AZ RANGER

I’ve seen 3 this week. Plus two gopher snakes. They have definitely started moving around more. I see them all the time in my line of work. I stepped inches from the first one I saw this week before he rattled and it scared me pretty good. Luckily he didn’t strike. I’ve had so many close encounters, I’ve lost count. Probably the craziest was the time I squatted down to take a dump with one coiled up right next to me the whole time. I was messing with my phone and I didn’t notice he was even there until I stood back up. Luckily it was a cold morning and he didn’t care.

Bump

23 mule deer for me.

Ok sounds good, and just so everyone knows I really don’t care about the rehoming fee. I was thinking $50-100 just to make sure someone is committed to her but the money doesn’t matter at all. Just want someone who will appreciate her.

I’ll take this if it’s still available.

2 Christmas ago I bought my 12 year old son a fox pro inferno for around $200. We have been real happy with it. It would be nice to have a little more volume for windy days but overall pretty good. Only complaint we have is trying to load new sound files onto it. It is not easy at all. At least not for us.

Great write up. There is a lot to be proud of in this post. Congrats!

Good scopes, I have one on my 6.5x284. Good clear glass and I’ve never had a problem with turrets tracking or returning to zero. Free bump.

Looks awesome!

Awesome video. There were a ton of elk in that herd. Congrats to the young lady. Pretty awesome stuff.

Wow! Congrats. Heck of a job by all.

Good job dad! That’s a great trip. I was just thinking about the San Juan this morning.

That’s a great story. Glad it all worked out for you guys and especially for him. Solid job.

Over the years I have been lucky enough to help each of my 3 sons kill their 1st deer when they turned 10 years old. There is something real special about being with a kid when he kills his first. All 3 boys got it done in different units. My oldest son was a a leftover tag in 34b. My middle son was in 36c on a general tag and my youngest, Camm, luckily drew a youth tag in 34a. We had never really hunted 34a before and our scouting trips mostly yielded places that we didn’t want to hunt. Luckily, the place we went on opening morning proved to be a good one. Within the first two minutes of glassing light we found two bucks and a few minutes later we had a third. The day ended with 5 bucks and a bunch of does located but no shot opportunities. Over the next few days this became our theme. We would find bucks, make a stalk, get set up on them, and wait for the right shot angle. Unfortunately that last part proved to be the hardest. Camm had probably 5 different bucks in his scope before he finally pulled the trigger. Every time he would find them in the scope they would not be broadside or be partially covered by brush or they would start walking right as he would be set. It was starting to get pretty frustrating. Finaly the stars all lined up for him and we found a buck in a good spot that gave him plenty of time to get ready for the shot. Even then, we had to reposition three times as the deer moved across the hillside. After a couple of not so great shots, he made a great one that sealed the deal. Really proud of him and all 3 of my boys that got to be here for this experience. We got up very early every day and climbed up a very steep and long hill every morning and stayed out all day glassing on most days. They did great. And got along pretty well despite having to fight over a limited number of binos and tripods. My wife and 3 year old daughter even made a trip to hang out with us one evening. It was fun having them around for sure but we didn’t see many deer that evening haha Also big shout out to the mule deer foundation for setting up the youth camp in Sonoita. We only camped there a couple days because it was too far from where we were hunting but it was cool being around all the kids and seeing them so excited about hunting.

Definitely did “ok”. Good lokking crew there. Congrats.

Love it. We hunted squirrels on the youth cow hunt last year and had almost as much fun as hunting elk.

This is so great. Congrats to the young lady. Great pics

Congrats to your boy. I guess my son and yours are friends from school because my he sent me a pic he got from your boy on Friday. Then I recognized the photo here. Solid job! Nice buck!

Yikes! That’s a whopper! Id love to even see a buck like that. Congrats!

Great post! That bathroom mess made me chuckle.

I went last year in July and swore off ever going during the monsoon again. The roads were a mess and the water was high and muddy. I also worried the whole time that a storm was gonna come in and flash flood the river and make the roads worse than they already were. Fishing was not great either compared to the month before. I didnt get to go this summer because of the closure before the monsoon. Im planning a trip once the monsoon winds down a little more.

I am planning a trip with my son for his 12th birthday around August 1st this summer. The budget is going to be pretty tight but the main goal is to fly fish as much as possible. So far my plan is to fly in and rent a suburban or similar vehicle that we can sleep in the back of to save on lodging. I would love to do a float trip for a few days but that gets expensive pretty quick. I have heard that walk in access to some of the rivers can get pretty crowded. I am looking for any advice on where to go, things to do or see, suggestions for gear, anything really that would help with the trip. I'm probably going to fly into Anchorage but i'm open to other parts of the state too. Any Alaska experts on here? Thanks

What a trip! Fishing was great! Scenery was amazing! The whole experience was better than I could of expected. My son did great and loved every minute of it.

Its been 10 years since I last posted in this thread. Time for some updated pics.

My son shot a deer this last season at around 11am. We boned it out and hiked back to camp. The next evening we went by the kill site and there was not a piece of flesh anywhere. Bones were picked completely clean. There was bird sh!t everywhere so I assumed it was mostly from them and they didnt waist anytime. Granted thats not a carcass with full hide etc but it went quick. Ive also found human remains in the desert on several occasions some very recent deaths and others that were just sun bleached bones. I can attest that the summer heat seems to expedite the process.