matthewp45

Our little cowboy "Woody" from the movie Toystory or is that Christain. He is somewhere between here and Nebraska. Hopefully not in jail. I would have to let him sit in there until this weekend. Gonna miss that goofy bast%^&.

Thanks again Amanda for gracing us with your presence at our table. We had such a great time and plan on getting another table next year so you and Chef are invited to come sit our table any time. I could not believe how lucky I was last night. I was just sitting there and they had a 25-06 come up and some lucky patron won it and then next up was a glossy red 10lb fire extenguisher. The i hear my name being called and I could not believe my ears. My very own fire extinguisher. I was so excited that I did not even hear the name of the guy who won the 300 weatherby that was the next prize. I am just joking it is not about the winning I sure was glad to go help support a great organization and help raise money to help protect and preserve our elk herd and the other animals they help out as well. It was great meeting you Chef and Terry as well. I enjoyed visiting with you guys very much and can't wait until the next time. Thanks again everyone for there participation. The last thing was that is was azcouesandelks last night in Arizona. He left this morning to go back east and finish up some more school and work at basspro out there. I told his parents I give it 2 years and our buddy will be back where he belongs. Keep him in your prayers while he is getting to his final destination. Thanks again

Just voted right now. It was quick and easy and was able to vote CWT.com as best hunting website. Give this site some more recognition. So for those of you who have not yet voted just click on the link and it will be done in 5 minutes.

That deer turned out great. The taxidermist did a great job.

I saw a few of my stickers in there too. A couple I forgot about. Pretty cool Amanda. Thanks for making a website that we all like enough to put a sticker on our vehicles to support it.

I bet you have tried to make coyote Jerky Tommy. If not, that is about the only thing you haven't tried. When I took the class to get my trappers license there were two different guys that said coyote was terrible but Bobcat was really tasty meat. I almost threw up.

My dad and I (Under Our Company Sunlund Chemical Co. Agricultural Chemicals) donated a 105 Qt Yeti icechest that they are going to put 4 cases of silver sodas in and auction it off in the live auction. So if you guys go to the banquet and are thirsty and want an awesome icechest, bid on that thing so we can raise a ton of money for the AES. I am also buying a table as well. I may need a couple folks to fill the table if my friends keep having stuff to do. I can't wait to go and spend money on raffle tickets and watch all the rest of you guys win everything. I have never won anything really in a raffle maybe this year will be my year. Can't win if you don't play. Hope to see a bunch of you there.

All trappers must carry a catch pole which is a long pole with a loop on one end and the string goes through the middle of the pole in order to pull the loop tight to control the animal or choke it. The AZG&FD wants us trappers to take our catch pole get the loop around the mountain lion's neck. Tighten the loop as tight as possible to the point the cat passes out from oxygen deprevation. You must know how long to do it so they only pass out for 30 seconds or so and do not die. Then after they pass out you are to release the lion out of the cage or leg trap or any legal type of trap, then remove the loop and catch pole and I guess run your a#$ off to get out of dodge. The cat will revive itself and regain its bearings and take off with no problems. I have caught a ton of Bobcats in leg traps and a 30 lb cat is a handful with a catch pole. I can not even imagine trying to choke out a lion long enough to run up take off the trap and choke pole and get away before he wakes up and eats you. If this fails and only after it is tried and failed the AZG&FD should be called and will come out to dart the cat to take the trap off and release the cat. I guarantee the cat will not be harmed from even a leg trap. With the regulations to keep our traps legal keeps the trap from binding or holding up on the animal. You gotta have a big set of Ba#@@ to let that thing go by choking him out. The guy that taught the class that I took to get my license had actually caught a lion in a #3 leg trap and was able to choke it out get his trap off and 5 minutes later the lion got up and ran off like nothing happened. You can only use cage live traps on public ground. No other trap is aloud on public ground not even leg traps. All other legal type of trapping must be done on private land only.FYI

