COOSEFAN

Sorry man, those bad boys are gettin slapped onto my rig tomorrow! Money hasn't traded hands so i can't claim they are "sold" just yet tho!

Hey ZJ, this is crazy that your bumpers and Ringers winch all popped up at the same time! My wife is gonna KILL me!!!! I got the cash for your bumpers but diggin' through the couch cushions right now for "winch money"! LOL! JIM>

WOW! That's awesome and awesome pics man! Congrats! JIM>

I'm actually buying a winch bumper today and need a winch, kinda ironic seeing your post! PM sent. JIM>

Personally, I'd be careful about paying only $300 for a scouting service. $300 wouldn't even cover my gas for just 1 serious scouting trip! I would guess with that price you will be getting old info, which could be good and even worth the great price, but I'd be worried about getting old info which could be worthless. Scouting packages can be a great idea, just be very careful where you get it from, what it actually includes and how many others are getting the same info. Best of luck! JIM>

I just went back thru and did some house cleanin'. If anyone see's anything posted that they feel is over the line, in this thread or elsewhere, just contact a moderator and it'll get taken care of. Thanks.

I'm definitely humbled by how many folks have recommended hiring my outfit, but I've gotta say, there are a couple other outfitters on that list that are great guys and consistently help hunters kill great bulls! I think my popularity here is just because this thread is about Unit 9 and it's no secret that I'm a Unit 9 junkie! Like I said earlier and it's what I tell anyone that calls up inquiring about a hunt, take notice of who is recommended, get reference lists from each and base the decision of who to hire off the feedback you get from their past clients. That's the only way to make a safe decision on which outfitter to hire, not just because somebody told you should.

Man that would be exciting! Thanks for sharing the story and pics, it's great to see that the bone is still falling! Congrats, JIM>

Also, might just be me, but I've always thought, the deeper the water, the bigger the fish. Especially mid day I would fish deeper and then at night go shallower. This always held true south of Horseshoe dam at least.

Hey Coach, I've always had the best luck with the flatheads using live bluegills suspended just up off the bottom about 2 ft. I would use a pretty heavy weight about 2 ft up from the hook to keep the bluegill from swimming around too far and getting snagged on something. I would always have the best luck doing this out of a boat tho and not sure how you would accomplish this from the bank. The times I've tried doing it from the bank I would constantly have snags because of the bluegill swimming under or through stuff on the bottom. Lastly, we'd use throw nets to catch our bluegills but a small hook and worm should do fine. Best of luck and post pics!

If you are implying what I think you are, you are wrong, I have no clue who that new member is. My reputation and portfolio speaks for itself and I've worked very hard at building both over the last 12 years, I have no reason to play games or try to get votes on this thread. And for the record and because I keep getting texts or calls about it, we've killed 8 bulls over 400" and 4 of those bulls have been with regular season archery and rifle tags. Not saying that to brag, just to set the record straight.

Thanks a bunch all who voted for me and for the kind words...I might've blushed a little CouesFanatic, I know and am friends with most of the outfitters you included in your list and they are all very talented, successful and just good guys overall. In order to make the best decision in choosing an outfitter, I first would request a list from each of them of phone numbers for past clients that include ONLY past Unit 9 clients and especially the phone numbers from past clients that were unsuccessful! You'll typically get a more genuine idea of the outfitter from a client that went home without the trophy he hoped for, so it's always good to call the unsuccessful past clients. By requesting ONLY the past Unit 9 client phone numbers, you'll get an idea of that outfitters experience in that particular unit by how many numbers he gives you. All the guides you mentioned know about each individual "giant" in Unit 9, we basically have the same "Hit List" and most of them know how and where to hunt those bulls. By asking for opinions on open chat forums you're not gonna get a genuine idea of each guy because we all have friends here or there. You'll get a more genuine idea of each outfitters experience and overall character by calling all the reference numbers you can get from each outfitter and base your decision off that. Best of luck and congrats to your bro, it's a great year to have that tag!!! JIM>

I'm unfortunately one of the many sittin' here without a CC hit but still holding on to hope! I was feeling pretty confident I would draw an archery 10 Antelope tag because I went all in with 11 points this year. Maybe 11 points wasn't enough to make it into the Max point pool like I thought? Anybody know what Max points have been for that hunt? Last time I drew it I had 7 points and that guaranteed me the tag, but that was obviously many years ago! Thanks and good luck to the rest of my "hit-less" friends out there! JIM>

Too bad nothing else is getting "managed" over there No doubt!!! It's sad how that unit has changed over the years and keeps getting worse! JIM>

Thanks!

That's a good day right there! Congrats

Very nice!

Here's my favorite ATL. This bull wore the set I found during 2007, dropped in 2008 and I found them in 2009. We hunted this bull most years but never put too much time into it because there were always bigger bulls out there. His left G5 had a tendency to be short one year and then long the next. We finally had a hunter take him last season and it was one of those years where he had the short G5 but it didn't matter, he's still an outstanding bull and probably didn't have many more years left due to his old age. He'll always be one of my favorite bulls tho and still my favorite set of sheds!

