SunDevil

My buddy and I will be up there late tonight. We are planning on scouting up the Harden Cienega road on Friday and will probably be camped just north of the highway tonight and Friday night if we find promising bucks tomorrow. We will be in a white extended cab F150 with a cabover camper and a white extended cab Dodge Ram with a white camper shell. We will keep our eyes peeled for you guys. CB

That is a tough one Timber. This will be the first 23 hunt for me. I am from Tucson and have spent a lot of time in the truck the past month driving back and forth to NM (not to mention gas money). My buddy and I have scouted a lot of places and sometimes we see deer and sometimes we don't. We are crossing our fingers that there won't be other hunters in the spots we have seen deer in but we will not know until 11/5. CB

COWS for me. Thanks Bill and Scott. Here I am a native Arizonan and have been hunting these deer since I was a little kid. I made a personal decision about 10 years ago to pronounce them correctly. CB

I thought it was hopanish (kind of like spanglish) for good bye (aaddiiooss). CB

Here is one more. Previous post would only allow 1 pic. CB

4 of those 5 deer are bucks. 3 of the 4 are 3 pointers. The biggest one (on the left) is around 95. The one on the bottom had really short points, only 1 - 2 inches long (eyeguards, G2s and G3s) but was pretty wide and had a good main beam. We also saw another 3 point one canyon over from these bucks that was in the low 90s. I was in unit 23 and have the 11/5 hunt. CB

Here are a couple pics from my scouting trip last weekend. 4 bucks and a doe. CB

Is the close 3 point in the top right pic the same 3 point as in the bottom right picture on the left side of the pic? It is hard to tell with the angle on the top right pic. CB

There are 4 bucks in this photo. Maybe I should send this pic to Amanda to put in the "find the deer" area. I have the new Canon S2 IS camera. It is 5 megapixels with a 12X optical zoom and an image stabilizer. This pic was taken off hand at 430 yards. CB

I just got back from NM. All of you people that love the outdoors and live in AZ need to move to NM. I went there on a deer scouting trip this last weekend and my buddy and I saw: 1) Bighorn rams 2) Turkeys 3) Coues deer 4) Mule Deer 5) Javelina 6) Mtn lion 7) Scaled quail ALL IN THE SAME AREA. AZ outdoor enthusiasts need to check out what they are missing in NM. The cost of living is less, tags are easier to draw, etc. etc. etc. CB

I was in NM this weekend. We saw two three points that already had their velvet rubbed off. They were sparring with each other while the other bucks just stood around. CB

Went out Friday after work and saw 19 deer (3 bucks). I also ran into this monster walking back to the truck. Also saw 2 rattlers on the highway driving home. Enjoy. CB

The bucks were all 3 points (all together). A little one, a medium one and a big one (90+). CB

I also would be surprised if he was over 100. He just isn't wide enough and I think that will also hold back the length on his main beams. Still a great buck though. Thanks for posting. CB

Scott, I have a real cool picture I printed off the internet a couple years ago. I think it was from a "big bucks" website. Anyway, I haven't been able to find the pic again and it is a really cool picture. I carry it with me in my wallet. It is of a big mature typical 3 point with some ocotillo stalks coming up in front of his neck and face. I will make a photo copy of it and send it to you if you want. At a minimum the outline could be traced and you could decide if you wanted to use it or not. Let me know. CB

That looks like a sheep from that pic. CB

Great pics. Look how skinny their necks are and how light their coats are. It has been my experience, in general, older bucks will have thicker necks and darker hides but not always. Thanks for sharing. CB

Didn't know we had any Coues over by Yuma. Just kidding and GREAT BUCK. SunDevil

HuntNut - my buddy has used win silver tips in his 270 for years. He use to pay to have his 270 ammo professionally loaded for him. He quit doing it and now just uses the win silver tip ammo. I purchased my first 270 at a pawn shop about a year ago. Got it just because it was a good deal. I was going to sell it but my buddy convinced me to shoot it first. We took it to the range last sept with the rest of our guns. I took the first shot just to see where it was on the paper. It was about 6 inches high. I dialed it down and picked out a bullseye to shoot at. My next three shots were all touching each other. This was at 100 yards. Needless to say I am not selling my newly found tack driver or switching from the Win Silver Tip 130 grain round. For the money, I would say you cant go wrong with these bullets. I have used Rem core lokt in my 7 mag for years. Cant go wrong with them either. I just recently switched to Rem ballistic tip rounds but they are significantly more expensive. If you are not going to get into reloading, you need to try and shoot several different rounds in your gun to see which one works best. Different grains and different manufacturers. You will find one that is best for your rifle. Just remember that when your barrel heats up, your shots will start to wander. You probably will have to make several trips to the range. Good luck and shoot straight. Sundevil

