COUESAZ

You are right I had a call a week ago on this hunt. The guy's that run lions for me are going to be down there. I wish I could .I have to finish a job today that is a thorn in my side, and my wife has a wedding to photograph today also. I hope it goes our way. That is why we need to help the azgfd because even if we can't be there we know our side will be fought for.

They call it a dry bite, and they do not inject it ever time. I have also heard in the morning is the worst . They build it up over night and will inject more in the morning.

I think that my brother and I have walked on top of about 4 snakes that were trying to get to the sun to thaw out. They just set there coiled up and they don't even rattle when they are cold because they are so dosile.they have been in the november hunt. I know it has more to do with how much rain we are getting at the time to. It is the same with gila monsters I have seen about 10 gila monsters and they have all been after a good rain.

I used to hunt in unit 30 A and B. I have not hunted coues in them for alot of years. They used to be goo areas. Now alot of both are closed ranches and hard to gain passage in. If a guy could get on them I bet there are some good bucks around. I had a heard of 6 big mule deer bucks in 30 b at one time and the season came around and a developer bot ther ranch and closed it so I bet they have passed on a few good seeds for some nice open country mule deer. I can still get in to my coues spot there but I am waiting for it to start producing again. We have taken some lions out of 30B so it should start improving.

Please try to get them to someone and they will post them for you. I love to see and hear about the lions that is one of my great loves is hunting them big cats. Josh has some on here and they make my day every time I see them. If any one wants to see some cool mountainlion pics and video go to www.swhounds.com or www.cougertracks.com and look at that site They link together and you will see some of the same pics on both.they are some of the best i have seen. Also one under lion hound training and sales in search mode gets you another good site with good pics on it.

Those are so cool. Sounds about right that ryan would find it. Man that guy along with a bunch of know how has a bunch of luck on his side too. Thank you for showing us i did not get to even go to the show at all.

Diamondbackaz I can get right to the bottom of hay stack from my friends ranch. I saw about 10 bucks out in there in december in two days. I know it is the only way to get there the ranch between it and the highway will not let you pass . We have taken some good bucks in that unit the last few years and just as many lions. You will tear up a truck getting to hay stack but It is a nice ride on the quads. some one started a road back in there last year with out the the ok of anyone. They tore up a big spot on the north side of haystack. They even cut in two new gates to get there road to that spot. So now it will be that much harder to gain the trust of that ranch from the j-6 side. The way i get in is from the post ranch. On all the topo maps it does not show the full road. The bad part is a few years of going back and getting good bucks draws a bunch of atention to an area if you know what i mean. so now lots of guys are trying to find the road all the way to the mountain .

Diamondbackaz Yes it is the post ranch that my friend owns. The other one is the rickitts mine area. I lived right down there all my life and just in the last 4 years you have had to get the combo from him to get in. The rickitts mine area holds some of the best coues deer I have seen in Arizona. they have not let very many people in there for a while now. I get in there by packing from the post ranch and hunting the monster canyons back deep in the wetstones. I would love to be able to get in the rickitts area by road to hunt deer, but most of all I would love to chase lions in there. I have seen some monster cat tracks back in those washes back there.

As I read what I said again I guess I worded some things a bit wrong. I did not mean the rancher him self had to let you have a way through. I just know in the wetstones a friend of mine owns a big ranch It is the right of way to forest land. He locked it up one year because of bad sportsman. They told him if anyone contacted him by phone and sighned in at his home they had the right to get to the public land that he had a lease on behind his private land. I know the ranch next to his. has locked there gate and they do not have to let people in and it is public land behind them also. It is a fight every year with them and we usualy do not win that fight. So I guess I could be wrong in how i said it . I know that alot of the land in arizona has been loked up and the forest service is always trying to work it out with the ranchers.

If there is any forest land back in that country They have to let you have a way in to it. I do not know were it is, but in Arizona forest land is ours to use and you should be able to gain passage by contacting the rancher. That is why it is important for all of us to be sure to help the ranchers out while in the field. To many of our unwanted hunters and bad sportsman have ruined it for those of us that would never damage our hunting land and the ranchers things. This year already i have come up on some pulled down gates. Next year we will not be getting in that area eather. I went to the rancher and talked to his wife who said i will always be welcome to run mountainlions on that ranch. Soi talk to some locals find the owner and tell him what you want. Even tell them you will let them know when you are going to be gone. I hope by doing that they will let you in. Good luck guy's.

Alan You are in a good area for coues. The fort down there in seira vista is a good spot to locate nice coues bucks. I grew up in St. David AZ it is about 45 minutes from there. I have hunted the wet stone mountains all my life and all the rest of those units down there. I have chased some good deer And mountain lions around in all of them. We used to go to a rodeo on the base every year and I saw some nice bucks while I was on there. I am stuck in the big city of Mesa now. I hope you enjoy the site and get some good info from it, And pass on the good info you will have for all of us too. Talk to ya down the line and welcome to the site.

Well Amanda it looks like the rut is in full swing in 36C . For jackalope that is, ha ha ha. Nice pictures as always. You to bullwidgeon.

