EAS

looks nice! you with your gramps when he took him?

make sure you check AZ regs... some units, like 23, are not open in Dec... but start in Jan. check out 24A or 24B... or more of the southern units are good as stated above. find a hill that looks like you can glass, and go after it... they're in there. not sure I would sit water holes in Dec... If its cold enough, the southern units may start the rut in that time frame...

real nice buck, how did you hunt'em? blind, stand, spot n stalk, ?? tell us a little about your hunt if you would. thanks!

I was invited by my bro-in-law and his bro to join them for the August OTC archery hunt in 2009. I was taking a back seat in their hunting area, to be respectful to all the scouting they had done to find this area. Both my hunting friends tagged out first day with Coues whitetails! The bar was set and now I had 4 days left to tag a buck. I love being outdoors so I was ok with not filling my tag (so I told myself). My brother-in-law offered me his stand, since he tagged out, so I sat his stand on a water hole. As I sat for days in his stand I saw doe all day, every day. The buck came and went but at a distance. Finally, on my last day, a nice mule buck walked into range. Hart pounding, I waited for him to follow the trail into the water. I got into position, waiting for him to keep walking in... And in the distance I herd a quad romping near by... I only hoped I had time to get a shot off before the quad came closer and spooked off the buck... the buck started to trot away from the oncoming quad but in my direction! I drew back and as he ran past me I let one fly! It was a 35 yard on the move shot that I thought I had... but I missed him by an inch! A few moments later the quad went by on the other side of the hill. I went on foot and found where I thought most the buck had been moving and started a salt lick. A few months later I refreshed the batteries and put down more salt and some other fun attractants I thought I would try. A year later, after keeping up on my "hidden rest" buck spot, it was time to see what was on my camera. I had spent a year in this area scouting deer by now. I had tried my luck with several salts and food plot experiments over the months with hopes of bringing in the big guys for the 2010 August hunt. August 19th we set up camp and I retrieved my camera from the "hidden rest buck day spa" (so I call it). I was in and out as fast as I could. I didn’t want to leave my sent as opening day was coming. I got back to camp and turned on my camera to view if any buck had been coming in... HOLY COW! I had over dozed shooters on camera. It was a great feeling! Opening day, I'm in my stand at sun-up, this time far enough from trails that hunting without interruption would be good. On camera buck started coming in at 7:30 on most days. It was 6 am and I loved watching the forest come alive as the sun came up. I was calm and still; only looking at my watch every minute or so, waiting for 7:30… I had looked down for a moment; it was now 7:40 am. When I looked up I saw them coming! 3 big bucks making a straight b-line from were they had bedded over the ridge. They were coming right into "hidden Rest". I was on my feet, waiting for them. I was picking out which one was gona wear my tag. Tough choice between 2 awesome 4x4's and a 5x5 with 2 drop tines! They were coming, now 40 yards from me still coming fast right to me. I was drawn back wanting the 5x5 with the drop tines... but he stopped and stayed behind a bush and tree. I think they new something wasn’t right (winded me)... then the 4x4 buck leading them in crossed over the river bed and I new he was the brave buck that would wear my tag. 35 yards and I let the Mathews rip. My 100 grain muzzy ripped right through him before he even new he was hit! A short 100 yard walk and on a great blood trail and there was those antlers dead on the ground! I did it! He’s at Wild Heritage Taxidermy with Dale. His SCI score is 148 – silver medallion trophy buck. I can’t wait to get him home on the wall. Hope you enjoyed my buck story this year! i've got my eye on that 5x5 with drop tines for December 1st.....

oops... yes, January 1st. got ahead of myself...

nice! got to love the summer coats... looks about 140-150" ? this website is awesome! lots of like minded folks... not like the office

I bet you had the time of your life! great lookin buck! ...story...story...story...!!

on thier way... give them a year or two more... and you'll have monster mulies...

very cool photo!! I'm following a nice 5x5 with a drop on each side in my area, hope he's still around come Jan 1st!!!!

AWESOME views! love the big doe! what part of CO was that? I lived on the west side of pikes peak for a few years... those photos make me miss it... thanks!

I've seen some of the biggest bucks this year... i think all the rain has helped accross the board in 2010 and im sure 2011 hunting will be great also!

looks like a nice buck! hanging, does he look like he did the day you took him? I have one at the taxi now, woundering how much hes gona look like the day i took him... congrats!

Every time I set a trail camera or drop a lick I cant help thinking when I'm walking away "I hope nobody finds or messes with my stuff"… and when my stuff does get tampered with, it’s the worst feeling because trail-cam scouting does builds anticipation!!! For someone to mess with your camera is straight up against hunter ethics in my book, don't touch other peoples stuff right. With that said, personally, I don’t think I would have left my camera in an area that was actively being hunted in the first place...because I would be asking for some a-hole, that I don’t know, to disappear with my trail-cam…again.

For me, it boils down to your hunting habits… if you’re a road hunter and you put cameras where other road hunters pass, your chance of loosing that camera goes way up… myself, I tend to stay away from popular water holes and venture on foot a little deeper. Most places I put my cameras are off the trails so far that I rarely lock them up, and if I lock them up its usually because I know there are bears in the area that like to chew on things that smell different… I may be wrong, but hunters that put a little more effort into scouting off the beaten trails, tend to respect other hunters efforts/trail-cams if they do stumble upon them. I lost a camera in 4A last month, and that was due to letting a friend use it and leaving it way to close to a forest road...

everyone has listed some great ways to setup your trail-cams. I like seeing whats moving in my hunting areas so I like to use trail-cams all year long. one thing I do after I get the cam in a position that I like, is pick a few spots in the cam range and get some shots of myself standing at different distances from the camera. this helps me gage the size of what I will be viewing later. I also like to see the first few pics snapped to be sure the count is on and working before I walk away from it for 3 months. remember to keep your camera out of sight as much as possible from people that may hike when scouting... I've lost a few cameras... it only takes one A-hole hunters that doesn't have any respect for you to miss out on several months of photos...

122 lbs ...