tomgobbler

i was guiding some turkey hunters over in NM and i came across this bear, told my buddy i was going to see how close i could get to it, i ended up about 6 feet away as it was turning over rocks looking for grubs, here are a couple of pictues of the "stock"... any ideas of what you think the size of the bear is? enjoy....

i got shot this guy a while back, and finally found a few minutes to mount it up, went to my sons 2nd grade class to do a presentaion and wanted to take it with me, so hurried and knocked it out to take it along. they are sure some crazy looking animals.

yea i've got 4 clients coming in, 2 for the first weekend, and 2 for the second weekend, got 2 birds to gobble last friday, didnt go over there this weekend as i went sky diving. will be going back over this week.

trophy, the pm sent was another guy sending me a PM... he is looking for racks not shoulders thanks. thanks guys i got one from rag horm so good for now. tommy

i've got a guy that wants to buy a set of antlers to put in his show room back east to show the differnce in our coues deer, something along the lines of 90-100 or so, please send me pic and price. thanks tommy

i young man of 10 or 11 got his first duck. so mounted it up for him along with another one for a member on here. thought they came out good, what do ya think ? tommy

vincefmx i agree 100 % what a crock, they specifically posted on there advertizing that they WOULD be calling or notifing the top 10, so that you WOULD KNOW, and now they say nope... pretty unprofessional of them, once they have posted the rules AND collected an entrance fee, then you dont go changeing the rules... if they wanted to for next year fine, tell people what you were doing but NOT mid game.... as you say some people have to work and it is not worth taking one of your vaction days if you are not in the running... save that day to hunt with.... they SAID they would call so they should CALL, bottom line..... just my 2 cents....

tam i'll take the cape. tommy

got up about 2:00 a.m. finished loading the truck, got my two boys up ( 11 and 7 ) and picked my brother up at 3:00 a.m. to make the three hour drive top our hunting spot by about daylight.... we go to one of my spots with no luck, so head to my "sure fire" spot, but that is another hour out in the hills, down a rough road... we get there and start glassing, and glassing , and glassing... my 7 year old is getting a little impatient, because he wants to see some action... ( yea dad did too) so he climbes some rocks, and sneakes some snackes...and playes in rocks and plays around a little.... anyway about 3:30 that afternoon, my buddy says i've got pigs.... and i'm like no way we have glasses that same stupid hill side for 5 hours straight... it is a huge bowl, with lots of little canyons and draws and you could litterely spend all day in the same spot... ( which is about what we did) anyway they must of been on the back side and finally had worked up to the top, becasue they were in a sadlle about 1000 yards away.... so my buddy and my 7 year old stay behind to watch the show, and me and my brother and my son make a plan of attack ( thinking mainley of the wind) and we bail off our side of the canyon, and down the side and up the other side.... when we top out of the ridge we SHOULD be able to shoot across the draw that they are on. well we fianlly make it over there, and them things are SCATTERED ALL over the hill side, hard to keep from getting busted..... My brother says i will stay right here ( about 250 yards away) were he could really see the facing hill side through the brush, he had a good vantage point... he said i will wait for the first shot, and then i'll take one. ( trying to get my 11 year old a shot first ) so he gets all set and waits.... and waits... and waits..... i take my 11 year old up the hill, i wanted to get a little closer for him if i could.... well the brush was thick and the grass was talll..... and the pigs werent holding real still..... and he could'nt get them in the scope for very long before he would loose them,.... ( can you hear the frustration in my voice ) if you have ever tried getting a kid opn stuff you will sympothise anyway after pointing out a dozen pigs to him, and trying to get him steady, and the steepness of the hill he was trying to sit on, it just wasnt working very will.... anyway we fianlly got to about 50 yards with half a clear shot at a nice sized boar.... ( my brother and my buddy were like what in the heck is taking so long ) so i tell him to make his shot count becasue me and shawn are going to open up after he shoots.... so he squeezes the trigger and all heck breakes loose ! i was so close to the running pigs, becasue i had worked my son into them, that my scoped rifle was having a heck of a time, with the brush... i hear shawns rifle speak out and he yells PIG DOWN!.... so i look up to try and find one that might have run across the draw so i could pick it out at a couple hundred yards, when 4 of them, come FLYING past me and my son at about 3-5 FEET, one and then another and then another... i said to heck with this and i followed the 3rd or 4th one FROM THE HIP, and shot it through the heart at 3 feet or so, it NOSE DIVED littlerly at our feet.... trace (my son) was like WOW dad that was cool... and i said yea it was! so anyway we had 3 pigs down! after what seemed like forever trying to get my son on one... so 50 yards, 4 feet and about 250 yards, in about a 30-60 second period.... ALL 3 were BOARS so that was really cool, and my son had to brag that HIS was the BIGGEST..... tommy

