Leaderboard

Well I wanted to post some pics from Alaska but most are jacked up and sideways, going to need to edit them with something on my computer first I guess.

Went to the park by my house and picked a pot full of tunas. Boiled them, juiced them, 1:1 juice:sugar boil down, I always get cazadores tequila cuz cheap and yo soy cazador. ice, triple sec, lime, sugar on the rim

Back from the trip. Booked https://cobaltsportfishing.com/. We met the boat at Fisherman's Landing. Captain Ted introduced us to the crew and fist thing gave a safety speech. Here is the boat, AED, First Aid, fire ext, man over board etc... First 6 pack that did all that, was very comforting. Boat was very clean and had a mini fridge for drinks, Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Sparkling canned water, bottled water. Nice assortment of chips, cookies, mini chocolate candy, beef jerky, trail mix, and granola bars. Coffee was on about 5:30am and had assortment of muffins and fruit. Breakfast was an egg dish with potatoes, sausage, cheese etc.. eat it in a burrito or a cup. Was really good. Lunch was sandwich turkey, cheese, bacon, sprouts, ham on a large croissant. Came with an apple, potato salad and an 2 pack Oreo cookie. Presented in a boxed lunch style. Bunks were clean and well they are boat bunks. We talked options on the way to bait, ie., what he and the fleet were seeing, options etc... We decided to head down just past Ensenada. Got some killer bait at the barge and headed south. On the way down, ran into thunderstorms with rain, thunder and some very cool lighting. We woke up on the grounds and started the morning out trolling and looking for fish. Picked up a Yellowtail on the troll on a small piece of kelp, ended up fishing it and pulled out a few good sized YT. Kept fishing and looking for the bluefin tuna, very elusive. We kept looking for BFT but found more kelp paddies and fished them and would get some good sized YT. The hunt for the BFT was on and ended up getting a smaller YT on the troll. We found a kelp paddy the size of a 2.5 sized garage door and fished it with all we had, ended up killing the YT and had so much on deck it was a bloody deck and had to setp over and around fish. The crew had a hard time keeping up. We chased the BFT 3 different times, each time they would sink out from under us. We fished them and saw boils and tried to keep them around, but no luck. Our last BF stop was on a large breezer and we ended up with 1 20 lb BFT, the guy used 20 lb line and took him about 30 minutes to bring it on deck. There was like 9 fleet boats down with us and it was funny watching these larger boats chase the BFTs, it looked like an orchestrated circus. We ended up with 1 BFT and a full limit of YT, we ended up with some good sized YT, broke off some fat ones too. This boat and crew was stellar and top notch. We had a new guy that never fished ocean before, and they helped him out. The crew kept the deck clean between having lines out and was helpful each stop we made and worked their buts off. We had the owner (Capt Ted), Capt Lonnie and Trey the deckhand all helping us and had had hard time keeping up. They were on top of their game. The trip was an overnight 8pm to 8pm, they change up food options to keep it interesting. Food was great. I would recommend this 6 pack charter!

Firewater Forge is a good friend & hunting buddy of mine. He is legit.

As you listed in your areas of interest “Saguaro National Park” I’d definitely focus on that. Best opportunity for hitting the rut in the time frame you’re working with. Just make sure to stay within the boundaries of the Saguaro National Park not outside of them. AZGFD watch that outside area surrounding pretty hard.

No fair. You posted this great deal after most ol farts are in bed. And yes welcome to CWT

Lol

I bet it felt good to soak those nuts in that heat.

Cliff Findlay, the mule deer winner, second time in three years he’s won that tag. Lucky SOB!!

