CouesPursuit

Always enjoy your adventures Pac, thank you for sharing!!

how do you figure? if a kid can't make an ethical shot without the aid of one of those, it's time to get that kid back to the range until he is confident in making a good shot on an animal. I support the firearm rest, not the draw device. If a kid can shoot a bow at the legal draw weight, that is great, he/she should go for it. If they cannot draw the bow back themselves, it isn't time to be an archery hunter. I know your an accomplished hunter, who grew up in a hunting family, it all probably has come more natural to you than you realize. This quoted statement is where I disagree. Not everyone has your or my ability to hold a rifle steady, whether it's genetics, age, trauma, etc. It's my firm belief a person deserves to hunt regardless of how well they steady their firearm, and I feel the animal deserves one shot in the vitals by the unsteady. If you have read my posts in the past, you should know I am one of the biggest advocates for shooting practice. My point is not to say 'a claw' should take the place of practice, but that it shouldn't be outlawed for those who need some help.

A rest and a device to pull back a compound bow are two completely different things.

I'm certainly not mad but I do respectfully disagree. Outlawing something because it assists kids and the inexperienced in getting cleaner, often one shot kills doesn't make much sense in the big picture of hunting. And I like to see parents bragging on their kids regardless of how the trigger was pulled, as long as it was the kids finger. I hope and pray I can brag myself one day.

I'm taking my brother and our new-to-hunting buddy in a couple weeks and I almost wanted to ask a poll on what most people preferred to give them some options. Great thread to start, trphyhntr. My two long rifle shots on coues were sitting, off my tripod with the binoculars folded down, also using my pack under my armpit for extra support on the stock. Worked very well for me when prone on the pack is not an option. Maybe give that a shot too.

I can say with absolute certainty my next retrieving lab will go through an actual retriever training system such as Evan Grahams Smartworks (evan-graham.net/) or Mike Lardy's Total Retriever Training (totalretriever.com/). Full disclaimer: I did not go this route on my current lab, instead I read and took advice from several books including Water Dog by Richard Walters and Training The Hunting Retriever by Jerome Robinson, which have completely different approaches based on their time. I did enjoy those books and learned quite a bit, but reading and incorporating the teaching from a book is much more difficult than from a modern DVD. The actual training system may be overkill to some, but with how much work that goes into a worthy hunting companion, I would never half-ace it again. But that's just me. Hope this helps. Good luck and remember to have fun with it.

Meet, "The Boss" - My hunting partner and I have had him on camera in one location for a few years now, to the point I feel I have developed a relationship with him, one that I want to take to the next level, hands on. We watched him start as a 4x3 in 2012, go 5x4 in 2013, and was something like a 6x5 in early August (5th) last year, so who knows how big he ended up and/or will be this year if a lion hasn't taken him. He has also busted us in our tree stands on a few occasions, one weekend, it was 3 days in a row. He has always come back. Based on my observations of traffic and hunting pressure in the area, I highly doubt another hunter got him. After we both tagged out opening weekend of January this year, we pulled this particular camera. Before that, we have hundreds of pictures of him and his sidekicks, who are also impressive deer, but he only shows up in the summer time, June-September. We have hard horned pictures of all his buddies (my buddy took one of his 90"+ pals), but not him. "The Boss" and another double main beam buck who has only shown his face a couple times, vanish come fall. This is thick, thick habitat. Glassing is hardly effective, if at all. I've had several other cameras out within a mile radius, where we are getting some of his friends, and lots of does, but he never shows!! Now that OTC deer and archery elk is over, we will be putting all of our cameras back out for Jan '16. I have a few I set a couple months back in new areas and haven't checked them yet. But in thinking of where to try next, I had a few questions in mind for the experienced. So there lies the situation warranting this thread. I would really appreciate anyone's advice who has targeting a single buck, successful or not. How did their summer habits change through fall and into the rut, if at all? For pine tree and woodland bucks, did they drop in elevation at all or prefer more open country? This buck would have to travel a couple miles to get into another type of habitat. Does a buck of this caliber seek out all does in his area and cover a ton of ground, or is he more likely to find a couple of does in his immediate area and be satisfied? This coming season is the time to get him before his decline and I'm considering dedicating the January season to him and him alone. I know this information can be top secret to many people and they keep it close to the vest, but any insight, experiences, or recommendations would be much appreciated. PM's welcome. Thank you.

This type of depression is real. For me, this song made it set last night, real bad. When I sit back and think about it, the dog is what makes it more than just a hobby. I shot a lot of nice birds last year and Drake and I are really learning how to hunt together. It's hands down the most amazingly fun, intriguing, frustrating and sometimes even most depressing thing I'm likely to pursue in my life. Looking over photos today made the depression set in even further.. Hope it stokes someone's fowl flame a bit!