I hope you get that picture of that lion you have been looking for.some deer pics would be nice too.you must be a great gear head to make one by your self. Let me know if you see your cat.

I see what you are saying about a longer hunt. I agree it would be nice to have more than one week end for a hunt on that first hunt.. I do know a bunch of people that would rather hunt that first four day's than any other hunt . I do see things changing in the draw odds too . I do know they need to change some things . I would rather see them close down a few areas for about three years to rifle hunting and go archery only and see if that would help with the herds to grow back up. who knows that might bring some of the areas back up in the amount of tags given out.

I got drawn for a december hunt this year after putting in for it for atleast 6 years. I have had great october and november hunts in all those years of waiting.They wanted to try this a few years ago. It was shot down, And I am glad it was. I myself will not pay that much to hunt deer in the state that I support with my taxes and great amount of money spent on other hunt draws. It may sound like a good idea but I myself hope that it will continue the way it is going now. We spend lots of money to do what is our tradition and hoby as it is. We all get to hunt in the best season with our bows anyway.That is just my thoughts on this, Dimondbackaz it is a great topic thank you for the chance to debat a bit here. I hope all will share there thoughts.

C H D Hunting off of horses can help you out while hunting. All through highscool I hunted off of horses ( now I cant pay to feed them ). I used my rope horse to hunt on and he was funny he would stare off at something and if I would stop and glass in that area he was looking I would find deer. You can learn to be fast at getting off and shooting fast. My horse was so high strung that i would have to jump off and throw his lead rope into the cat claw so when I would shoot he wouldn't head for the barn. You have to remeber that if a deer sees and hears another animal they don'y spook as easy.I will say that all my horse hunting has been for mule deer, elk and lion. I have never atempted to take my horses up some of the stuff that i hunt coues in. I might try using mules for coues deer they are much more sure footed than a horse. Some of the best way to use horses is to have someone set at the top and do a drive to them. Horses get you up out of the thick brush and you can see a bit farther ahead of of them.

Nice pictures Amanda. Thank you for showing them to us. That makes a good pig hunt when you can see some good deer populations. It seems that they are finaly on the increas thank goodness.

I like to shoot them when I see them. In my 20 years of hunting in southern Arizona I have glassed up alot of nice bucks both coues deer and mule deer. I like to get up high in my spot that I have glassed from for years . I have one for coues deer and mule deer.I like to let my binos do my walking for me. I will say though that nothing beats busting up a buck and shooting it on the run. My wife gets mad at me because i say nothing beats jumping a buck across the ridge and shooting him on the run. I remeber back when i was a kid. My dad would stop and glass the open faces of a ridge then we would glass the thick stuff on the other side of a ridge. some times we would find them that way other times we would do the old rock throw method . Then we would get ready for all heck to bust loose. Some of my best kills have been from that. they would come a busting out across the ridge right smack in the midle of the world war three onslot that I could put on back in those early years ( come on now you guy's know what I am talking about. That good old buck fever of those early years). Any way I love to glass them and put the sport of stalking to use , But man do I have a passion for the old bust and shoot hunting. Thank you for bringing this up it brings back a thousand memories of good times.It also brings back many memories of thousands of bullets thrown out of my good old 243 and 25-06. I hope we get some good stuff out of this one.

I see bucks this time. great job, thanks for showing us. Looks like a good hunt even without any hogs.

cold zero Just got your email and looked at the pictures of your buck.Great job , awesome buck.I hope my guess on the score was close for you. I would let Amanda take a look at it and see what she thinks. It is worth posting it for us all to see though. So send it to Amanda and she will post it in the photo galary. once again great job, and weel done.

I have seen big bucks up high on the mountains in october and november all alone or with other nice bucks. Then during the rut I saw some bucks that seemed to be some of the same ones. They were about 6 miles away down low off of the mountains fighting eachother for does. When the rut was over I wanted to head up and see if I could find them up high again before they droped there hornes. I did not get back up on the mountain in time to see them with the hornes on, But i did find some of the racks that had droped off in the same spot that I had seen them up high. I have also seen plenty of big coues buck down in the flats. That will come up to does and after the rut head back down in the deep draws of the flats. No matter what they will go to find does' and does are all over the place. That is just what I have seen . Now I am not saying it is always the case. Because as soon as you think you have them figured out they throw something new at you, and you go why did they do that. just my thoughts on the subject.

That is not a coues it is a n ARIZONA moose . Looks awsome when will we know the score on it. Thanks for sharing it , And pass that thanks on to the owner.

The picture did not come up for me and then i hit the right side of my mouse and hit show picture Then this time it came up so try that and see if it works for you . That is a nice buck, And with a long bow What a job.

I was camping last year and took my 3d mule deer target up to shoot. When I got up one morning there was about ten does and a spike eating about 30 yards away from my target. If you could find one that looks like a coues deer it just might work.

Good information to see. Thank you for that I truley like the first one you have up there from the game and fish page. thanks again.