My daughter drew this hunt about seven years ago with 3 points when she was 13. You will shoot in order, based on the tag number. It was in the teens and below, 7 degrees opening day during the first week of December. After shooting the cow bison (Rachel) we hung it in the ranch barn, skinned and quartered it. We let it hang over night to cool (freeze). Returned the next morning to haul it out. The ranch manager will give you all the needed info when you arrive and you'll get a G&F info packet sent to you before the hunt. Things to have on hand; Several tarps for keeping meat clean while cutting/quartering or wrapping quarters or the cape for the ride home, should you not need ice chests. Bring a few friends, take turns cutting and thawing out your fingers. Extra help goes a long way. A vehicle or portable winch, they're really heavy. Tow straps or heavy rope are helpful. a quad ramp or similar to winch it into the truck. Several sharp knives, sharpener or a replaceable blade knife with a couple dozen blades. A portable propane heater if its cold, the wind can be brutal up there, helps thawing the fingers in the barn. A small generator and a sawsall with a few extra clean blades, longer is better. Everything froze, making bulk cutting difficult. If you don't cut and wrap your own meat, line up a butcher before the hunt, Dan Bix or Casey's are both good. We used Dan Bix and completely satisfied. Several extra large ice chests if you're going to cut it all up and take ti home or a butcher outside of flag. Then all the usual stuff too.......Maybe a back-up rifle. Best of luck, cows eat better than the big bulls too. Andy

The numbers DO tell a tale. All numbers are up but since 2016/17 non resident OTC sales have disproportionately outgrown resident OTC sales. This is another crappy argument being put forth by the department and people arguing (654321) that this has not been a negative for Arizona hunters because they refuse to admit there is a problem or take ownership for said problem. Why do we have a 10% cap for nonresidents on draw tags but not OTC tags? (It can be a moving number). If you looked at the numbers - Nonresident tags would have sold out. Thousands of hunters potentially not been allowed to hunt. And maybe the unit stays open for OTC. Meanwhile nonresident hunters have doubled and outpacing new resident hunters. Yes all OTC tag sales have grown. But the narrative being put forth is the one of someone not trying to own up to the fact that paying out of state hunters on YouTube have without a doubt have caused a DISPROPORTIONATE increase of nonresident hunters into our state. Many of which are of higher skill level than an average hunter and have the time and resources to be more successful. Joe blow from State X with a 10 days off to hunt the state and years of bowhunting experience is going to be more successful than the resident that just picked up a bow and goes out for a weekend. In summation, AZGFD has likely unintentionally caused OTC closures because of their policy of paying YouTube people. This in turn has now reduced opportunity for new hunters and resident hunters. They made a mistake. Now what are they going to do to fix it? Of course this is all assuming that their harvest data that they are using to close OTC units is accurate. (It's not). They can't tell you how many deer were killed on any hunt. They sit from an armchair and claim they can but they've never actually field checked it. They guess. But that's a whole different thread.

I should be using them on these collared dove. That would be legal.

Dadof3, I too assumed you were talking about the youth hunt. You are so right about the circular firing squad! I’ve been lurking on this forum for about 20 years and have for the most part done just that because many on the forum know it all. You are so right that we need to stick together in times like this! Well said and you and the kiddos have a great hunt!

Yes, that is unrealistic. Box for box, or maybe box for box+$20.

Just out of curiosity, do you have a YouTube channel? I'd like to watch this adventure.

you are so wrong, nobody sucks more than Biden

I only clicked on this because I thought it was BC777 or Naturegirl.

I’d suggest maybe going just a little further south, maybe 70-75 miles from Tucson. A lot less pressure.

Next 3 1/2 days should fill up some tanks and reservoirs. How are y'all preparing or changing your routine? Me, I'm tarping hay, rolling up windows and putting tools up. I don't expect to go anywhere, the washes out here may not be safe to cross.

Weve been getting a bunch in town here. Just saw 3 people got washed away down at the san pedro. They found all three 4 miles down. All of them alive!

Done it and much more. Crybaby's? You kinda seem in favor of these things. Do you hunt much? Obviously not if you think those who like the opportunity to hunt are crybaby's. Is Randy your bud? Paying member of BHA? Buds with Buzz? Obviously a lib, that's a given... The commissioners don't give a freaking dang. If they did they'd have considered public comments. Been in that field my whole life, taking public comments. Get a grip. Public comments are a legal requirement that means jack shoot and nothing else. It politics and nothing else. They basically went xxxx you to the public. Seen it my whole life.

I'll take the less deer and less people over more deer and more people personally. The 40's units don't have any big bucks anyways. People shouldn't even consider them. 🤣

Thanks for all the replies. I have talked to the ranch manager in previous years and he was super helpful with the questions I had. I will definitely be contacting him again. I had 35 points. taken a long time to draw a tag. Obviously not the luckiest guy in the draws. Looking forward to having the meat. I will definitely go out there and check it out prior.