daryl_s

What a great story and buck to go with it. I'd say 95", pretty good main beams and good size eye guards. Congrats.

Congrats on a fine first coues.

I don't know the answer either way, but I have made a few observations since the subject interests me a lot. A few years ago our hunt fell on a full moon. I set up in my spot before light on the first day and the sun came up and nothing happened. I didn't really know what I was doing(still don't) and didn't have good optics or know how to use what I had. At about 7:45 AM some deer that were bedded down 200 yards away from me started to get up. There were a few does and a few bucks. The full moon carried on into the daylight. Did the deer feed in the light of the moon and then get up later???? That's what it seemed like to me. On my hunt this year the moon was at half moon but very bright, you could almost play catch with a football at night. The moon was out in the afternoon and then from 1:30 AM until sunrise it was pitch black. In the mornings we heard a ton of shooting and not near as much in the evenings. We also saw very little deer activity in the evenings. Is this because the deer knew that after sundown they would have plenty of light to feed until early AM???? I don't know. Surprisingly we saw more deer between 11:30-2:30 than at any other time, lots of activity, but these were also all does and fawns.....do the bucks follow a different pattern???? I don't know. I love the subject and hopefully many more years of hunting experiences will teach me more about it.

No campfire for me. I love campfires but I get only a few days a year to deer hunt so I can save the campfire for a camping trip. I do the whole uv scent free down to the max and hope that every little bit I do helps. This year while sitting by a water hole I was setup with the wind in my favor to where the deer had been coming in. About 45 minutes before dark a doe came trotting in 30 yards away from me downwind of me and never knew I was there. She got her water and then proceeded to feed on a bush 40 yards away facing me. I was sitting right in the open among some bushes and this deer never had an idea that I was there. I had this happen the next morning also. Maybe some other deer scented me and didn't come in to the water????? I don't know. I just try to give myself as much chance as possible. The doe left because of a pack of 5 coyotes that came in. They came in on the opposoite side and played around for a good 15 minutes coming within 20 yards of me at times and eventually left without ever knowing I was there. I'm sure I get scented plenty of times but I also know of plenty of times that I wasn't scented and maybe it will payoff sometime when there's a big ole toad around.

My dad and I hunted 36B Friday and today. We didn't fill either tag yet but we're going to head out and hunt Tuesday and Wednesday to finish out our hunt. We did see some pretty cool stuff while we were down there. Friday afternoon my dad spotted a 100+ inch buck about an hour before shooting light was gone, but unfortunately was unable to get a shot. We set up early before sunup the next day but never found the buck again. I had a herd of about 15 javelina come all the way across a canyon and walked within 20 yards of me and never knew I was there. There were about 8 little piglets in the herd, here's a pic: Also, here's my tribute to you Scottyboy......I was pretty excited to find this(actually my dad found it). It's really not as easy to find as the picture makes it look. Congrats to all who have filled there tags, we are going to head back out and hunt Tuesday and Wednesday and hopefully fill ours. daryl_s

Okay, I got back about 1 AM last night. Unfortunately it was tag soup for both of us, but not for lack of effort. We hunted up high Tuesday morning but it just wasn't happening. I was glassing down in a flatter area and seeing way more deer. Tuesday PM and all day Wednesday we hunted by some water holes down low and saw a lot of deer but couldn't tag out. My dad missed a nice buck from 260 yards but he fell earlier in the day and hit his scope on the ground. He later missed a coyote from 20 yards so I think his scope got knocked out of position. I saw these 2 bucks on Tuesday at 8:30 AM but I was about a half mile away and up 700 ft higher in elevation. The bucks didn't hang around long because there was a coyote on the other side of the waterhole. The picture didn't come out real good but I could tell that they were both definitely bucks. They were the only 2 bucks I saw the whole trip. I don't think that anybody else hunted the area we were in. On Wednesday I saw 15 deer, 11 of which I had in range but they were all does and fawns. I saw more fawns than I have ever seen in my life. Hopefully the fawn crop was this good for all of the southern units. I also saw about 15 coyotes total, I didn't shoot any of them because I was holding out for a buck. I think I'll go down there again and thin out the coyote population some. Overall it was a good trip, we hunted hard and saw a lot of wildlife and hopefully we're that much smarter for next time. Congrats to everybody who tagged out and good luck to those are yet to go.

Congrats on a great buck, love the width.

I must remind everybody that it was Scottyboy who first posted the pics of the rock....I guessed the mountain correctly and then while hunting over the weekend my dad found it. It is pretty dang cool to see and the view from up there is amazing. While my dad was taking my pic up there 2 does busted out right by us. And like Scottyboy says it is a pretty good hike up there. We hunted up there for 2 days and only 1 other hunter made it up that way, all the others were driving around or hunting not too far from the road. Unfortunately, as pointed out HV found the rock too, what a shame. I bought a new Eberlestock X1 pack today, I can't wait to take off this afternoon and get back out there and be up there reallllly early tomorrow morning. I'll have my report for late Wednesday or early Thursday.

