noise was deafening. He did the wing tilt and took off. That was awesome, later that day after he landed he said he flew to unit 27 to do some so called aerial elk scouting (I mean training) for our October cow hunt.

I have hunted an area in unit 23 on and off for years and have seen fighter jets come roaring just above the tree tops and following some of the canyons that are in the area. There are usually two, or sometimes three of them doing practice runs, following each other. Always cool to see and hear as it sounds like a freight train is just about to hit you. This past week I was walking on one of the open grass covered mesas next to a long canyon. I looked up and saw , then heard, a fighter jet coming my direction, low and fast. I guess he was about 200 to 300 yards above the tree tops. (It's hard to judge the actual distance of something moving that fast, but he was low) I started waving my arrow above my head at him to say "Hi". He must have noticed me because, in one swift movement he turned sideways for a split second, then as he was over top of me , he went inverted for a split second and then he rolled upright again and then finished off with a little waggle of the wings , as if to say "how 'bout that". Then he was gone from sight. I was left standing there in amazement at what just happened. An F-22 fighter jet just flew over top of me, INVERTED, and shook his wings at me. Truly one of the most awesome experiences I have ever had while deer hunting. And , no I didn't get a deer on this trip, but I didn't really mind.

That is an impressive rip. FullSizeRender.mov

This is long overdue, but I wanted to share some adventures we had this last year in the Elk woods. My father in law and my buddy both had tags in different units so I put together a 2 part series of the days I was able to get out with them. We had a blast and it is fun to archive these memories by making these videos. It was a TOUGH HUNT!!! Poor rut activity, hot, dry! But, against the odds, my Father-in-law ended up getting it done with his Benjamin Air Bow at about 45 yards on the second week of the hunt. He didn't realize this bull was broken up but was very pleased nonetheless! Those airbows are unbelievable for those with a cross bow tag!!!

I personally wish they make it such a pain to apply that out of staters would quit

Can you take a file and put boattails on them?

Farts are funny. Nice buck!

I'll keep posting pictures and videos to keep this moving to the top!😂

I have heard them snort wheeze. But this Sounded like a fart to me.

Now that is just awesome. Two other sayings I like about the A10: It's been called a cannon with wings. If you hear its Brrrrrt, then you weren't the target. Eddie

If you buy them you can paint the tips red

hey everyone, attached is a link to some drone shots i took of parker canyon lake down in 35A. It's a new channel and any support or feedback is welcome.

After looking at the pic posted, I couldn't tell you which one it was as it happened so fast and I am by no means an expert or even really familiar with the differences in the two jets. My buddy that was camping with me said he had one scare the crap out of him because he didn't see it beforehand, but he said he does know a little about jets and he told me it looked like an F-22 to him. It very well could have been an F35 (I've never even heard of an F-35 until now , So I could be mistaken in calling it an F22) 😊

Edge has done a great job for me a few times. I believe he does all of those things. He is in the west valley though.

No point in applying for elk. Save your points . I’ll take the bullet and apply and hopefully get any “crummy year”tags so no one else has to hunt weak antlered animals. No need to thank me.

But wait, there's more - As you guys know it's a very dry year. All the typical water sources I know of were gone so I have no idea where deer or any of the other critters are watering. I suspect this had an impact on deer distribution but I was seeing deer right away (all does). However I've come to know that with coues a good day might be seeing 3 deer, and movement tends to run in streaks, so one could go 3 days before seeing another which is exactly what happened. I got to know 2 guys camped next to me from Colorado that were also hunting, one was also crazy enough to hunt with a recurve like me! Turns out he'd been hunting there for 20 years. So it was fun every night to chat, compare notes and commiserate at the difficulty of hunting the gray ghost. I think it was on day 5 that I came back to camp, ate dinner, rinsed out the bowl and tossed it into my camping box (it's the black box just outside the door in the photo above). I wasn't tired so sat in my truck listening to the radio for about an hour. By now it was bedtime so as I walked around the back of my truck I noticed something rooting around inside my camping box which I had left the lid off. Then it hit me it was a skunk! Again my first reaction was to yell "Hey get out of there!" The skunk, now startled promptly jump out of the box and ran into my tent, because, of course, the door was open. I can still hear myself saying "Son of a bitch, now what!" There wasn't any food in the box, he was just licking my bowl perhaps for water. Anyway this presented a huge dilemma as all my clothes and sleeping gear was inside so if that dude unloads my hunt would be over (as well as my new tent). All I could think to do was try and scare it back out, so I went around the back of the tent where the skunk was scratching to get out and gently tapped on the tent and made some encouraging words to get the F out. After about a minute or so all went quiet so I gingerly walked back to the front and carefully peered inside. Whew, no smell and no skunk. Stuck my head in a bit further to check closer and about soiled myself when my arm brushed the door. After I regained my composure I stood still listening and it seemed like he left, but something inside said you better be sure as there were huge consequences to being wrong. The only way to do that was to empty out the tent. I carefully opened and secured the other door like I was disarming an A-bomb and then slowly pulled out my duffel bag while holding my breath, but all was clear. Humm, the next thing was my sleeping bag which required further intrusion into the tent. So I reached way in and grabbed a corner and slowly pulled it back and HOLY SH*T he's still inside! You can see him behind my cot in the pic. Great, back to how the heck do you get one of these out of a tent? Well he didn't spray yet so that's good even though he's now exposed, so I went around the the rear again and tapped on the tent with more encouraging words to get the F out as now he had a clear shot to freedom. So back around I go to the front and I smell skunk, not real bad but definitely noticeable. Looked inside and he was gone, and the stink wasn't inside the tent so it felt like I dodged a bullet. He just gave a little parting shot headed out of camp to warn the foul mouthed creature not to follow. By the next day the smell was gone and therein lies rule #2 of camping in the desert - zip up the door anytime you're more than 10 feet from it and keep all camping boxes closed. AZ has 4 species of skunks but there's only 1 in WI (the striped, this one was a hog nosed). Not sure if that means 4x as many but I see them all the time out here, compared to maybe 1 per year back home. To be continued...

