Rembrant

Thanks for bringing that up Red Rabbit. Never seent it done quite like that. I always make the back cut from the neck all the way down to the anus, pull the skin away from the shoulder to remove it, then pull the hide away from the round and remove it on the same side. While you're there, get the backstrap. THEN flip it over and do the same to the other side. You can further de-bone the rounds, and carry out a semi-boned out coues deer in a day pack. Don't even need a frame pack. Firstcoues80, you can feel pretty proud about carrying a coues deer out like this too, and when you get older like me, you can still feel pretty good physically! Mike

GMM, Welcome back. Mike

Congratulations Audra!!!!!! That is a great buck! There are a lot of adults that never have, and never will, kill a good mature buck like that! You are blessed with an awesome dad. Mike

Congrats on gettin that really big bear. You can quit bear hunting now. Mike

Coues deer Pronounciation: "Coos" if you are talkin to a fellow Az hunter. "Cows" if you are talking to an educated biologist like Amanda. (This really impresses her.) I like what an old Alaskan said when I spoke to him in Unit 32 once: He said he really liked hunting the "little cutes deer". Mule deer pronunciation: "Carp" (because they are bottom feeders). Big Horn Sheep: "Cliff Carp" (because they can suck a living off of a rock). Cattle: "Range Maggotts" (for reasons obvious). Proghorn Antelope: "Anti-Lopers" (because they prefer to run). Javalina: "Have-a-Lina" (what the heck is a Lina?) Note: Be careful using the "Cliff Carp" term around the elite, well to do, Sheep Society folks. They get really offended if they think you are diss'ing the object of their worship. Mike

Right on Oldboy, You speak the truth. But the deer huntin was good wasn't it? Lackner has found a way to legally create his own private deer huntin ranch - with land that ain't his! As long as these ranchers can legally do this, they will. Meanwhile, are we able bodied deer hunters gonna sit on our quads and just wish we could hunt that country? - And let Lackner, the Mercers and other ranchers have their own private/public deer ranches??! Hey! I'm gettin old! I don't know how many backpackin trips I have left. And lately I can't even get drawn. I'm gonna bust my butt for a deer as long as God lets me. I hunted whitetails over corn in Texas once. It sucked. I missed Arizona the whole time. Once while I was in my twenties, I ran into an old lion hunter named Otis Baker. I told him that I had a 6B spring turkey tag for the next week, but it had just snowed about 2 and 1/2 feet and I didn't think I was gonna be able to get in to the Unit. He was in his 70's at the time and still an active houndsman! He looks me up and down real good, then his old eyes locked with mine and he said, "Seems like a young fella like you ought to be able to walk in to just about anywhere he wants to." This felt like a low blow, but man, he was right. That was his way of telling me - nicely- to quit whining and be a man. I have been greatful ever since for being slapped with those words. Lemonaide, I tell you! Hope I get a tag next year. Mike

The bad news is that this road closing thing will probably only get worse. The good news is that if you get off your lazy butts you can backpack around closures and have the place to yourself. Not only will you have the time of your life, but since nobody can drive in there anymore - and they're all too lazy to backpack - the place will have more mature bucks. Something about lemons and lemonade. Or you can buy a quad and drive around with everyone else. I do like the talk about legislative action in this string. Mike

Just wrote that reply before going to the second page. It's got a muley body and tail. It's a muley. Sure has a grey face. mike

Hey there's something funny about this buck. Is it a whitetail or a muley?...or a cross? Big ears, big rack, just like a muley, but wait a minute, how come he don't got the black cap/white face of a mature muley buck. That's quite a distinct grey face/nose ring - just like a Coues. and he just about has eye rings like a Coues too - because his face is so grey. Great buck!! Better get this one mounted. How 'bout it scott, what is it???! Mike

I wont do stuff like that anymore. I choose only tags with limited tags and/or backpack to get away. Life's too short. Mike

God Almighty, Father, Dad, May Ernesto's prayer be an on-going, daily request and aknowledgement of your supremacy and love for us. Help us daily to grasp another glimps of your majesty, and please soften our prideful hearts so we can accept your mysterious truths. I thank you as Jesus did, for hiding yourself from the wise and prudent and revealing yourself unto babes - those of us that can get ouselves out of the way long enough to realize that you are God, and we are not. Thank you for being large and in charge - and so very patient with us. Thank you so much for your creation! It is so beautiful - and perfect! And thank you even more for giving us a way out, that our destiny is not to be laid in the cold dirt to stay, but to be with you for eternity! And thank you, Father, for making that plan so simple that anyone, children, even retarted people can understand it - like the thief on the cross, dying in his sin, can look to your Son, seeing who He is, and asking this God/man to remember him. A promise of paradise was His reply. I thank you lord that, like the thief, I don't have to earn my way to you. You are the Way! The work is done. "It is finished". Please remember all those who look to you and see who you are, Jesus. Please grant us that same promise! And thank you for Ernesto! AMEN!

