mattys281

So what do you do when you're hauling a dead deer out of a wilderness area on your back, one piece at a time, and on the first trip when you're taking the top half with the head you bump into a couple of day hikers on their way in. The man says, "Wow, looks like you got lucky!", and then when you say hello to his female, she shoots you a scathing look and stalks past without uttering a word? Then you look behind you and see her walking down the trail, looking over her shoulder at the deer and skewering you with her eyes like you're the most evil s.o.b. on the planet??? I've always felt like I go out of my way to be very courteous to non-hunters, but at the same time if they go out into nature, they kinda have to be willing to see nature, even the unpleasant parts. Wish I would've thought of it at the time, I'd of liked to have said to her, "Sorry love, my meat treat didn't bloom this year so I had to come out here and pick some." I get it though, when she got up that morning and did her make up and put on all her spendy/fancy REI hiker gear, last thing she probably thought she'd see is some 6 foot tall sweaty dude with 3 days worth of beard and half a dead deer on his back coming down the trail.

He's already at the taxidermist. I just doubt I'll ever beat him, but it'll be a helluva lotta fun trying.

There's no better way to hunt than out of a backpack. Great country! If you dont mind someone else tagging along, feel free to pm. I love the white mountains!

Taking any az deer with a bow is an accomplishment to be proud of. Congrats! Always good to hear about the hard work paying off.

My taxidermist scored him for me today, grossed 113 1/8, netted 109 4/8. Thats gonna be tough to beat, which is good news for the wife. Im not allowed to put a new head on the wall unless its bigger than the ones already there...

Nice work!! It gets a lot easier from here.

Great job and congrats on a great mule deer! I love those muleys!

Congrats on the great bear. Sorry about the colostomy sack that was messing with your setup. Just more evidence to support my theory on people: they suck! Not all of them, just about 99%.

Congrats. I'll get some stalking tips from you if Azgf ever decides to give me a tag instead of a bonus point for those dang thing.

He was taken from a treestand. About 35 yards.

Thats a real sweet buck! Congrats. This bowhunting thing just got a lot easier for you.

We were around 9000ft. I think we were to far south and a bit farther in than we needed to be. Kept seeing a bunch of deer and hunters closer to the highway. Good learning experience and it was still a good time. Saw plenty of does and fawns, just not a lot with bone on the head. The couple of bucks I did see were moving very late, too dark to shoot, and very close to the roads. They seemed like they have the game pretty well figured out.

I just got back from a six day stint up there. Passed a spike buck on opening day and only saw one other buck. That place will take some time to figure out. I scouted two weekends before season opened and was still pretty clueless. Its lik every other unit, definetely NOT a buck behind every tree and you should plan on laying down some boot leather preseason. There is currently a lot of water all over the forest in puddles from rain this week but a lot of tanks are still dry. Also everyone one that does have water has at least one camera on it, even the ones we found off road and off map. Its a nice place I'm glad I tried it once, but too many bipeds and road hunters for my taste. I think I'll reserve my August hunt for 27 and you all can have 'the bab'. Good luck to everyone!

Good luck on the speedy goats. My buddy and I will be up on the kaibab sitting in trees.... listening to the quads drive up & down the roads.

I suspect theres a few of us that have this Same memories.

I think we should each kick in $5 and start a 'biggest wolf' contest. When the trophy pics start rolling in im perfectly ok with assuming it was shot in alaska or Montana or any where else that has a legal season. No verification needed.

So instead of charging the public to hunt there, they'll pay sharp shooters. Makes sense to me.

Another for fatigue. I know I've already shot too much when I start hitting low. A lot of people make the mistake of over practicing with their hunting rig. If you just love to shoot and have to fling a hundred arrows per day its worth buying a light draw weight bow to have fun with.

Awesome pics!

So you're saying he may not be the only floater on that river? Enough to keep me out.

I dont know about the rest of you but if some s.o.b. was stupid enough to threaten me out in the trees, he'll be lying right there while I walk away. My conscience is ok with assuming that he was both armed and serious about it. Can't believe people are stupid enough to act like that over animals they dont even own. A little courtesy goes a long way.

I know that elk. He and I were in anger management classes together while going through our divorces. He was not born that way, it was all those evil, scheming, manipulating cows that forced him to turn to other dudes. Lay off him he's earned the right to go that road.

I transferred my deer tag to my daughter last year and they just took my tag and issued her one. Nothing marked or mentioned about any key nd of restrictions. It was the same tag as if she'd drawn it herself.

They seem in no big hurry to release the draw results, but I know I've got a tag coming from my credit card statement, so we might as well have some fun with it until then: I think my buddy & I got our Kaibab archery muley tags & we're both putting big'ins on the ground. This was our first choice & the other 4 options we filled up with December whitetail tags, so it seems unlikely we drew those. I also think my daughter got the Kaibab doe youth tag (first choice on her app), so she'll fill the freezer. I have no clue which javelina tag she drew, but as I'm not great with javi's & I'd rather dedicate more vacation time to her deer tag, we may well get skunked on that one.

If you're in a decent spot you'll definetely get pics. And at that range your cams are probably safe although last year I lost one about a mile into a wilderness area. Just never know. The same guys I mentioned before also explained to me and my buddy I was with that you have to keep that salt going for several years before it really heats up. Its all about the does. They show their fawns and then they show their fawns etc. After four or five years there will be several generations of deer who know about it.