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Showing content with the highest reputation on 02/28/2021 in all areas

  1. 4 points
    With the elk and antelope draw about to happen. I still cant help but wonder what this years coues hunts will bring. Good luck everyone on getting your cards hit tommorrow.
  2. 2 points
    That's interesting, I think it was meat-eater that covered a new bill coming up in Idaho maybe that would make it harder to do that??? Not sure how you would get around that?? I say mandatory hunter edd for the right to put in??? That would help some since the field day would be tough for a New Jersey cat lady
  3. 2 points
    Let the non-residents apply. They still have a max cap, and won't do anything other than give more money to AZGFD. hopefully they use the extra money for something good.
  4. 2 points
    Its time to break out the fishing poles and relax.. We are not hunting till September anyway and that's a BIG MAYBE..
  5. 1 point
    There goes draw odds, not that they were great but wow. 18,000 uptick in elk and pronghorn applications. maybe that extra 230,000 grand can go towards hunter ed problem.
  6. 1 point
    Ten boxes Remington 2 1/2" 20rds each. $10/box Nine boxes 3" Remington 25rds each. $15/box
  7. 1 point
    By the way, I support the department 100% for the delay if they are trying to make sure this is an honest and accurate draw process. This is not a good time just to say "close enough". So if they are reading my comments, please take your time and get it right the first time. then send me an elk & antelope tag
  8. 1 point
    G&F has not accepted paper application for a couple years now so there is no manual entry of applications by the department anymore. Adding 18K more applicants should have nothing to do with slowing down the draw as long as the database was large enough to store the data. The delay has something to do with the integrity of the draw. I am guessing they are manually going through each hunt number, the drawn applicants list, looking at their random application # and then comparing if they should have actually drawn.
  9. 1 point
    It doesn't help when the you tube guys from out of state blast how to put in for az and how our whole system works. Also the way they blast all over your tube about our otc archery deer tags. Honestly they should put a cap on the NR otc archery deer tags but then that would mean azgfd would lose money so that will never happen. Just my opinion.
  10. 1 point
    If it was full of primers there would be a line
  11. 1 point
    Putting this in soon feel free to stop by, haha.
  12. 1 point
    Me thinks patience is in order, which is often hard to find at times like these. Eddie
  13. 1 point
    Since were all just talking about random stuff while we wait for draw results I have one. How about no more OTC deer tags for any NR's? Make everything a draw for them. offer a few tags for each OTC unit or divide the state up into something like 10 zones and each zone has 3-4 units. do something like 50-75 NR tags per zone. Just thinking out of the box.
  14. 1 point
    U can thank instagram, facebook, podcasts, for all that. Outfitters pushing hard to nr. $$$$
  15. 1 point
    That’s why he is posting at 4am. He just sent her on her way
  16. 1 point
    Bob you started this in a light vein. And got some fun poked back. And now you are posting on a computer at 4 in the morning, and are in no mood for fun. Where is the hot chick? What happened? It is all in fun, Bob. 😃
  17. 1 point
    The G&F employee who looked at my app with 5 points:
  18. 1 point
    gonna be a lot of butt hurt dudes calling azgfd asking why they didnt get an early archery bull tag with 3 points blaming it on their portal.
  19. 1 point
  20. 1 point
    Good story/write up....enjoyable reading. Congrats to both of you! Nice bucks! Curious what broadhead you used on the deer? It produced a nice exit hole.
  21. 1 point
    This has me rethinking my set-up. 31in draw 80lbs 680gr blackeagle 200 spine 4mm. Ethics 175 up front aae max pro, cutthroat 150 single bevel. 294fps. Doesn't matter where I put it it's going thru.
