Leaderboard

I’m not gonna jump all over him. He didn’t do it maliciously. I respect him turning himself in and I also respect the skill it takes to shoot a desert buck with a bow. If you wanna go after him and rip him a new one then go ahead.

My friend, you did the right thing to report your kill. I know it sucks to get bad info when you are trying to do everything right. In this day and age, hunters ethics are in question, and there is no doubt in my mind that you had nothing but the best intentions in your mind! We learn new lessons everyday. Put this one in your bag of tricks, and preach to anyone that will listen to do the their best to learn all the regulations. Maybe all you lost was a few dinners, and pride. Well, if you ask me, you can walk tall, you have admitted mistakes, and learned. Hopefully, you have enlightened other fellow members to make double check their hunts because there are many that would have put meat in the freezer, and not said a word.

Well I never thought I’d have to do this but I just got back from manually reporting myself at the AZGFD office. To rewind a little, you all know AZ has started a new system this year with manually reporting when you kill for OTC deer. Well, Friday night, I hopped on Google to check that my unit was open. When I typed it, an article from GOHUNT was one of the top results. It was titled, ‘Changes to Arizona’s OTC deer hunts’. I naturally clicked it since I am a GOHUNT insider and am on their website like every other day e-scouting/looking through their gear shop, etc. Within the article, it had all of the units with which season dates that were open for each particular unit. (See original article PDF below for article) under (one of the 40's), it showed August 19- Sept. 8th 2022, Dec 9th-31st, 2022 and Jan 1-31st 2023 all open. I promptly got off my phone and started getting my things together because I was going hunting! Fast forward to the next day, my wife spots a cool buck, we bed it and it happens to bed in the perfect location for a stalk. Between perfect wind and lots of luck, I made a solid shot on my first ever mule deer buck and my first ever bow kill AND it was even in velvet! I was on cloud nine, telling all my friends and even got some of them to help me pack it out. Fast forward to the next day, Sunday. It was time to process all the meat so my wife and I spent around 5 hours trimming vac sealing and labeling all the cuts to put into the freezer still high on life wondering how I was so lucky to make a bow kill on a mule deer in the desert in August. Fast forward to the next day. Monday- mandatory reporting day. I hopped on google again to find where I needed to report my harvest and that’s when I found out that the season wasn’t actually open for this time of year in (we will just say, one of the 40’s) and a lot of other units GOHUNT claimed were open. (One of the 40’s) was one of many other units that were incorrect on which seasons are actually open right now and the rest of the year. I guess I’m writing this article to hopefully help anyone else who might make the same mistake I did. Anyways, I loaded up the cooler with the meat neatly wrapped and labeled in vac sealed bags and the head and went on down to the local AZGFD office to report myself because I felt like it was the right thing to do. I also called GOHUNT on the way and they didn’t answer of course. I told the G&F officer what happened and he didn’t seem too upset about it. He said something to the effect of “these kind of things happen and you did the right thing by reporting yourself. However, we will be seizing the head and all the meat but you’ll only receive a written warning.” I know it was lucky to get off with just a written warning but the whole thing turned a magical experience of my first ever bow kill to nothing but feeling sick to my stomach. I NEVER would’ve hunted that unit if I hadn’t thought it was open. GOHUNT let me down and they didn’t do anything to help me out with it. In the same article, it states, “(details will be published in the 2022-2023 Arizona Hunting Regulations booklet and updated here when available).” I assumed GOHUNT was “up-to-date” like they said they would be. I was wrong and learned my lesson not to trust GOHUNT even though I pay them for that kind of trust. Listen, I know it was wrong of me to rely solely on GOHUNT. However, I was under the impression that I paid these people to give the correct information regarding seasons and stats. I did get a call back from them on my way home AZGFD and I told them the situation and they said those were just “pending dates”. However, nowhere in that article did it say pending and it also said they would be updated when they were available. I don’t know, maybe I’m just being a big baby but I feel like I got screwed over and there’s nothing I can do about it. AGAIN, I DO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY IN USING GOHUNT AND NOT AZGFD DIRECTLY AND WILL NEVER MAKE THAT MISTAKE AGAIN. I am writing this to hear what others think and most importantly, to warn anyone else of this issue before they make the same mistake I did. And as for the nicely packaged meat we worked so diligently on- it’s going to the AZGFD animals rescue shelter to feed to the coyotes and other predators after it’s tested. The antlers will be auctioned off in AZGFD yearly auction. The gentlemen who took the meat from me even gave me his business card to send him an email to buy the antlers back from them when the auction happens. Changes to Arizona’s OTC deer hunts.pdf

The draw season hunts are going to be that much sweeter with opportunities at the mature bucks that would have otherwise been killed.