Thanks, Wampus! Great opener, YoteBuster! Had a fantastic morning, elk bugling, bald eagles dive bombing, and perfect cloud cover. Tons of action for the first hour but it was all over after an hour. Hoped the wind would keep things interesting but the birds found where they wanted to be early. Not proud to say we shot all hens with maybe an immature BW/Cin teal drake or two but we didn't see a single drake in shooting distance. Couldn't resist waiting once the action started dwindling. Ended up with 10 by 7, 1 gadwall, 1 shoveler, 1 mallard, 2 GWT, and 5 BW/Cin teal. My pup Drake did absolutely amazing today, probably thanks to Big Browns dove extravaganzas and him starting his 5th season. Hope anyone else that hunted had half as much fun as we did. Amazing morning!

The depression is over. I have 5 hours to LST and I can't sleep for the life of me. Layout blinds are covered and ready and decoys are by the blinds waiting to be set in a couple hours. I hope some CWT member somewhere is feeling this same excitement as me. I'll post a report tomorrow, no birds or 14. Life is beyond good.

I've had a couple great PM conversations in the last 18 hours after making this post, as well as some good stuff here in the thread. Thank you. After sharing my past and current strategy in these conversations, I think it comes down to this more than anything. If I want him bad enough I can't shoot another buck on the 3rd day of year. I appreciate you and everyone's comments. This is the one place people understand how a critter can make make a man's mind go crazy. I will say though, if the double main beam shows up, no way I'd pass. Buck on the right is also in my avatar. We will be putting in some extra effort to find his bedroom instead of his backyard and when my partner or I knock him down in January, in either the past or future location, I'll be sure to share the experience. Would still appreciate any additional comments. Come on 2016!

Congrats to you and your wife's hard work and nice bull.

If they were pistachios I don't think he would be vanishing every September, wildwoody. It's no secret I keep up on my salt blocks, which in my belief is exactly why I get him only during the antler growth period. What I'm stumped on is why I can't get him on camera checking out our frequent doe visitors Dec-Jan.

Thanks gentlemen. We are pretty sure he runs with at least 2 other bucks. He always has one buddy at a time, it just isn't necessarily the same buck running with him. This surprised me but we have verified it a few times. These guys still have another month of growing give or take. This was 8-5-14 here.

No claw marks and there are clearly 3 lobes in the pad (with 2 indentations as stated above). Also not an expert but another kitty vote here.

Great pictures, especially that second one with no one in the background. Offer for joining the duck hunt this weekend is still on the table! I have high hopes for Friday based on some scouting last weekend and will play Sat and Sun by ear. Just let me know. Good luck!

You could have one accidental or two things selected under the "Other" filter settings on the left? The filter for "Just Items I Follow" gets me once in a while.

For many reasons, including the fact that selling deer meat is illegal, I'd look into an actual dog food that uses venison as its protein source. It's more sustainable too. Just a thought, but If folks do donate some meat to your friend, make sure the dog is getting its other essential nutrients as well. Best of luck for your friend and getting his dog fixed up.

Cool pictures, thanks for sharing. Hope you get that bull next time.

I can't speak on buying new, but used Honda's run, and run, and run. Just keep oil in it.

It's never to early to decoy birds. I scouted a body of water that had 500 ducks on it yesterday morning, mostly teal, with some wigeon and gadwall. I'm confident that few to none of them were resident birds. I'll let someone else chime in on jump shooting, doesn't do it for me, have no experience there. Without a great deal of experience, the best call is no call. To give you a pointer beyond that, calling isn't really specific to one (flagstaff) area, it depends on the size of the body of water, time of day and season, etc. There are a ton of factors. I will emphasize, do not overcall, rather focus on motion, your decoys bouncing ripples in the water and you not moving whatsoever in the blind.

I couldn't agree more with Lance's 2 points above, one medium thickness pair of merino wool socks is key. I used non insulated Danner's on my January OTC deer hunt this year with no problem down to our coldest morning temp of 8 degrees. The only other thing not mentioned, wax/waterproof/use dressing on your boots in the event it snows/rains. My feet were amazingly warm both sitting in a metal tree stand for hours and hiking several miles through a foot of snow.

3 different 100"+ bucks, in the thickest of habitat. Just goes to show they're in there, just have to find the X. Looks like you're there or close. Sweet! Thanks for sharing.

We talked last year when you posted some questions as my brother had the same hunt. Perhaps I was confident (and think I read somewhere) you were going to build on what you learned. Good luck!

Beauty, or size, is in the eye of the beholder. Those are nice bucks for sure, especially for a first AZ whitetail on a 33 October hunt. When the antlers are wider than the ears you are getting into the big category, not quite there. I'd shoot either without a second thought.