  22. 1 point
    And I'm not talking about the current state of the nation. I knew the odds of me drawing a sheep tag were slim to none, but it happened in 2019. The odds of what happened on my deer hunt this past weekend however, had to be far slimmer and certainly unbelievable without proof. Whether the destination of the day or the particular part of a ridge or canyon, I have told myself a hundred times "that is where you're going to find a lion." With an abundance of hunting pressure on opening day of the third coues hunt in the unit, I went 2.5 miles to the deepest and darkest canyon available from my hunt party's area before sunrise on Saturday. The drainage of the canyon was surprisingly void of deer at first light, so my partner and I kept on the last several hundred yards up a shale face that crested into one of the steepest and biggest Google Earth tricks that I've ever played on myself. I immediately thought, "crap it is going to be tough to find a buck in here, but this HAS to be lion country." One tucked in doe and 5 minutes later, and I had finally found what I'd been dreaming of every day on the mountain for the last 18 years. There sunning sideways on a large boulder along a steep draw, stretched out my first glassed lion with no idea we had slipped into its lair. Unbelievable. The excitement nearly doubled when my rangefinder read a number starting with one of a few magical digits, 4. With the state of cat and a series of boulders and rock faces to navigate through, I closed the number to 400 yards even and set up prone. I waited for an hour and a half as it roll occasionally from side to side. I tried to guess how everything would play out including when, how and for how long it would get up for a stretch, but I was in no mans land. I knew nothing first hand about their daytime behavior and came to the conclusion it could be hours before anything changed. With a solid rest, no kittens joining the party and a forecast of high winds picking up well before noon, it was time to put all the load and range work to use. Timed to a break in the early morning gusts, 2 quick reports and a cloud of dust rising from the rock pile beneath is all that could be seen. For the first time ever, the deer tag in my pocket didn't matter anymore. We found 3 kills all within a few hundred yards. Upon arrival, I feared the lion had crawled its way into a hole that I was going to have to dig out similar to several javelina over the years. But luck continued on my side. My first lion, a 2-3 year-old female. Another first was my young cousin's buck on Friday, his first day ever hunting. Obvious first timer with his headlamp still on his head at noon. I hadn't noticed all day or when taking the photos either! Haha. It was also my first weekend with a new pack and I couldn't have carried the lion out like I did for camp to appreciate without it. A buck on Friday and a 80-90 pound lion on Saturday - what a way to break it in. The Savage LWH has also taken a sheep, coues and lion all within the last year with the 6.5 ELD-X doing its job 3/3, dead right there. And the most unbelievable part? After 18 years behind binoculars across the state with zero lions spotted, a second lion on Sunday after creeping into just 380 yards. It didn't have a care in the world, like it knew none of us had another tag in our pocket. We watched it along with deer a couple hundred yards to both sides for an hour before we let it lay and moved along. I've always heard "anything can happen" when it comes to hunting, and after the last 2 years, it isn't so unbelievable anymore.
  23. 1 point
    I think you will be fine, Handgun hunting is a blast. saw a dude kill a Huge muley in 13A one year with a 9mm glock from a sleeping bag laying down. he was camped maybe 20 yards away, he road in on his harley from phx, his buddies were meeting him on opening day with the camping stuff and rifles guess they drew a few tags . he was just planning on scouting till his buddies showed up.
  24. 1 point
  25. 1 point
    So I was chatting with another member on another form and he posted this, not remembering where he got it, but very good info. I strongly believe if coyotes will come in, the lions will follow if not come in first. Night Hunting Coyotes There is an unbelievable lack of knowledge about how to conduct a proper stand at night. Questions such as when do I turn on the light, and for how long? What am I looking for, what do I do once I locate an animal. How to identify what you are looking at. Basic lighting technique starts with the stand selection. You have to be very careful in selecting a stand, taking wind direction into consideration. You should not have any large objects near you, boulders, trees, a hillside in the immediate foreground; anything that would cause shadows beyond the object. The reason is that any animal that is otherwise out in the open, but is in shadow because of a tree in the foreground, you can't identify in the scope. There is only enough diffused light to see the eyes, but the animal is in darkness, and your light is reflecting off the object. A bad situation, unless you can get him to move to the side. So, the answer is to get those terrain features as far away from you as possible; especially downwind. If you think coyotes have a tendency to circle downwind on a day stand, wait until you try your hand at night hunting. It's almost automatic, if you let it happen. Make sure you have an unobstructed shot downwind, if at all possible. In fact, if the