Congratulations on an awesome buck!!! I love the uniqueness of the main beams crossing over each other. Another example of hard preseason scouting paying off.

kast1- I was in 36B Friday and Saturday and I know what you're talking about. These little critters are tough to get. We hunted up higher and I only saw 1 hunter in the area we were in. We saw plenty of deer we just didn't get any shots. I saw lots of people driving around and hunting the lower areas and it just convinces me more that not many people are willing to get out and get high up in the hills. I do realize that some people have health reasons for doing this. We hunted this area for 2 days and only saw 1 hunter up there. Im hoping the pressure pushes them up higher to us but the area is awesome and I know that we'll be able to find a good one in there. 3 times in an hour span I saw trucks or rhinos stop on the road, get out and look around for 10 minutes or so and drive on. I watched them in my binos and in the rhino there were 3 people in the front and one of the passengers even used his scope as binos from the seat. I say if you can get up higher in the hills in an area that looks good you can at least get away from thew majority of the other hunters. Also it was really hot Friday and Saturday and it's supposed to be 8-9 degrees cooler this week. Hope you fill your tag.

Congratulations to you and your dad, that's a very nice looking 2 point. Is your November hunt in 36B also???? I need a new pack, maybe I'll go with the Eberlestock...it's quite a bit more than the badlands but the rifle scabbard looks like it came in real handy for you.

That's a great lookin buck, very nice pictures. Congrats.

I just asked my dad how much his quad cost. Registration is about $100 a year and insurance was $200 the first year, $100 the 2nd year and $75 this year. it's a Polaris 500 sportsman.

Well, I've kind of backed off on the bow deal until after my hunt this upcoming weekend. If I fill my tag then maybe I can be able to work something out for Christmas and get ready for January. If I don't tag out then I will probably pick up where I left off and get the ball seriously rolling. Thanks for all the responses everyone, I am looking into all the options that have been mentioned. Wish me luck this weekend in 36B. Daryl

I have decided that I am going to just go ahead and buy a new bow instead of fixing up the one I got. I was surprised to see brand new bows as low as $199......I have decided to make my limit $300 since I wasn't even planning on buying a new bow. Are the bows in this price range good bows???? Which would be the best?? If they aren't good bows then I probably wouldn't do it...and I ask if they are good bows because I've seen the 700+ price tags on some of the others. Now I don't expect a $300 bow to match up to a $700 dollar bow but I would like to know if for $300 I'm getting a real piece of junk or not. Thanks everyone for the advice on the previous thread and on this one. Daryl

Okay, I have a bow that my dad gave me. I used to use this bow when I was in high school but didn't really know what I was doing. I practiced with it and hunted with it a few times but I have pretty much always been a rifle hunter. I would like to get into archery hunting and get this bow ready to use. I hate to sound ignorant but I really don't know too much about bows. This bow hasn't been used in about 8 years and it has been sitting out in my dad's shop collecting dust. I want to take it somewhere and get it checked out and see what it needs but I don't want to take it into an archery shop and make a fool of myself. I don't have the bow here with me otherwise I'd tell you what kind it is. I would buy a new bow but I just spent a bit of money on a new rifle and scope. What do you guys/gals suggest as far as getting it ready to use? What archery shop would you recommend here in the Valley??? Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks, Daryl I will post a picture of the bow probably tomorrow morning

Thanks for all the info so far. I have bowhunted with this bow in the past but I just didn't really know what I was doing. I never had too much knowledge about bows or even this bow. I would love to buy a new bow but I just bought a brand new .270 and put a new scope on it, I don't think my wife would go for the bow just yet. The bow is a PSE, on the inside it says "strato flite express" and on the outside it says "game sport." When I do take it in I will definitely get a new rest because I absolutely HATE the rest it has. Here are a few pics:

Thanks for the advice guys. We went out this morning did a little glassing and I somewhat sighted in my rifle. I wasn't real comfortable with the shooting setup so I didn't fine tune it. I'm going to head out to Usery this week and fine tune it with the 140 grain Federal Premium Accubonds. Hopefully it'll pay off in October.

I bought a new .270 last week. I haven't been out to shoot yet but I have been wondering what is the best size bullet for accuracy. I bought a box of 130 grain remingtons and will also try out the 150 grains. I will try them both out and see which one will group better but I also wanted to get your input since I know that there are a lot of experienced hunters reading this. I also bought a new leupold 4-12x 40mm scope for the rifle. Thanks in advance for the advice. Daryl

Thanks. I didn't mention.....I have never gotten into reloading so I will be using factory loads. The rifle is a ruger m77. I have a .243 of the same model and it loves the remington core lokts so I figured that that is what I would start with. I have had very good results with the remingtons in my .243.

I was seriously considering buying coues7's swaros after seeing them at Sportsmans for 1600 new but decided to go with a new rifle and scope and Nikon Monarchs but I think that 1200 is way more than fair. Coues7, hope you get a good offer soon and everything goes well for your family. Daryl

Was that at Yosemite??? I remember seeing deer like that at Yosemite when I was kid.

Here is a shot from Woods Canyon Lake Saturday morning.

I was also in 36B this weekend. I just could not get over how green it was. We were checking out some areas other than where we normally hunt and saw 10 deer, only 1 was a buck, small 2 point. I only got a few pictures of a doe and a fawn together. Here's a pic of the doe and fawn, taken through swaros 15x56 at 315 yards. Vegasjeep, looks like you got em pegged, awesome pics.

Casey, I hope you shoot that big ole bear before he runs into you . Im headin out to 36B real early tomorrow morning to do a little scoutin and see what's out there.