PatrickJr

You know you love hunting when you are studying google earth looking for new predator spots when you should be studying for finals....my problem right now

Does anyone have any info on any deer killed over 110" in Arizona so far this year? I havent seen any other bucks over 110" killed this year in AZ. Thanks for the help.

For a lady I would try to find a browning citori in 20 gauge that isn't too beat up. 12 gauges always seem to be too much for the majority of ladies. I would look for good beretta for yourself. 682 Gold E sporting will work well for all 3 games and a good used on will go for 3k to 3.5k. But if you want to blow your retirement, then go ahead and get a Perazzi, Kreighoff, Kolar, or Blaser. A gun that I have always drooled over is a Beretta 692 sporting, and they go for new at 6k. Good luck

Has anyone gone out lately? Seems that once the fox/bobcat season ended, there has been a severe drop off in predator hunting.... Has anyone had any success? I am going to try to go out these evening after checking my cameras...hope it won't be too hot! Good luck to all shed hunters, predator hunters, buff, bear, and turkey hunters in the coming months and congrats to all whom were lucky enough to draw a coveted AZ elk or antelope tag! 🎉 -Patrick

I only was there for 2 days and we saw multiple 350s and we passed and never saw a bull big enough for what the hunter wanted, on a later hunt Pat took out a hunter, I believe it was the November muzzleloader hunt, and they killed a 330 at 500 yards with the muzzleloader. In a minute I can put up a pic of 2 bulls killed in 10 from diamond. That is Pat, the one on the right is a 380 and the left is a 350 maybe 355. Both killed on the same early rifle hunt.

Diamond Outfitters, specifically Pat Romero, I was on a hunt with him last year for that same tag, and it was unbelievable. He knows 10 like the back of his hand

During the school year, when I had any successes (or failures) I would share with buddy (Reyes) from school who also hunted, and he would do the same. He is a good hunter and not the kind that goes out once a year and hunts from the truck. And one day he mentioned that he had never been predator calling before. I said that we had to change that. We planned to go out On Wednesday of our spring break, 3/18. We took off to an area where I have called in fox, and where I figured it wouldn't be too hard to get one in for him. I explained the ropes of predator calling to him on the way there (1.25 hour drive). We arrived and made our first stand. We had a hawk comes in multiple times, trying to grab the decoy attached to my call. On my 3rd sound, 4 minutes into it, and 14 into the set, I thought I heard something to out left. Reyes was set up to my left, facing into the wind, with the call in from of him and holding my shotgun. It was a very faint sound. I kept moving my eyes to the left and was astonished to see a fox standing inside Reyes shooting range! No sooner do I see the fox, Reyes raises up the shotgun and drops this fox. I figure I was more excited than he was. He said he watched it work in from about 75 yards to 24. I kept calling but ended rather quickly because I could tell he was excited and wanted to get to his first fox. We did 3 more fox stands to no avail. Here are some pics of reyes with his first fox! This was he set up, you can see a white spot in front of him, that is the fox, call is to the right. We went to a coyote area, and I saw two coyotes off the road and took off. I ended up shooting one, hit really well, and it ran into thick brush, never to be found. We went to a rock outcropping to call and after the set I ran into 2 Diamondbacks. The bigger one (pictured) rattled, 🙏🙏🙏. I only got photos of the big one, but there was 2. We didn't call anything else in, but I was fine with that. Reyes got his first fox and that was my goal. I later watched a video that was about the reintroduction of the Catalina desert bighorn sheep, it got me going, I wanted to see these sheep. I had never seen a wild desert bighorn before. I asked a couple friends (Chris and Jim) that were either part of the reintroduction or glass them up regularly. They gave me tips and I found myself glassing for sheep. It took about 3 hours but I found them, 25 of them! I photographed and videoed these amazing creatures until dark. I watched them react to a javelina walking with 100 yards of them and got to see some new lambs. Since them, I have gone out 3 more times and found sheep every time, I have not seen any older Rams since the first day, I believe they have split off. Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 And I may be wrong, but it seems to me, that each day I get better a taking pictures...😂

Yeah, just the predator way, he is already an accomplished hunter, having to taken multiple coues deer (one over 100) and an archery elk. I just introduced him to calling for predators.

Went out early this morning and found the rams I was looking for. They went over and i circled around on them, but they were never to be seen again. Found the rest of the herd but not them. Thinking that they just bedded with the herd at night then split off for the day? And if anyone knows what AZGFD calls this ram, please let me know, as of right now, he is known as the "big ram" I bedded the rest of the herd at 8:30. Big Ram Smaller ram with an edit Rest of the herd

Yes sir, all of the adult sheep in the Catalinas have radio collars on them. All these sheep have either been born here in the past 1.5 years or relocated in the past 1.5 years.

Oh, I know!!! He needs a new one that says " Pac 12 South Football Champs" and "Pac 12 Basketball Regular Season and Tournament Champs"

Ran into 2 rattlesnakes last week while calling. Glad one rattled. And everyone try not to get bitten because there is a new antivenom call Crofab, and one dose for an adult male is $65000. And because it is so new it is not covered by any insurance. Oh and an adult male typically needs 2 doses....😁😁😁

There is a 2nd one but it is behind those pear

Very nice! But what about that shed in the bush to the left...(1st photo)

Thanks everyone! I hope my family and friends will draw tags so that I can have the opportunity to hunt throughout the fall.

