CouesPursuit

For my "main line" $350 Bear, I have practiced for years to what I believe is its potential and I group well out to 60 yards, that's my current limit on live game. I can honestly say I have missed out on several opportunities where I wish I could have stretched that out to 75 yards (especially on the late bull hunts), but my bow just doesn't group well enough. I know that if I want to shoot further I will need to get a flatter, faster, more expensive setup. That time will come, but as stated by another above, my so called average speed (~275fps) and heavy arrow w/broadhead (450gr) is plenty for me and the 3 deer that have efficiently hit the dirt the last 3 years. Nowadays "doubt anyone" and "hunting" are tough to use in the same sentence. People are shooting a lot farther than 70 yards.

wow, this looks very similar to the areas im looking at in the hellsgate, same kind of setups. it's somewhat ironic, i've spent the last 7 years troubleshooting hunting out of treestand for 11 hours in freezing temps. Even after considerable effort toward fighting off the cold it is still a pretty miserable sit, looks like ive found the ying to that yang Yes, you have. bugs and snakes are a real bummer... im pretty sure that the sound of me screaming like a 12 year old girl would alert the deer and prompt them to avoid the area, even if they were thirsty... are you hunting out of a pop up blind or a hand built? how do you deal with a ground blind and undesirable invaders, flash bang, napalm?? i freakin HATE spiders and the ones you have here in arizona are spectacularly nasty So, that picture absolutely rocks dude, how often are the deer coming in there? daylight versus night? about how many deer were hitting that spot? I can try make a very long and interesting story short. After getting deer on trail camera every 2-3 days for 2 months from day 1 of setting up the camera, during all hours and once just hour after I was there, I insisted to myself that I needed to hunt this spot in August and I set up a pop up blind for the first time. A bear ripped it to compete shreds within a week (I have photos of 3 different bears) so I pieced it back together best I could and added natural vegetation. I left camp at 2AM on opening day to make sure I could get to the blind before dawn. Nope. I got stuck in between what I truly believe was a yellow-eyed mountain lion and a herd of 8-10 green-eyed whitetail halfway through my journey. I almost stepped on 3 diamondbacks and 2 Arizona blacks, the last one being 20 yards from my blind when I finally got in hours later. I had a black widow in the blind with me too. No exaggeration. I saw the bucks in the distance that opening day but they didn't come to water. A doe and fawn did (she had two fawns the week before on trail cam), from directly behind my blind not 2 minutes after I opened some dehydrated blueberries that had a potent smell. I honestly thought it was the bear that mauled my ground blind!! I didn't have my sidearm out of my pack so staying quiet I took an arrow out of my quiver and I was ready to stab anything that penetrated the blind wall. Lol. I was so relieved to see a doe and fawn and I cannot explain. I was just flat out freaked out from the events of the walk in that morning and the bear ripping up my blind. I left that day after sitting until dark with no funny business on the long hike back, but, I decided for a solo, day hike in during the August archery season, that spot just wasn't enjoyable. I hunted it again the next day, didn't see anything, and took the blind down. I haven't had a rifle tag in that area since and will hopefully continue with early archery success, but I will be back when I've stocked up on BP's and hit the December WT Rifle hunt. I was planning on calling for lions here one morning this June right after the fawns drop. This spot and trail camera pictures are for sale BTW lol jk.

Very nice, thanks for sharing, that's a heck of a lot better read than the other elk thread going on right now..

^^ Agreed. For better or worse, it's definitely amazing. I wish the character would have executed on one of her bowhunting scenes, either the deer in the first movie or the elk I heard about in one of the later movies (I only saw the 1st) - followed with a little reflection - could have been a great opportunity to shed some positive light on the reality of hunting.

Congratulations!! That is awesome in so many ways!

Just missed one in the classifieds. Maybe someone in the thread can shed some light. http://www.coueswhitetail.com/forums/topic/56243-wh-sleep-system/?hl=%2Bhunter+%2Bsleeping+%2Bsystem

Sounds like a great day and plan, good luck!

Great birds man!

