kidso

Chandler Blvd and Rural Road, best Christmas lights in the Valley and hot cocoa, marshmellows and roasted hot dogs every weekend in December!

Is that deer one of those bi-colored deer? What are they called piebald or something?

Cute little bear with the black muzzle!~

Looks like you have a second lion's eyes shining at you in the dark in your first lion photo. Pretty neat.

SWEEEEET!! That brown bear is awesome! Do you have another picture of its body that shows more of it color off? Post them! Also, how close did you call that bruin in before he met his maker?

You are spoiled rotten with a 140 yard pack out! It can't get much better than that! It would be sweet to see a skinned out photo from above to see the pattern of that stripe on her coat. Neat bear!

Way to go on the call! Wasn't that about the best adrenaline rush you ever had when you looked over your shoulder and saw a bear coming in instead of a squirrel? What is that open-looking light spot in the centerline of the bear's back near its legs above the tail? Is it a rub mark with no hair, or is it a skinning mistake? I can't tell.

A given bear hunt always closes on the Wednesday following the reaching of a female harvest objective. Being that is is now past Wednesday, if the hunt has not been closed yet today, it will make it at least until next Wednesday. Game and Fish does this in case hunters are still in the field over the weekend and even perhaps taking a Monday off as well to hunt in an area where they may not have cell service to check the hunt status of a given unit.

Yes. As stated, a lot depends upon what they are eating, based on the elevation and vegetation you are hunting. I prefer hunting the 4,000-5,000 foot elevation areas in steep canyons. Right now they are chowing down on ripening manzanita berries and green acorns in my favorite areas. Not much prickly pear in those areas at all. They are also hitting black berries and choke cherries in the riparian areas along the canyon bottoms there. Its thick stuff for glassing with all the scrub oak and manzanita, so I like to get on ridges not too far above the bottom and try to call them out when they are heading down to water or heading up from watering to feed on the manzanita and acorns. Sometimes its hard to get a response though if they are already feeding with so much available food on the brush. I like using a .300 Win Mag rifle for fall bear, but it is all about shot placement. Good luck!

Trail cam bull, bucks, and bear.

How can u tell??? Is it the dangling things between his legs lol This is my favorite boar cam pic. Actually got a vertical pose.

I had two trail cams stolen in that area due to thieves, hence, my own water holes now, but the terrain and vegetation are similar. I usually crop out the barrels from the pics, or face accusations of filling them with corn and grain to attract animals. Bottom line, we all know they need water and will come to it when thirsty.

I don't think you actually do, since I built it! It's the only way to keep your cams from being stolen it seems!

Unfortunately, the bad guy who stole my buddy's "AZwest16" SD card first physically moved/tilted my camera out of the way so it would not film him breaking the law. It is encased in a homemade steel lockbox, which he obviously couldn't penetrate, so he redirected its line of sight. One of our hunting party, nonetheless, will be out there on opening day to see if he decides to show up!

A buddy of mine had a trail camera on a certain water hole vandalized over the August 1-2 period. Some scalawag cut his camera lock and stole his SD card...lost about 3 weeks worth of important data. However, the criminal must not have noticed my camera, which was on the other side of the water hole AND facing my buddies camera. So, there is a great chance that I will be posting a thief in action in the next few days on this sight. The sad thing is...who else would take the SD card... but another hunter? Anti-hunters usually take entire cameras or destroy them where they are set up in the field without worrying about what is or is not on a data card. If they were worried about their own image, why not just take the entire camera as well, especially after going through all the trouble of cutting through a lock? As the thief/hunter, however, I would sure as heck be scared to go and hunt some water hole that I had stolen a camera or SD card off of knowing that some other angry hunter or hunters will surely be out there in the field waiting to rightfully or wrongfully accuse/punish the first unknown hunter that shows up on the criminalized spot! Especially on an opening weekend scenario when no other individuals have appeared on camera at that sight over the last three months while moitoring the water hole for wildlife activity. Stealing and vandalizing cameras in the wild is risky business that scalawags and criminals should think twice about before doing it!

Great job. You must have been screaming to call him in from a far distance to end up with a 300 yard shot. Did you glass him up first, like a half mile a way and call him to the cross-canyon shot, or was it a cold call without seeing him first? Fun stuff!

Thanks for the information on the Stump Licker, as I have never hunted deer at all so was not familiar with it. Yeah, bear hunting is a crazy deal with the inability to use anything that may attract bears. We can't even shoot them over a salt lick or mineral patch if they come in to investigate. You have the right idea in figuring out where they are coming from and meet them half-way with a predator call or a good ambush on one of their trails. This is why I have stopped putting out mineral blocks and salt licks on nearly every water hole that I put a trail cam on, as its just too risky and open-ended with the Game and Fish if you plan on tagging a bear.

I think your first cinnamon bear is the same sow with the cub in your last photo. She is beautiful. I hope you can find and harvest her next year when her cub is weaned off and on its own. What the heck is stump licker? I'm not familiar with that. Be careful not to shoot any bears over that stuff, though, as the Game and Fish will likely call it an attractant/bait.

Nice! You have a sweet color phase bear to reckon with now!

Try predator calling throughout your canyon area. Lions always seem to be moving unless they are on a kill, but if the cat is around, and it is a "young one" it will likely respond to a call.

Nice cat, even nicer ...neck shot? Southern unit? Where did you harvest the Tom?

Plenty of spring success while sitting water has been discussed on this sight. Fall hunting, however, appears to be mostly glassing up bears and shooting them at longer ranges with rifles. Two years ago in the fall, I was setting up to call a stand and heard a loud noise coming down an adjacent hillside. It was a large black bear that came down to water at a hole near me. It was the day before the season opener, so I just watched the bear.

Two older guns from my "vintage collection", NOT my hunting arsenal!! I have a classic Winchester Model 1906 pump .22 rifle that is the "Expert" edition, with the fluted forearm pump, making it harder to acquire than the more commonly found smooth and grooved forearm pump varieties. It does function properly and shoots fine. Takes .22 short, long, or long-rifle bullets. It has no cracks or chips in its wooden parts and is rust-free. All original, except for the pop-on sight, which can be removed and replaced if desired. $600. Also for sale is an Iver Johnson .38 caliber break-top revolver, which I have never fired, as it takes a weaker bullet than modern .38 revolvers and can NOT shoot modern ammunition. The plastic on one side of its handle has had a few pieces break off, which is replaceable. $80. PM me for more information or pictures.

I love unit 22. It's a great unit to predator call for bears in rugged/nasty canyon country. I've incidentally harvested two lions while bear calling in unit 22, so it's also a good unit for kitties.

Nice sow. Closing the unit with a sow just lets the bears pack on more pounds for the fall hunt! Did you really use a full 2 pints of scent eliminator in one shot? That's a lot of cover!