wind is blowing toward one of those near trees, you might have to select a better spot now, rather than let it become a factor in letting an animal get away from you. Under the best circumstances, night hunting is difficult, you need to set up for success. This should be easy, as it doesn't take many mistakes to improve your stand selection process. Ideally, I like to have an unobstructed view in a fifty yard radius, but rather than search all night for the perfect spot, you need to learn to make the most of what you have. If you are in heavy cover, this calls for a subdued spotlight. As mentioned, you get too much bounce back, from the brush, and it spooks the animals if you are using too much wattage, regardless of the tint. Open country, you need a little more light, but that's the key, a little more light goes a long way, when scanning with the hunting light. One of the biggest mistakes people make is using too much light, even if they know proper light technique. The second biggest mistake is the way they mover the light, there shouldn't be any sudden Jedi Knight type slashes and irregular movement. You want a steady, level sweep of ten to twelve seconds to make a complete 360º circle. Put the light out on the distant horizon and avoid illuminating the immediate foreground. This is very important. Starting your stand. Bring the light around behind your back, in your right hand, before you turn it on. Turn the light on, pointing it to the rear and slowly move in a counterclockwise direction, until you are twisting your body and pointing the light behind you. You must make complete circles, beginners almost always cheat, and don't go all the way around before the start back, clockwise. This is also a mistake, easily avoided. Always make your stands exactly the same way, right to left, and return with another 360 in the opposite direction. Begin and end every sweep directly to your rear. And, at this point, don't ask; "how come?" just do it. If for any reason, you want to turn the light off, do it behind your back, on the right side. Keep it pointed behind you until the light is actually completely dark, sometimes there is a glow that will illuminate you or your partner, accidentally. Another mistake. Let's say that you are hand calling, and you need to retrieve another call, dress the light cord, pick up something, or any number of valid reasons? If you have a stationary animal, and you must turn the light off, you always want to aim the light directly away from the animal, before you turn it off. When you turn it on, do so 180º from his direction, and slowly sweep it around to where you expect him to be. Actually, you should never take the light off a set of eyes, for any reason, but in an emergency, this is how you should do it. Never switch the light off and on where the animal can see you do it. Never point the light to the ground, in front of an animal. Never point the light straight up in the air. All of these actions will spook an animal. If you are dealing with a cat, you can get away with a lot of poor techniques, but if you know better, why do it? As I said above, once you start your stand, you should plan on leaving it on until you break off the stand, if at all possible. Two reasons. First, a coyote can rush in and back out while you are blowing your nose, and you never even saw him. Secondly, flipping the light on and off will spook some animals, so every time you do it, you are taking a calculated risk. If you turn the light off when working a bobcat, he may never look your way again. Happens all the time. So, you need to keep those eyes in the halo, never lose them. It takes all your concentration to follow an animal moving through cover, but you must not lose him. If he is moving in a certain direction and you lose him, you need to watch the direction he was moving, and the last place you saw him, and do it very carefully. Many times he has entered a fold in the terrain, and other times, he hasn't moved, he is still where you last saw him, but his eyes are averted. They do that just to make it interesting, once in a while. But, starting from the top, when you first turn on the light, you need to make two complete 360º sweeps with lip squeaks. This is because you may have an animal very close, and you don't want to start a loud series, or turn on a machine at high volume when you don't know what you have before you. This is left to right and right to left, which is one cycle, and then you should do it again, to make absolutely sure that the area is clear. At this time you can turn off the light, optional, before you start your first series, or continue with the slow sweeps while you begin with your selected sound. Depending on the terrain, you can keep the volume to about twenty-five percent, in heavier cover, and in open areas, go ahead and turn it up, as far as you like. You have already determined that you don't have eyes in the immediate vicinity, so this is actually the beginning of your stand, everything else being preliminary. The length of the stand will depend on a couple of things. First, in open country, I make stands of no more that twelve minutes. When you have a lot of brush, you can extend the stand beyond fifteen minutes, maybe twenty. And that's the other consideration. You go with your instinct. Some stands just look better than others, good line of sight, no obstructions. Others, you might just be going through the motions. In other words, it can be a lot like daylights. Routinely, night stands are