standman

It is unreal how many deer are funneling through this spot. The bigger bucks have been coming through at night but they will screw one of these times and show up when I am there. I would like to have my dad there with me, as he would love a crack at one of the smaller bucks, but with the snow it is too slick for him to be walking in there. Don't want to pack him out too. Brian

I have been sitting the past two days and have seen a bunch of does and small bucks but nothing that I want to hang my tag on yet. Will be sitting again tomorrow. Here are some pics of where I am hunting. Brian Here is my best friend that I have conversations with in the blind. One of the trails leading past my blind. Another trail. You can see three of the scrapes that I am hunting in this pic.

We were able to go one more time before the first of the year and we didn't see a thing that day. We are now set up in a different unit. I set up blinds today on some awesome spots. Going to be sitting tomorrow. We are going to be hunting for the next week and a half so hopefully some good things are going to happen. This spot we have been hunting, we decided to let my brother hunt it because it is close to his home, but the snow has been too deep to get back in to it. He is going to try to get in there this next weekend. Brian

8pm here in Lakeside -2.2 degrees Brian

You don't get anything.

Woke up this morning to -19!! Had to double check with the neighbors and they have the same. Coldest temp that I can remember here! My dad can remember a -27 but he says that was alot of years ago. Brian

-12.5 here now! Tried to get my nephew to run to the street corner with nothing on but a wet sheet but he wont do it.

We now dropped to -7 degrees. Brian

Thanks. I will definately wait till Sunday. Hopefully the sun will come out tomorrow and break up the roads a little bit. Thanks again. Brian

Has anybody drove between Show Low and Globe, and if you have, what are the road conditions? I'm going to 29 for two weeks of deer hunting and thinking about postponing leaving till Sunday unless I can get some info on the road conditions. I will be pulling a camp trailer so I'm not really wanting to travel icy roads all the way to Globe. It is still snowing here in Lakeside so I am guessing they are not great. Any info would be appreciated. Brian

Has to be just prerut.

Good blind at a good price but you should check out the killzone they are by far the cheapest and strong and GREAT to shoot from. But to each his own. I may have to try one especially if there is a spot it might get stolen. Had one stolen last year. My fault though, snowed and I couldnt get to it and the by the time I did, it was gone. I got the yukon tracks on sale for $109 and free shipping.

Here is the blind I am using now. I really like it. I really like how the windows come a lot lower to the ground so you never have to worry about your arrow hitting the bottom of the window. Brian http://cgi.ebay.com/YUKON-TRACKS-Dispatche...=item35aec36eee

With everything else that have been mentioned make sure you have a pee bottle. Doubles good as a hand warmer on these cold days. Brian

+1, I think it is more important how you brush them in. Brian

204 6/8"

That is a great buck! Awesome job! Brian

We use the shoot through mesh all the time with no problems, with fixed blade broadheads all the way out to 40 yards. I have shot Rocket Steelheads through the mesh with no problems only in practice but I won't try them on animals as I am scared that one will open up early on the mesh. The mesh we shoot through is tight across the window, however I have seen some mesh on blinds that is kind of loose across the window and that might cause a problem to shoot through. Best thing to do is practice before hand to see what happens. Brian

They better hurry up because Jan. 1 I'm going to show them how it's done.

Well I have come to a conclusion that this blind and spot is jinxed. My dad can't go back until after Christmas so today I took my 16 year old cousin to my hotspot. It was a miserable weather day, high winds and lots of rain. The rain finally quit at 11:30 and at 12:00 a nice two point came off the ridge but he took a trail that went by the blind in an unshootable spot. Then at 12:30 a nice three point and a two point came in perfect. The 3x3 was broadside at 20 yards, he drew and released and I didn't have a clue where the arrow went. All I knew was it wasn't anywhere near the buck. Come to find out he hit the elastic strap that runs through the middle of the window from top to bottom. I told him before hand to make sure he was clear of that strap, but he forgot about it when he shot. I tell ya these bucks have nine lives. I don't know what else can go wrong, but if there is I sure it will haunt us. Fun day though. Doesn't look like we will be back out until Sunday. Oh, there have been 5 new scrapes made in the last two days within 20 yards of the blind.

We were able to get out to the blind today. No shot opportunities today but we were close. Had a real great buck come in but he chose a different trail to another scrape that we were not set up quite right for. He came in grunting. The thing is where I was sitting in the blind I had the buck broadside at 12 yards but at my dads angle he could not see the buck. Oh well. He will be back. Then we had a big wide two point come in the same exact way as the previous buck and the same thing happened. I could see him and my dad couldn't. I had him at 12 yards broadside then at 4 yards broadside. We thought about trying to switch sides while they were there but we would have just ended up spooking them. We will catch them again another day. Brian

The problem I see is that you cant compare AZ to other states. States like Utah and Colorado have way more elk and deer than AZ. Colorado is on a straight preference point system where only the highest number of points get drawn. They have the animal and permit levels to allow a preference point system to work. If Az did that the high demand premium hunts would basically become a once in a lifetime hunt. There is not enough hunter turnover (low permit numbers) to allow that to work. A new person just starting to apply may never get a tag or it may take over 25 years to get one. That won't work. As for Utah, just ask someone who lives there how they like their system. They hate it and it seems to change every year. Once you draw a premium tag there, it is slim to impossibe to draw that tag again. The only Rez I have any dealings with is the Navajo and it isn't hard to draw a tag there. Honestly, I don't know what the answer is to improving the odds in AZ are. I don't see a way of doing it unless you start pricing people out. I don't want that and I am sure the majority of people don't want that to happen. The amount of tags in AZ will never increase enough to allow the demand to catch up, and demand is always going to go up (unless you start pricing a portion of demand out of the equation). Is the system we have good or bad, I don't know, I just don't see a better one that will work for AZ, unless you go like NM and just have a pure lottery with no bonus or preference points. That will never happen though. So I don't know. I just keep playing the system we have and keep studying and applying. I have drawn my share of good tags over the past 5 years so I can't complain to much. Until a better system is figured out all I can say is good luck. Now I just got to figure out how to get my sheep tag.

The problem with putting a waiting period on successful applicants, say five years, is that there are so few permits and so many applicants that you are not really improving your odds by that much especially on early rifle bull and antelope hunts, and most good archery hunts. Example: unit 9 early rifle elk; 25 tags available and 3731 applicants put in for it. After 5 years you have only removed 125 applicants from the 3731, and usually every year more applicants apply. How much have you really gained? That is the problem with a waiting period in AZ, too many people applying for a very limited amount of tags, you won't improve your odds enough to make a difference. This is how I see it. Brian

Well after some discussion and shooting and more discussion this is what we came up with. The first buck well he didn't have a chance. The second buck we discussed to aim for the heart before he came in. Well when my dad shot he said he forgot to aim low and just centered the pin. We know what happened there. Now the third one he aim low at the heart but we figured out that he did it with his 30 yard pin. Hence shooting so high. Heat of the moment you never know what you are going to do even when you have thoroughly discussed the situation prior to it happening. Brian

Crappie fishng was slow. Only caught one, had a couple others on, and missed two others. Not many fish caught on Saturday. Nice day on the water though. Brian