runningbird

NNNIIICCCCKKKKYYYYY how ya doin. get the hide off. early hunts are tough you got to be fast. but the later hunts are much different. Just wait till you spend your first winter night in the desert after a 70 degree afternoon. man it can get cold and its a different cold than back east. I'm sure you've heard all about the dry heat wait till you feel the dry cold. your deer will be fine in the shade this time of year and freeze good at night. have fun and welcome.

Don'n know don't care what he scores, I'd take him. look's like some extra points on his left. GREAT mass at the bases. and fantastic pictures, thanks.

I just thought I'd ask your guy's opinion. 2 weeks ago I found three bucks running with 6-8 does. two 3 pts not counting eye guards and a small forky. they are on a large fairly open hill side with many different small washes comming down to a large VERY thick wash. each morning the deer stay bedded down till about 8 am then get up and feed in the open for 2 hours and head down to the wash to bed. or at least I think they bed down in the wash, it is so thick that even when I'm 100 yard away and above them I can't see them. I have not been able to stay and hunt in the afternoon because of commitments to my daughter, (horse back riding every afternoon). but now she will be back in school and I'll have the whole day. So my question is should I sneak into the wash and try and wait? hope to get lucky that they will come to me. should I get to their side of the hill and hide and wait? maybe spend another day and just watch and see where they are in the afternoon. they have been showing some signs of rutting. I've watch the two bigger buck rake bushes and make scrapes. lock horns twice, but not really chase each other off. they are following the does closely and do split the does up when it's time to bed down, (they each take 2 or three does). they have only chased does maybe three times that Iv'e seen in the last couple weeks. anyway any idea's, thoughts, comments would be appreciated. most of all I'm having a great time and have never gotten to spend this much time with deer before. thanks mark

from what I've seen this year in 22/23 it has not been as intense as compared to 2 years ago. last year I was cut off from alot of my usual spots due to the rain. I'll be out this week and let everyone know what I see. but last week it was not in high gear at all. bucks were with does but just following not really chasing and harrasing.

well I do plan to try the ambush tactic tomorrow and thurs. maybe fri. Ive watched them enough now to have a good Idea of where they go into the wash at. I have a camera at that spot now. I will be sitting there waiting for sure on thur. so we'll see. also I agree with your idea that sent is not always bad. it seems to me that many times it take 2 things to scare them off. like sent/movement or sent/sound, I know it's not always like this, but if they are not on high alert than this has been my experience.

nice pics. especialy for inside city limits. I have the same camera and love it.

it is so thick in there that once they are in the brush I don't think I can get in there. But now that I have decided to hunt on their side of the canyon it may be more simple, they are on the south facing slope I have been on the north which is much more dense.

well I got out wed. afternoon and all day thurs. wed aftnernoon I saw nothing. wed morn I went out and watched the hill side till about 9:00 and saw nothing so I decided to head up the mountain for a better glassing spot. just has I got up I heard rocks tumble on another hill side near me. at the same time a covey of quail flew away from the general direction I had heard the noise from. well I looked and looked and waited about 45 min but saw nothing. So I headed down into a wash so I could get to the next hill. I'm telling you it is thick down there. I'm sure you guy's now what I mean. it's one of those places where you either belly crawl or just bust thru. there are little tunnels every place that I always thought were from javalina or coyotes. anyway I'm busting thru and finaly come to a little clearing and I look ahead just as I take my last step and hear comes a coues buck in one of those little tunnels he was taking his last step at the same time as me. boy did he look rough. he was a little tiny 4x4 not counting eye gaurds. we were only 10 yards apart at the most. he just stopped and stared there was now way he was going to relax and keep going so I tried to noc and arrow but of course as soon has I did that he took off. I could not believe he was in that tunnel let alone turn around in there and head the oppisite direction. Man this guy was tiny. anyway after that I made it to the next hill and found deer in the distance right away. I moved to them and they were comming my way also but on the other side of the wash again. and they came from quiet a long way but entered the wash near the same spot as last week. I left them alone and plan the be on that side hiding next week. I'm not looking forward to crossing that wash in the dark but it seems like the only way I'll get a chance. I do have a spot picked out.

sounds like a good hunt. both you pig pictures are very nice, its always nice to see some pictures that even a non hunter could appreciate. also what I do with my arrow if I don't see blood is give it a sniff. I have had an arrow pass thru a deer that apeared to be clean, but did smell, found the deer 60 yrd away in the thick stuff. mark

CRB thanks for posting the picture I know its not to great but the best I could do at the time, the buck was on his way down to the wash. I have accually back out of the wash twice now and not disturbed the deer. can't wait too get back up there wed. morning. my plan is to sit about 500 yards away where I can watch them all day and see where they go in the afternoon and evening. maybe I'll get lucky and they will come to my hill. I know there is a big buck in the area and I wonder if he'll show up next week? thanks for the help.

here is a picture of one of the bucks heading down to the wash at noon. well it looks like i can't figure out how to post a picture. can anyone tell me how to do this?

where is everyone hunting durring the dec-jan season..I'll be in 23, I've been chasing the same buck for 2 1/2 years.... he's made it thru the early rifle season I'm hoping he's not found durring the rut.. last jan he was out in the open alot.

way to go!!! It's a blast to read the stories along the way, it's so hard not to skip to the end..

