idgaf

Filmed at Tucson High. A lot of my friends were extras in it.

Some of the ones I did not see on the list(my stepdad was a stagehand in AZ) I use to sneak on the sets. Cannonball Run(s) (A Mountain Tucson) TinCup (Kino Springs Golf Course Nogales) Midnight Run (Salt River Canyon Bridge) Every Charlie Sheen movie ever made

In some of the limited opportunity hunts, I have seen hundreds of elk. I shot at and missed the largest bull I have ever had in my crosshairs. (100 yards broadside in the open).

I've been on a pretty good run of killing mature animals with OTC and easy to draw tags. It has gotten to point where I would get butterflies only with the largest animals. I was/am sort of a hunting junkie that needed bigger and bigger animals to get my fix. Then after the first couple of hunting weekends in December and passing up several bucks from the lack of butterflies in my stomach, I had an epiphany. I would leave my trusted Monster compound at home and only hunt with my 15 dollar swap meet recurve, Walmart aluminum arrows, and nothing but the best Fred Eichler 150 grain broadheads. I would leave all technology behind and just hunt the old way. No sitting water, no blinds, no rangefinders, limited glassing and spotting and stalking. Just still hunting, coues and muleys at it finest. Lets just say I increased the degree of difficulty to incredible levels. Needless to say I had several close encounters that would have ended in 50-75 yard shots with modern equipment. The last weekend of the year rolls around and I am in my favorite stretch of country hunting like my predecessors did before me, hoping to have some of their hunting luck. The next day rolls around and my brother is heading to the flats for Muleys and I decided to go to a basin with mostly coues. I get about three quarters of the way to my destination when I start spotting deer. I see a small buck chasing a doe and nearly breaking his neck getting through a fence across a small canyon from me. A fork horn muley is sixty yards from me watching for my next move. The coues go up the basin chasing the doe and muley canters in the opposite direction into the ravine never to be seen again. I go in the direction of the coues. When I get a few hundred yards into the basin I start the first round of a three round Mexican Standoff with a 90-95 inch buck. It last so long I text both my brothers that I have 90" coues at seventy five yards. The brother not hunting with us is yelling SHOOT over text. I simply reply "recurve" Look above the bush in the center of the screen you can see the rack of the buck. After ten minutes the buck walks off and a small buck follows. Thinking they were relaxed I drop my pack and start planning my strategy to close the distance. I take two steps to the right of a small mesquite(still slightly behind) when I see a doe walking in my direction. I freeze, thinking use your camo and be cool. She is twenty three paces away and I'm pinned in the open. She gets closer and walks off to the left. Then the full size buck follows her trail before I can readjust my location. He gets to an opening thirty yards away, stops and stares at me. Same thoughts are going through my head. Use your camo and be cool. Thinking wow this would be over if I had my real bow. Round two ends after what feels like an eternity but was likely only a minute or two. (I won on points) The buck now is in that clump of mesquites in the above picture on the right hand side. Round 3 begins, except I did not know it was round 3 and I flinch(buck knocks me out). He is less than 30 yards a way, not visible, I stay still for a moment and decide to take a step to my right to clear the small mesquite and drop to my knees to prepare for the shot. He sees this and instead of following the Does path he trots straight away circling to the does location about 60 yards from me. Broadside of course when he gets there. I know I cannot catch up and I watch them go over a small lip. In a moment of self realization I discover "wow butterflies are back" I grab a water and some peanut butter crackers from my pack and have breakfast thinking about what just transpired. Then I look to where all the action took place and see the baby buck making his way on the same path as the other two. This time in my new found wisdom I go to the left of the mesquite and set up. Knowing I am a horrible shot without sights and a rest for that matter, my subconscious was saying I will miss by two feet, so aim higher. The voices in my head were loud that mourning. He clears the mesquites by a step where the big buck hung up and I draw, aim, and release in one smooth motion like I knew what I was doing. After a second, but what felt like the last hour of driving school, the deer drops in his tracks. I could not believe what I was seeing. I had just taken a coues with a swap meet recurve at 27 paces. No tricks, very little tech, on the deers terms. I never even lifted my binos to my eyes. Hunting this old way, I learned more about animals than can be imagined. What would have, very likely, ended with a full size deer if I had my Monster,instead ended with one of my greatest trophys. I wasn't going to post this deer because of its size, but this was just to cool not to. It got my butterflies back. We finished the year searching for a buck for my brother, on the way we found this place.