Uh... I just realized that the old country boy would be John Denver. Man its humbling when I realize that its not all about me. Mike

Thanks Flagstaff4398 for calling me a country boy. In my time, John Denver fans would be labled as Granolas. Mike

I know were getting off the beaten path here, but since I saw that quote this morning I've been racking my brain to remember the words to that song and I think I have 'em: "The Eagle and the Hawk" I am the Eagle , I live in high country, with rocky cathedrals that reach to the sky, And I am the Hawk, there's blood on my feathers, but time is still turning, they soon will be dry, And all that see me and all that believe in me, share in the freedom I feel when I fly. Come dance with the West wind and touch on the mountain tops, Sail o're the canyons and up to the stars. Reach for the heavens and hope for the future, For all that we can be and not what we are. It is a great song. Thanks for reminding me, Amanda, mike

Amanda, The Eagle and the Hawk! Not too many John Denver fans left in the world. Mike

Reminds me of a joke. Please forgive me in advance. There's this cowboy that don't hardly get into town. You know what I'm talkin about: older fella, big hat, high heeled boots - the kind that fit in the stirrups, slicker, handle bar mustache, the whole thing. And he's sittin in the bar having a beer. Then comes along a young lady, gets a beer, gives the gentleman a good hard look, and says, "Hey mister, are you a REAL cowboy?" He replies, "Well missy, I've been herdin cows, breakin horses, brandin calfs, and riding the range my whole life. If that makes me a real cowboy, then by God, that's what I am." She says, "Well mister, I'm a lesbian! When I wake up in the morning, I'm thinking about women. When I take a shower, I'm thinking about women. The whole day long, I'm thinking about women. And when I go to bed at night, I'm still thinking about women." She slams her empty mug on the bar and walks off, leaving the cowboy sittin there wondering about what had just happened. Then comes another guy, sits down, orders a beer, takes a hard look at the old gentleman, and asks, "Hey mister, are you a REAL cowboy?" The cowboy with a perplexed look in his eyes says, "Ya know, I always thought I was, but I just found out that I'm a lesbian." Mike

What is USO? Utterly Sad Outfitters. Mike

Beautiful bear, Scott. You must already have at least one on your walls. What a temptation! Mike

I think y'all ought to be real men like Lark and drop out of trees with a Bowie knife in your mouth. Now that's huntin'! Mike

Dang it Catclaw, did you have to tell him exactly where that big buck lives????!!! Now that makes 3 of us that know about that buck. Mike

Red Stem Fillery is the little freen forb that kinda looks like small Dandylion leaves. This stuff comes to life when the late fall or winter rains soak the open desert slopes. This is probably the stuff you can thank for pulling those deer out from the cover and out into the open slopes wilst they seem to have their noses glued to the ground. Then they have ice cream for dessert. Mike

I think you guys talking 195-200 are making good sense. Only thing that bugs me is the loss of mass, post velvet. Could still possibly go that high because those forks are DEEEP! Mike

I would be happy to work on some t-shirt designs. I'm just really busy for the next couple of weeks (mostly a N.M. mule deer hunt and a portrait that I've been lollygagging on). But really, I would like to - and will. Mike

Huntifool, Report the occurance with the Dept and THEN tell Tim Pender that you have reported it. It's kinda like sending an e-mail vs making a phone call - DOCUMENTATION! And accountability. Pender is a busy man. Knowing that the Dept. is aware if the situation will keep the fire lit. This krap happens all the time. It's all about money. I saw a plane doing the same thing in unit 10 that had no numbers! Also, what's the fine? $500? That slap on the wrist is only one of the costs of doing business for these "guides". There are good guides and then there are the rest of them. And there are too darn many of the rest of them. This is part of why there are no more secret spots. Used to be that depending on who got drawn and what they know determined how many people would be in the good spots. Now that guides are abundant and everywhere, hunters are everywhere! Doesn't matter anymore who gets drawn and what they know - all these stinking wanabe guides have their no-knowledge money paying clients everywhere. Just part of our ever changing hunting future. It stinks. Anytime you can put the screws to a law breaking guide, PLEASE DO IT!!!!! and follow through. Mike

All good points, yet muleys will lick the blocks and carve tongue grooves into them. It's the whitetails that don't like the blocks, they eat the dirt below them. Some guy at a feed store once told me that the mineral blocks are better in drought years and the white blocks are better in wet years. I have found this to be true. In a good percipitation year like this year, you can have a white block right next to a brown block and the deer (and elk) will prefer the white one. The opposite is true in a drought year. Bummer 'cause I don't like using the white ones - they stick out too much. Good point about "permenant" licks. If you start noticing too many licks in an area, I would think that you need to go find another area. I think the bag salt is best for whitetails. If you have the backbone, haul water and salt, dig a hole and mix water, dirt, and salt, then presto! You don't have to wait for rain to prime your lick. Don't ever get in a hurry to through salt. Hike, search, study, and then research. Do this smartly, instead of the shotgun approach, and you can establish a great deer spot. Another thought: Don't do this where the deer that will use your salt will get picked off by rifle hunters. Instead, do this where there is so much cover that the rifle/glassers wont even be looking for your deer. Wouldn't this be the place where the bucks are not getting harvested? Kinda exciting, ain't it? Mike