triton

I was on top of Sitgreaves Mtn on Fathers Day when the Schultz fire started. The Eagle rock fire I was on, was pretty much contained at that time and never spread anymore after that. There was still smoldering stump holes in there Thurs with groups of cow elk feeding on the patches of green in the burnt areas (With the smoldering stumps next to them). So I think that it wont affect your hunt that much. Good Luck in Sept.!!

AZ Slim, are you back from Alpine already?? PM me when you get a chance. Curious to see how it was up there. Jim Cook PS. at least get outta the truck and shoot from the shoulder of the road..

any crappie yet???? Anyone think that there is enough water to have some good fishing this spring?

Nice deer!!! Congratulations, I have been waiting to see how your Dec. hunt was going. We didn't kill anything in the early hunts this year. Best buck we saw was in the low 90's. I'm glad you got a good one

Nice post Stanley!! SCI, Gabe, and everyone else did a fantastic job. It was my first experience with a Jr. hunt. My daughter had the tag, and even though she didn't kill a deer or javelina, we had a great time. Sorry Stanley we didn't hunt together, but we tried a stalk on javelina this AM before we left. I was the guy walking around in a cast and sling all weekend.

Its a good stable boat. I have the same one and you can stand in it and it is very stable!!

Different rifles group the same bullets differently. For instance, I really wanted to shoot the 115 gr. out of my .270. I took 8 different flat shooting rounds to the range and spent a day grouping all of them. My rifle grouped the 130 gr. Remington scirocco's the best and that is what I shoot out of my gun now. The last 5 deer have been killed at 300, 360, 375, 458, and 368 yds. I would take the time to try the different rounds that everyone here has mentioned, and see what groups best out of your gun. .....IMO...

How about kill it on Friday and tell us what it is!! And close up pics of course

I just measured a deer I killed last weekend. It was the largest bodied coues buck that I've shot to date. i aged him at 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 years and he grossed 112". The measurement from the bottom of his chest to the top of his shoulder was 13 1/2 inches. That also can help with knowing where to hold your crosshairs on his body.

As a taxidermist myself and studying coues deer obcessively as I do, here are my 2 cents: 1. The eye muscle and eyes are bulged out too far on the side of the deers' head. 2. The forward looking eyes are not very far off (From what I can tell from the photo). On the photo of the dead deer, dead animals' eyelids relax and fall down a little. Look at some of the photos in the live coues photos and trail cam pics to get a real "live" picture of a deer's eye. They have a forward tilt to them so they can look "at" what they are looking at. 3. You get what you pay for. There are some taxidermists out there that take alot of measurements and alter forms like crazy to match it as close as they can to the original animal. But that take alot of time, and time is money. You will pay alot more for that extra time spent on your mount. Most guys take a few main critical measurements before they order their forms(Neck circumference/eye to nose/nose to back of skull) and use that form. Not every coues deer is exactly the same. 4.It is probably too late for the cape to be reused on a different form. I would talk to the taxidermist and tell him your concerns and talk over any options he might have to offer.

Amanda, you guys have a point about the light factor especially in the summer or early fall when the hair on the back of the ear is very thin. Also, the more hair in the ear gives it a more white appearance since the inner ear hair is white (Most of the time). The other thing is alot of coues deer have a darker skin tone (pigment??) on the outside edges of the inner ear. Some more than others. On my work, I don't pink it up too much (but definitely some, to give it the "living" touch), so it doesn't take over or really stand out. It should be a subtle hue, so people don't focus on that instead of the antlers and other details on a good mount. Just my 2 cents worth though??? Shortpants, I also think that alot of the pink color has to do with the season due to a deers natural protection to try to cool itself. In the summer or when it is hot, the small blood vessels in the ears are opened up to allow more blood to be exposed to the outside wind to cool itself. Kindof hard to explain here, but.. When you are outside working in the heat in the summer, you naturally sweat and if overheated, your skin turns really red because of the blood vessels opening up to try to cool yourself with the outside air blowing over you. Another 2 cents...

Nice looking deer. If you look at photos of live deer and live coues deer, the ears are usually pink. i used to always think that they were too pink also (same with javelina noses and inside of mouth), but started looking at live photos. the reason that they look less pink or almost cream color after you kill them are 1. they don't have a heartbeat circulating blood through their bodies anymore 2. All their blood is on the ground or in their chest cavity Their circulating blood is what makes the pinkish color. Just my 2 cents, being a taxidermist myself. I had to start to look at live photos to get my references right. Congratulations on the deer and start looking now at live photos also for how you might mount that toad deer that you kill in 2007!

