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"I just want to fill my tag, put tasty meat in the freezer for us, and get out of this stupid heat." That's what Jacob said to me when he decided to go after a smaller deer than planned on the opening day of his deer hunt Friday. We both love chasing Coues whitetail in SE Arizona, but hunting in 87 degrees in November is horrible, especially when shade is limited. Shortly after a post-lunch nap in a small piece of shade, I glassed up a group of deer going to water across the valley. I got Jacob's attention and let him know there was a fork and a goofy-looking spike in the group of 5-6 deer. That's when he said the above quote, referring to the fork. They came down to 350 yds, but circled back up to 400 yds. Jacob got lined up, adjusted his scope accordingly, and missed slightly right. It happens. We attributed it to buck fever/operator error. The bucks kept walking uphill away from us and bedded behind two rocks just under 500 yds from us. We kept an eye on them and our friend joined us to glass, bringing much-appreciated ice-cold drinks. We watched the bucks fidget and twitch for a couple of hours and then realized the one rock was actually the spike's body behind some grass. Jacob asked, Carl encouraged, and I gave Jacob the thumbs up for a 500-yd shot. He's put the time in behind his rifle and I know how comfortable he is. He took the shot, and missed wide right again. The fork eventually stood up and walked to the left of the spike, standing perfectly broadside. That's when we found out his scope got bumped off somewhere between his last practice session and his hunt. He shot at the fork at 5:05pm and dropped the bedded spike cleanly. We celebrated and laughed at what just happened. Somedays, I'll take luck over skill, although I know Jacob has the skill. He's a way better shooter than I am. We hustled across the valley, tagged Jacob's deer, took a few quick pics, field dressed the deer, and hiked back to camp by headlamp. As I was carrying all of the meat, I realized I was glad he harvested the smaller buck. My pack was somewhere between 60-70lbs, including meat and all my gear. Then Jacob cooked us Coues tacos for dinner! Friendships were solidified, and the love of chasing Coues whitetail in SE Arizona grew stronger. What an adventure. Now to give the new grinder its first workout and work on a scope before Jacob's next hunt. It turns out that, between his last practice session and his hunt, two ring scews had come almost a full turn loose. It made me realize just how lucky we were and it taught me a valuable lesson about checking all aspects of all gear much more regularly. \

So much negativity lately and this is the month of hunting and to give thanks. I for one am grateful for this site, friends that I met on here and our CW hunting community. #givethanks

Push the thumbs up icon if you're old enough to have been in Dealy Plaza (or the grassy knoll).

Welcome to the site! Think you forgot to bring the lube with you.

Unfortunately they aren't my kids or my pics to share so no pics...but 2 kids that I've been able to help out both tagged out this weekend on their first big game animals. The first was on his first deer hunt and was hunting with a couple of mentors out of the SCI youth camp. He missed a buck on Friday but got it done on Sunday on a nice mule deer buck. I've hunted for years with his dad and had been helping them a bit this year with sighting in and setting up the new rifle. I wish I'd been there to help out since he drew a unit his dad and I have never hunted, but huge thanks to the SCI youth camp folks as always for helping out. The second hunted with us last year and missed a buck. He had driven in from the Bay area with his family and got here late Saturday night. Within 5 minutes of setting up to glass Sunday his dad spotted a mule deer buck and he tagged his first deer too. I've hunted with his uncle and dad for several years and wish I could have been with them too, but unfortunately work got in the way. I'm very happy for both of them on their first big game animals, and again huge thanks to the SCI youth camp for another great camp and great mentors helping the kids out.

need to have a 100 post minimum to sale chit

A fellow hunter and I are hauling some water to a remote tank, with AZGFD bringing out a 1000 gallon water wagon to refill us for multiple trips. Mountain top remote site, hope my truck makes it! Approximately 1750 gallons of life giving water for the deer and other animals in the unit. The tank is dry right now, so hopefully we can ease some of the burden off the animals for a little while at least. Thanks to AZGFD for coming out on a Sunday to bring a water wagon to help out.

Concentrate on the north facing ridges. Also find the nastiest country you can find, that is where the bulls go after the rut. If snow is in the forecast get into your area before it snows. Bulls will go out of there way to bed (north facing ridges) in the snow if the weather starts to warm up after a storm. GLASS GLASS GLASS I shot this bull in last years late rifle snow storm.

More info would be great. Found the pics on another forum, only said Ash Fork area earlier this month.

I always think these are cool to see and have seen 2 recovered from bucks this year. Thought I'd share in case others are interested. 120 grain Hornady GMX 6.5CM recovered from mule deer. Thought it might have retained more weight, but almost 90%. Hornady SST 7mm mag recovered from coues buck. Not sure the grain, but seems to have stayed together pretty well.

Looking for trades? I have a couple of mega packs of Charmin.

