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Short and Sweet Chiricahua’s Goulds bird. Long time coming with tag #2 I think I finally hit the bonus point pass with over 20 points. Although the bird was missing 3 tail fan feathers 🪶 I am very happy with him. Full strut with his neck extended made for a good shot. 3/4” spur and a good beard to boot. A friend of mine said it looked like juniper berries and possible onions were on the birds diet.

I am happy to get my buck today. I love hunting these desert mule deer.

I have to start off with a big thank you to zaccarp and qcchevy for sending me some locations and Little Creek Calls for getting my calls done very fast and actually bringing them to my house. Sunday i got off work and headed down to hunt some Goulds. Best i could do with short notice tag. Monday morning comes and first stop i get into a bird and he is coming right for me then gets to 100 yards and i watch him walk around me. Stop one is done. Try different location and i get hammered and watch a hen walk him right around me and i cant make it happen again. Now i am starting to question myself. I know i can hunt turkey but i must be making some mistakes or just not finding the right bird. Drive around and see some birds and get a few responses but thats it. Now i am worried. Everyone talks about it being an easy hunt and it was seeming to be the normal grind of turkey hunting going on for me. I wake up Tuesday and get into a bird again and work him for a bit and then coyotes start barking and howling and fired the bird up but also pushed him out as i hear him gobbling and going away. I decided to go try a different area and find nothing. Drive to a differnt location and throw out some calls and boom two birds hit me. Its on. I work them for an hour it seems and cant break one off the knob they are on and dont know why. Didnt seem like they had hens. Decide i am going to try and get closer and blow out two deer and the turkey shut up. I think its done and move out to try a different spot. Not and the next spot so i head back to wear i the birds were that i thought the deer spooked out to pick hp a nice pile of fire wood a saw and i hear them again. Decided to try and work around them and come from different side. I get to a spot i can actually glass back and see all the glass up two strutters and a bunch of hens. I work into them while my buddy took some good pics thru the glass. Got to within 63 yards of two toms. When i get there i didnt have to do anything. i ended being surrounded by hens and two other toms. The hens started walking towards me and i take a shot at one of the toms and miss and he flys up and over a tree and i was about to shoot again but the two other toms run right in front of me and i shoot and i drop one. I could hear my buddy and son Cheering for me as they watch the whole thing thru phone scope and binos. Was an awesome experience. Cant wait to do it again. Thank everyone again who helped out it was a great experience.

Thank you for starting this tread. As the wildlife manager/ Field Supervisor in Unit 3C for 26 yrs. I saw the end of the horse capturing that the Heber Ranger (Black Mesa) Dist was doing, and the results. It saddens, and angers me to see what these horses have done to the habitat in not only that unit, but also Unit 1. Specifically, the Kettel Holes area. that area has been decimated and all those meadows have been converted from grass land community to noxious weeds. Any business in the white mountains that supports the horses should defiantly be boycotted, especially by hunters, or anyone interested in sound forest management. There is no place on public land for even one feral horse. Besides the habitat issues, thats a lot of high-quality protein on the hoof, that could feed a lot of people!

Each year I look forward to a Merriam Turkey tag… sentimentally it’s because this species was my first “Big Game” harvest back in 2017. Yesterday marked my 4th solo shotgun harvest. I like to walk the woods and cold call 2 days prior to opening day for a first morning success, but I’ve never shot a Longbeard opening day! I usually go through the highs and lows of hunting before earning these big birds. This year was no exception. The wind was down right awful to hear or be heard. This year’s Tom was memorable because of how long we danced before pulling the trigger. I saw him walking the woods before he saw me so I quickly sat down without any real structure to blend into. He liked my slate scratching enough to fan out and strut at 55yrd, but there were brushy limbs between us. I kept that call close to my chest without any movement except the wrist. Little did I know, his Hen was behind me and walked past me to group up with the Tom. Once the two reunited, he wasn’t about to leave her and walk uphill into my shooting lane. After 50min of him fanning / strutting / feeding, I realized I had to move in. Slowly removed my vest and all other non essentials that would drag during the creep in. When he fanned facing the opposite direction, I balanced the 12ga on my lap and crab crawled in with the slate call. Occasionally throwing out some clucks and purrs to keep his attention. Took him at 09:45 35yrd puffed up in full fan. What a show!

