azcouesandelk

Unbelievable spring you 2 had! Love seeing the amount of time you spend in the with your family. You are doing it right Phil

My dad has a newer 2500 with the Hemi in it and it does really well. Only thing is when towing don't expect to get over 10 mpg while towing

Yessir that was us.

Don't know the exact live weight, but he dressed out at 17 pounds. He had a 6 1/2" beard and only 1 spur that was 1 1/8", looked like the other had been broken off.

Congrats on the bird Bob! That hunt is something special. I think I saw you drive by our camp a couple of times

Anybody go down during the first hunt? Any reports on activity? Headed down early Thursday morning for my dads hunt this weekend

My dad got his bird this morning. Will post a full story and pictures later tonight

I bought mine August 2006 and it had been out for a little bit before I had bought it

I believe it was 2005 when they released the HD scopes

I believe in order to do any raffles like that you would need to have a 501c3 set up for tax purposes

Just bought the winning ticket

Overall I'm looking for a camera that I am able to take higher quality pictures any situation, digiscope and video if needed. I have ran several point and shoot cameras and my phone for digiscoping and many other purposes am never happy with the overall picture quality.

Any opinions on the Nikon D5300? I don't know if I would be ready for a camera like the D7200. Looking for something more on the beginner level to learn everything before I jump in with both feet.

Have you ever done any digiscoping with the slr before?

Check out Shadow Valley Outfitters. Not sure if they are booked up yet but they are very knowledgeable with the unit

It's official I got an early rifle tag. Sad news is my dad is up to 25 antelope points now

Says I got tag #10. Can't be my second choice due to the point pass. Looks like I got me an early rifle tag with 5 points!!!

It is statistically impossible. You are trying to tell us that 2+2=5

Bump

Blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while. Thanks AES for doing these raffles

Just bought the last one! Good luck everybody!

Got my tickets.

Back in July I moved back home to AZ and found out I was not drawn for any tags again this year. It wasn't long until my dad and I decided that we would go for some leftover tags in a familiar unit. Fortunately we were drawn for the early November hunt and preparation for the hunt began. We made several trips down to scout. First being in August for a quick 1 1/2 day trip turning up a good amount of bucks in new areas which got my dad and I excited. Our second trip down we went down for 2 full days to check out more new areas. We found some new spots turning up more bucks and a couple nice bucks at that. The last morning we were there we decided to go back to an area my dad had successfully killed our first bucks. As we were glassing we weren't turning much up until I saw some antlers move in the shade. The antlers turned out to be a very big 2 point, but his running mate caught my attention. He was a very heavy antlered 3x4 with a huge frame! Here are a few pics of him from the beginning of October (picture quality is not the best since pictures are from 1800 yards) Due to work I was able to go down the 2 days before the hunt, but was not able to get back down to hunt until Monday. The first morning I was waiting for the sun to come up to look for the big 3x4 wondering if he had made it through the first hunt. My answer came quickly as I found him and the big 2 in a matter of minutes. I watched them feed over into a big basin where I suspected they would bed down for the day. I continued to glass turning up several more bucks, but nothing near his caliber. That midday I decided to head to the big basin to see if I could find him and I could not believe my eyes when I glassed him bedded in the shade of an oak. I watched him the entire afternoon and got some better pictures and video of him. Thursday morning we were unable to locate him again, but in the afternoon we found him on a thick slope feeding. Here are some pictures of him from Wednesday. With the buck being located I was able to talk my boss into letting me come in late so I could hunt opening morning. We were setup to glass before first light and thoughts were going through my head of where this buck would be and if there would be a shot opportunity. Within 20 minutes we had the buck found and headed back to the same basin he had bedded in on Wednesday. We circled around to setup to relocate him and hopefully get a shot. We picked apart everything we could see finding a smaller 3 point and a little 2 point, but he was nowhere to be seen. After 30 minutes I saw his antler moving in some thick ocotillos and the adrenaline started to pump. The ocotillos were 400 yards away and I was setup waiting for him to step out. After about 10 minutes the bucks were getting nervous looking up the hill and bolted! At this point I was devastated, I had to go home and work the next 3 days and was not sure if the buck would make it through the weekend. Monday morning came and I was back at it looking for the big 3x4 again. The entire day was spent glassing the basin he liked to bed in along with several canyons nearby with only a couple of small bucks seen. Tuesday morning was spent in the same area turning up 1 decent 3 point and a few does. The decision was made to give the area break and go look elsewhere mostly for my sanity! Debating on where to go with all the new areas we had scouted we decided to go to where I had my first opportunity on a buck back in 2005. We got in there and setup around 2:30 with the wind howling! We glassed for about 2 hours turning up a few does here in there when up on the mountain side I spotted what looked like a good buck. I put the spotting scope on him to see a solid 3 point with beams that wrapped around well. It didn't take long for me to decide that this would be a great buck for me with the limited time I had and the wind only supposed to get worse. The hike was on at this point to get on the ridge between us, and after a 30 minute hike we were 300 yards from the buck bedded. I setup and dialed the turret and settled in for a shot on the bedded buck. I felt comfortable as I settled the crosshairs and slowly squeezed the trigger. The buck laid his head down and never got up again. I feel very blessed to have been able to harvest such a beautiful deer and get back to my roots in some old spots, and also for the opportunity to chase a great buck like the big 3x4.

My dad finally got his goulds tag! Only took 18 points!

TTT