kimberx2

Headed up to 23 right now. Hopefully they will still be talking like they were two weeks ago.

I will be heading up to unit 23 next thurs nite. Was there last weekend and the birds were gobbling pretty good in the mornings. Hopefully they will still be talking. I think 23 is a great choice, not too far from the valley and lots of turkeys. Couesdeerhuntr if you are going up alone and want to meet up you can pm me. Good luck everyone. Kirk

I know how you feel on trying to get turkeys to respond. All I can say is practice. Had best luck this weekend locating with a box call. They would only answer to a coyote call intermittent. Roosted several birds with the box call too. Had to switch to a slate when calling birds in, they didnt seem to like the box call after a short while.

Here is the picture. They would gobble good till around 8 in the mornings.

On way home to gilbert now. We were on turkeys every day. Buddy finally got the shot this morning. Medium sized tom with 9" beard and 3/4" spurs. I'll post pic later wont let me now.

We were in 23s scouting for turkeys.

Saw bear tracks in unit 23 this weekend, several different areas.

Excited for the archery turkey hunt too. 13 points and still can't draw that Gould's tag. Hopefully the birds will be calling in 23 when the archery hunt opens, it seems like they usually quiet down that late in the season. I will be going to the turkey seminar at Bass Pro, should be informative. Jay Scott can really call in the toms in the extreme turkey videos.

The only call I have had luck with us the Primos box cutter. I've called in several toms with it. Every other box call I've used seems to make the birds disappear. Also have had luck using a fighting/excited purr on a slate, Primos freak I think. This brings in hens and jakes too.

Saw several herds out today in 23. I smell like pig too. They were in the open on the slopes.

I sold 2 pairs of nikons to buy a pair of viper 15x50 non hd a couple years ago. Worst hunting mistake I ever made. Like looking through 2 sprite bottles taped together. Fuzzy and blue green. My buddy had the nikons I sold him, and I had a 10x42 zen ray both were far superior. Sold them on craigslist the minute I got home. People love them but I will never buy another pair.

Congrats! Awesome ram. Great job doing your homework and getting your diy ram of a lifetime.

Well I finally found some cows. Spent four days the first weekend and only saw bulls, javelina, deer, coyotes and road hunters. Went back for Thanksgiving and moved to a different area. On sunday morning 3 cows finally came in. But of course I was reading Cwt forum and not ready. As I reached for my rifle the elk made me and were off. A 25 yard shot quickly became 100 when I got a clear shot through the trees. I picked the largest of the 3 and made the shot. 7 days hunting and I finally saw a cow.. Thanks to the cwt members who helped with info on where to start looking.

Any one have this hunt or the any elk hunt, up there last weekend? I didn't see anything but bulls and spikes, no cows. Saw seven different bulls. If you are looking for bulls and saw cows pm me and maybe we could help each other out . I'm not going up again till Thanksgiving. Good luck everyone.

I always keep an old arrow with a blunt on it in my quiver. It is a lot easier losing an old arrow than one of my good ones with a broadhead and lighted nock. When those squirrels start barking at you, you just have to shut them up. I also like to shoot at dove and quail in season.

West of roosevelt??? I think that is unit 22 or 24b. East of Roosevelt is good though and in 23. Look at the steeper canyons and hillsides. They are there. You can pm me if you still have trouble finding them.

315-320+ I don't think he goes 340. But that is a tough bull to pass on.

Thanks for the info Shrek and Jmwarrens65. Sounds like those antelope over there are tricky to get.

Good questions. It depends on a couple different things. How close your downed animal is from a road, and how comfortable you are preparing the meat yourself. If your downed animal is close to a road and not too far from a processor, I would recommend you gut it and hold the chest cavity open with a stick. Get it in your truck and haul butt to a processor as fast as you can. Let them skin it and process the deer for you. If you can get it to camp easily but a processor is far away, I would gut it where you get it, then hang from a tree at camp and skin it, cover it with a game bag or cheese cloth. If it is cooler than 40 degrees let it hang overnight and take it to processor in morning. If warmer get it in an ice chest. If it is down far from road I would do the non-gut western method. You start by skinning 1/2 then removing that side and Backstrap, front leg, hind leg and cut as much meat as you can from the neck area. Putting all meat in hanging game bags to cool. Fold the skin over the cleaned side and roll the deer over. Repeat on other side. If you want you can cut the abdomen open and cut out the tenderloins. If I'm in a hurry to Get out before dark or other reasons sometimes I'll just leave tenderloins. You can then pack out the smaller bags of deer legs and meat and the skull and cape. If colder than 40° let hang. If warmer than 40° put all parts in ice chest. There are many videos at stores and on web on gutting, skinning, and the no gut method. I'm sure there are lots of different theories on this but without much practice I would try to get the gutted deer to a processor as quick as possible.

Saw alot of squirrels in 6a during the archery deer hunt. The northern part of the unit by Mormon lake area. Very wet up there this year and the most squirrels I've seen in a while.

Wow that is a great bear. Congrats. Thanks for the story and pic.

Got back tonight from unit 23. Lots of water up there but got on turkeys every day. Got a nice long beard at 8:30 this morning. 10" beard and 7/8" spurs.

I appreciate your post but i disagree with your conclusion on why whitetail harvest has increased five fold over the last five years. As a biologist who has hunted unit 23 for the last thirty years. I see many other possible reasons for the increase in whitetail harvest. The increase of information available on the web, including forums like this one. If you read the success stories and listen to their years Of experience, it gives newer bow hunters techniques that are proven successful. the increase of information available by the use of game cameras. You can pattern whitetails without having to Spend hours in the field. Five years ago this was difficult,imagine having to have all your picture developed Instead of instantly downloaded to your ipad. Whitetails are easier to pattern than muleys for me on my cameras. The availability of pop up ground blinds. Five years ago you had to commit to tree stands or build brush blinds Now you can pop up a scent holding ground blind in seconds. The increase in the technology of archery hunting equipment. Laser range finders with angle compensation, faster bows; if you do guess yardage incorrectly the faster flatter shooting bows are more forgiving. And my main theory on why the whitetail harvest has increased by so much... The whitetail population in unit 23 is increasing. I have hunted unit 23 for 30yrs and i am seeing a definite increase in whitetail numbers. I have been seeing whitetails in areas within the last 4 to5 years that only held muleys the previous 25 years. This is true for other units as well, 24a and 32 are both units I have observed this Whitetail and javelina populations have been expanding throughout Arizona since the territorial times. Elliot Coues was not able to obtain a specimen of a Coues during his stay in Arizona. The species was named in honor of him even though he wasn't able to shoot any. Coues were not as common as they are today even in the 1800's. I haven't seen any current data on their expansion but I have definitely seen an increase in Coues and a decrease in mule deer. I do not hunt over bait, but my archery success has increased over the last 4 or 5 years. My friends and i, all long time archery hunters, have seen an increase in success that i would contribute to ground blinds and game cameras. I'm sure Azgfd will want to ban these soon enough.

Thanks for the heads up. I was getting ready to go up to there and all the roads I was going up to are closed. I'll hold out and pray for rain. Hope my cameras aren't melted.

Wac'ems. Fly just like my field points out to 70yds.