Coach

Nothing wrong with any of those - but you might get a little more versatility with a 7MM Mag, .270 WSM or .300 WSM. Same bullet selection but a little more umph.

Yep, generally a small range until they get pushed hard enough to want to leave, which obviously differs from deer to deer. As long as they feel relatively safe in a spot they seem to stay there. Many years back I was hunting with a buddy and we bumped a nice buck off a bed. We quietly backed out and came back the next morning. He was bedded within 100 yards of where we had bumped him the previous day. This time he ran the wrong direction, and it was lights out. Can't wait to hear how your hunt goes. 140 is huge, so be sure and take a camera. Hopefully you'll get a shot, but maybe you can get some good live pix too.

Thanks guys, and good luck on your hunt AZP&Y. Sounds like there will be quite a few of us out there opening day.

That's for sure, Gearsnagger. I was fortunate enough to hunt 24A several years in the "gravy" days when there were only 350-450 tags per year total, and they were all in late December. It doesn't even seem like the same unit these days. Anyone could have told G&F that slicing the rut tags to 50 or less and adding 700+ tags in November would wreck the unit. As you mentioned, instead of seeing the destruction and responding to it by decreasing tags, they've increased to over 1000 per year, which is pure madness. Somehow 24A became the new 27 in terms of intentionally (or neglegently)decimating the herds. I remember back in high school there were something like 1700 mule deer tags in 27. There were always leftovers. My first ever hunt in AZ was over by Maple Peak. I didn't even have binoculars and saw dozens of mule deer every day including some really nice ones. These days, you're lucky to see a handful of deer in there on a good day. All I want for Christmas is for G&F to stop over-allocating tags! Oh yeah, and maybe my hair back.

Wow! What a great lion - that thing is HUGE! Great job. Lots of deer thank you too!

I feel your pain. I'm in the same boat. I got a really nice caller a couple years back and have had very little luck calling anything in. Finally got a young yote to come in last year and blew the shot. I think the older dogs are pretty shy if they are in areas that get much pressure at all. Gonna take mine out tomorrow or the next day and try again.

LOL - when I first saw this, I though "please tell me he's not gonna waste a whole bottle of tequila in a cake!!!!" Looks like a good recipe for sure.

That's awesome! Great job leaving the snake too - they are way to cool to kill just for the heck of it IMO.

Wow - what a great looking ram! Awesome job.

I guess I'm going to be in the minority here - I really like it. Yes, I've come across a couple that were really strong, but for the most part if they are well cared for in the field they can be very tasty (even mild). Keep the meat clean and be careful not to touch the hair and then touch the meat. That's usually how people transfer the rank musky taste to the meat. Good luck.

After decades of hunting these little deer, I have learned one important thing. They will be where they want to be, often not where you expect them to be.

Kind of funny isn't it? I spent countless days fishing the creeks that flow into Tenkiller Lake in Oklahoma with my gums filled with spit shot sinkers. My dad's high school teacher would break open thermometers and pass the mercury around the classroom. Today, we'd have a Hazmat team making sure no one comes in contact with a broken light bulb. Funny how times change, I guess.

Barnes, Nosler and others have done an excellent job of creating quality lead-free bullets that perform well ballistically and do the job downrange.

Very cool. My uncle and cousins supplemented their incomes hunting bobcats in Southern Oklahoma. I've never killed one personally, but I sure like seeing them in the field. That's a nice one for sure.

Looking forward to the pix. We all say that "never again" but you know you'll be out there again, climbing nasty hills, fighting the wind, wondering why we just don't pick up golf as a sport...You know you would miss it.

Definately an older style, I don't think their newer plates will fit that. You might sell it to Chumlee at Pawn stars as an antique.

