My Rights As An American

Definitely looks like drag marks, or one bad case of hair herpes!

Awesome job guys! Congrats on some great bucks and even better stories to tell for years!!! Those will be stories that can never be replaced.

My first ever deer was an archery coues whitetail buck that was a very small fork. I had him put on the wall full head mount and have not regreted one single moment of that decision, even though I have never shot another deer that small again. Well worth the memories every time I look at that thing! Makes me proud of all of the hard work and lessons learned that it took to get that first deer!

Make friends with people who hunt that unit. I have the late Nov-early Dec whitetail tag in that unit and my buddy has the Dec whitetail tag also in that unit. Then, introduce your wife to these new friends and hunt around them or at least camp with them. Get your wife comfortable with the fact that there are other competent people around. This is good sense even for units not around the southern border.

Got mine from Lowe's about 7 years ago. Excellent deal and about $400 out the door. Have not been disappointed at all. Holds lots of stuff and ammo and is VERY heavy empty. It would almost take a forklift to get it out of my house! No bad ideas, anybody!!!

Today is my brother's 39th birthday. I still think of him every single day. Just last week they released one of the two murderers on unsecured bond because the judge stated "he is not a threat to society" right now. That sure does re-sharpen the pain of our loss. Jim, happy birthday. We love you and miss you so much. Your little brother, Brian.

Bog has been dried up for a few years, mostly completely bone dry. A lot of that area has been fenced off as private property and is no longer accessible at all. Additionally, the number of illegals and Border Patrol using that area has increased dramatically over the last few years, making it tough to hunt the few places with water that remain. Not trying to steer you away, please do not take that from my comments. There are better areas now, the drought has been tough on that area and you can usually save some gas if you expect to limit out on ducks down there anymore.

Hunter X, You are absolutely correct, my apologies. Road hunting is the only possibly successful method to hunt this unit. In fact, when road hunting, you should return to camp around 8:00 A.M. and do not go back out until about 4:00 P.M. That is the only time deer move in this unit.

+1 on keeping hunting areas close to the vest. 33 is a large unit LOADED with large coues. Find good draws at the bases of a mountain or hilly terrain and search. Water will be very useful, but even more so is getting off the road a little and hiking up and into the hills. That alone will increase your odds of success in this unit greatly. I grew up hunting this unit and have seen first-hand how the hunt has changed. WAY too many road hunters, slob hunters, overhunted areas, etc. Get off the roads and hike.

Going up in two weeks to Anchorage for a sentencing hearing then three days on the Kenai for some silver salmon fishing. Hope all goes well.

You are talking about the elk calls, right?

Non-typical, PM sometime so we can chat off-line about the differences between Kotterman and Huppenthal from my perspective. I would not want to necessarily turn this into a debate or discussion that may devolve, but would really like to share my experiences. Glad to see an educator on here! Thanks for what you do!

BigMoqui, Great tag! That Dec hunt is fantastic down there. I have the late Nov hunt, same unit. Good luck. I will get down there to scout real soon, just after the monsoons are done.

I voted. Vote early and vote often! Just kidding! I worked a poll last night for some candidates and went to a party afterwards. Fun evening as the results were expected in some races and pleasantly surprising in others!

Almost forgot that Kelly beat Paton, a huge upset to most, but not all if you believed the poll that Kelly put out a few weeks ago. Also, the struggle for GOP leadership in the State Senate may have been decided last night with the conservatives vs. the moderates. BUSY night!

Not to hijack the thread in total, but there were a few surprises last night: McCain's total beatdown of Hayworth was probably expected, but that margin is painful! Republican AG race between Horne and Thomas is huge! Most people seemed to think Horne in a walk-off. Bill Montgomery beating Romley so handily was quite shocking to most. Jan Brewer winning was a total shocker! (Ok, sarcasm needed to be added for fun!) Sylvian Allen trouncing Bill Konopnicki in Legislative District 5 was downright interesting!!! And fun to watch as a conservative! For State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the race between Huppenthal and Kotterman is going to get downright disgustingly ugly and expensive. The National Education Association will probably dump a few million into this race for Kotterman, and I hope she loses BADLY! In my Justice of the Peace race, the incumbent ran a dirty and unprofessional campaign, ultimately being trounced by the newcomer who I have worked with and for for manyyears. Quite a large amount of the State House and Senate were determined last night, so lots of fights are over. Any other shockers to anyone else out there? What did I miss?

Got my scope today also. Looks GREAT with the target dot reticle. My only complaint is that I did not get a hat or coffee in my package. Not sure whose wheaties I peed in, but I am sad. Other than that, LOVE the scope already. Wanted to mount it to my 22-250, but I will need new rings. Going to check out Bass Pro right now.

Just ordered my first ever Vortex product that everyone seems to think so highly of! Thanks Doug, I selected the Viper 6.5-20x44 in Target Dot to be placed onto a Remington 700 in 22-250. Never owned a Vortex product and never had a scope that was a target dot setup, always had the V-plex setup. I am excited, to say the least! Thanks!

I hope 36C is getting lots of rain! Last year during the early hunt it was pretty dry out. The storms seem to be missing the top half of the unit and hitting the bottom half. Any rain helps!

The faster you get the clean meat out and on ice, the better. If it takes that long, then you may want to make sure you get some game bags and strap the meat on the outside of your pack in the game bags, or leave your pack open if it gets really hot. Keeping the meat clean is just as important, in my opinion, as how fast you get it out. If you are really bad at butchering in the field and leave lots of hair, insides, urine, etc on the meat, it will not matter if you get it out in 2 hours or 3, the damage has already begun. Keep your meat clean, take the extra minute to pack it properly in a game bag and not in plastic like a ziploc or a tarp. Let it breathe. Then, when you get in back to camp, get it on ice ASAP! This has never failed me.

As for illegals and drug runners, expect to see them. They have been squeezed over the years into the more remote passages north, which includes this unit. It is not uncommon to see groups of 100 or more heading north. I have not hunted there in a few years without seeing groups of illegals. Do not leave out anything at camp that may be used by them, especially water. They will have not qualms being anywhere from 10-35 miles north of the border about taking water from an unattended camp. Always keep your focus around you and have the Border Patrol phone number speed dialed into your phone.

I have the same tag. Do not bypass any of the rolling hills that lead up to the larger mountains in this unit, as those hold some large coues bucks. Over the past 20 years or so of hunting this unit, the coues bucks have been migrating out into the flats a little more. Also, get about 2 miles in and you will bypass almost all hunters. Any of the foot only access points to the south of there, get in 1-2 miles and glass, glass, glass. The deer are in there.

"33, nov 5th hunt.... My wifes birthday is nov 6th, and i killed a 185 muley on her birthday a few uears ago, and i killed a 95" coues on her birthday last year, so what will her birthday bring this year? " My guess, it better start with dinner and diamonds? My wife would not let me get away with three years of hunting on her birthday! Luckily there are no hunting seasons on her birthday!!!!

I would be happy to help a youth from the forum if they get drawn for down south! Camp is always open to good people!

Thank you very much! That is better than the HOT October hunt or a no draw!!! Thanks again!