Flatlander

It was 23

Finally, someone posts success pictures!!! Congrats, it's a great feeling.

Welcome to the site, the state and the highly addictive sport of hunting the gray ghost. - Gear; A pair of good tall in-insulated, gore-tex, leather boots will be your best friend. The very best bino's, spotting scope and rangefinder you can afford. High power optics are the standard in coues hunting and 15x bino's are standard issue. In my mind an effective coues two man team of coues hunters consists of one guy with 15's and one guy with a high power spotting scope. Coues hunters always mount their optics to a tripod. When it comes to tripods I like one with some weight to it so it can maintain itself in windy conditions and be less likely to topple over and damage your bino's. I also like mine to be tall enough to stand behind if necessary. This translates into a lot of weight, but that's nothing a good pre-season workout routine can't solve. You will want a pack with some type of frame. Badlands and eberlestock are probably the two most popular. I run a badlands 2200. The key is to have enough pack to carry a boned out coues complete (roughly 60 lbs). For breaking down deer you will want good sharp knives, the Havalon replaceable blade knives have become very popular in recent years. For a rifle, anything works but be sure you are comfortable with shots in excess of 300 yds. My limit is 500 and I am on the conservative side when it comes to coues hunting. Having a BDC type scope and angle compensating rangefinder are a very good idea. As far as strategy goes, there is really only one strategy for hunting coues with a rifle. Get up high and glass, glass, glass. After a few hours go to another high point and glass some more. Try to stay out all day of possible and keep your eyes in the bino's as much as you can. Coues are somewhat ADD and will get up to shake their heads or change beds, see what's going on, etc all day long so it's not uncommon to glass them up on the middle of the day. They love scrub oak and can be found at altitudes from 2500 ft on up but their densities are probably most hunt able in the 3500' to 5000' range. During the day glass in the shade of every tree on a hillside to pick out bedded deer. As far as pack out goes coues are pretty easy; break them down with the gutless method and then debone the meat. Stuff it in game bags in your pack and head for home. Game meat in AZ doesn't usually get to hang due to temps. Here is a video on how to do the gutless method that a sponsor put together. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WZsO4tsrKPw Good luck and thank you for your service. I wouldn't be surprised if you got some offers of help by some of the good folks on this site.

That bear definitely looks rubbed to me. He also looks like a complete porker, look at those rolls. What an awesome bear, somebody should go hunt him.

Those trucks are bulletproof. I owned 3 of them and wish I still had one.

Must. See. Pics.

I will be holding my breath that the bigguns I've been watching make it through.

+1 on more comradery (sp) going forward. I can hardly wait for folks to start posting success pics. Hopefully some bears and lope start popping up this weekend!

I was just telling an aspiring huntress about this camp yesterday. Great work Amanda!

Get to feeling better!

That's because it was an adult male coues deer.

Lark - Was that case prosecuted in New Mexico? Here is the history I can find: In 1998, two individuals pled guilty to killing a female wolf in New Mexico. They forfeited two rifles; their combined sentences consisted of four months in jail, six months of home confinement, six years with no firearms, six years of probation and 410 hours of community service. In 2008, after pleading guilty to killing a male wolf in New Mexico, a shooter was sentenced to one year of probation, forfeited his firearms and was fined $10. Two years later, the federal government prosecuted two more cases, both in New Mexico. One shooter was ordered to pay a $285 fine and $4,095 in restitution; the second was ordered to pay $275 in court costs and $1,000 in restitution. - See more at: http://www.sfreporter.com/santafe/article-7298-canine-assets.html#sthash.An2uIcMW.dpuf Perhaps I should have said no one has been prosecuted in AZ.

Perhaps we need to get this in front of the commission for a rule change/clarification. This is clearly a worthwhile service that fills a real need in our sport.

Is there such a thing as Zima lite?

There is no beer in it Hmmm. Reconsidering this decision. I am worse at drinking whiskey than I am at javelina hunting. Which is saying something.

I could use one of those. If it works I will take it.

I assume that the last line of your comment is not directed at me since I stated that This far no state has the right recipe for dealing with the Feds. Honestly, the only recourse might be for the states and sportsmen to lawyer up and sue the Feds before they transplant wolves. If we can tie them up in court and get judges to issue injunctions against transplanting more wolves until the suits are resolved it would by us time to work on legislation. But without changes in statute nothing will stop the mighty Feds. In the meantime SSS. Remember no one has ever been prosecuted for shooting a Mexican gray wolf.

You should be busy that's for sure

How's that working for ID? Over 1,000 wolves in the state and record low elk herds. This far no state has found a successful recipe for combatting the Feds.

Why is it that so many of you harbor such negative feelings about the dept's involvement in the re-introduction? Re-introduction was not an AZGFD initiative, it was crammed down our throats by a bunch of federal hippies hiding behind the Endangered Species Act. If the dept gives the Feds a middle finger, the sportsmen in this state will get 0 representation in the recovery effort. Yes I understand that the Feds are not doing a lot of listening but blaming AZGFD for wolves is like blaming Jeff Flake for Obamacare.

This sis how our system works. You probably saw a big discount or adjustment to that amount (60%+ On my insurance) before they paid their portions. The insurance companies require providers to give them "discounts" to be in their network. So the healthcare companies jack up the price of their services to be able to give the insurance companies their discounts. This is how a vile of scorpion antivenin that costs $100 on the street in MX ends up costing $75,000 in the US. Markup on markup on markup.

I would! Gotta be number 5 of 6 in the state depending on the year. Ok so here is the simple math for everyone who is saying unit 9 and 23 or bust. After the 2014 draw there were 105 people with >18 bonus points for elk. In units 9 and 23 there are a total of 45 tags, that means 9 tags go to the bonus pass. It is safe to say that the vast majority of those 105 people are waiting on units 9 and 23 (otherwise they would not have that number of bonus points). At that rate it will be 11-12 years before you reach the bonus pass. Or you could cash in those 18 unsuccessful applications for one of the top 10 public land elk hunts in the country, have a hunt with only a handful of permits, very few archery tags, has one of the most consistent ruts in the state, lots of roadless country, is very glass friendly, depending on where you live it is very easy and close for scouting and produces quality animals every single year. Once you have that tag you could draw 2-3 archery tags during the 11-12 years you would have spent waiting for one 5 day hunt in 9 or 23. Whatever caliber of bull you want to take, I promise you it is available in unit 22. This unit is one of the better kept secrets in the state. Any way I digress. In regards to unit 1; if you are willing to wait until 2016 when the ML hunt is there, you are probably in luck. This year 18 bp was enough for a resident to draw the ML tag. So in 2016 with 19 bp, you should be good. For the rifle hunt you are still on the cusp and it could take several years to clear out the folks who are ahead of or in the same boat as you. Good luck, and if you get to feeling sorry for yourself I will be happy to swap points with you

I would not hesitate to drop 18 BP on 22N.

Early rifle for sure. In 2013 18 BP would have been 100% on 3A/3C, 4B, 22N. It would have been close on 7W. Of those choices 22N is the no brainer in my mind. Even with point creep you should be good for that hunt again, I would probably do 23N 1st choice and 22N 2nd. However next year the ML hunt is in unit 27, which could be attractive and 18 BP got the job done last time that tag was offered. With creep you will be on the brink, that would be a good 1 st choice also. Good luck, I wish I was in your shoes.

Worth the wait!!! Congratulations on a fantastic achievement and unforgettable experience. You guys are awesome.