shorter, because you can see eyes, and you know when you have no takers before you arrive at that conclusion, were you on a day stand, even in the same location. Animals generally respond just as eagerly at night, but they circle downwind on you more often. Your job is to prevent it. If you don't jiggle the light or make any noise or movement, you have a good chance of a direct approach. However, expect him to flare off at any time, the shortest direction to downwind. That's another thing. Above, I said that if you lose the eyes, you need to watch two places; where he was and the direction he was moving. Consider this, they almost never go the long way around to get your scent. If it's a tossup, he will most likely travel counterclockwise to get there. As soon as you pick up a set of eyes, you need to hold the light very steady, maybe use both hands? Kick or tap your partner on the shoulder, he needs as much warning as you can give him. He will help with the tracking, as sometimes the eyes reflect to one side a little better than the other, depending on exactly where the animal is going. In other words, you may not see both eyes, and he may be looking at an angle. This means that you might see flashes, here and there, and you would be surprised that the man on the gun can sometimes pick up a flash where the light man didn't. Not often, but it definitely helps to have two sets of eyes following the animal, whenever possible. From the beginning, the shooter needs to be ready. You cannot predict when you will see an animal, but especially when you do have one approaching, the shooter should be tracking him wherever possible. If it looks like the shooter doesn't know where the animal is, gently pull him around, and help him out, it is important that you both know the situation. Remember that the man with the light is the actual hunter, and he should be making all decisions. It's like playing a bass, you don't hand off the rod, or you don't pay much attention to what the other guy thinks you should do. The light man is working the animal and he has the best idea of what's going on. When you reach a point where a shot is possible, the light man should make that known to the shooter by crowding in closer to him, and making absolutely positive that he sees the animal, has him located in the scope, and understands that this is the best position. At this point, the shooter should assure the light man that he sees the animal, and has him lined up, or will, as soon as the animal stops. At this point, the light man should lip squeak the animal for the shot. When the animal stops, the shooter takes charge for the first time and commands his partner by whispering "burn him." Now, as soon as the animal is lit up, the shooter must identify the animal, and shoot, before the animal moves. He will typically have about five seconds to do all of this, and he can't make any mistakes. At the shot, the light man has full control and will concentrate all of his attention on exactly where the animal was when he dropped out of sight. They will drop out of sight, count on it. Both team members need to agree on the exact spot, and make a mental note of the distance. Both should look for visual clues to help them fix the location. This can be as simple as a rock directly in front of them, or beside a certain bush, whatever it is, it needs to be something specific. And, keep the light on the spot until you have it bracketed as well as can be done. You would be surprised at the number of animals that are never recovered because of poor spotting. Not only that, but it wastes time better spent on another stand. Once he is hit, there is usually a distinctive "whop" like a broken watermelon hitting the ground. This sound is a lot easier to pick up at night than daylight, and is a good reason to keep looking, if you didn't get a good location, and can't find him right away. Never move, once you have an animal down. This is the easiest way to lose him. One guy should retrieve, and the other direct him. Two guys wandering around doesn't save any time, and in the process, you might lose the location, or get confused. Okay, let's say you didn't see anything, and after a reasonable length of time, you are ready to move on. What is the procedure? The light man will decide when the stand has played out. He will terminate his last sweep with the subdued light, and turn on the burn light, and make four complete circles, right to left, left to right and then do it again, all the time lip squeaking. Never break off a stand without doing this. The number of animals that you pick up, that have previously avoided detection is a low percentage, but never assume that you got them all. If it happens that you pick up a flash when burning and lip squeaking, raise the light and keep him just in the halo, do not go back to the lower hunting intensity. If you have any chance at this animal, you need to work him with the same light that lit him up, but you need to be very careful. If it's a coyote, chances are, he won't get any closer, so as long as he is steady and looking at you, get on him with the gun, and bring the light down on him when the shooter calls for the burn. This will put a lot of coyotes in the truck, if you play your cards right. So, that is about all there is to conducting a successful night stand, like an expert. These are proven techniques, developed (literally) over decades in the field, by hundreds of skilled night hunters.
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