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MrBojangles

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Posts posted by MrBojangles

  3. Posted · Report reply

    On 11/9/2021 at 9:07 PM, 6AYoteHunter said:

    Our mule deer herd took a pretty big hit the last couple years. One of the mule deer herds near my house dropped from 32 to only 5 survivors. Coues herd went from 28 to 2 in the same spot. It will take years to bounce back. Ask the guides this year. Dwuane Adams said most difficult hunt in 40+ years. My Dad said he has never seen it this bad. Areas that got hit the worse had higher populations of cats. If you find pockets that the cats missed then good bucks can be found. Don't expect to find a 180 class mule deer anywhere in the next few years. Dwuane's entire camp never saw that class deer and they have killed more 200+" deer than anyone. 

    I heard that podcast it sounded like things have definitely been tough. 

    On 11/9/2021 at 9:29 AM, Sneaker said:

    I think your expectations need to be adjusted by alot. Unless you have a month to scout or live in the unit and are there all the time year after year or have a friend that does, no non-premium unit would a non-guided hunter be able to "expect" to find or kill a deer over 180. They are just very rare. They are there, but they are few, even a very good hard hunting out of state hunter would have to just get very lucky to even find one in say 10 days. Alot of places don't even have that kind of genetics/nutrients and there are too many rifle tags in all these general units for almost any buck to even get old enough to see that size. As most people probably do on here :), I consider myself a very good hunter, and have probably only seen maybe 4 bucks truly 180 class or above south of the grand canyon in my whole life, and I've glassed and hiked and hunted and ran cameras in AZ ALOT in my life. I agree OTC archery changes hardly will affect what type of bucks the rifle guys could expect to see. If you would be happy with say 160, you could at least have a fighting chance of finding one if you are an all-in hunter on a general unit here.

    Thank you for the insight you are right I probably wouldn't know what do to with myself if I even saw a 160 type buck, forget 180. I know it takes years and years of experience to start to put it together in areas and just increase your chances of seeing big animals, let alone kill them. Got my butt kicked a couple years ago in december on otc archery just was ecstatic to see a 4x3. Havent been able to go back since due to work and having a kid but I definitely don;t expect to pull up in a unit and shoot a giant buck no matter what  unit I am in. I probably would save up and try to hire an outfitter to increase my chances as this would be a special hunt that I most likely would never be able to do again. Just hoping for increased chances for big deer eventually south of the ditch with the decrease in otc tags so I dont have to battle point creep forever. good luck to you the rest of your season

    On 11/9/2021 at 3:21 PM, Markleo21377 said:

    I have to echo what sneaker said. Some people throw 180” around like they are killed frequently. Even on the strip and kaibab the average deer checked is consistently below 180”. Of course the age class and genetics greatly increase your odds in those units though. I have seen plenty of deer in the desert units pushing 180 and sometimes even bigger. I had a friends dad kill a 203” desert Muley in a unit that non residents can draw with 4 points. Here is a buck killed by my buddies farm two days ago that hits the magic mark. Unit can be drawn by nonresident with 4 points. 
     

    OTC units will naturally get a bit better when you get rid of some stress from the ridiculous amount of hunters in the field.
     

    Those desert hunts are a grind and we spend a bunch of time to turn them up. If you decide to burn points on a hunt south of the ditch hit me up and we can give yah some assistance. Sincerely, Mark
    B4608B19-C080-4D67-8191-F59678C2E480.thumb.jpeg.1a5015b7f143204ec85f94159bd513ef.jpeg

    Thank you mark that's a fantastic buck. That has to feel awesome when it all comes together after putting in all that work over the years. I live in a fantastic place but definitely dream what if at times, thinking what it would be like to be searching for needle in a haystack giant desert muleys if I lived in AZ. That has to be addicting.  Appreciate the offer for future help, if you ever were interested in archery hunting axis deer in hawaii on lanai I can reciprocate the favorite. I helped a guy on archerytalk shoot a velvet buck but unfortunately with work and life  and starting a family wasn;t ever able to go back to az and try and take advantage after helping him out. I'll be back someday though, perhaps we'll be in touch. 