What??? How can this be? We were promised the most open and ethical administration ever. Now we have project GunRunner aka Fast and Furious which armed the Mexican Cartels to the teeth, Solyndra (535 million dollars of taxpayer money given to a failing "green" company in the guise of creating green jobs, all stolen by the upper execs who then filed for bankruptcy and laid off nearly every employee), our own ATF laundering money for Mexican drug cartels, the MF Scandal where Jon Corzine somehow loses 1.2 Billion dollars of investor's money and has no idea where it went. Our DOJ rabidly eating its own by going after border patrol agents for doing their job and punishing the whistle blowers involved who brought the incompetence of F&F to light. The whole purpose of F&F/Gunrunner was to create "evidence" that gun stores in border states were arming the cartels. The gun store owners working with ATF were instructed to allow multiple gun sales that they would normally have rejected. They even allowed known felons to bypass FBI background checks. Why? So they could use their propped up gun walking scheme to attack the 2nd Ammendment as a threat to National Security. The list of scandals and outright illegal acts of this administration would take an entire book just to outline. If anyone out there voted for Obama, or has any intentions of voting for him again, please, do me one favor. Every day when you wake up, stand in front of the mirror and punch yourself right in the face. You owe us that at least.

Here's a wolf pack in Idaho. It's estimated that this pack alone will consume 600 elk per year. Guys from Idaho, Wyoming and Montanna are coming to Arizona and New Mexico to hunt elk because their herds are being depleted. As for condors and copper bullets, I have no problem shooting solid copper if and when I finally get to hunt 12AW or 13B. They've come a long way can perform as well, if not better than lead. To be honest, I don't like the idea of lead fragments in the meat I consume anyway. Although I spent my youth chewing on lead pellets and I'm not dead yet.

Wow, I didn't know there were so many PSE shooters out there, they kinda fell behind for a while when Mathews took center stage for so long. I've had PSE, Mathews Bowtech and now a Hoyt CRX 35. So far the Hoyt is my favorite bow by far. That's not to say Mathews, Bowtech and PSE aren't great bows, heck I haven't even shot any of the newer PSEs and that new Mathews Heli-m looks like a winner. Not to mention a lot of guys really love the Bowtech Destroyer. CRB hit the nail on the head - shoot them all and find what works best for you. All are quality companies making quality products.

Nicely Done! Congrats Tony.

I feel for you man - I've been "checked out" through a rifle scope and understand how irked you get. In my case, I was up on a tall hill near 2 track. Saw a boy and his dad walking up the road glassing as they went so I actually took a blaze orange vest out of my pack and hung it above me so they would know I was there. I look up and see the kid trying to find out what that orange thing was with his rifle scope. As I was diving for cover, I just saw dad swatting the gun down.

C'mon Lark, you know you've got a good thing, but maybe some Inuit gal to keep you warm in the ground blind while wifey tends to the butcherin' and cookin'? Sounds kinda cozey, eh?

Here's an attempt at a talley so far. I had no idea there would be so many. This is cut and paste from Excel, and I'm sure we could do a better job by using the "vote" feature, but according to what I wrote down going through all the pages, here's how it breaks down so far. Bud Weller (Weller's Wildlife Studio, Inc) 5 Mark Plunkett 4 Clay Goldman - Mogollon Taxidermy 4 Micke Vacarro 4 ScottyBoy (Member) 3 Pat Newman 3 Brett Prentice ( Game Trail Taxidermy) 3 Chris Harlow (Harlow Taxidermy) 2 Tim Rajsich (TR Taxidermy) 2 Dan Lee (Artist Touch) 2 Becker (Member) 2 John Doyle 2 Trails End 1 Johnny Ahumanda 1 Rex Jenson 1 Chuch Mecham 1 Colton Bagnoli 1 Chris Favour 1 Wild Heritage Taxidermy 1 Mike Bieda (Art of the Outdoorsman Taxidermy) 1 Pat (Verde Valley) 1 Chiefs (Member) 1 Johnathan Otero ( Royal Jon's Taxidermy) 1 Jim Hartstock (Southwest Wildlife Taxidermy) 1 Cole Van Winkle (CMC Shell Works) 1

Wow, great bulls all the way around and that 7x7 is just awesome. Just an amazing job of balancing family hunting with clients and getting it done all the way around. You have talent my friend!

If it smells like butt-cheese, walks like butt-cheese and quacks like butt-cheese, it must be... How's that for grown up and edumacated???? LOL. All I'm saying is the whole rivalry thing has a place, but some people take it way too far. That's all.