very cool buck my friend, congrats that is one awesome buck! karma is good to ya when you spend so much time helping others get their trophy's! tommy

that sucks man, i had one go out with lots of my personal hides that i hadnt gotten time to mount yet since i was so busy with cutomer stuff.... NOW my freezers have an alarm on them, for not very much money you can get a DEVISE to put in you freezer that will beep if your freezer goes out, WELL worth the investment, everyone should have them on there freezers to protect your meat and or hides or what ever.

i had almost the EXACT same experiance about 10 years ago, i arrowed a BIG pig, called my buddy to helptrack it and followed it to an old dike with a colvert running under it, i was like NO way am i crawling inthere, long story short i had a roll of mule tape and my buddy crawled in there 67 feet ( the mule tape has the feet marked on it) and tied it to the feet of the pig, then he crawled out and we pulled it out.... thank goodness for hunting buddys huh!!!! great job tommy

here are a coupl birds i just finished up a double bearded and 5 bearded gobblers.

nice buck, congrats on another successful hunt! what is it with you and guns on the san carlos hunts nice job my friend!

i send the heads off to get freeze dried, and then thay are just airbrushed for the color. You can also use artificial heads, but i personally prefer the freeze dried ones. If you dont know the difference they all look good, if you do know the difference, then the freeze dried look better IMO

thought i'de give you lucky tag holders a tease for the spring, we are covered up in snow here at the house and need some spring vibes if you remember form this spring, me and my great friend and hunting partner matthew phillips were hunitng turkeys in san carlos before my 27 tag, and him and i doubled up on gobblers at the same time, guns going of pretty much at the same time ( story is here somewhere) anyway when we walked up to them mine had 5 beards, and his had 2, we got a double on multiple bearded gobblers, how cool is that, anyway i just finished up the mounts on them, mine strutting, and his gobbling... thought i'de give ya'll the bug.... yea i know just a little early but ... :) hope you like them. good luck tommy

yea i didnt enter, i've been way to busy, and my wife has been sick the last few days so needed to stay home and help with the kids, and get some things done. what about you?

troy, very nice, i've been waiting for the story! was very nice to meet you and your family, tell them all thanks for all the good grub! wish i could of been there for the kill, but had a heck of a great time helping the first couple of days. You stuck it out, and hiked were ever i pointed you with NO complaints or groumblings at all, your welcome at my fire any time, and i hope to be able to hunt with you again real soon. you are very fortunate to have the friends that you do, friends like that are very hard to come by, i know what kind of friend matthew is, and although i just met the other guys they are out of the same mold, and they also are welcome at my fire anytime and i hope they read this as well, and that i get to hunt with them again soon too. What a fabulous websight that has brought some many different people together, that i would of never of had the pleasure of meeting and hunting with . Congrats on the ram i told ya the miss was no problem and that you'de get another chance, glad it all worked out for ya, but i'm bumbed i dont get to come back during christmas break to hunt some more with you guys. it was a great time tommy

the very best way is to get someone to show you...., hands on is hard to beat..... but yes a fleashing beam ( can be made out of a 2x ) and a some kind of a scraper, coyote are really thin and they scrape pretty well, doing it right away ( both skinning and stretching ) and it is a little easier. yes there are some decent videos out there, i'll have to look for some specific ones. you say "put up the hide" well what do you mean??? skin, fleash, wash, stretch, dry out, fluff, and get ready for the fur buyer, or auction, OR salt and dry out and get ready to send to the tannery for a soft pelt? OR put up and get ready to be mounted.... and for what kind of pose, life size, or rug... all require different things.... but once again HANDS ON, getting someone to show you i think is the very best.... Anyone want make the drive and bring a few coyote's up to the house on a saturday and i'de be glad to show anyone how to skin a dog & put one up. ( for any of the above situations) i live in taylor. good luck tommy