I have a screen shot software called Snagit which is similar to the snipping tool but this one comes with an editor that can add text and boxes and lots of other extras. Beyond that, any computer will capture the entire screen by pressing "Print Scrn" (or similar) at the top of the keyboard. This will copy it, now you just have to paste it. Don't want the whole screen, just a part of it? Paste it into an application (MS Word, Paint) and crop it, save it, use it. etc.

Good stuff, Patrick!

My January archery hunt in a foot of snow and single digit mornings used combinations of merino wool and underarmor base layers with coveralls. Coveralls are a late season game changer for me.

San Carlos daily fishing license is required, $10/day/person. http://www.sancarlosapache.com/Permits_Information.htm I haven't gone since the Wallow fire for fear of fishing not being what I grew up with. But, my group of guys started going again the last 2 years and they say there are still fish to be caught, just not near the average size there used to be. From what I understand, catch and release hasn't been practiced much from what they've seen which I would guess is slowing down the recovery. Regardless, it would still be an incredible and worthwhile experience, especially with your family. The only thing that used to effect the quality of fishing was the flows. The first weekend in May used to be the safest weekend but in years of light runoff, you could miss the spawn. Fishing was always good, just sometimes we knew we "missed it." I use small plastic crawfish/lizard/hellgrammite imitations and floating 2" rapalas on ultra light tackle and 4-6lb test. One side note worth mentioning: You aren't supposed to carry a sidearm on the reservation. However, I've had more close calls with bears there than can be described in text, I've literally thrown big black boars fish from my stringer and walked slowly backwards. I've heard a few horror stories about some 2 legged trouble as well but that is just hearsay. Best of luck, sending you a pm on locations.

Wife showed me this and I had to pass on a healthy laugh. Hope you enjoy it.

Awesome!! Happy to help, great photos!

130 3/8

Very sorry to hear that. I'll ask around, to everyone I can other than my wife..

Are you using microSD cards by chance? What did you use to view them in the field, the camera itself or another device? I switched to microSDs to view and save pics in the field on my old smart phone, and since, certain devices (older nikon digital camera for instance) won't recognize the files are even on the card. The computer would ultimately recognize them without any problem though, so hopefully it's just a file reading issue and the content it still there. I wouldn't try any reformatting until you've exhausted all other options! Here is a thread that may have some insight if you haven't seen it already. http://www.coueswhitetail.com/forums/topic/20748-recover-eraseddeleted-images/ That really stinks!!! Good luck!

There's no way to be sure until results are posted

are you willing to ship the rangefinder? have a new comer to archery that this would fit the bill for perfectly, if not, no problem, completely understandable

Ok! I added the info to my original post and I am glad you asked. I figured most people here wouldn't care, but I am glad you do I assume you mean you want common names and don't want me to get all nerdy and post latin names too.... Hey some of us are latin nerds too!! I don't know the common names for most forbs and grasses but maybe after following your posts I'll connect the two!!

Heck yea, my brother just got hit for his first elk hunt with zero BP, late rifle bull. I don't know if it would be a blessing or curse if I drew the late archery hunt that leads right into it, but whatever happens is going to be fantastic.

I always enjoy seeing you knock 'em down, I was hoping you had a bigger problem like a 9 pack by noon but this will surely suffice! Your posts in the past were part of my inspiration to start calling. Thanks! This is my first photo trying to be like you Nate! Shot this guy yesterday at 200 yards on a dead sprint, first time shooting at a running target and dang is it addicting.

lol great posts above ^ and if a hunting dog is something you decide, consider what type of hunting you prefer, and more importantly, are more suited to properly train for. Yes many breeds can do both but consider if you would ever get into the extremes i.e. cold weather water retrieving and/or hot desert/upland hunting. If your not going to hunt him/her get a rescue mutt! And post pictures whatever you decide, 99% of the time great dog owners have great dogs!

Hey Glenn, pictures sell man!! Please post some if you can!

Agreed ^. This is just one's opinion from experience, but most rescue dogs seem to have less health problems too. Pure bred dogs seem to have cost some people I know more coin in the long run than a mutt. Young rescue dogs are out there. That said, even though he has a little bit of lameness after consecutive days of hard work, I own a lab and he is flat out amazing.