Rac, I had the tag several times in the last 8 years. I told them i was small game hunting (had a small game permit, shotgun, etc..) and they radio'ed in and knew I had an elk tag the following week. I got a scolding and warned that I would have been cited if a different ranger would have stopped me. There is no real reason to scout anyway. What units are open for your hunt??? PM me and I will share what I know to you. Jim

True..... But I am just carrying my bow while varmit hunting with my handgun. What could they say to that??

What everyone has said works good. Salsoda is a trade name for soda ash. Borax is carried at Fry's in the laudry detergent isle. It comes in a green box and is Mule train Borax. The other thing that you need to be careful of is simmering too long. If you take the skull and put in a sealed trash bag for a few days (to let it start to rot), before simmering it, it will clean off easier. The problem is you will have to simmer it outside on a campstove or other heat source and your neighbors won't be happy with you. But the meat and tissue starts to really break gown and you get a good head start. When cooking it, pull it out every 10-15 minutes and scrape as much meat and tissue off as possible each time. Get the bottom jaw off the skull as soon as possible. The more you "cook" it, the more you also damage the bone itself. If you cook it too long, the snout (where it is connected to the rest of the skull), will break off. Also like stated on another post, simmer it, boiling it hard damages it. I also use Salsoda or "soda ash". It helps alot. good luck

I have been hunting the area north of the Solero and East of Alto the last 5 years and the last 2 years were crowded there. Last year I glassed 50 different hunters from one vantage point on opening day. I had 3 different groups of hunters walk to within 30 yards of me glassing (2 groups never saw me). You might want to try the area north of the greaterville road east of the Santa Rita ranch, or the East side of the Santa Rita Mountains. I know it is hard to get away from all the people when there are 950 permits, but alot of areas that were good to hunt are now getting pressured. I think I'm going to hike deep into some areas in the north end of the unit this year. It really sucks when the hunters seen to deer seen ratio gets to be 10/1. But that was the October hunt, never hunted it in the November hunt???

Dan Lee is by far the best coues deer I've ever seen. Jim Hartsock at SW Wildlife Art in Scottsdale is awesome too. You would probably be safe with a coues deer, but Mark Plunkett had lost (mysteriously????) a buffalo of my buddies and claimed it as stolen. Interesting how someone stole a buffalo cape and horns that just happened to match. The deer from Wellers and Newman look great though and if Dan King uses them they are probably good.

WesternWhitetail I and II are great, as is Coues deer is King. If you want to learn to hunt like an idiot and what not to do when hunting, get Phantoms of the High Sierra's. HORRIBLE VIDEO!!! Coues Deer is King shows some awesome bucks and some toads killed. The Western whitetail videos shows McClendon and Whelan in AZ, NM and old Mexico> They are as good as the Awresome Bulls series is to elk hunting. IMO

I'm a taxidermist and everything you are hearing is correct. Especially the part about animals with different measurements. I caped a buck with a 13 inch (circumference) neck that scored 118. Then I caped a buck with a 16 inch neck that would score about 78. I would use 14-15 inches as a good measurement for the height of the body. Also the first few bucks you glass, note the length of the neck from the body compared to the chest height. That way you will have a better idea if he's bedded. Also, I would use your rangefinder EVERY time you have time to use it and get ready for a shot. If you shoot over 400 yards, guessing wrong by only 50 yards, can mean the difference between your trophy or the buck of a lifetime being devoured by coyotes. Good luck and let us know how you do!!

16-16.5 inside spread. Good mass (14" a side), and 18-19" mainbeams. The G1's are small, G2 on the right looks nice from what I can tell, G3's around 4''. 108-112 is my guess.

Nice deer!! Just curious, who does your taxidermy work???? looks like a great job

Set me straight if my memory is already gone, but it has been awhile since G&F has raised permit tag fees. I agree that the regular deer tags (Most have been very poor success rates lately) took a jump; but to hunt elk anywhere else is $300- $400, antelope is $750 for a landowner tag(or more) in NM, and the quality hunt you get for N. of Colorado deer and Bull elk for that price is unbelievable. The reservations get $14000- $30000 for thier elk tags. Not that bad if it is going to better our chances at getting tags. I do feel bad about the non-residents that aren't related to USO. I had relatives from out of state that would hunt here. Just my opinion though???

No more bowhunting in Cave Creek area. Read G&F regulations re: boundaries. Good Luck

Josh, I had a guy call me and ask me if I wanted to mount a huge whitetail. He took a friend of a friend to his "spot" and the guy arrows a monster. Guy ended up taking it to Wildlife Creation's. The guy I know can't even get pictures even after showing someone where to shoot a toad. I will work on getting some and get back to you. I have had other people confirm the story about the size. Jim

I know of a 137 coues killed in 22 that same weekend. I think it was shot from a treestand.