I finally got drawn for the lower desert December muzzleloader hunt this year. I did not get to scout as much as I would have liked because my hunting buddy got drawn for sheep and I was helping him with that in all my spare time. I finally got out to look around the first of December and found a few bucks that had potential. On opening day I glassed up a group of deer that had a pretty good buck in it and got out in front of them. They walked by at 100 yards and the biggest buck was a 4X4 that was just a little to young. So I passed on him. I had a few other ecounters but nothing I wanted to put my tag on. I decided I was going to go out this last weekend on Saturday and hit it hard in a place I Bow hunt every year. Historically I have always seen some really good bucks in this area so Saturday morning I got up on my glassing point and started glassing. My buddy Mark was glassing from another vantage point about a mile away. After about 2 hours of not seeing anything I called Mark on the radio and told him to come pick me up in 15 minutes and we would move locations. As soon as I put the radio down I glassed up a buck making his way across the desert about a mile and a half away. I marked where he was with a couple cactus and went to change from my 15's to my spotting scope. I got my spotting scope up and he was gone. I could not believe it. I took my eye off for 1 minute and like usual he vanishes. I told Mark where I had last seen him and he began to look for him as well. Luck was on our side because Mark was able to glass him up bedded underneath a palo verde tree right where I had last seen him. Now the stalk was on. We knew he was a shooter but thats about it. It was 9:00 am when I started the stalk about a mile away. I was about 300 yards from him by 10am. After a couple of conversations over the radio I finally figured out which tree he was under and began the last 220 yards of the stalk. At 12:15pm I was 80 yards from the buck and all I could see was the top of the bucks antlers. It was cool because twice two different cars drove by on a road about a 1/2 mile away and each time the car would approach he would lay his head and antlers down so you couldn't see anything until they had passed and then he would pick his head back up. I was 80 yards and plenty close so I decided to try and get him to stand up because the wind was changing direction and I knew if he saw or smelled me he would bolt out of there. After throwing 2 rocks and making some grunting noises he hadn't moved at all. All I could still see was the tops of his antlers. Then all the sudden I felt the wind hit my back and about 5 seconds later he blew out of his bed like a lazer. I had the gun up on the tripod and Instinctively put the crosshairs where they needed to be and let all that smoke out the barrel.When that bullet hit it was the loudest smack I think I have ever heard. It was right on the money and he only ran a couple hundred yards and expired. I am really proud of this buck. He scores right at 174" and has a lot of character. My buddy Mark got to watch the whole thing in the spotting scope and he was as pumped as I was. It was an awesome way to end an awesome hunt. Hope you enjoy the pics. Thanks.

Tomgobbler on the forum is a coyote killing machine. He kills a ton of coyotes a year and skins everyone and sells it on the fur market for any where from $10-$50 a piece. It is a lot of work skinning them. He is the fastest I have seen and it takes about 30 minutes per coyote.

I am finally getting to read this great story and post Christain wrote. I have been going crazy at work and doing some family things and have not had a chance to get on the internet. Christain on the other hand, He is the best hunting partner anyone could have. He glasses almost as good as I do, He scores deer on the hoof better than anyone I know, He is an unbelievable hunter and he can stretch the truth like nobodies business . Truthfully though I could have not done it with out you buddy (and Jesse too). What a great time on a great hunt and I will always remember it forever. Especially when I look at my professional pictures taken by Wolf Photography. Man Christain you are the best picture taker I know. Those pictures are unbelievable. I wish I could get up there tomorrow and help you kill a toad. They have killed some great bucks up there this week and I think you are going to top them all. I hope you kill a 120"+ buck with double droppers. You deserve it brother. Thanks for writing a great story and making great excuses for my misses. I couldn't even come up with that good of one . Also thank you everyone else for all of the great responses about my buck. Even though he is not my highest scoring buck I think he is my favorite looking buck. I appreciate all your comments and I wish all of you great success in 2011. Also thanks to my dad for helping me on all of my deer hunts up there. He always helps in some way. I hope one day me my son and my dad can all hunt together up on the rez together.

That is a great buck Mitchell. Good job. You guys are going to have a pile of coues racks in a couple more years.

Very nice buck man. Any mule deer buck spot and stalk is a trophy but that one is a huge trophy. I would say 180"+,-. Who cares about the score that thing is Bad A#$. Huge Congrats.

What an awesome bull of 10 lifetimes. Great job getting it all done on your own with the help of family and friends. When you do all the work and end it with a good clean kill on a monster animal it is such an awesome feeling. Congrats on doing it the hard way and getting it done.

