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We decided to give it a go in a true desert unit this fall. Never had hunted it before but a couple buddies have seen a fair amount of deer in January during OTC. We arrived Thursday evening with only two days to hunt and as we picked a camp spot the landscape blew me away…how do these things survive and thrive out here. Looked like the surface of the moon with the surface mostly volcanic rock, scattered creosote bushes, and the occasional palo verde washes sprinkled around. 4 of my buddies generously offered to help on Friday and as we all picked high spots to glass from the reports started coming in of bucks. Multiple bucks and some good ones were located in various locations. Max and I spent most of the day on stalk after stalk trying to close the gap to under 600 yards with not much available to hide our approach. We had a few opportunities on small bucks we passed on and a couple close calls on bigger ones but nothing just right. We totaled 19 bucks seen that day. Saturday morning we were down to Max and I and 2 buddies so we all went to the spot that the most deer were seen Friday. Almost immediately we found a group of 3 bucks at 1000 yards. We had some topography to work with this time and we closed the gap to 340 yards and Max anchored the biggest one. It was a fun hunt that I think with a few extra days could produce something pretty special! This was his best desert buck to date and another awesome father son hunt in the books! Now time to get packed for Colorado 4th season Deer 🤙🏻

Nash is carrying a horseshoe that’s never seen daylight. After having a desert sheep tag last year he drew an antelope tag this year. Scouting was tougher than we expected. Not a ton of goats in the unit and we went out plenty of times and never saw a single lope. It was still fun. During my archery bull hunt we slipped out one midday to look around. We bumped I to a dude who told us where he had seen a few. We ended up finding a few right there. Lots of people shared ideas with us and local friends even went out and glassed a few times for us. It was fun to have a hunt where people were really open and wanted Nash to be successful. Nash had practice opening day, this kid is ridiculously committed to wrestling, so we headed up midday. By that night we had a decent buck spotted but we just couldn’t cut the distance down. These antelope were super spooky and would run for miles at the site of a truck. We pulled out after dark and nearly stepped on a baby prairie rattler walking back. The next AM we slipped right into where we saw him at dark and waited for it to get light. The group was right where we left them, except the big buck. He was somehow 1-1/2 miles away. We ended up walking a 7-1/2 mile loop and lost track of him somewhere in the rollers. Unreal. We tried a new spot real quick before running to town for lunch and had a super close encounter with a bit g cutter buck before he got a wild hair and ran into Colorado. For the evening we hit up one of the spots we had seen a decent buck scouting. Didn’t take long for me to find some a mile or two out. We went to loop around on them and bumped into a different buck before we got there. A little sneaking and Nash had a 325 yd shot with only the top 4” of his back exposed. Thats all he needed. After the shot I said you dumped him, and Nash say “Actually?!?!” Apparently he flinched so hard his eyes were closed when the gun went off. Thank goodness for that 2-1/2 lb trigger! Nash asked if he could do all the quartering himself and did a fine job. I’d say these boys have almost outgrown their old man. The buck wasn’t real big and Nash didn’t care. He has two from Wyoming that are curled and heavier. This time he said he wanted a tall one. This one is almost 16”, so I guess that qualifies. We had time the next morning to go scout for his sister’s cow hunt. They were going good and we saw a good bull to round out the trip. Then he took it home and did his own euro.

I've shared my family story of Veterans Day before on here. I won't go into the details again, but its searchable if you want to read about it. You can also look up "Task Force Black Vietnam November 11, 1967" or look up "Vietnman Soldiers' Story: The Invisible Enemy" documentary. My dad was interviewed for part of that. We all grew up fighing the war he brought home. Thank you to all the vets on here and out there. To you combat vets on here: I see you. I'll sit with you in the dark. Don't hesitate to reach out. Please.

First trip of the year was our annual Mexico trip. I’ve been with Rob in old Mexico maybe 12-13 times. As always a great trip with friends. This year was tough in regards to big bucks but we had a great time regardless and still killed some solid bucks. I haven’t killed a buck for a few years now I’m hoping we can manage for older class bucks but who knows, it seems like we never see the same deer anyway.

Thanks to all our Vets, past and present

Hey CWT, the people that know me, may already know that I do gunsmithing as my second job. I just finished up this build and is available for purchase. Id call it a full custom, but you kinda cant because its a Remington 700 reciever. Details: Rem 700 full blue print, bolt lugs lapped, fluted and skeletonized. Seekins rail, precision ground oversized tapered lug. Mated with a Shilen select match, ratchet rifled, straight fluted barrel. Tipped with 1/2-28 threads and an Axis works MB. McMillan Artemis stock(exclusive) with Snowy Mountain Flush Mag system(2-3round mags), arca+pic rail. Your chose of trigger, I have a Elftman 700 in stock. As it sits gun weighs 6# 15 7/8 oz. Price:$3,300.00 With Leupold VX-5HD 3-15x44mm:$4,200.00 I have built several Rifles with and without Load development, every rifle has shot sub MOA most close to 1/2 MOA or better. My personal 6.5 cm with handloads shoots .3s, my 7mm RM with factory ammo shoots .5s.

I have a Ruger New Model Blackhawk I carried while hunting so it’s got a few light scratches and faint turn ring from shooting it. It’s for sale to help fund another purchase, or I would keep it. $625 with original box. Will consider reasonable offers. Prefer text @ 520-840-2720 Bob

Next up Rob and I took some of our family to NM for Oryx. my son and son in law had a great time shooting their first Oryx. Rob’s brothers shot some also I didn’t get pictures of them all

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Still didn’t get it after paying. Not sure what’s up.

Just awesome. Congrats!

Nice work max! Great buck

Bowhunter-tw not at this time, thank you.

If you are interested look me up at Nelson_Taxidermy_Az on Instagram.

I can do it for $700.00 I'm a taxidermist

Here area couple more photos from that trip. Jordan with the a bull and Josh with a cow from this hunt

Big potato guy here.

Awesome! We are hoping to do the same. We have the youth tag in a few weeks.

Great looking frame on that buck! Nicely done.

Congrats! Nice shooting.

Very Nice! Congrats

Congratulations

I think it’s like 165 for the hunter and around 120 for each “helper”

How much is access to the Big Bo? I'd be willing to help you out on the cost. Send me a pm