I think it is ridiculous to say that exercising does not improve your hunting abilities. Have you ever heard of some guys named Zac Griffith or Cameron Hanes??? Well if you don't, just know that they are fitness gurus and are hunting beasts because of it. They have a mindset that is, "It will NOT be because of my lack of training or fitness that I will not be successful" and these guys make it so. I am also striving to make it so my body will not fail me when I need it. Yes, your fitness may not affect your glassing skills, shooting skills, or field judging skills themselves, but ultimately, your fitness will affect everything leading to those skills and after. A stalk, hike in, a pack out all are affected by your body's performance. You my be the best glasser in the world but if that animal isn't within your shooting range, then you are going to have to make a stalk, and if you cant make the stalk, well you're SOL. And if you are able to get an animal down, you need to get it out. I know exercise is hard, but no matter how little you do, you are still becoming a better hunter with every little step you make.

My father and I have 37B HAM tags and we both planned on hunting with muzzleloaders and maybe a sidearm. We could only hunt the Sundays of the hunt due to our shooting schedule. I had just killed a pig on my JR tag 2 weeks prior. Once again, our great friend, John could come along. He said he could only come for the morning. We planned to head to an area that we were headed to when we ran into the pigs that I shot my JR pig out of 2 weeks ago. My father has trouble hiking long distances, so we had him sit on a lower hill right where I killed my pig. We headed to a big ridge that once we got over, could glass a big canyon. John and I got to the ridge and found a tall rock outcropping to glass from. I set down my muzzleloader and pack when John told me he was going to go further down the ridge so he can get a different angle on everything. I set up on a rock and began glassing the furthest ridge I could see, and not 3 minutes into glassing and on my first pan across, I had pigs (6 in the herd). I called John back over and he set up then told me to find some pig a little closer. These pigs were an easy .75 miles across a nasty canyon. And just to our luck, about 5 minutes later, John glasses across my face and finds a big herd of at least 12. We make a plan and take off. Just before cresting the hill we were going to shoot from, I capped my rifle. We went over and couldn’t find t pigs on the very thick hillside. I suddenly saw 2 pigs on the far side of the hill and set up. I was sitting and this pig stopped at 170, almost perfectly broadside. I squeezed, and John told me I had hit the pig but not very well. I reloaded then we got closer. No movement on the hill, I walked across and jump the pig. He was running so fast through the thick brush that I never got a chance at a shot. We went up to where he was when I shot and couldn’t find any blood. John followed his tracks looking for blood on the bushes. Nothing. We came to the consensus that the pig was in fact okay and would survive, whether I had hit it or not. We went to where we figured the rest of the pigs went and I saw one run over t next hill. We ran up to where it was. John thought he could hear them. We finally saw 6 pigs come out of the bottom at 114 yards. None stopped but the nastiest and oldest pig we had ever seen. I pulled the trigger, and of course, the safety was on! He ran off. We turned to plan B, the herd I found earlier. It was close to 10AM now and I am started to get tired on all levels. We got over to an area that we saw the pigs go down into. We circled around to try and dig out these pigs out of the thick bottoms. Nothing turned up for over an hour. It is now 11:30 and I am out of water. We decide to give the distress call a try because of we couldn’t find the pigs, they weren’t going to get up until late in the afternoon. John blew on the call for a solid 3 minutes and stopped. When he stopped I could hear some “woofs” that were not that far away. I set up in that direction. John blew on the call for another 30 seconds. When he stopped again, I could hear the “woofs” getting louder. John spotted the pig coming up the hill across the way from us. Then the whole area exploded with pigs! 2 pigs came over the top of the hill at 50 yards, and I set up on them as the first pig wouldn’t stop. The 2 pigs stopped and john said “Shoot which ever one you want” and I shot the left pig of the 2. The pig was quartering to us and to the left. I was shooting downhill and the pig was faced downhill. The bullet broke his left shoulder and went all the way through to break the right rear leg. It was over. I had my first muzzleloader pig! It was a good sized boar but nothing near the size of the pig I had shot 2 weeks prior. We took photos, boned him, and started the long, horrendous hike out. It took us about 1.5 hours to get back to the trucks. My father hadn’t seen any pigs. This was the most I had worked for a pig in my life. Karma comes back around; I had such an easy hunt a couple weeks ago, and now one of the toughest. I want to thank John for coming with me, you are such a great friend and I hope these memories we have made in the past few month are just the tip of the iceberg! Now the rest of pig season is all about my dad! Here is my view when I shot my pig. you can see a pig near the top of the hill and my pig was in to gap below that one when I shot it. Me checking that the pig is dead. Pulling the boar up the hill

Haha thanks, we couldn't get out this past weekend for his HAM tag due to a family emergency and a shoot i was competing in however he does have a 37A general tag that will be trying out hardest to fill.

Thanks! It was John's idea to put him on the rock and I'm glad he thought of it, because the photos came out great.

