JLG

Honestly guys, I think its a couple of things. I loved going fall turkey hunting on the kaibab. It went from a tag I could get every year to one that would be every other year, now they have a hard time giving them all away. I know my last two trips on the kaibab for turkeys ran me about $700. I am thinking with the economy the way it is and fuel prices the way they are that enters into the picture. The southern deer units, are two things I think, fuel costs and concern for peoples well being. Its pretty common place to see UDI's down there on your hunts. I have friends who's wifes have put pressure on them not to do those hunts. The JR's Javelina thing was just stupid. If G & F was smart they would give additional JR's the first week of first-come, first serve and than open those tags up to everyone after that. Honestly, I had those tags the last two years and with the heat, the pigs are just not that active during the day and we have had very limited luck seeing them. Hunt the same area in the spring and you will see a herd a day, Take Care, JLG.

I drew a turkey tag for the same units I have a cow elk tag in, over the same time period. Also drew a late Nov. WT tag in 36c, Good Luck all, JLG.

I am bummed to see this store go, the fishing folks were helpful and it was just a one mile detour on the way home from work to pickup the items I needed, very convient. I actually just bought a gunsafe from them earlier this week and they told me than they were closing, Take Care, JLG.

I am thinking getting hurt ranks up there. I usually hunt with other people, so if I not alone, its not a big worry. I hunt alot in 36C, drug runners and border crossers are never far from my mind down there. Always worry about coming back to your camp/truck and having things missing. Last year on a deer hunt I glassed up 26 people coming through a wash. If you followed the wash all the way out, it was about 50 yards from my camp, if they would have stayed in it. They came out on a trail about a mile or so from my camp. On my way out I want to see how much use the trail was getting and it was about a foot wide covered in tennis shoe tracks. Earlier that morning when we were doing a stalk on a little buck we had come thru this same wash and it was thick and had heavy cover and blind corners. Lots of sign of people using it, lots of trash and bedding areas. That was spooky quite frankly. So other people gets the nod for me, Take Care, JLG.

I am an AZ native, I grew up without a dad in a non-hunting household. When I was 7, I went to see my grandparents on a small farm in Illionis. The neighbors had a BB gun and I got hooked. I came home told my mom about it and she said I would never have a BB gun. A couple of weeks latter she picked me up and their was a BB gun in the back seat of the car, A couple of years ago she told me it was one of her all time backfires, she thought she would get me the gun, I would shoot it a little and loose interest in guns forever. I actually started hunting with a couple of neighbors from my street. My dove hunting started with a childhood friend and his dad. I shot my first dove, that I lost in a cotton field off of Indan School and El Mirage when I was about 10. I grew up off of Indian School and 83rd ave. In high school I would come home grab my bike and hunt off Indian School, between 91st and 99th ave., for dove. I can remember riding by a cop with my shotgun over my shoulder and him never saying a word, try that today. Everytime I drive by the Cardinals stadium all I can think of is all the dove I shot there in my late teens and early 20's, when shells were $3 bucks a box and all I needed was $1 for gas and two hours with travel time to get a limit of dove. Dove was my passion as a teen, my grandparents lived in Youngtown, when I was in my teens and I would go to their house for mini-vacations. It was 11 miles from our place. I shot alot of dove in the Afria River bottom between Olive and Grand, 115th ave and El mirage road. It was a sad day for me when I was kicked out of there by a couple of El Mirage cops in my early 20's lots of memories, of hunts and hikes with my grandfather, his wasn't a hunter, he did like fishing. I shot my first deer in 34B when I was a month shy of 16. It was a great hunt I went with my neighboor and his son. He was a world class mechanic that grew up in a small Missouri town, when he was 19 he loaded up his wife and two young daughters and moved to LA to make his fortune. In the early 70's they moved to Az and he became my nextdoor neighbor, he got me hooked on Big Game hunting and Baja Bugs. I can still remember the feeling driving home from that hunt, both his son and I shot our first deer that weekend and he also took a buck as well ,on the last day with about 2 hours left before we were going to leave. 2 spikes and a fork, but we were a happy bunching driving home in his 1973 Ford pickup with a camper shell on the back, good times and great memories. I shot my first elk and second big game animal at 19 and my third big game animal didn't come until I was 23. It wasn't until I took a hunting class from Mike Cupell, it was a non-credit, one night a week class at Glendale Community College, that I started having some success on a regular basis. He taught about glassing among other things, but the glassing stuck. I bought a pair of Bausch and Lomb Discover 10 x 50's, they were my mainstay binoculars for 15 years. Earlie I had made a makeshift crappy mount for my bino's, it worked but not well. I was helping out a childhood friend on a coues deer hunt in 33 and glassed up a nice 80 pt WT with my crappy mount. He killed the buck. He was a machinist, so he made me a tripod mount out of a block of aluminum. I still have the glasses and the mount. They are all beat up and hard to see out of, because I drop tested them on a WT hunt in 36C one year when one of the biggest WT's I had ever seen blew out of a single tree high on a rocky ledge up on Mildred Peak. I keep those Bino's in my truck all the time when I am out running around. A couple of years ago I tried to get them repaired but the factory said they were too old and they would sell me another pair for $200 bucks and keep my old ones. I had way too many memories behind those glasses so I had them send me my old friend back. Even though they are not very usefully, I had a lot of good times tied up in that glass. A couple of years ago my wife and I moved out to Buckeye. It kind of recaptured some of the stuff I had as a kid. I have always like going out looking for brass and I can do it about 7 minutes from my house. There is some decent bird hunting out here that isn't really far to drive to. I can glass the south side of the White Tanks from my deck, but I have not seen any critters yet. Its a couple of miles away. I just get out and hunt and fish as much as I can, pretty much the same stuff I have been doing for the last 32 years, Take Care, JLG.

CouesCowboy, I live out in Buckeye. Nearest cross-roads are Yuma and Watson. Do you ever go out by Miller and do any target shooting to the west? JLG.

I am pulling the trigger tomorrow on a HD80, spotting scope. I bought a pair of 15 x 56's last year and love them as well. I was out with Younghunter last year and he had his HD 80 and put 4" spikes on a WT at 1200-1400 yards, that has been running around in my mind ever since. I can't wait for big game season to get rolling this fall. I have a friend who drew a rifle antelope tag in 19A, along with his dad and son and I get to go and help out on that hunt. I have a cow elk tag myself. Hopefully I will get to go out on my own deer hunt as well as a couple of others. The fall can't come fast enough this year, Take Care, JLG. PS, Enjoy your new Binos.

I have been running opening day thru my mind since Javelina in late February. We will be going for an opening morning first 10 minute double. I want to be in place a hour before the sun comes up, glassing into a canyon that always holds deer during Javelina season. I am sure we will see Javelina during deer season. I do love to hunt an area in my mind prior to the real thing, Take Care, JLG.