Leaderboard

My buddy and I were able to tag these within 10 minutes of each other. Was a great hunt.

I've seen a few whitetail on the edges of sheep country in recent years. Always trying to hunt outside the box, I decided go in with intent to fill my '23 archery tag or get my butt handed to me and let go of the idea the terrain is worth hunting. Yesterday, I didn't even get to glass the more predictable deer country as a small 3x3 coues was spotted in the gentliest terrain on the sheepy side of the mountain. He bedded down at 730am right in the open. I decided to get aggressive under the cover of rain. I turned 1000 yards into 66 yards in 30 minutes and picked the perfect rock outcropping to pop out around. 20231222_082625.mp4 The rain had scent locked down and while I was comfortable to not be busted immediately, 60 yards is my coues limit and my gut told me this deer was not going to get up and feed towards me and the rock ledges. Turning 66 into 60 without cover took an hour and a ton of patience and frozen moments as he would snap his head in my direction. Finally, at 61 yards, he got up and as he shook off a gallon of water, I drew and released an arrow that went lower than I'd of liked. The soaking wet drop away felt significantly slowed my arrow prior to release. Thank goodness for the Lumenocks helping me understand this quickly and when he stopped at 100 yards to understand what hit him, I put my slider on 130 and put him down hard. I ran up and put another one in him as quickly as possible. Not the greatest part of the story but one of my favorite things about this forum is reading lessons learned. With everything soaking wet, this will go down as one of my heaviest pack outs of all time, in sheep country!

Done. Thanks Don Two weeks dry aged:

Keeping

I have to start this post with a huge thank you and shout out to @CatfishKev. The man is such a gent and frikken amazing at glassing. It’s a privilege to be learning from you bud! I truly have learnt so much from our outings- here’s to many more! I managed to get some time off work to assist Kev for a weekend on his son, Caliche’s hunt and do some scouting for this hunt. This one was actually my friend’s first big game hunt in Arizona and he’d asked me for some help, of course I reached out to Kev as well 🙂 We arrived on Thursday evening, filled with hope which was actually well placed, as we found about 16 bucks during this trip. On Friday morning we glassed up 4 buck in a meadow. They weren’t big, but they were also a bit beyond a comfortable shooting range. Friday afternoon we visited a different spot where we glassed up some more smaller bucks and quite a few herds of does and fawns. We were also caught in a rainstorm that resulted in one of the most vivid double rainbows I can remember seeing. Saturday morning had us in the same spot, this time with Kev’s hunting pal Bucky the Boston Terrier in tow, where we found 2 beautiful big buck, who were feeding towards us. We made some plans to put our hunter in position but they picked up on something and turned back to where they came from. Feeling our cover blown we visited another area- no deer this time, but we found quite a few javelina and coyotes. Saturday afternoon had us in another spot- loads and loads of does and fawns but no bucks this time. Sunday morning was our last chance. We went to our most promising spot where Kev glassed up a beautiful buck before it was even light. A big Roman nose, big bodied and a good rack. We put a plan in place, but devastatingly bumped some does who ran straight to the buck who hightailed it with them. Feeling rather dejected, we returned to the glassing point to resume the search. We glassed up some sparring spikes very far away, and with the thinking of something is better than nothing again, hatched a plan to put our hunter in position. This time I stayed with Kevin and we guided him in. He managed to get extremely close (from where we were it seemed almost archery range) while they continued. While this excitement was going on- we spotted 4 additional buck, 2 of them certainly big bucks making their way straight to where our hunter was currently hidden. We excitedly told him to wait for them and our anxious wait started. They kept coming closer and closer and it seemed like they were about to step on him while we continued waiting to hear a shot. The hunter then excitedly told us he could see one. It was one of the smaller buck, and the bigger two were still approaching… The smaller one however knew something was up, he backtracked around a bush to get a look from the other side and fortunately one of the big bucks stepped forward and into our hunters target and we finally heard a shot! We waited a few minutes, watching for any movement before we packed our scopes to make our way down to find our happy hunter- with a beautiful, hugely bodied, mature buck. I’m almost convinced it was the buck Kevin had spotted first thing. What a beauty for a first time AZ hunter!

Outstanding!

Well done! What's your setup for the umbrella in the first picture? (at least it looks like an umbrella)

Way to go man! Interesting I just posted a question about bow hunting in rain and was wondering how much the wet string's affected the arrow drop. That's a heck of a shot congrats

I would. Plenty of other places to hunt man. I look at it like this. Opening day you head out to your glassing spot or place you're gonna park your truck to hunt, and there's already a vehicle there. Do you park and hunt/glass there or move down the road to the next spot? I move down the road to the next spot...

Nice! Great story and awesome buck!!!

I think its all about respect IMO. I just personally would never sit in someone else's property even though its on public land, unless I was given permission. Just doesn't seem right but I respect your opinion.

Basically this

Someone should call TNT and tell them they're an attorney for a client who fell out of their treestand and was severely injured. The stand was an attractive nuisance, had it not been there, the accident would have never happened.

When I can physically no longer get in and out of the remote areas I hunt to get away from this douche baggery you guys talk about, that’s when I quit hunting! I never had this conversation but I honestly can’t ever think of a situation ever where I’d get into a man made, tent like blind that I hadn’t purchased and wouldn’t expect to get my butt kicked for refusing to leave it if the owner came along. That’s just me. What’s the difference between this and taking over someone’s tent? Just curious?

Plot thickens. Manmade bought from a store blind seems different in my mind then a brush blind. Paid currency for store bought blind, feels rightly mine. I wouldn't tear down I brush blind I built with someone in it, but I feel rightful asking for store bought one to move to a different spot. This situation subtracts a vehicle at a parking spot for me. Most spots I hunt don't end at a waterhole. Most have no way of knowing what any one vehicle means at any given spot.

A few years ago when I got to my tree stand there was another hunter sitting it, I told him it was my stand, and he said in AZ it's first come first serve, I told him that was fine, I'd go sit somewhere else. Before I left, I took all my tree steps going to the tree stand, he seemed upset. he was screaming something about first come when I walked away, I hope he got down ok.

Agreed, wouldn't sit someone else's blind but they sure don't own the spot.

Not sitting in someone else's blind is kind of a given. I think the note attached to it is kind of a douche move.

I wouldn't use a blind or stand that wasn't mine anyway. If it ain't yours, don't touch it.

So are you the site police now?

Too many jokes …

I see lots of really big bucks in there. Generally in this area: GPS Coords 33.344553, -110.645632

Eli, that’s a great turnaround time and the buck looks awesome! I only take in a certain amount of work each year. I quote a 12 month turnaround, but usually complete within 10 months. It’s a more of a passion for me, so I try and care for each piece. Couple bucks finished up the last few months.