You can bait any wildlife in AZ except Bears and Migratory Birds. It is totally legal to bait deer or any other Big Game Species except Bears. Probably won't stay that way for long though.

Anybody else on here have the Desert Muzzy tag this year. My neighbor is a AZ Game and Fish Officer and he said that Michael Wadell from The Bone Collector had this tag here this year and he would be hunting on a private ranch out near Dateland. I have no idea if it is true or not. If it is he is in for a surprise because I know the private land that he is suppose to hunt and at night there are some unbelievable bucks on there. But way before first light and way after last light is the only time they are there. The daylight ours are spent off the private land in public land back in the thickest nastiest brush you could ever imagine. You may be able to see 10 yards at the farthest in there and it is the loudest stuff ever to walk through. Just wondering if anyone knew if this was true or if it is another rediculous rumor? Thanks

98".

To answer a couple of questions I did not see any bucks with does or fighting or really anything indicating the rut. The only thing I saw and smelled for sure was this buck. His neck was already swollen as big as I have seen a bucks neck swell during the rut. Also he stunk absolutely horrible. Just like a nasty old deer that had been rutting for a month peeing on himself and what not. He smelled worse than any other rutted up buck I have ever smelled. My muzzleloader that I use is a TC Triumph. I have a Nikon Omega scope on it with the muzzleloader reticle. I shoot the 245 grain Power Belts .50 caliber and 150 grains of Triple 7 powder in 50 grain pellets. It is a tack driver. At 250 yards using the last mark on the reticle I can put one of those powerbelts right inside a 2" circle everytime. Thanks again for all the nice comments.

Thanks guys for all the nice comments. I appreciate them very much. That hunt was such a great hunt I hope to god I get drawn again someday soon. Thanks again.

Thanks Tommy. I can't wait to get it back from you and get him on the wall. I have no doubt you are going to make him look awesome.

I was a member of the hunting party that had the great pleasure of sharing the unit with Cliff, the other gentlemen that put his story up on here. Brian Johnson is my great hunting buddy and got lucky enough to draw a Desert Sheep Tag. We got to meet Cliff a couple of weeks before the hunt and I will tell you if you were to ever pick a guy to share a Desert Sheep Unit with Cliff would be my first choice. I speak for all 8 or so of us in Brian's camp when I say it was a great pleasure meeting Cliff and his gang and becoming friends with all of you on this unforgettable hunt. Brian, myself, Jimmy, Craig (Brian'sBrother), Donny (Brian's Dad), Jimmy, Tyler, Lowell, Pat, John and a few others were all of the people that helped on this amazing adventure that started back in August when Brian and I put out the first camera. We all live with in 45 minutes of the center of the unit and all of us spent every spare moment we had out glassing trying to find the right sheep for Brian. Brian really didn't care about a score he was just looking for a beautiful ram that had character and one that would look great on the wall. We scouted from August until the day before the season opened and saw a lot of different rams. Brian had it narrowed down to 2 different rams a couple of weeks before the hunt until his dad found the one. Brian's dad Donny glassed this gorgeous ram a couple weeks before the hunt and from the moment Brian saw him he was thinking that he was probably the one he wanted. On a side note a couple of weeks before the hunt Brian told Cliff that he had a couple of rams he wanted to hunt in a certain area and Cliff being the great guy that he is said no problem we will hunt over in another area and leave you guys to hunt those rams. It made all of us feel good that there are still some great people out there hunting that are true sportsman and just all around good people. Well, The day before the opener Brian's brother Craig found the big boy and lost him about noon. We never found him the rest of the day but we knew he would be close in the morning. At first light opening morning Brian's dad Donny spots the ram up on top of a ridge with the sun just lighting up those massive horns and gave Brian a perfect view of the ram. It took about 30 seconds for Brian to figure out this is the one and before we could say anything he is off on his stalk. The ram fed over the ridge and out of site but we were able to get an angle to get him back in our view. Brian made an unbelievable stalk and got to 180 yards. He laid down on his pack and put the smack down on this amazing ram. The only bad thing was he shot him straight through the heart and he went straight down tumbling down a rocky cliff for about 75 yards. Talk about a#$ puckering up but thankfully it didn't do a thing. We all made our way to this monster of a ram and man was it an unbelievable moment for us all but especially Brian. He was an absolute warrior of a ram. We had him aged by 3 different Game and Fish Personel and one Official Boone and Crocket scorer and he is somewhere between 10-12 years old (He only had 1 and a 1/2 teeth left. Brian is having him mounted by Clay at Mogollon and he is an official B&C scorer and Clay green scored him at 171" gross. A huge congrats goes out to Brian for all the hard work and dedication that he put in to this once in a life time hunt. I know he is so thankful and appreciates the unbelievable amounts of time everyone in the "crew" put in to make sure his hunt went well. Brian's dad Donny, his brother Craig and good friend Jimmy, Lowell, Pat and myself spent to many days to count out there looking through glass all day to find the perfect ram and as far as I am concerned we did. Congrats buddy and thank you for letting me be a part of it. The Old Warrior