The question is: Will a spike ever be more than just a spike? If you believe yes, than we should have minimum restrictions. This will allow the young deer to grow up. If you believe no, than we should not have minimum restrictions and should maybe even have spike only tags available over the counter with trophy tags available through draw. A few years ago Pennsylvania went to 4 point minimum on one side including the eye guard. Utah has spike only bull elk over the counter with draw only for trophy bulls. Last weekend I saw a spike with eye guards that had been harvested. I doubt this buck was a yearling. I do not know the answer to this question. It seems both systems work, as does nothing at all. One thing is for sure, it is almost impossible to draw a trophy bull elk tag in Utah. I like nice racks but I also like tender venison. For me, the more important issue is the predators. 10 years ago it was pretty uncommon to even talk to someone who had seen a lion on their hunt. Now, everyone sees them. My hunting partner saw one last year. I saw one the year before last. My butcher has been hunting in the same area for 20 years. The past few years he noticed the deer population beginning to decline. Guess what? Last year he shot his first lion in that area. He had never even seen a lion before that. I have hunted antelope in AZ and seen coyotes everywhere. 8 - 10 a day. This year I went to Utah to hunt antelope. In two scouting trips and one hunting trip I saw ONE coyote. The antelope herds in Utah are doing much better than the herds in AZ. The 1992 law that was passed banning trapping on public property has really hurt our big game. Predators are a much bigger problem now and our big game is hurting because of it. Of course the G & F wants to put all the blame on the drought. No doubt that is a contributor but is definitely not the biggest contributor. Have you been to Texas? I would not drive at night if I lived in rural Texas. To great a chance of hitting a deer. The vegetation there is not that different from the vegetation in southern AZ. Their motto there is, "if it moves, shoot it!" They hardly have any predators. A few years ago the state of Utah finally decided to do something about their predator problem and began paying a bounty for paired coyote ears. Moving in the right direction there. What do you think? Will a spike ever be more than just a spike?

After reading CHD's post last week about Cal Coziah, I thought immediately of a certain Tucson custom rifle maker. I will refer to him as Mr. Highlife. I wasn't going to post anything about him but then I saw 270's reply that mentioned him and felt I should. I do not know Mr. Highlife personally and am NOT implying that he is a poacher. I am just curious to see what other people (those who know him personally and those who don't) think of him (good or bad), his situation and/or the state of hunting today. Mr. Highlife had numerous Coues deer entered in the B & C Record Book. B & C investigated and challenged him on one of his deer. Unless he could disprove their findings, they were going to remove that one deer from their book. Mr. Highlife chose not to defend himself and opted instead to have all of his deer removed from their book. Please keep in mind that B & C takes these things very seriously. It is my understanding that one of the people they interviewed was a local guide who saw the deer shortly after it was harvested. The guide confirmed that the nontypical point that was now broken off from the rack was in fact intact when he originally saw the deer. It is possible that someone at B & C and/or the guide that was interviewed had a beef with Mr. Highlife but I do not subscribe to conspiracy theories. I lean more to the "where there's smoke there's fire" rule. Unfortunately, a couple years ago and prior to all his deer being removed from the record book, The American Hunter had an article in their magazine proclaiming Mr. Highlife as one of the top Coues deer hunters of all time. I do not know if they had anything in their magazine recounting that article after he withdrew all of his deer from the record book but if they didn't they should have. I have a very close personal friend who hunted with Mr. Highlife a few years ago. He said Mr. Highlife was a terrible shot (despite using a rifle that was supposedly worth several thousand dollars), could not glass up deer on his own and wounded a deer that was never recovered. The fact is that most of Mr. Highlife's deer that were in the record book were from Mexico and several were "pickups" from Mexico. I would guess these deer were more of a "purchase" than a "pickup". Hunting has become a BIG, BIG business and people do funny things for fame and fortune. For good or bad, the media also can not be trusted 100%. Editors and journalists could possibly have their own agendas, which may or may not include rifle, optic, ammo and/or hunting trip kick backs. The days of Jack O'Connor "calling 'em like he saw 'em" regardless of any freebies he may have got are long gone. It also saddens me immensely to know and think of my friend in Alaska who associates Coues deer hunting with Mr. Highlife based on what he has read in the media. As for me, I will continue to work hard at and enjoy my hobby. If and when I harvest a buck that breaks the arbitrary 110 minimum, I may or may not have it entered in a book. The only book I would even consider putting it in though is the AZ book. To me, there is a big difference between working hard at and getting a book deer on public property than paying someone thousands of dollars to get one for you in a foreign country. Also, is there really anything different between a buck that nets 109 and 7/8s and one that nets 110? They are both GREAT trophies and both should be considered such. I have an antelope buck on my wall that scores 79 and 4/8s. Even though he is just short of the book, he is a GREAT trophy, a buck of a lifetime and represents so much more than a number. The value of our trophies should be based on many things, including: 1) all the hard work we put into them. 2) the challenge they represented us. 3) all the enjoyment we received while being a field, including: a) the time well spent with friends and family. the fresh air. c) the stars. d) the exercise. etc. etc. Until next time, scout often, glass hard, shoot straight and eat well. :-)

I just spoke with a very reliable source. He said the buck scores 196.2 NET. It was taken on the San Carlos reservation by a tribe member over 40 years ago. Who knows for sure. B&C is going to do all their homework on it before they let it in as the new world record.