Couestracker

It's a Rock River Arms A4 pistol, 5.56/.223Rem, 10.5" barrel with an EoTech red dot sight. It's manufactured/sold/registered as a pistol and it is fun to shoot. I see now they make them in 9mm and .40 S+W also. CouesTracker

The Chiricahua Mountains hold many great memories for me as my late Father and Late Grand Father took me there on their deer hunts when I was 10 years old. Returning there many times since I have been old enought to hunt, some nice bucks have been seen (none close enough for a shot) and several spikes & a couple of fork-horns were passed on. Once while glassing at a fork-horn, I realized it was a 3x3 but by the time I got my scope on him he disappeared behind a bush never to be seen again. Each year brings on new confidence & hope (along with the disappointment that follows), but this year I'd shoot anything bigger than a spike if I saw one. On the 4th afternoon of a 4 1/2 day hunt, we decided to climb up on a new ridge and see what we could find. As I glassed from the edge of the ridge, there were several ridges that lay before and below me. On the nearest ridge it was noticed that there was a small clearing with a distinctive double-yucca plant with one "head" missing. As I ranged the spot at 210 yds, I thought that it would be a good place for a deer to show itself (ha ha). Well, wouldn't you know it, a half our later I saw some movement and out of the thickets and into this clearing came a whitetail buck. I glassed him up and he was a fork-horn! Quickly trading my bino's for my scope, I found him as he passed behind the double yucca. I aimed, fired & watched him run, seemingly unscathed, into a series of junipers. Not wanting to take my eyes off the junipers, I tried racking in another round as it seemed that I might have missed. I couldn't get the bold closed on another round so I had to look at the reciever and realized my left gloved hand had blocked the ejection port such that the spent case wouldn't come out. Jeeze! So I fixed that issue while trying to to keep an eye on the junipers, but didn't ever see the deer. I hiked around a bowl that was formed from the ridge I was on as it connected to the ridge the deer was on. I made it down to the double yucca just before dark. I looked under the juniper, no deer or blood on the ground. Dang-it, I missed I thought to myself. I looked up to the point I shot from & decided to range it: 190 yds. I thought, "That's not right, it was 210 yds". So I started looking around & found another clearing with another double double yucca with one head missing. Yes, the same side missing! I ranged up to the shooting point; 209 yds, cool! Excited again, I looked under the juniper but no deer. By now it was pretty dark so I started looking around with my flashlight and found some blood behind the yucca. Following the blood trail for 30 yds, I found my deer! I hit him low in the chest, probably due to the angle of the shot. He was a small forky, but my first Chiricahua whitetail and I was happy.

That was a cool video and well made. If you look closely at around 4:47 in the video, you can see the bullet on the way to it's mark! Really! Couestracker

Just curious about the cost, hunt dates and tag availability with San Carlos turkey hunting. Can anyone help with some facts? Thanks, CouesTracker

Sorry, my bad. I went and looked up the regs-never hunted fall birds-saw any turkey /fall. I would be thrilled to even see one of those color-phase birds. Excellent job on the taxidermy too Tommy. Do you have a shop in Taylor? CT

That is a beautiful bird, but I thought only bearded turkeys could be taken in Az?

Give Dave a call at White Cloud Custom Gunsmithing 602-292-1986 or www.customrifleman.com. He does rifles for the Governor elk tag holder. He hasn't built a whole rifle for me yet, but I have had some custom work done by him, don't think you could go wrong there. CT

Those are awesome! What unit did the NM buck get taken? Thanks, CT

Uh oh, maybe Gov. Nappy swept the money already? Hope Not. I'd rather it be my sheep tag! Good luck in the draws. CouesTracker

My Browning BAR .308. Took my first bull, first cow, first coues, first muley and 5 antelope with it. It shoots great and a fine looking rifle. CouesTracker

Got my antelope refund (for the 8th time ) yesterday, no elk tag yet. CouesTracker

Unit 27 next week, leaving Thursday morning. I'm going to try to get one with my bow this year. CouesTracker

Ha ha, we got tag #1 and tag #2! CouesTracker

I drew a Nov archery tag for 7W 1st choice.......by mistake. Someone used the wrong hunt #, it was supposed to have been the Sept 7W hunt. There went my 8 bonus points . This is my first time applying for an archery elk hunt. We're going to make the best out of it. CouesTracker

I have been considering the Ranger also, but now am probably going with the new Kawasaki Teryx. You may want to check that one out, it's pretty awesome. I have two polaris sportsman quads I bought from 4 Seasons in Rye. I have been very happy with their service, they always get me in/out same day since I bring them up from Phoenix. You won't beat their prices either. CouesTracker

Something is happening! Maybe today? I just tried to check "draw results" like I have the past few day's, now the site is down, can't check bonus points/spring results like I could before. I know, worse than kids at Christmas........................... CT

I thought the intent of going with the earlier draw was to aid in other fall hunt planning. The Wyoming deadline is already passed (Mar 15), Colorado's deadline is April 1 and New Mexico's deadline is April 9. I sure hope to find out what Az hunts I'm drawn for prior to Co and NM! I also hope someone on the G+F commission is reading these posts. Good luck to all. CT

I'm a PVCI member, been going out about once a month during the season. Tom Martin (Couestracker)

I've been making sausage from my Javelina for a couple of years, have not tried venison yet (got to get a deer first!) but will when I get one. I got the recipe off the internet, it's Italian Fennel Sausage and it's very good for spagetti or lasagna. I've been told by others tasting it that it's the best spagetti they ever had. I figure if it's good with Javelina, it's gonna be even better with venision. 2 lbs javelina 1 lb of pork sirloin 3/4 lb pork fat 4 cloves minced garlic 2 tbl spoons of fennel seeds 1 tbl spoon ground pepper 4 tbl spoons kosher salt 1 tbl spoon dried oregano 1/8 tsp ground all spice 1/2 cup dry red wine (optional) Just grind meat, mix in ingredients regrind and package. I make it bulk, wrap 1 lb in butcher (freezer) paper. Couestracker

Thanks guy's, I appreciate the info. I'll hopefully be back there next year to see if the deer are hitting it. Couestracker

How long does a mineral lick have to be in the field before deer start using it? I placed one in my hunt area after several people recommended them 2 weeks before my hunt. I never saw a deer at it, as a matter of fact, I watched 3 does walk within 50 yds of it and they never even lifted their heads as they walked along. I passed on several small bucks looking for something bigger. Saw a few of those (shooters) but only briefly-couldn't connect. Maybe I'll do better in New Mexico next week. Couestracker

This bull was shot on a ranch in New Mexico, a friend showed it to me before it was posted here. Couestracker

I used your idea Amanda-picked about 50 or so last weekend on the way back from Tucson. I only got about 2 1/4 cups of juice though. You didn't include your margarita recipe, so my wife Julie and I experimented. Half marg mix, half prickly pear juice and appropiate amount of tequila: they we ok, but was a little disapointed for all that work. Then we made our "beer" margaritas; frozen lime juice, equal amount of pear juice, equal amount of beer, right amount of tequila, blended with ice-they were fantastic! And what a good looking drink too. Also figured out they're better with sugar on rim instead of salt! Thanks for the idea, going to juice some more and freeze for later. BTY, learned that the darker the better, some were still kind of green around the base and through the rind, those were'nt ripe enough. Tom

Excellent story, enjoyed reading it. I have hunted Javelina there for 5 yrs (HAM hunts) and have a blast each time. It was interesting hearing about it from your and Ben's perspective. Thanks for posting the story. Couestracker

I got my whitetail tag today!! Couestracker