2 years ago it went for $700 at the SCI banquet.

Last November I had a deer and pig tag, I filled my deer tag and that evening i tried for my 2nd double. I missed a pig at between 80-100 yards and my dad told me it was because the trajectory didn't match the reticle at 100 and so it probably went over. I didn't think it would be THAT high, but i guess it was, either way that pig should be dead. Fast forward to Jan. 22nd, I was hunting coues deer with my dad in Mexico and he had not tagged so i was holding back on the pigs but it was the last day. I found some pigs mid-morning, and a buddy let me shoot his 7 RUM. I missed that pig too! My spotters said i was an inch or 2 below his chest. Not bad for 610 yards.... I still don't know how i missed that pig, because i was right on the collar 2/3rds up the body. But i didn't get a little something in return...my first kiss from a Nightforce. So now I have missed 2 pigs and we can back to the states on the 23rd, the day my JR pig hunt starts. My buddy got his daughter a pig that evening so he could hunt with me on Saturday. We got to our parking spot at about 7AM and BS'd for 20 minutes, then began out hike. I was once again carrying my 257 Weatherby that I missed the first pig with, but now i had custom Wundrock reloads and a different scope on it, that did not have the ballistic plex and I was good out to 300. Let's back up to the drive in. I asked my dad how I should hold on a pig at the yardages 200, 150, 100, and 50 if it was dead on at 300. He told me and somewhat laughed at me when I asked how I should hold at 50. He was probably thinking I would never get to 50 of a pig. I memorized how I had to hold. John and i started walking and right away we both were seeing lots of fresh tracks. About 10 minutes into hiking, we are in a little cut, and we hear so brush rustle along with a woof. Pigs. The brush was so thick that we couldn't see one and they had our wind. Then we heard a woof to our right, a much more open side of the cut. I took off my glove, chambered a round, then got ready. Multiple pigs were woofing back to us, but I could not see any yet. I began to tiptoe up with my scope on 3x. All of a sudden a pig popped up and I put the rifle up and asked John if I should shoot, because he looked kind of small. There was a small bush covering everything but his head and this back, so I placed the crosshairs where I figured his vitals were, then dropped them a couple inches and pulled the trigger. One pig ran to the right and another to the left. I quickly asked John if I hit it, he said yes. I unchambered the next round, went back and grabbed my glove and brass. I told John to go stand by the pig so I could range him. 15 YARDS! I was speechless. 15 minutes into the hunt and I kill a pig at 15 yards. I called my dad who was still sitting in the truck dealing with some work business. He didn't hear the shot and was astonished I had already killed. We took him up the sun and took photos then tagged the big boar. I glanced across the cut, and there was the rest of the herd, now 6 pigs, feeding. They could care less. We stalked in on them for fun and got to 35 yards. My father had loaded up some 110 gr Nosler Accubonds over 68.5 grains of RL22. This bullet was devastating, heart, lungs, and shoulder gone, it also went through to cut down a prickly pear. Myself John and I I never knew how much meat there was on a pigs head, it took me 3 hours to really get it clean. We aged him at 7 years old and he rough green scores over 14, so hopefully he will end up over 14 and I will accompany my mother and father in the javelina record book!

No, the pig was not going to wind us. My buddy, Mark, wanted me to shoot a long distance pig, because I was the only guy in camp (besides cooks) that was not going to shoot a deer.

Ive had mine for over a year and it had very few downsides. Ive carried out 5 whole coues deer with it, both in the pack and on my frame. The weight carries very well ONCE you get the waist belt fitted correctly. Ive also hiked with well over 100lbs in the pack in order to condition for certain hunts. The bag also washes very well after being soaked in blood. Pockets are plentiful and in good places. I just wish that Outdoorsmans would make a pouch that can go on the waist belt like badlands and eberlestock packs have. The MAIN ISSUE with this pack is that it carries weight so well, that you find yourself carrying excess weight that you can do just fine without. and if you buy this pack, i would also buy a rainfly as the packs are not completely waterproof. I've taken this pack all over this state and mexcio, it has not let me (nor all my friends who has it) down yet. To the people who have parts that squeak, if you take the bag off of the frame and adjust the buckle that supports the arm straps, it should go away, as it did with mine.

I was able to get out for a couple stands after a couple days of helping a buddy with his deer and pig tags. Now, you must understand that I normally do 12-14 minute stands, hardly ever do I stay longer. I do this because a mentor of mine is a very accomplished caller and recommended this to me. On my first stand, I set the caller up just 3 yards to my side of a good sized ditch. I figured if anything came in from the other side of the ditch that when it entered (hopefully i saw it enter) the ditch is when I could raise my shotgun. I was once again solo. Well I played 2 sounds for 7 minutes each then I switched to my mentor's favorite sound of all time. I did this because I loved my setup and couldn't believe nothing had come in... At the 18 minute mark I saw a coyote just come screamin in! He was quickly behind some trees, and dropped into the ditch. My shotgun was now shouldered and ready. He jumped up out of the ditch right next to the caller, and once he cleared the call, he hit the snow. Male ~20 yards Later in the day with my dad, who was kicking himself for not coming out with me.