Xman2000

LOL great story coach amost fell out of my chair .I can relate same thig happend to me a few years back on a make shift groung blind hunting javilina near a water hole could not for the life of me draw back

WICKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YOU THE MAN RYAN! Congrats on your hunt way go toughing it out and great story Dad!

Gota love the velvet congrats

Seems to be a little bit of truth in all theses comments on this topic the net, the cameras ,the equipment, the optics ,the rainfall ,and even the controlled burns in the forest areas I feel have helped out the whole Eco system I really didn't think about it till a forest service guy I met while hunting 27 brought it to my attention we were BSing about the deer and elk populations booming and he was saying that since all these fires have happened controlled and man caused they have noticed that natural springs that have been bone dry for years are now sprouting up all over the place seems the trees are competing for water too and now that some are mowed down the natural springs have come back up so more animals have more to drink witch every one knows is key and populations are thriving in some areas (plus now they are easy to see now that there are fewer trees LOL) .I mentioned this to a rancher witch he told me his cows are 50 to 100 pounds heavier this year so his theory is the rainfall and the springs seems to have helped his livestock .Every thing benefits from more water just my added $.02

They don't call those little buggers the Grey ghost for nothing I have gone many a season with out filling a tag but every year I get ramped up just for the chance to chase one ! It will be all the more rewarding when you do get to put a tag on the one you do find great story man thanks for sharing

Nice Bird !!!!I have shot one that looked like that one except had a top knot down south in 36b I thought maybe one of the gambils was getting his freak on with one of the bob whites down there LOL a rare bird for sure I would have it mounted.

Try this belive me it works!!! use any of your favorite hunting sent killer laundry soap and add a half cup of vinager to the wash it will get the smell right out it also works for that moldy smell in your clothes when you forget to putt them in your dryer for a day and open up the washer and have that sour smell .Its alot cheaper than getting all those fancy soaps .Just remeber when your backpack has that not so fresh feeling use vinager and water and have a masingil fresh pac LOL

I agree with Lee and Coach process your own meat!!!!!!!! I'ts realy not that hard and what you whould pay a processer you can buy decent equipment to do your own sausage and cut and slice your own jerky for years to come lem makes awesome proucts and there are plenty of great smokers spices packaging for the do it yourselfer to me it's much more rewarding plus alot of times you drop your meat off at the local processer where you hunted and then you have to drive all the way back to get your meat .I have a few buddies that I call we get together and have a meat cutting party I share some of the spoils with them. I go to a local butcher at any grocery store and get cow fat from them as much as I want that has just been cut and normaly do'nt have to pay for it If I do its almost nothing .Cabelas, Sportsmans , & Basspro all carry meat processing porducts and once you get the hang of it ,it really doesn't take much time at all the most important thing I have learned to have great tasting meat is the way you field dress your animal .Keep it clean as possible I am extremly anal about this I make sure no hair is on my meat if I can aviod it no dirt I get rid of the musk sacks on the legs and throat tubes and get the skin off as soon apossible never keep the skin on your meat instead of washing my meat with water while it is hanging I give it a sponge bath with vinager all over then cover the meat with a quality heavy cotton deer or elk bag so the meat can breath but no dirt from the road will get on my meat I let it hang for along as possilbe as long as themp is below 45DEG. I have big coolers I will break the meat down into in quarters and make sure my ice is in trah bags that way the meat stays dry and not wet till I get home and wash every piece at home removeing hair dirt anything that will contaminate your meat .After all you can't eat the horns so taking care of your meat so you and your family can enjoy every bit of it is job one . Alot of my buddies swear most of the time its not wild game I get compliments consitantly doing this just my $.02

Thanks Amanda Had to plug this awesome site in at leat one pic LOL!