What an adventure. I think most of us hunt to get closer to nature, but I don't ever want to get that close again! And I'm not just talking about the game I was hunting. This could be long so I'll write it in stages as I get time. First let's start with my inexperience camping in the desert. In the past I've slept in the back of an SUV so in anticipation of driving out this time I bought a new tent and tested it out in elk country last Sept. It's an Oztent which claims a 30 second setup (it's more like 5 mins with the awning and guy lines). It's really nice, I also have panels to enclose the entire awning but didn't need it out here with just 1 person. Since it has a tall bathtub floor I got lazy and didn't bother to zip up the bottom of the door. Besides snakes and other creepys are not out now so what's the worry? Around 2 am the first night I wake to hear something inside my tent, of course my reaction is the yell Hey! and in the moonlight I see a kangaroo rat jump out the gap in the bottom of the door. I tell you what, from a nearly ground level position they look pretty formidable! But it was some time before I could sleep in peace as the next night one was banging on the side I think trying to get in again. More yelling and tapping on the side of the tent finally convinced it to go away. OK, rule #1 in the desert zip up the tent fully at night.

I was lucky enough to win a governors tag in Wyoming for buffalo. I had already killed a nice bull years ago so I let my daughter Tessa have the tag. We only had till the end of January to fill it so we were starting to run out of time. I had hired Ralph Greene with Tag n drag he had been highly recommended turned out to be the right choice. After two days on horses and covering 20 plus miles we were able to find this bull. As usual Tessa took care of it from there . We got the bull out in one trip on a sled behind one of the horses . I hope I never have to get on a horse again

if I put my application thru a dominion machine will my bonus points double??

Well it didn’t take long. First day out targeting a Coues buck and I got it done at about 3:30 in the afternoon. 60 yard shot and he was done quick! Definitely a great first archery Coues!

Well, getting closer but still no Coues. I managed to get a 20 yard shot at a 3x3 that was trying hard to be a 4x4 but shot too far forward resulting in a non-fatal flesh wound. Traditional bows have advantages and disadvantages over wheelie bows. An advantage is I can execute a shot sequence in under 2 seconds, but a disadvantage is not being able to hold full draw so timing of when to draw is critical. I waited till his near leg started forward but he only took ½ step and then pivoted towards me so I had to hold tight to the shoulder. Letting down would have resulted in a bust. Still I thought I had a good shot, but was 4" left. Centered in the kill zone on a broadside Coues that would have worked. I felt really bad but the deer looked fine when I jumped him later. He never bedded and was heading up hill. Not making excuses but I know what some might be thinking (as I would) but I’ve killed 3 deer this season with my recurve, all died in under 60 yards. This one was caused in part by my new shooting method. Not using the arrow for a sight means I can’t be sure my anchor is aligned properly. The method works, I just should have practiced with my face mask on. Bummed to the extreme again. I passed up a spork (1x2) that took interest in my decoy but wouldn’t get closer than 10 yards to it. Had a doe walk right by it like nothing was there. Another 3x3 saw it but then spooked right before entering the kill zone. Jury is still out on the deek, I’d like to see what an older buck thinks of it. For some reason there were a lot of smaller bucks this year, not sure if there was a bad kill or what but most were barely 3x3s and lots of forkys. Despite all that happened I think I learned more about coues deer than that last 3 years combined. For one it’s really easy to burn out a stand. I brought a trail cam which confirmed this. Deer sightings went down every day to zero by day 3 (even after dark). It’s not always the deer you see either, as I caught a few glimpses of deer sneaking away that winded me. Swirling winds and ground blinds don’t work well together, so based on the above it’s better to go somewhere else rather than risk burning a good blind. That’s not always easy to do. I thought going higher in elevation to use tree stands might be the answer to scent control but there were no trees big enough to get more than 12 feet off the ground which isn't nearly high enough. I also thought no way a coues deer won’t spot me in one but guess what, they don’t look up! That was a surprise coming from the Midwest where they all do. My reduced profile likely helps a lot. The deer I hit was out of a tree stand, which lead to - Coues deer are nervous wrecks to the max. I cut off a few small cedar branches for shooting lanes and left one little branch laying off the side of the trail. The buck I shot at came down the trail, saw the branch 10 feet away spun around and took off. A minute later he came back, cautiously approached and nibbled on it for a few seconds before walking past. Talk about acute awareness of your surroundings! I ran into 2 bowhunters one day just sneaking around, they were locals in their 20s. It was fun talking to them but I mentioned the low deer density in AZ and how I typically see 8-10 deer per sit in WI and sometimes 25 or more in a big field and their eyes lit up. That made me chuckle as they likely thought I was an idiot coming out here where if you see 2 deer a day it’s a success! The Sonoran dogs were as good as I remember. It's going to be a long wait till next year...