Here is the rest of the story yesterday Lance Jim and myself worked our way into an area that we can glass. Lance glasses 2 bulls early in the morning at a mile away we looked around the other area and could not find any other bulls that were worth pursuing. Lance made the call that we were going to make our move to a bench that we thought if we could get to we can make a shot. As we are approaching the area we got to about 1500 yards and started the glass and I was able to pick up one of the two bulls that we spotted earlier this morning he was a nice main framed 6 x 6 but had been broken off between his fifth and six point a definite shooter for this time of year just about at that time we starting to see more elk come into the same canyon where we recently saw the two bulls. At this point Lance said it’s time to make out move and get to that next bench we proceeded to get into position on the next bench when Jim my guide spotted a huge bull coming over the ridge. He radioed into us “guys I just spotted a monster bull coming over the top of the ridge bigger than anything we’ve seen” at that point we worked in to the ridge. Suddenly we heard a huge bugle shortly there after Lance picked up cows moving through the timber. After then hunt Lance mentioned after the bugle he knew we were in the middle of the elk because we had a bugle the right and cows to our left. At that point Lance got me into position on the shooting sticks and we watched cows pass through shortly there after Lance says there’s a bull get ready. I’m in my shooting lane, my crosshairs on the bull and Lance says don’t you shoot. I was thinking in the back of my mind that was a good 5 x 5 that we just let walk away. Lance said to me “Tim there’s bigger bulls in here “, at that point we move down the ridge and Lance to stops and says “there’s of shooter bull right there behind a pine tree “. He was in the thick pine looking at us. At that point I turned the scope up to 15 power and started looking for holes in the trees. I was able to find one lane on the bull he stepped out in a small hole. I had a shot Lance stopped the bull and BOOM! I made the shot. I want to thank Lance, Jim, Weston and all of the Timberland Outfitters crew for an amazing hunt and a bull of a lifetime

Blue jeans, work boots, packing out whole. This reminds me of some great hunts I’ve been on. Nice work and great buck. It doesn’t take $800 in clothing and a $3k rifle to get the job done.

Tomorrow we ride . . . I won't be posting any field updates on this one. I want to leave the phone put away and soak up the time with my dad and two boys. We have the whole hunt available. Hopefully when we get back we have plenty to share. I am a giddy like a kid at Christmas right now.

Six mags, 180 rounds, chest carrier included. $500 No low ballers, I know what i have.

*EDIT* FYI, I was contacted by AZGFD and they were awesome about the whole thing, I really appreciate the time and explanation given to me by the officer. A few key points for any of you interested: 1. If you find a bighorn skull this fresh or fresher, please do not move it and call them to see if they need to come check it out before you remove it from the field. They need to investigate any animal that might be a poaching incident or other unlawful circumstance. This would also apply to a deer skull or other dead game animal that you might come across in the same or fresher condition. 2. AZ law does let you keep bighorn skulls after they determine nothing illegal happened, but there are many other states that do not. AZ does not plug or mark natural death skulls the same way they would for an animal taken by permit, so you may get in trouble if you take one to another state with different laws. 3. So after all that, I get to keep my find. Awesome! *Original Post*: So my hunt this year in unit 28 was a bust, but I did fine a nice skull. Pretty sure it was a lion kill since a leg was close by also and it was right near a big cliff. Just a few miles out of San Simon, in the BLM wilderness I found this on Monday afternoon. Kind of made up for the skunked hunting trip around Woods Canyon & Doubtful Canyon. I saw some deer there, but the hunting pressure was high and the only buck I saw Friday morning was gone after a crew of weekend hunters showed up and started hanging out 50 yards from the water sources in the area (I was watching them from 500-750 yards off). Anyway, getting it cleaned soon to keep in the collection, saw some other bighorn sign in the area so was really surprised. Posting up here since I probably won't hunt there again, but definitely don't hunt anything other than deer.

Thanks for posting this. Easy to forget in stressful times. This site is a dependable way for me to keep my sanity and I’m thankful for every one of you.

There is no chance this gun is shot out. I have been a gunsmith for 16 years working on ruger revolvers solely. I do minor work from action jobs all the way to 5 shot conversions and probably handle 5 -10 a day. That's 30-60 thousand in my career. I have never seen one shot out. Anyone who wants to buy this revolver should rest assured knowing that this gun will out last you.

I was was able to connect on a nice buck the last day of the Nov. hunt. The best part was having my son w me behind the glass giving a play by play of were the buck was as I was getting ready for the shot and after the shot. He even helped pack out two quarters.

He's been eating frybread.

You never know who’s gonna show up exactly, but I think possibly, *hopefully*, the first weekend I’ll have a crew so big that even jimmy John will be jealous. But I think we need all the help we can get.

It only takes one sheep to go from zero to hero. You guys are going to be fine!

Because sideways pics drive me nuts, let me present this:

2014 buck, grossed 113”. Old guy’s teeth were worn down to his gums, my taxi said he was on the downhill slide and probably wouldn’t have made it through the winter. Wish I could’ve seen him a year or two earlier.