Coach

15x56 swaros @ $1400 sounds lke an amazing deal. Best binocs on the market, IMO.

Huge congrats to Kayden on a beautiful buck. Awesome to get the whole family involved - and even cooler to see the huge smile on Kayden's face with that awesome buck.

Wow, GREAT year, IMO. Awesome job!

Great job, and huge congrats to Matthew! That's getting it done, right there. Awesome hunt and story.

Awesome hunt - the smiles say it all. Great times hunting with your boys - what could be better?

Huge congrats to Elijah! Looks like a great hunter in the making - and great job getting him out there, dad. It's awesome to see the torch handed down to the next generation of hunters. Looks like you guys are doing it right.

Great looking buck - sounds like Gabe is a heck of a shot. Way to get him out there Steven - those eye guards are awesome.

Wow - you guys did great! Awesome job getting those youth hunters out there. Looks like some awesome memories were made, and lots of meat for the freezer.

That is awesome! Great pictures.

Ooops! Somehow I missed this when I started a different one. Happy Birthday, Amanada. I hope it's a great one. (You can delete the other post - lol).

Wow! That is awesome. Way to get them out there doing it right. Great job.

Nicely done, Dewey - where's the HuntScout hat? LOL. That is one cool looking bull and to get it done with a longbow - looks like maybe a self bow - just outstanding!

It's hard to find the starting point for this topic - I guess since I was a kid growing up in the cold war era, being taught by our government that in the case of imminent thermo-nuclear war between Russian and the United States, that I should hide under my desk with my head between my knees when hydrogen bombs start igniting, hitting all major military facilities from well known air force bases to wheat fields known to hide missiles in the grain silos of the Midwest. As I got older, I was fortunate to get a decent education and fly across the country for business, weekly. And on every flight, I was informed that in a case of emergency, I was to once again duck under the chair in front of me with my head between my knees. Just weeks ago, the long-dormant cold war era feelings came back as our Commander In Chief, President Obama almost started the third wold war due to his arrogance and incompetency with the situation in Syria. Now, we are yet the unwitting subjects in the constant struggle of the elitists who rule not just our country but all of "civilized humanity". The "Affordable Health Care Act", also known as Obamacare is the new probervial line in the sand. They control the media, through ownership, they control public schools because all non-private schools are under the watchful eye the federal Department of Education. They own the monetary system, deciding day-to-day whether your dollars still have value, the currency rates, the value of hard currency like silver and gold. They own the forests under the Department of Agriculture, and can tell us under what circumstances, and under what fees we can access our land. Now they own our doctors, our hospitals, our insurers, our entire health care industry - but gave themselves the ability to "opt out" of what is good enough for us, but not good enough for them. I'm not an old guy or a young guy, just somewhere in the middle with enough foresight to see that our country is at a major crossroads. We clearly can't keep raising the debt ceiling - we don't have the intellectual capital to compete on a global scale, and living off the fruits of the generation before us has limits - limits we are currently over-extending. We are a bus heading off the cliff, and instead of hitting the brakes, we're gunning it to full throttle. I don't want to be "Thelma and Louis" crashing into the ground. Guys and gals, with love, start stocking up now - start with the essentials, BBB, Beans bullets and band-aids - excuse the cliché. You HAVE to have water, you then need food, and you have to have the means to protect those things vital to your family. Maybe I'm full of crap, and just another tinfoil hat conspririst. But think about this - 18 months ago, anyone could buy bricks of .22 ammo for around $20. I've seen bricks go for over $160 locally. M855 green tip, 7.62 x 39 mm prices are at all-time highs. Food storage goods at walmart are selling out as fast as they get can get stocked. You guys are all hunters, so I'll end this rant with one closing thought. Every time I get close to an animal I'm hunting, I avoid looking at its eyes, because I believe the can actually "sense" the predator closing in on them. I feel like the prey in this case because I can sense the predator closing in.

That is awesome! Huge congrats to Kyle on a stud buck! Now that's how to get started! And great job Tom and TAM getting that young man out there.

FC, with all due respect, nobody is puting words in anyone else's mouth. All I want is for every father out there, every "coach" to think about the role they play. I would like to get into this dicussion futher, but I'd like to ask that you look at the society of elephants. I took a good friend down to the black river on a fishing trip. While buying our tags, we couldn't help but notice the rewards put out by the tribe (WMFAT) to combat and capture the people responsibe for recent acts of arson. This friend related to me a conversation about, of all things, elephants. I'll do my best to paraphrase. In an area in Africa, where poaching was rampant, and all old matriarchal bull elephants were killed for thier ivory, a new and unexpected occurrence appeared. Young Rhino's were being killed. The guys working this couldn't find out why, but these Rhinos were killed, their tusks left in place. So it wasn't poaching. Turns out, the Rhino deaths were the work of a small band of "rouge" elephants. What is intersting is, the whole living structure of elephants is built around the matriarchal structure. When the big guys who were supposed to teach the the young boys how to live, how to protect their family, got poached out of the equasion, the young bull elephants had nowhere to go, but to exert force, in the only way they knew. This is a living example of why every man out there has an obligation to be the "herd bull". We owe it not only to our own kids, but any young boys we have the opportunity to teach, coach, come into contact with, We have a moral obligation to teach and coach and love them - because so many of them come from a home where they don't have love or support. They need more "bull elephants" to act as a role model, to teach them respect for themselves and those around them.

And you won't?

I've got some for trade - are you local to Show Low/Lakeside area?

Archery javi is my favorite hunt. That said, I've always wanted to do one black powder with a flint-lock or my 1858 navy. Rifle javi is good for kids, or others looking for their first of second...Once you get comfortable, it's a lot of fun to break out the other tools you don't always get to use.

I think Critter brings up a very important point in this discussion - one that I hadn't thought of originally. Being prepared means more than just looking out for yourself and your family. It means you can provide without taking from someone else. That's an important point, IMO. If things went bad and we had to protect our own, would that mean taking food from someone else's children? Would that mean leaving them, or your kids, fatherless if it came to it? If you were well prepared to begin with, would you even have to make that choice?

It seems like we are in a strange transition period now. As I understand it, you have to buy your 2014 licences now in order to even apply for the 2014 hunts. You are still under the old pricing structure, but your license is no longer valid for all of 2014 - just up until the point you bought it in 2013. I like the old "calendar year" system better.

Funny the way this thread has gone. Part of my point was, we've all seen what happens when ammo shelves are bare, but we hardly ever think about what happens when food shelves are bare. If/when it comes to that, everyone will be looking out for themselves and their families. Those who have stockpiled will be under siege by those who have not. Easy to do the math from there.

I've borrowed a buddy's wall tent on several occasions, and I really want to buy a good one, used. But here's the deal, seems like every time one comes up for sale, it's close to what a brand new one would run. I know lotss of people buy these things with one hunt in mind. A couple years later, they are stuck with the gear and not the passion. If anyone is looking to unload a *quality* wall tent or Cabelas Alaknak, I'm looking for a good deal.

This is a great site. I hope we can keep it that way by being postive and avoiding jumping to conclusions every time we hear about a great buck or bull. That has been the downfall of so many sites, and I truly hope it doesn't happen here. It's up to the members here to hold the high ground.

Hey Chef! Happy Birthday! I hope you spent the day with firends and family, and I'm sure you had some great food to celebrate with. Best wishes.

That's a great looking bull. Congrats. I know all about the missed opportunities at bigger ones, and how you are left making the best of your hunt. I think you did really well, and came home with a hard-earned trophy.