    • Like 1

  5. Posted · Report reply

    I feel like this might be a dumb question but how do these otc archery outfitters like big chino go on podcasts and talk about consistently being on 180+ deer on otc public land deer hunts and not have issues with people encroaching on their spots and ruining their zones and their outfit? i would think people would book a hunt with them one year and then keep coming back to the same area without booking with them if that truly was the case. I'm assuming it's public land because they talk about other hunters ruining their stalks at times but maybe I am missing something to this equation?

     

  6. Posted · Report reply

    WIll any of the otc changes lead to changes in increase trophy quality in some units? I'm kinda stuck in no mans land. 7pts non res originally wanted to do a once in a lifetime kaibab early rifle when i started but fighting an uphill battle with declining herd health, point creep and a large increase in non res applying for kaibab/strip. Could be limited by geography, but wondering if the elimination of some of the otc hunts could lead to eventually to other units becoming consistent trophy units (180+) that could be worth exploring? would be nice to be ahead of the curve when that happens.

  7. Posted · Report reply

    On 4/1/2021 at 10:10 AM, high rise hunter said:

    I've used this arrow setup for a quite a few seasons now and it's worked really well for me. It's quiet, bucks the crosswind as well as anything and have not had anything less than a pass through. 

    Using 4mm shafts, expandable broad heads and 4 fletch, 1 degree offset AAE elite plastiflech - 16 vanes

    Also believe that quieting your bow is just as important than quieting your arrow. I'm still searching for a dead silent quiver.

    completly agree about silencing the bow. curious what your broadhead and arrow weight of choice is for coues? are you of the school of thought heavier arrow= quieter bow? i went up to 495 from 420 but missed the flatter trajectory so i think I'm going to go back to around 420-450.  found sevrs to be pretty quiet

    • Like 1

  8. Posted · Report reply

    What is your go to archery vane that makes the least noise? trying to get my setup as quiet as possible and definitely think the hiss from blazers has effect on jumping the string. looking at q2i fusions and flex fletch sk 200s but open to other options.  figured there'd be no better place to ask than archery coues hunters. thx

  15. Posted · Report reply

    One of tje major rules of discharging a firearm. "Know your target, and beyond".

     

    Know your target...meaning identify your target before you shoot at it. Steel plate, paper plate, or species of game. I have seen it several times. And found a discarded game animal of the wrong species or gender in the field several times, left to waste.

     

    Good on .300RUM to make contact and get G&F to the site to take the game to a food shelter. But that does not excuse the misidentification of species by the Hunter. G&F have a hard job sometimes. The attitude of the offender should come into play for the issuance of citations. I think G&F probably made the right call in this case since a prompt call was made to report the incident.

     

    I have another story from this year that is 180° from this one.

     

    In 7W this week, myself and my cousin and son-in-law who had bull tags, we moving locations for some glassing. On a narrow 2-track in a remote area of the unit, we thought we were alone. When a truck appeared heading in the opposite direction, I pulled off to the side to let him pass. Windows down, we did the usually "Hello" as we passed. When he did, I happened to glance in the bed with a camper shell as he went by....

     

    "WTF? He has a big muley in the back!" (I saw a nice, heavy, decently deep forked 4 point mule deer antler) A good deer for that area)

     

    I snapped 2 photos of the back of his truck in my mirror, and told my son-in-law to call Operation Game Thief. I saw the guy watching us in his rear-view, and we started to flip a U. He took off like a bat out of heck. By the time I got turned around, he had put 300+ yards on us. I checked his plate through the dust and bumps with my binos, and got a partial plate #. The chase was On!

