StickFlicker

As Speedy said, the rut is timed based on when the fawns should drop in that area for best chance at survival. While technically they are the same genus, I'm not sure I agree with lumping Coues deer with eastern whitetails as the basis for this comparison. It is true that animals further north do breed earlier (and also normally have larger body weights) as a survival mechanism. Nature times the fawn drop to maximize survival of the deer in the area they live. And it's not just in Arizona, Canadian deer breed well before Arizona deer, and northern Arizona deer breed well before southern Arizona deer and deer in Mexico are the latest. It's also correct that the rut will always be on the same dates in a particular area, every year. Only the activity levels will vary based in part on that year's climatic activity.

Thanks for the great write-up, and congratulations on taking your ram! What did G&F score him at, and do you know what sized rams the other hunters took? Marvin

No, not for leftover tags.

Like CF said, Macs normally come with iMovie on them. It's an excellent video editing software, and at a great price since you already have it!

I saw one Saturday night while leaving Bass Pro Shop Shops that seemed almost that bright, although of shorter duration. Apparently a large meteor shower for a few days.

Coming soon..."Participation" Scholarships!

When they started the hunt, there were a number of elk in there. My hunting friend that lives in Camp Verde and spends a lot of time in the outdoors said they pretty much slaughtered all of the local elk. You would just have to get lucky that something would move in at some time from what I hear.

I wouldn't think they would have the results that quickly.

Holy crap! He's definitely ruined now, and will expect deer like that in his future.

"Thank you and it only took one point." That's messed up! But...congratulations. I guess my 13 points will have to keep trying....

Congratulations on both!

Wow, that's outstanding!

Noel, the Safari Club is the only record book that would accept your crossbow killed deer in velvet. They subtract 2% from the final net score. Mike, my desert sheep officially scored 173 2/8 P&Y. Marvin

Thanks all for the very kind words. As Chris mentioned above, at this point I'm pretty inclined to keep the velvet on and just forgo entry to most all record programs. I wish there was a way to strip it and then restore it with synthetic velvet that looked anything close to real, but I just haven't seen any that looks good to me. It's unfortunate that such a high percentage of awesome early season bow killed animals have to be left out of the records because of these rules, but the records programs obviously don't see it as a problem. So, I respect their preference to exclude them. Arizona's bowhunting records will allow it to be entered with a small deduction for the velvet, so that may be the only program in which he gets entered. He looks like he will likely be the new #2 non-typical in that program whether stripped or left in velvet. The State Record buck has stood for 25 years, and it appears that he will likely slip by my attempt to best him! As far as Mike's question: "Dang man how many records you need to have? " ...my answer will always be the same....just one more.

Congratulations, great buck!

Thanks Roy. I can finally hold up my head when in the presence of Roy "The Mule Deer Master" Grace, who has killed more big mule deer than I ever will!!

"Congrats to Tory Brock and Chad Woodruff w/ Mossbackaz for putting the hunter in the right area to kill a buck of that caliber. A buck like that is extremely tough to kill DIY. Congrats to the hunter for making the shot when it counted." Absolutely! They were great guys and ran an extremely successful camp of bowhunters this year on the Strip. I, and I'm sure all of the three hunters that were fully guided by them this year, would highly recommend their services.

I did hire Tory Brock to guide me, which was a first for me. But since it's such a vast area, with so few deer and so far from Phoenix, it seemed wise to make an exception for this particular hunt. The deal we worked out was essentially a scouting package that would become a guided hunt if I didn't kill a buck on my own in the first half of the season. However, I took the buck during the first week, so I never actually hunted with anyone from the guide service. I was camped 35+ miles away from the guide's camp (where they had three guides and three hunters), and camped and hunted entirely alone for the few days prior to the hunt and for the first 7 days of the actual season (including through the kill itself). So I was hunting alone when I killed it, but I owe a LOT to the knowledge that was given to me by Tory Brock who had been hunting this particular buck with clients for four years. Without his knowledge and willingness to share it with me, I certainly wouldn't have had the success that I did. Bowhunters, rifle hunters and even raffle and auction hunters had hunted this buck over the years, but Tory said it was in just too difficult of an area for most hunters to be able to take him. I don't believe he was planning to hunt in this archery season had I not shown an interest in dedicating the first half of my hunt exclusively to taking him. Neither he nor any of his clients had ever actually seen the buck in person over those years, as I understand it, but he did have occasional trail camera pictures of him over the four years, and a few from six weeks before the season (before the rains came). Tori also allowed me to check his trail cameras in the area of the buck (and I had some of my own), and I did get one set of pictures of him three days before the season began, which were invaluable for putting me in the right position to take the buck. Therefore, since I did hire their services, and take buck with the assistance of Tory's knowledge of the history of this buck, and camera information, I gave him photos to distribute for his marketing purposes, which he clearly deserves. One of A3's guides did draw the tag himself (along with two member's of his family), and they were hunting the buck hard at the same time that I was. I believe this year's raffle hunter was also hunting him, since I saw he and his guide on trail cam pics during the hunt.

Actually, it only looks like one scoreable brow time, but as I recall every point on him was actually scoreable.

Sorry, I thought I did everything right to post the pic, but it didn't show-up the first time...

Received mine a number of days ago.

Spray some Windex on it! (you have to have seen the movie...)

Hmmm....a foreign company allegedly making WEMDs (Wearable Ergonomic Mechatronic Devices). Why does that sound somewhat familier?

Welcome Matt. If you aren't as interested in antlers as much as the experience, why consider places that take 10-15 years to draw, like the ones you've listed? Most of the rest of the state is OTC all the time. Not being critical, just seemed odd based on your statement. Are you looking for a long-term plan?