The Aspen Lodge in Alpine AZ has been purchased by a California couple about 2 years ago. They have become the epicenter of support for leaving the feral horses that have invaded the Apache forest alone. We, as hunters recognize the destruction that the horses have caused all across the state, but this business has refused to acknowledge the damage the horses have created and have welcomed the Salt River Wild Horse Management group to their facility. They are actively supporting leaving the horses alone and letting them continue to breed and multiply. There are other businesses where we as sportsmen can spend our dollars. It is my hope that word of their ignorant support of feral horses becomes a business detriment to them. If you are planning summer trips, a lodge to spend your evenings in during hunts.......Locate another business. This has been verified and documented by a number of people so I am not stretching the truth in any way. Please spread the word! AZSGWC - AZSFWC Humane Removal of Unauthorized Livestock on Apache National Forest Booklet (EMAIL).pdf

Been lurking around this site for awhile so decided to finally make a post. Tons of great info on here that I have used trying to learn how to hunt Arizona. Originally from southern Virginia, hunted whitetails from treestands for many years. Moved out here about 7 years ago and absolutely love AZ, the open space, dry weather, and conservative (for now) gov't. Tried my hand at a few rifle coues hunts with no luck down in 34A as the change from treestand hunting to glassing open country is still a work in progress for me. Read about Duane Adams and watched all his videos so getting better at the whole glassing thing. Got close on my last two years bowhunting desert mule deer in the rut and love that hunt but man is it challenging. Been trying to get that 37A rifle mule deer hunt but never seem to draw it (hence the username). Pumped that I drew my first AZ elk tag this year 6A early archery so really looking forward to that hunt. Have 3 kids waiting for them to get old enough to put in for big game youth hunts but they love going dove/quail hunting with me for now. We also like trout fishing the lakes up north (have had a lot of luck at Ashurst). Anyways that's me and look forward to posting an AZ hunting success story on here in the near future!

ger this year!

With a little luck, and a little bit of magic in the mountains I was able to take this beautiful tom this morning. At first he was hesitant to commit to coming in but after calling to him for about 30 mins I was able to connect on him at 27yards. Hid beard measured at 10 inches and his spurs where just over an 1 1/4".

Tools have been found 👊👍👊 awesome to know that there are good people out there!!!! I posted in Greer FB page and someone picked them up and got a hold of the OP due to his post on CW.

Made it out a couple days ago after work. I like to start my shed season checking fence lines, I usually scoop up a few a year that way. Lucked into a good one to start, 76.5” four point. Lots of miles in my future looking for the match.

From Friday

From 2 years ago

Also bolt it down

From 4 years ago

I Completed my 5th Deer mount yesterday. I'm really happy with the results. I can definitely tell I get more confident with each mount.

Took the kids, wife and father-in-law out fishing Saturday. We decided to go to Whitehorse, a lake I haven't fished in over 10 years. I didn't know what to expect so I brought rigs for catfish, trout, crappie. Well the large mouth bass were sure hungry. We caught about 5 in the 11" range and I caught this nice 16"er that was almost 3 lbs. These were my first largemouth I've ever caught. On Sunday I took my son out shed hunting here around Flagstaff and we did turn up 1 muley shed. Overall a good weekend outdoors.

Have a friend with a litter on the ground. He is starting to take deposits now. PM me for details. Pic is of the dam of the litter. I don’t have a pic of the sire. Will send pedigrees upon request.

this feels like some kind of fed post.... lol I lost all my guns on a boating accident!!!

Well I found their owner. It was a local. I did some door knocking and finally found someone that recognized the dogs. They were quite a few miles from home and on a grand adventure.

Well I found their owner. It was a local. I did some door knocking and finally found someone that recognized the dogs. They were quite a few miles from home and on a grand adventure

I am on the opposing side of everyone else here. I much prefer a 130 in a 6.5CM or similar sized case, especially with a 22-24" 1:8" barrel. The added MV in a good 130 (VLD or OTM) makes for flatter trajectory out to 1000ish with about 15" less drop, and maintains almost identical remaining velocity at 1k as the 140. Energy is about 70ft/lbs less however at 1000. Drift in a 10mph full value wind is within 1.5". Lighter bullets with the same powder charge equates to added speed and reduced recoil. Keep in mind the minimum recommended impact velocity (usually 1800fps), and use that as a determining factor, as well as your personal limits to shooting game at distance.

hold your phone like this....

This is exactly why I pay my tannery a "rush" fee. I get all my hides back in 6-8 weeks. It costs me 40% more, but allows me to have the hide back in my hands a LOT faster. Once I have the hide I usually contact the customer and finalize the form position and get parts ordered. This drastically speeds up the mounting process. When I started doing Taxidermy work, I decided quality of work and 100% honesty to the customer was going to be my standard. The honesty part has cost me jobs, but my conscience is always clear!