This hunt has got to be one of the most exciting and coldest hunts I have had .It all started 6 months ago I promised my wife and kids that I wouldn't smoke a cigar unit I got a deer this year( any one that knows me knows i love fine cigars) it was all a plan to get on a sort of health kick and at the same time force my self to stick to a goal .3 months ago finding out we had got drawn for unit 27 we were all elated especially because my love of my life my wife Nadia wanted to put in with me for the second time (our last hunt together we didn't fill our tags) .I got a call from my buddy Mike informing us we got drawn and the excitement in his voice got us jazzed up and just like we always do we are on the horn talking to friends and family talking hunting and finding out who got what well since we have kids I was on a direct line trying to get my Mom to house sit and take care of our kids while my wife and I our on the deer hunt I figured sooner scheduling a baby sitter is better than last minute she said sure and from there on out I couldn't get this hunting trip out of my head because my wife has not taken a deer yet so this was my first priority plus if I didn't fill my tag I new my archery tag in December would give me an other chance to Match wits with the Grey ghost.Preparation the whole time was my plan from baby sitter ,rewelding my hunting trailer to load more gear and my prowler , camping stuff , to to investing in warm comfortable gear for my wife I know for a fact if she was uncomfortable in the field it would be game over for her on any other hunt with me LOL . she did preparing of her own she when out and pick her own guns of the shelf at basspro shops and bought a new browning x bolt in 270 and had them out fit it with a buckmaster bdc ..Anyways I put in lots of time scouting for mulies up north with my kids and by my self trying to formulate a game plan since I had never hunted for mulies in 27 and never tagged a mule Deer my self and that Cuban waiting for me this drove me till out opening day . We got a phone call the 7 days before the hunt from my mom saying she was really sick with the flew and she couldn't make it so now I said to my self this is not happening having to rework my baby sitting plans a week out was heck I finally bribed my older sister to drive from Las Cruces NM to AJ AZ take care of my kids early in the week and my mother in law to watch them the other half I have to say they were a blessing .My long time hunting buddy Don couldn't stand not being out there so he drove 5 days before the hunt to secure a decent camping spot in his new toy hauler called me up and said you will never guess where I am at and we have cell service.This made a huge difference in my wifes étude about camping with 3 guys and herself.the Saturday before we went out My wife and I went to the range just to check her new load I made her and make shure her buckmaster scope was spot on her first shot a 200 was a complete 10 ring and her groups were awesome at 300 yards so I told her she was ready while in our range bag she found my lucky kershaw knife I was naked with out it I have been looking for and making my whole family miserable for moths so from then on I knew we would have some luck. The day before hunting season we drove up to camp got there in decent time to have dinner then talk shop I was so excited the whole night I couldn't even sleep every time I dozed off I would wake up from rigs passing down the road coming in last minute to camp.Once we woke up there was Hunters every where it took the wind out of my buddies sails because his whole game plan was shot .Firsts morning we all hunted the blue their was so many people out there you couldn't take A dump with out someone interrupting you while you were trying to do paper work .My wife and I didn't see any deer that day came back to camp late .The weather looked like it was going to be great all week and was a little warmer than we anticipated so the second day we decided to find a water hole to blind up next to and sit all that showed up was turkeys and some fawns .Third day we decided a new water hole that looked good lots of tacks and sign all that showed up were bulls 3 feet from us this freaked my Wife out she kept looking at me to do something I could tell she was scared and in awe at the same time finally it got dark and we backed out of the hole the weather started getting chilly and coming into camp our Buddy Mike shot a healthy forked horn so our atitude was really high seeing that our buddy had one hanging We helped skinning it and caring for the the meat and bagging it and decided to try a different area getting a early start in the arctic cat and seeing the countryside it was a real pressure just to be hunting with my buddy my best friend my wife .We hiked any Canyon that looked good to her or stopped and glassed any hill she wanted and even found some ripe prickly pear fruit to snack on but no Deer so that night made some phone calls to get some feedback and try further south and get away from most hunting pressure.So the fith day All of our hunting party got in one truck and when for a drive we saw lots and lots of deer but no shooters all does coming back in that night it was really freezing the temp dropped quick and we got a call from Don's wife saying it going to freeze where you guys are at sure enough there was lots and lots snow at Hanagan's meadow while traveling farther south to the destination we had scouted weeks before we set up in a blind at a water hole and saw a nice 3x3 but couldn't get set up before he bolted we froze at the pond the wind shifted in our direction and it was like an evap cooler blowing in our blind my wife toughed it out as long as she could and then said babe its to cold we packed up our blind and we spent the rest of the after noon looking for deer with no luck.the 6th day you could tell that the super cold weather and and camping trip was wearing on my wife but she sucked it up and pressed on while driving came into this canyon discovering new terrain and then started seeing deer before we could even get out of the truck my buddy spotted a rear end of a deer sticking out of some shrubs I got out and wanted to get a better look at what we spotted as I hiked closer I could see that this doe was guarding the lead doe while she was sleeping and all the other deer were taking there siesta as well they got spooked and one by one started walking quickly away I knew it was not me that startled them but tried to get a better look I stumbled on a rock and they lit out my buddies and wife watch the whole thing and saw the doe lead them into a draw but I could hear a weird racket going on so I continued walking up this canyon and then stood in amazement about 250 yards down the other side there was a mountain lion growing and hissing trying to swat one of the 2 kodamundies that were in front of him it was really cool thing to see these guys were chattering and fighting jumping all around I didn't have a mountain lion tag with me but I had never seen a kodanoundi except for crossing the road while driving I could already see this thing on my wall so I nelt down rack a round and pulled the trigger and missed so i racked in an other one and tried again missed at this time I came to my senses you knot head you are mule deer hunting and your wife still has no deer plus they were moving so erratic all around this cat it w darn near impossible to hit one the cat looked in my direction and lit out then i looked in a near by tree and saw 8 more kodamoudies chattering and moving all around there nest and tree near by it was really cool to see I marked this site in my GPSS and said some place to come back to, I wish I had my camera with me at that time .I got back the tuck the guys said the deer bedded back down till you decide to wake up the canyon and they went to the next draw over the good news is there is a spike that you wife spotted and she wants it so I shrugged my shoulders said OK and we hiked to the last place they saw em go as soon as my wife and I got there they were just 50 yards in a tree line I told my wife there he is the sun hit hid head just right and i could see his nubs with my naked eye she got her rifle ready racked one in and boom he instantly dropped wear he stood but was trying to get up she was practicing so much for the long shot that she hit him really high and took out his navigation so I said we got to get over there and use your Sig mosquito and put it right between his ears and put him down she felt bad that it was so high but ended it quickly then every one got there and she got high fives all around .It was funny to see how her eyes litup once she got to hold her deer for the first time I am so proud of her .on the truck ride back home she told me I'm glad we got one but I am sleeping in and am going to start breaking up came and packed up for the trip back home I told her no problems I'm proud of you Honey you deserve it sleep in .the next morning my buddy the jester that he is Don called me on his cell phone in the next bed room over and said hey just wondering if you are getting up to go hunting with me or not .So I got out of my rack and started making coffee my wife got out of bed hugged me and said thanks for not dragging her out of bed gave me a kiss and said go get a deer so you can have your cigar babe.Don and I headed out in his ford diesel pickup just like old times and chatted about all kinds of stuff and then he told me you know I have been waiting to get to hunt with you for a while now because we always have great laughs when we are together I told him its great times like this that makes the hunt for me not more than 20 seconds after I spoke a heard of 5 young buck crossed the road ON top of this hill we got out and walked 100 yards found them still hagging out in a clearing got a bead on one Don said don't wait for me I pulled my trigger he buckled walked behind a big pine never saw him leave from there put binos on the other deer they trotted off and then came right back looked for that lead buck seems they were confused he was not with them by that time it was too late my buddy Don had one in his cross hairs and bang we walked to his he put his belt around his neck almost dropping his pants while we got him to his tuck then I walked over to that big pine found my deer grave yard dead gave a big whoo hoo gave thanks to God for an awesome safe trip and then loaded up the truck got to camp and surprised my wife a truly awesome time .I want to thank my big sister Yoli love ya sis and my mother in law for going out of there way to let me have a great time with the woman I love and now I get to have my Backstrap tonight and Finally enjoy my Cuban!