I had some little bast*&%!* going through my recycling bin last night looking for vital information. I was wearing slippers, if not, my oversized butt would be still be running after him. My card has been hacked twice and now I think I know how.

Just don't lose your wallet or have identity theft at the wrong time.

In the last 15/20 years or so, hunting has become more and more science/technology based. You sir, still practice the art/skill of hunting. It is a pleasure reading your threads and following your path of the art of hunting. Fred

Seen a pack of nine take down a cow one evening. By the next morning the only meat left was the tongue and eyes. Didn't USFW change the name of the Mexican wolf to 'southwestern wolf' because of the amount of dog in the genetics? By doing so couldn't they sued for introducing a nonnative species in to the wild?

Yes

Finally picked up my 2015 archery buck. He did a wonderful job keeping the battle scars in tact.

Finally picked up my 2015 archery buck. He did a wonderful job keeping the battle scars in tact.

Randomly going through hunting podcasts, i found Randy Newbergs and thought it was great, at first. Listening to the "310 to yuma episode" I thought that was one of the best podcasts I had listened too. I listen to a couple more and then he mentioned that he will be "archery hunting 'COWZ' deer in January. He said he will call them COWZ deer even though the accepted pronunciation is coues deer. It hurt my ears and I quickly unsubscibed.

Good job

+1 on the "no secret spots." i've hunted many many days/months in 36c I suggest walking the shady side of arroyos until one pops up.

I'm well aware that was COWZ preference, but I am pretty sure the last time most Americans used 19th century English was over 100 years ago.

Four inches outside my window in show low at 218 am

In 24a on Sunday. Morning a spike with a couple of does. Evening a mature three chasing a doe with a fawn.

Maybe they are millennial bucks and Gender neutral/bi. Saturday is one of two Saturdays a year I have to work, after that down to 36c to chase one very large buck.

last moments of the season, I used my tag once (not in the good way).

I not only consider myself a bad bird hunter. I consider myself the worse bird hunter in history of Arizona bird hunting. I got stuck in the valley last weekend so I did some bird hunting. At first I was hunting along the road so I stayed out of the mule deer hunters way. That didn't work so I got about a mile away from the road and no hunters. I found a small seep and it was the mother load for quail and deer. Missing my first nine shots I was undeterred, I went seven for my next 12 and then finishing up with 0 get 9. I was back to the truck by 11 and having grilled quail for lunch by 1230. I tried shooting them on the ground but for whatever reasonI kept missing.

Thanks, No Dogs, not even long pants. I was wearing shorts. Simple formula find what they want (in this instance, water) away from where other people go. In this case, about a mile away from the road.

trophy among trophies

No right or wrong answer for this one, just personal preference. Since my kids/nephews were small the best way to teach them was tracking, moving slow, getting the wind right and getting close. It taught them to predict what the animal was going to do. There eyes and anticipation could not be held inside their heads when we got close. As I get older and have a killed a few mature animals I try to increase the challenge with my weapons getting more and more primitive. This year I actually got nervous stalking a fork horn buck with my recurve. That being said I could not have been happier when my brother shot his deer at 492 yards last year or my nephew shooting his at over 800 this year. I just think that the long range taking of animal is less about hunting skill and more about shooting proficiency. Of course I am backwards thinking, I think the last ten animals or so that I have taken, nine of them I saw without the use binoculars.

IMO I do not consider shooting an animal at extended distances hunting. Many people do it, but its just not for me. I have yet to shoot a big game animal farther than 190 yards.

I sure wish "Outdoor Writer" was still here. I remember him writing something about the last AZ grizzly in an old issue of Outdoor Life. Details are foggy, but I recall reading something about a guy with dogs tracking it down to mexico and back up the blue.