the corners are 108degrees, so your cut's on each piece would be 54 degrees, so that when put together it would be the 108.... were are you getting the 72? on the diagram apove, you can not cut 1 piece 72, and the other one 36 to get your 108, yes they would fit together BUT the lenght on the angle would be different for each piece....and so not fit together very well. good luck tommy

i had one of my best calling/trapping seasons ever, it was fabulous, i took 43 cats, and 78 coyotes, along with several dozen fox's, badgers, and coons.... anyway i did some fur work and i got 30 of my 43 bobcats dried and ready to sale thought i'de run up to the game and fish to get them tagged, and they only had 25 tags..... dont ya think a game and fish office could carry enough tags to cover any and what ever comes in.... i'm not the only one that has to get cats tagged... it seems like every time you deal with them it is something like that..... they madate you do something, then dont even have enough stuff to let you do it. Now i have to make another trip ( and day off of work) to get the rest tagged..... sorry had to vent, am just frustrated with them..... hope ya like the pictures anyway..... about half were trapped and about half were called in, 6 still in the freezer, and several at the tannery for some life size mounts i'm working on. good hunting tommy

Recieved a call last night and my cousin said that he was stuck down in the valley working today, and that his 12 year old had a cow elk tag and asked if i would take him out for the day, so he didnt have to miss opening day. So i said sure no prob, so i get up @4:00 this morning and make the hour drive ( 30 min each way) to pick up my cousins son so we can go get him an elk. we then drive out to a spot that i know that traditionally has elk, ( keep in mind i didnt get to scout much as i knew the night before that i was going) anyway i'm on a big cedar covered ridge 20 mintues before it even startes to crack daylight, with a BIG yellow grassy flat below me with a few cedars scatered in it, about a mile wide and a mile long, cedar hills all around it.... well when it finaly startes to turn grey i glass up 6 elk on the FAR side of the flat..... now how to get to them... about the only way is hunkered down as far as you can and still walk, and try and keep the few scattered cedars between us. so off we went... i make it about half way and glass them again , yes they are still there, looks like one good bull and 5 cows ( or so i thought ) so we keep on a trucking as it gets plently light by now we close to about 500 when i kneel up by a cedar tree to look them over and DANG they are ALL BULLS!!! not a cow around anywere..... the big bull, then a 5x5 and then 4 small, 2 bys, spikes ect.... ALL BULLS.... i could'nt believe it after all that work getting over there ( and now having to go all the way back to the truck) and no cows.... so anyway to make a long story a little shorter.... see 3 more bulls an hour latter, and then about 10:00 had 5 cows RUN across the road in front of us..... and that was it unit this evening. i knew of another little bowl that always has elk, that people drive right by.... so about 4:30 this afternoon i told the kids ( my cousins boy with the tag, and 2 of my boys) lets go kill an elk, so off we went, parked the trucked walked about 600 yards to the top of another big ridge, and tell them ok quite now, just over the other side we'll find some shade and wait up here were we have a vantage point and wait unitl they come out or it gets dark.... so i poke my head over and start glassing, and there is already 4-5 cows feeding 220 yards below us. So i get him all set up with a blown down log as a rest and tell him ok the one standing broad side make sure your ready.... well after a few shots we had her down. his first elk, his dad took him out for a week last year never to get a shot, and i took him the first day and we got it done, he was one excited boy!, about 20 minutes before dark.... so yea you can guess what a fun evening i have had getting the elk out in the dark with 3 kids.... but got it done, no field pictures, as it was dark fast and no camera, but got one here at the house . do ya think this counts as good KARMA for me and my sons deer hunt next week ? the hunter on the left and my two boys on the right, this is about 10:00 when we got back to the house. good luck to the rest of the kids tommy

congrats, very nice bear

my brother passed on a really pretty 330 class 6x6 this morning....

i got home from work and my wife said that my father in law said that it looked like there was something wrong with my favorite horse. the one i had raised from a colt and had for the last 15 years, took me more miles then i could ever count, and saw some of the prettiest country that God has created from the back of him. anyway as i went to look at him i could tell right away he wasnt doing good, the close i got the worse it looked, soem time during the night i guess he shattered his upper leg, half way between the knee and the shoulder, dont have a clue as to what happened. but either way the result was the same and i had to go put a bullet in his head, and then barry him... one of the hardest things like that i have had to do in a long time..... i'll sure miss that horse!