scoutm

Great buck!! I would love to see more pictures of the left side - the G3 look wild.

The unit isn't important...what's important is after some really hard work I was able to celebrate successs with a good friend - as witnessed in all the other great stories that can happen in any unit.

Happy Birthday Phil!! Good Luck in November.

I've used a butcher down in Saint David. His name is Stacey Thompkinson (SP?). I don't have his number with me but will try to find for you. He also does great Taxi work.

My step brother is no road hunter and now that they bottle Guiness in aluminum bottles he packs one around in his pack - it's his incentive to climb that next ridge. He chooses Guiness because it is best when at room temp. In celebration it gets consumed after the deer has been field dressed or just before the hike back to camp on the last day of the hunt which ever comes first. I must say I shared one with him after our last hunt and it was quite enjoyable. Don't know that it was enjoyable enough to pack around while hunting but if you're not the one doing the packing it's not such a bad thing.

I can't remember the last time I was so upset!! You do everything as you're suppose to and you still get ripped off. So, the area I wanted to Bear and Deer Hunt has two ways in - The short way which was purchased and locked off a few years ago and the long way which was open until Today. As recommended, I contacted the ranch owner that has the short way locked and asked permission to cross his property so I could hunt the Public land - he respectfully declined me access. So, I contacted the Ranch owner on the Long way and was granted permission. Since the Public land I was going to hunt was part of the short way ranches grazing allotment, I contacted the Short way ranch to let them know that I had been granted access through the long way ranch and that I would be in there hunting. I've been down scouting on two different trips in August & September and on both trips I've checked in with the long way ranch hand and had what I thought were pleasant conversations. The Ranch hand gave some recommendations on where else to look and told me he would even keep an eye out for the bear I was planning to hunt. Since the long way is really taking a toll on my truck I sent an e-mail to the short way ranch to ask one more time if they would reconsider granting access - and here's my mistake - I enclosed a picture of the bear. Well they never responded to my e-mail but tonight I recieved a call from the Game and Fish WM for the unit informing me that the Long way has now been closed - stating that the reason for the closure was due to me being "rude". At no time was I ever rude - I went out of my way to let the ranchers know where I would be and when I would be there. I have no reason to believe the long way ranch is doing anything unfairly as they are a long standing AZ ranching family that has always had open access through their ranch and I even showed them the bear pictures I had back in August. They have a wonderful history in our state and unlike many ranching families I've never heard a negative comment about them. I just find it very difficult to believe that the short way ranch isn't behind this - not more than a week after they get my second request and a picture of the bear I was going to hunt my only way in gets closed. Now what adds insult to injury is I have a trailcam setup that I most likely won't beable to retrieve. The WM is going to try to help me on that front but no promises were made.

Picked up the SD Card from my first trail cam and here's what I found. I set the camera up at 10:45 a.m. and the buck came in the same day at 6:00 p.m.

I have a pair (they are my backups now) and was pretty happy with them. I would still be using them but I guy made me an offer on a pair of swaro 15x56 that I just couldn't say no to. The glass was very clear and with the 60mm lens light transmission was great on par with the swaro. The draw backs are they are large and heavy when compared to the swaro's and the diopter adjustment on mine is located at the front of the focus nob so everytime I would focus I would adjust the diopter adjustment. It took me several multi-day trips to get where I wouldn't make that mistake. The lense covers come off too easily - I lost mine in the field. For the money they are very good. Here a link to where I got mine. Don't know where you live but this guy lives on the eastside of Tucson. He let me come over and do some comparison. For the right price you maybe able to talk me out of mine. Good luck. http://www.coyotesports.com/buypage.htm

I was doing some reading on field judging black bear and there were a two articles that made the comment that if you take the width of the front track in inches and add 1 inch change it to feet and you have an approximation of how tall the bear is. So 5" track +1 = 6 feet tall. Don't know if it works but I've read it in two different places.

Are you kidding me... the energy companies will buy up all the rights and keep this from us consumers until they've used every drop of economically feasible oil. Hard to make a buck on the most available resource.

I keep coming back to this thread trying to understand the two postions but I'm clearly having a difficult time following the anti-camera (I'll call it the CON side of the issue) side. Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems that the CON's don't like cameras becuase they create a precieved advantage by attracting deer - I've never seen a camera attact a deer - Bait is what attracts the deer not the camera. So is this debate truely about cameras or it about Baiting? I completely agree that hunting over Bait is not-fair chase and does unfairly increase shooting success. Hunting an area where a camera has been utilized to give you an idea of the quality of deer in the area is fair chase as long as you are not hunting over the BAIT that was utilized to get the deer to pose for the camera. Again as long as you are not hunting over the Bait, you still need to glass the deer up, you have to plan a stalk, you have to execute your stalk and you have to hit your mark with your shot - is that not the definition of fair chase?

It appears that I've been able to put a trip together to go after the big boy I found a week ago (see below). I've been doing a lot of reading on caring for the meat and hide (I will want to make a rug) should I be fortunate enough to find him again and tag him. I've never eaten bear meat before and I'm concerned about hunting an animal I'm not sure about eating. What's everyone's opinion? Have you eaten it? How was it prepared? Any recommendations on caring for the hide? I've read a number of articles about making sure it is well cooked. I've also read a number of write-ups that say it makes great sausage...Thoughts? Thanks for any input! http://forums.coueswhitetail.com/forums/in...?showtopic=6743

Here’s a small group of bachelors...two are definitely first day shooter.

This bear appears to be pretty big to me...is he or is he just average? http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l302/sco...ugust30A021.flv http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l302/sco...ugust30A022.flv

He was in the tank a total of about 5 minutes. Most of the time all you could see is a black head and ears sticking out.

Anyone know what kind he his. I've never seen one so black.

Saturday Night driving back from Scounting Unit 23 in NM I saw a big cat run across the highway between Morenci and Safford. If I recall it was around Mile Marker 49.

I just called and found SunDevil and I were able to pick up two of the left over 30A October Tags...Now the search for access and Deer begins.

I got mine at sportsman's. I have not hunted with it and most likely won't. It didn't have any impact on the number of deer I saw when I was out. In 2.5 hours saw 13 different deer one of which fed within 75yrds of where I was setup.

Picked up a ThermaCell Mosquito repellent device on the hopes that it would make the summer glassing a little more comfortable and it worked. I was amazed. Their claim of up to 4hrs of effectiveness is way off. It's only lasted about 2.5 hours. But that time was a great 2.5 hours of glassing - not a single bug. Once the repellent pad was drained the bugs got so bad I had to leave. Don't know how it well it will work in wind but it worked great this weekend.

I never smelled any odor but I don't have the nose of a deer. I wouldn't hunt with one but sure made scouting better

The ThermaCell is a small device that has a 2 inch by 1 inch replaceable repellent pad that is heated by a butane powered heating element. It releases an odorless insect repellent. It suppose to create a 200sqft area free of insects. Don’t know about that but I put in on the ground behind me and had a great insect free glass for about 2.5 hours. Once the repellent was all gone I was swarmed by bugs.

Got mine too...

If the date works count me in.

Are you counting the eye guards? Most people down here when describing there deer do not. A 3x3 with eye guards (or as some say 4x4) should be very doable.