Yeah I was really bummed I didn't get to see Cliff's ram but as you can see from my post in the elk section I was heping my wife get her first elk. I am sure I will meet you at the baquet or some other Arizona wildlife function or even in the woods some day. Congrats to all of you guys. You did it the right way too and got an absolutely gorgeous ram. You could not ask for more. This was my first real fully involved sheep hunt and I am hooked for life. It's like coues hunting, you glass non stop all day everyday until you find the one you want. Congrats again to you guys. Could not have happened to a better group of people I can tell you that for sure..

One last photo.

I have been putting my wife in for elk for the last 5 years and she finally drew a unit 1 East cow tag that started last Friday. We love to get away from the kids and get out hunting together. It is about as good as it gets for me to be out hunting with my wife. I have been crazy busy with work and helping my buddy with his desert sheep hunt. So I asked Tommy "TomGobbler" to help me out by doing a little scouting for me because I couldn't get up there to scout right before the hunt. We live in Yuma and have a cabin in Springerville, so I do spend a lot of time up there and know the unit pretty well but not as well as Tommy and not at this particular time. Well like usual Tommy had some cows lined up opening morning. We found them at first light and were seconds away from shooting at one when another hunter dropped the hammer before my wife could. Oh well on to the next canyon. We walked our butts off that morning and had one chance but they would not stay still to get a good shot. So after lunch I wanted to go check out another glassing spot where we could see a ton of country. When we pulled up to the glassing spot Tommy and I got out and each took a couple steps and both saw the elk at the same time. We got DeeDee out of the truck and I got her set up on some shooting sticks and ranged the cow at 424 yards. I knew she could make the shot as she has proven herself to me many times. I dialed the turrets on the 270 WSM and told her to just get comfortable. I was telling her not to shoot if she wasn't comfortable and BOOM! I wasn't expecting the shot and it scared me enough to knock me back on my butt. When I got my glasses up all I could see was the feet sticking up above the cedars. I couldn't believe it. She dropped that cow in it's tracks. Tommy and I were giving high fives and I gave my wife a huge hug. To say I was proud of her was an understatement. We finally made it down to this huge cow she had shot and took some great pictures. Come to find out she had hit that thing with a perfect high shoulder shot taking out the top part of the lungs and breaking the entire shoulder out of both sides. That 130 grain accubond acted like a 300 weatherby. It was such a great experience for her and I. We will never forget it ever. I think Tommy will remember it as well. Tommy was a God send. With out him I would have probably died trying to get that cow out. We skinned, quartered and hung all the meat for the night and Tommy picked me up the next morning with 3 horses and his son Trace and we rode in 5 miles to get all the meat out. It topped off the hunt. Thanks again to the best hunting buddy around old "TomGobbler" you are the greatest my friend. The best part of the whole thing was watching my favorite hunting partner make such a great shot and take her first big game animal. Hope you enjoy the pics. Me and my beautiful wife. I know now if she ever gets mad enough I am in trouble even a long ways away. DeeDee and her big old cow. Tommy and DeeDee. With out Tommy we would still be hauling that thing out and probably would have never killed it. Our saving grace. Tommy has some great horses if you ever get an elk down up north and need help getting it out. Give him a call. You will never regret it.

That is a great buck buddy and a great shot to go along with it. Congrats buddy.