My first, and ONLY Coues deer. I am a muley hunter. Applied for the wrong number and drew a Coues tag back a long time ago. 2001 or 2002 I think. Being a Mule deer hunter, I had no clue what a Coues was supposed to look like. I saw this buck for 5 days and passed on him hoping for something big. On my last day to hunt, he was the biggest I had seen, so I hiked out and popped him. I was quite disappointed at how small he was. If I had only known then what I know now....and if I would have had the money to get a shoulder mount.....

I had never hunted deer in Arizona before. I asked my friend how big Coues deer were. He said if you can see antlers, it's a good one. This was about 1985 near Geronimo's Surrender Site.

sold

Hi everyone, I have a 2001 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 for sale for $15,000. Truck is in good condition and runs great. 3.4L V6, AC, Auto transmission, Xtra Cab. Mileage is under 136,000. Carfax is available upon request. Vehicle has a clean title and is in Silver City, NM. Thanks for looking...

Lotsa “good old days syndrome” on this thread. I remember as a kid in the 80’s hearing about the good old days, now I heard guys talking about the 80’s and 90’s as the good old days. Considering the amount of pressure on the herds from every direction, things are going great all across the west. I hate to tell you guys, but it ain’t getting better so enjoy the “good old days” that are occurring right now because big bucks, low pressure, and easy to draw tags is gone and will never be better then today.

Easier for you, you have slave labor…

For sale. $1000 Tikka T-3 stainless, 270 win Minox ZA-5 scope 3x15x42, German #4 reticle, with Leupold base & rings Great shape. Maybe 100 rounds through. 602-390-2973 call or text is probably best. Located in North Phx. I17 & 101

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Good luck on your next adventure.

HuntHarder, second question is an odd question...out of the blue...? What's your thought process behind a question like that?

Yes, they did count it. I can't kill another buck to until Jan. 1st. Thank you!

Glad you only got a warning and sad you lose your buck. Sounds like you know going off of GOHUNT is not the wise choice and you learned your lesson the hard way. Congrats on successfully stalking a desert mule deer and making a kill shot with a bow. That is a very challenging task. I wish you success in the near future. out of curiosity, did they count that towards your legal buck for the season or are you able to go shoot another?