Awesome Deer he shure will taste great! Congrats!

ya can't say enough about my LEM products the preseason mixes plus the equimpment like grinders tools ect make processing Deer and elk very easy and like you I alwaqys get compliments I made some killer summer sausage I mixed one bacth with jalipeno peepers my Mom grew in her garden and added shredded cheese and man what an awesome flavor .I also made a hatch green chili one and love it just enough kick and all the green chili flavor .If you havent tried making your own jerky and meat you havent lived its easy and comming up with diffrent combos is half the excitment !

GET OUT AND VOTE TODAY!

Ha Ha funny

Simply awesome congrats to the both of you!

Love it great artwork!

Good luck awesome pics

amazing story and awesome buck congrats next time shoot the deer that doesn't have his kevlar vest on!LOL!

I would have to say there is much merit and a weath of awesome information from these seasoned hunters on this thred .The one thing I would ad is if you are not used to spotting deer it helps alot if you have a second person glassing with you once you find a coues deer (doe or buck) focus on that deer like a laser beam watch that deer every movment it makes streaching , flaging , bedding , sniffing ,twiching ect while the other person keeps scanning for more deer what you are doing is training your brain and eyes to pick up deer and all it's features (this is key) and is great practice scouting in the off season I do this with a couple of friends and we trade off watching the deer while the other person scans pretty soon you start picking out deer out of the wierdest spots and amaze your self and others in the process just my $.02

Wow what a toad!! congrats can't wait till my hunt in 27 starts nowfor mule deer you got my heart pumping!

Nice job! awesome to see your family having a great time in the photos great pics to and story looks like lots of tastey deer there

Well this time around our victim was Daniel a friend's sons buddy that went scouting with us we always have something you can expect from a newbie in our camp .We scouted 3 days in 27 and loaded up on Alberts all 3 days on Saturday night the 13 years olds were so exhausted from staying up late the night before and waking up super early we decided to fill his hands with candy and put some tootsie rolls on his eye brows gave him a mustache etc heres a pic he looks like super Mario Bro LOL

Amanda sweet buck congrats on a beauty!

I'm with redog check into the spot locater you can send her a message every day letting her know you guys are alright .A buddy of mine has one and it's trick you can even let your parents know you are alright , and when you bag one you can set up a message for that as well. If it keeps the strife out of your marriage its worth all the money in the world.Then send her flowers out of the blue that way you have her all mushy and she will hopefully be willing to listen to your reasoning for this hunt I would open up to her and let her know how important she is to you and explain why you didn't let her know all the information then set up with other hunters that have your hunt that way she can see you have made the best effort to be safe and that she has no reason to mistrust you good luck bro! -X-