     

    We gave chase and closed the distance on some nasty rocky roads close enough to stop and get the remainder of the plate #, 30+mph. (The wife's new 4Runner rides pretty darn nice) While on the phone with G&F, we followed him at a distance of 300 or so yards as he beat cheeks to get to the highway. About 2 miles later, he made a turn, and we followed. Cane to a Y, and we looked at the dust and made a decision to go right....unbeknownst to us into a dead end road. We caught up and things got real western real quick. He pulled off the road and behind a juniper and stopped. Jumped.out of his truck and I hit reverse real quick. We could not see his truck, but saw his shadow get out and start moving around. I decided it was not worth dying over to help G&F catch the guy, so we flipped a hasty U and headed back out. Expecting to put some distance between us and him, and thinking he was probably going to dump the buck, we hit the Y and went right towards the closest main road.

     

    Then shoot got real. Looked back, here he came, chasing us! Told my son-in-law to call 911 in case anything happened, I wanted it on tape. Middle of nowhere, no other hunters around. I was only going 10-15mph, not really trying to evade, because we already new he was behind us, and we were hoping he would just back off and high tail it. Well, he followed us at about 1 car length for 2-3 miles, thank God we did not come to a road with a gate. Finally, at a Y, we went right, and he burned a hasty left and booked it. Of course, the next 1/4 mile we hit a gate....and we were done for the rest of the evening. Adrenaline had me shaky enough I couldn't even glass.

     

    We called friends who had the same hunt and told them to be on the lookout for the truck, and 30 minutes later on a main dirt road, he flew past them at a very high rate of speed.

     

    G&F manager called us back, and we have them the full plate # again, GPS coords of where he stopped on the dead end, texted the truck photos, and a full description. We got back to the cabin, and G&F called us. We sent photos of the map location, and were about ready to head out to help G&F locate the spot. Colby (unit 7 game manager who works very hard) and I talked, and got him into the spot. No dumped deer....

     

    More to the story which I probably shouldn't tell at this point. Except I hope they nail the bastard.

    wow crazy story glad you are ok

  18. Posted · Report reply

    If you are spot and stalking dont get frustrated with blown stalks it takes a lot of time and patience. theres a lot more than just making a shot if spot and stalking.... the wind, your approach, the terrain, the animal, the animals around it. animals are always in ideal stalkable positions but when they are you have to take advantage. ambush hunting with brush blinds and tree stands can be excellent if you have a solid area, but excruciating if you go for a long time without seeing game. thats why i prefer spot n stalk. one thing ive learned that you cant try and cheat the wind. scent lok scent blocker or whatever to me are gimmicks. carry a wind checker to help with this. also dont be afraid to take your boots off to stalk when the ground is crunchy and put on a second pair of wool socks for stealthiness (just remember where you took them off lol). if you are hunting canyons and draws you may want to get a rangefinder with an altimeter or angle compensation to help with steep shots. I have a Redfield Raider 600A thats made by leupold that does pretty well for under 200 bucks. also theres a ton of info on bowhunting on you tube so the more you get to know your equipment and how it works and tunes, it will help you proficiency. John Dudley from Nock On specifically has put out a lot of useful content. something like a beman bowhunter or gold tip hunter arrows would be a good place to start for arrows that wont break the bank. good luck

  19. Posted · Report reply

    if they arent at your local costco sometimes they will pop up on costco.com but not right now. they are on ebay just search 'union bay tech chino'

     

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/NWT-Mens-32-x-34-UB-TECH-RAINIER-Travel-Chino-Pants-Classic-COMFORT-WAIST-Gray-/263275763408?epid=786077398&hash=item3d4c7556d0:g:SGwAAOSwf05XO-Nq

     

    they are also on amazon

     

    https://www.amazon.com/UnionBay-Rainier-Travel-Chino-Pants/dp/B06XPSZM4P?th=1&psc=1

  20. Posted · Report reply

    That's my size I'll take em if you really want to go through the hassle of sending them.

    no worries i dont mind a pay it forward lots of guys have been super helpful to me on here as i get ready to do an otc hunt in december. just pm me your address. its a charcoal and a khaki pair i think i wore them each once they are like new

  21. Posted · Report reply

    wrangler also makes a cheap outdoor stretchy pant that you can find at walmart. i like the costco ones too there super comfortable and cheap. if anyone is a 38x32 i have a pair or 2 that i was going to donate to goodwill because i lost a bunch of weight but i can send to anyone if you want to try.

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