DID I JUST POACH A BUCK THANKS TO GOHUNT?? Well I never thought I’d have to do this but I just got back from manually reporting myself at the AZGFD office. To rewind a little, you all know AZ has started a new system this year with manually reporting when you kill for OTC deer. Well, Friday night, I hopped on Google to check that my unit was open. When I typed it, an article from GOHUNT was one of the top results. It was titled, ‘Changes to Arizona’s OTC deer hunts’. I naturally clicked it since I am a GOHUNT insider and am on their website like every other day e-scouting/looking through their gear shop, etc. Within the article, it had all of the units with which season dates that were open for each particular unit. (See original article PDF below for article) under (one of the 40's), it showed August 19- Sept. 8th 2022, Dec 9th-31st, 2022 and Jan 1-31st 2023 all open. I promptly got off my phone and started getting my things together because I was going hunting! Fast forward to the next day, my wife spots a cool buck, we bed it and it happens to bed in the perfect location for a stalk. Between perfect wind and lots of luck, I made a solid shot on my first ever mule deer buck and my first ever bow kill AND it was even in velvet! I was on cloud nine, telling all my friends and even got some of them to help me pack it out. Fast forward to the next day, Sunday. It was time to process all the meat so my wife and I spent around 5 hours trimming vac sealing and labeling all the cuts to put into the freezer still high on life wondering how I was so lucky to make a bow kill on a mule deer in the desert in August. Fast forward to the next day. Monday- mandatory reporting day. I hopped on google again to find where I needed to report my harvest and that’s when I found out that the season wasn’t actually open for this time of year in (we will just say, one of the 40’s) and a lot of other units GOHUNT claimed were open. (One of the 40’s) was one of many other units that were incorrect on which seasons are actually open right now and the rest of the year. I guess I’m writing this article to hopefully help anyone else who might make the same mistake I did. Anyways, I loaded up the cooler with the meat neatly wrapped and labeled in vac sealed bags and the head and went on down to the local AZGFD office to report myself because I felt like it was the right thing to do. I also called GOHUNT on the way and they didn’t answer of course. I told the G&F officer what happened and he didn’t seem too upset about it. He said something to the effect of “these kind of things happen and you did the right thing by reporting yourself. However, we will be seizing the head and all the meat but you’ll only receive a written warning.” I know it was lucky to get off with just a written warning but the whole thing turned a magical experience of my first ever bow kill to nothing but feeling sick to my stomach. I NEVER would’ve hunted that unit if I hadn’t thought it was open. GOHUNT let me down and they didn’t do anything to help me out with it. In the same article, it states, “(details will be published in the 2022-2023 Arizona Hunting Regulations booklet and updated here when available).” I assumed GOHUNT was “up-to-date” like they said they would be. I was wrong and learned my lesson not to trust GOHUNT even though I pay them for that kind of trust. Listen, I know it was wrong of me to rely solely on GOHUNT. However, I was under the impression that I paid these people to give the correct information regarding seasons and stats. I did get a call back from them on my way home AZGFD and I told them the situation and they said those were just “pending dates”. However, nowhere in that article did it say pending and it also said they would be updated when they were available. I don’t know, maybe I’m just being a big baby but I feel like I got screwed over and there’s nothing I can do about it. AGAIN, I DO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY IN USING GOHUNT AND NOT AZGFD DIRECTLY AND WILL NEVER MAKE THAT MISTAKE AGAIN. I am writing this to hear what others think and most importantly, to warn anyone else of this issue before they make the same mistake I did. And as for the nicely packaged meat we worked so diligently on- it’s going to the AZGFD animals rescue shelter to feed to the coyotes and other predators after it’s tested. The antlers will be auctioned off in AZGFD yearly auction. The gentlemen who took the meat from me even gave me his business card to send him an email to buy the antlers back from them when the auction happens. Changes to Arizona’s OTC deer hunts.pdf

I'm hunting archery antelope around Heber, I came down to take care of a few things and resupply, be headed back up tomorrow. I'll throw a box of bullets in in case you are coming by. I have a stock Tikka, 22.25, it's a fast barrel though, I literally get published data speeds for a 24in. with H4895/Big game and staball 6.5. Kent

120 ballistic tips at 3080 fps in 7mm08 puts elk on the ground, behind the shoulder will pass through or in the shoulder is fine, it's killed coues and mulies. I use it over barnes 120s or 140s. Shoots 1 inch groups at 200yds off my tailgate 'bench'. I'm on an antelope hunt right now, 1uglydude or I should be able to get you some bullets. I can reimburse him some of mine if he needs it. Kent

I’m getting excellent accuracy at both 2915 fps and 3050 fps. This is a group I shot two weeks ago. Let me dig around when I get home. Would you be open to pulled bullets if I can find them?

Yeah, if you're shooting them at 3800 fps LOL. They've actually got a reputation for being among the most stout of the Nosler BT line.

I’ll dig around. I used to shoot those back in the pre rangefinder days. Like 3800fps out of my 7mm STW. Hold right on them out to 400 and level it on their back at 500!! Better bullet would be the 120gr hammer hunters. Those 120gr ballistic tips are like dynamite. Not big game bullets. Hammer hunters are in stock on their website. Easy to get to shoot good too.

Get me 3 boxes of the Precision Hunter 143 ELD-X

A friend of mine shot a nice buck in unit 1, waited 30 minutes tracked it down the hill near a dirt road only to see a truck with a hitch mounted cargo rack Buck strapped in hauling butt away? 🤷🏼‍♂️ Sucks to loose a buck to a road hunter IF that’s what happened.

Rescued an old one yesterday. 10.6 miles only one I could find.

So, pro gun/ anti gun control guys, want to take guns away from people they don't think should have guns?