Hey all, I found some more pics and took more pics of the buck with the sheds so I wanted to share em' with you all. Here's the story... So, back in 2008 we get the sheds from this buck and we know exactly where the sheds were found. A year later another set was found in the same area and the buck was bigger. I tried to buy the sheds but the owners felt they were worth thousands of dollars so I didn't get them. Over the years of hunting for this buck and this same area we find the Shed Buck along with several other great bucks and gain tons of knowledge about how to effectively hunt this area. So, with confidence that I can find at least one of the big bucks during the early season and with a client willing to do a backpack hunt, I have him apply for the tag, he draws it and the hunt is set! I went in early and packed in most of the water and when the client arrived we made the trek in with all our camping gear. I had several bucks that lived in the same small canyon figured out. The buck that the sheds came from, the "Shed Buck", I felt was the least likely to be there because he hadn't been seen in a while but I still felt confident at least one of the bucks would be there. The problem with this canyon is you have to sneak across an open hillside to get into position to effectively glass into the thick bedding side. You have to have the wind right in order to do this correctly and for the first 2 days of the hunt the wind was wrong so we waited and glassed different areas. We saw good bucks elsewhere but nothing over our lofty goal of 110". Finally on the 3rd day the wind slowed down and was finally blowing the right direction so off we went. We snuck down to our pre-determined glassing spot, I set up my tripod and binos and before Steve even had his backpack off I glassed up the "Shed Buck"! Here he is... I immediately knew it was the Shed Buck and told Steve to get set up for the shot because we need to kill this deer! Steve set up but was hesitant with shooting this buck just yet. We knew there was a higher scoring buck in the area and we hadn't even glassed the hillside yet! I agreed that we needed to look around in case this was a bachelor group but couldn't find any other deer. The Shed Buck laid there in his bed for over an hour as we watched him! We had the wind right, he was well within Steve's effective killing distance and we wanted a standing broadside shot. During that time frame we searched hard for the other bucks but it appeared he was all by himself. Steve still seemed hesitant to shoot this buck just yet but after I told him I'd give him the sheds and reassured him the character of this buck was off the charts, he agreed we needed to kill him now! Finally the buck stood up to stretch and without any delay Steve put the buck right back into his bed with a perfect shot! We hiked across the canyon and walked up to an amazing, once in a lifetime buck! The palmation and character of this buck is second to none! I have held the sheds for several years and as soon as I grabbed the rack and held this buck it felt exactly like the sheds, the curves, texture and angles were all the same but now one of his sticker points had turned into an awesome "J-hook" dropper! We packed him back to camp and savored the rest of the day! We no longer had to ration our water or food so we ate and drank like kings that night! Here's the mount that my buddy just finished last week along with the sheds!

Congrats Casey! You are very lucky and blessed my friend! JIM>

Thanks again for the replies! For the record, we had the wind perfect, gun was set up with crosshairs on the buck, and he was bedded in a spot where he couldn't sneak out on us. That's why my friend felt comfortable waiting to shoot this buck. Passing this buck up was never even a thought, but I had a higher scoring buck living in the same area and my friend was afraid we'd shoot this buck and then the bigger buck would stand up close by. My friend was right in taking the time to verify this buck was alone, especially in this situation, but anytime I'm on a shooter animal I don't like wasting ANY time in making him dead! Especially with this buck because I'd rather have him in my hands than the higher scoring one! We'll kill the higher scoring one this year JIM>

Thanks for the replies! I scored this buck at 117 5/8" and several other folks have scored him all coming up within an 1/8" or 2 of my score so we are gonna stick with that. One thing is certain though, this buck is definitely one that score will never do any justice for!

I added the cell phone pic of the "stub" to top of the thread

Hey all, here's another short video I just put together. You all might find this one a little crazy but it really happened, his tail gets perfectly shot off! Fortunately the buck was quickly relocated and taken with a great shot but unfortunately in the chaos, that part didn't get filmed. Stubby was a great buck and the hunter was very happy with em'! This same hunter killed 4 bucks with us between 102"-118"... all in less than 1 year! Thanks for checkin it out, more to come! JIM> Details: The guide and hunter snuck in as close as they could because there was a strong crosswind. The shot was 455 yards and the hunter didn't hold far enough into the wind, blowing the shot off course. They then relocated him, snuck in closer to 350 yards and held better for the wind making a perfect shot. Lesson: Practice with your hunting rifles in windy conditions to become familiar with how wind affects your bullet and learn to judge wind speed and keep a cheat sheet handy! Here's a closer up look at what happened. The buck was quartering to the shot and the impact was not as far off as it appears in the video. With the quartering angle, the bullet hit the front side of the back hip and came out taking the tail with it.

Kevin, unfortunately they didn't take any good pictures of that buck. The only pics they took were with the cheap video cam that was used and as you can see in the video those pics were very grainy and blurry. The hunter did snap a pic of the deer laying there with his cell phone and you can kinda see the "stub", I'll post that. JIM>