I'll be picking up my pig sometime this week....

I have a camera that coues7 (scott) built for me...I love it. It works better than promised and he did some modifications for me that made it much more user friendly..... it was more expensive and I sure hope it never gets stolen but I have no regrets at this time. mark

What do you do with the "Chulos"? Chulo is a name for coati. Do you eat them. I once killed a skunk in my front yard - it would not leave and was driving my dogs and neighbors nuts. The neighbors ATE IT! I thought my neighbors were nuts. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> NOW THAT'S FUNNY!!!

great pictures!!! thanks for posting. I wish everyone would post all their pictures. it's really cool to see what everyone is finding with these cameras. mark

I also know a few ranchers and have a chance to see the good and bad. one ranch close to my home has been in a family since the 1870's they have built many ponds out in the open where water never accumulated in the past, I think this is probably good overall. they have also tapped into springs in small narrow canyons and put water catches in these canyons, I think this is probably bad as now you have large animals ruining a very sensitive green area in the desert. it also seems like some ranches including this one the owners get more lazy as the generations go by. now when they are allowed to turn cattle out they just open the gate and mabey push them 1 mile away. ofcourse the cattle come home within 2 days. now another rancher I know does things a little different. this year after the rains and before he turned his cattle out he made many improvements....fences,ponds roads and such. then we got horseback and pushed his cattle a good 12 miles away to an area with good water and growth so the cattle would want to stick around. let me tell you this was some hard a** work. it took 2 days working 5am till 10pm to get the cattle moved. only 2 bulls came home. now he checks them at least twice a week and moves them to new spots as nescesary. Ive always thought cattle in the desert wasn't a good idea untill I met people in the business. BUT it must be done right and with consideration of the envirorment. It is a unique way of life and I would hate to see it stopped. one last thing, bowsniper I wonder if all desert christian archers look to pick fights with inapropriate statements about the bucks they have killed. Ive never even shot at a coues yet, but if I'm lucky enough to tag one I won't throw it in peoples faces the way your tried to.

here's what happened to me 2 years ago for the Jan hunt. A couple weeks before the season started a Good friend of mine who is a guide and had taught me alot called and asked some questions about the area I live. he explaned how he had an 11 y/o hunter for a deer hunt. I gave him some good info and also explaned how I would be in another area with my son who was home from college and would only have 2 days to hunt in Jan. because he had classes starting the 3rd. I told my GOOD buddy excactly where I would be at. He told me that he had no intrest in that area and would stay out especially given my situation. my area is a short walk from my home across a creek. the area I gave him is on the oppisite side of the creek. so opening morning for my sons pig hunt comes and we get up to our spot nice and early waiting for the pigs to come out. we happen to look up the hill a little farther and see a couple hunters on a ridge silloetted. Now I'll tell you I have never seen another hunter in this area, it's just over looked since it's so close to town. well I had a bad feeling that it was my buddy but I wouldn't believe it. so after about 1/2 hour one of the fella's comes walking right down the hill toward us scares the pigs over another hill and just keeps coming. well I knew it was him so I met him 1/2 way and the first thing he says is he's got his hunter at a pond up the hill and could we hunt somewhere else. well the only reason he knew about the pond was because I told him that was our mid day plan. I just couldn't believe it. I really was stumped and speachless. any way I figured it wasn't the kids fault so I went back down and got my son and walked a couple ridges over. then later in the day who do I run into again, same fella but this time with his client( guess what he's not a youngster but a middle aged guy) anyway I'm still steamed about this and my buddy wisely has not contacted me since.

nice bull and it's always nice to see some excitement in a picture....congratulations

I think it's a bad picture. that's a bad angle to try and guess a score. it does have long main beams and good mass I think it may make that score.

congrats... that last picture is great!!!

in 35 years I've only run into two managers. 1st time my little brother and I were fishing a hole in oak creek at dark. the fella then started telling my brother that rainbows don't hit after dark,my brother said that's ok were fishin for browns, he laghed and said there were no browns this far down stream. while he was still laghing my brother landed a 28" brown. the whole time he played it the warden was telling him it was a sucker. 2 weeks later we went back to that spot at 9PM and met him on his way back from our hole( he didn't catch any). the other time was about 25 years ago about 6 of my buddies and I were archery pig hunting in 22, we didn't have a clue. any way this fella met us on a road and checked our tags and all. he then told us were to and how to hunt the pigs in the area, it was a real nice experience for a bunch of 20 y/o novices. mark

I'ts a real shame they decide to hold this very nice seminar durring archery deer season every year... Bet they wouldn't hold it durring the reg. hunt? I have made to a few of the seminars in the past and always enjoyed them very much...

great job...1/2 mile from the truck. wow what a shot HA HA...glad someone's getting deer...congrats