kimberx2

I am going to agree with others and recommend Casey's first. Then Southwest. Then Coconino. It is pretty far outside of Flagstaff on I40. I had a bad experience with Rhonda's, and don't recommend them. I have had elk processed at each of these guys and that is the way I'd rank them. But, the trailers for Southwest are handy and when your elk is done it is already in the east valley. But if you have to go to flag to pick up your elk you can go squirrel hunting, and it isn't 110 degrees. Tough call....

Thanks Stick flicker. I was wondering about turkey today. I have 15 points so not quite in the max point pool. Still waiting for that Gould's. Plus you can still hunt o/c archery turkey. Then, time for a Rio. Trying to get all three archery in Az. Not too many people with max turkey points. How can you have that many javi points??? I've got tag #1 in unit 23 with 5 or 6 points before.

Vowel, I am interested in your double bull. Which model is it? Sending pm. Kirk

Harmless??? Kind of. Google swimmers itch or duck itch. My buddy and his family got infected pretty bad 2 weeks ago at Saguaro. Flatworm parasitic larvae burrowing into your skin and dying. Itches like crazy for a week. Several cases reported so far at Saguaro.

No turkey last weekend. They were pretty quite after they came off their roosts. Had one roosted sat am but he flew off too far the other way and never got a shot. He only gobbled once after he hit the ground. Called in a hen and jake at 9am sun with a tom trailing them, but he hung up 100yds out nd wouldn't come in. He gobbled at my slate calls for 15 min but wouldn't get closer. Also had a coyote sneak in 2 yds behind me while i was calling sun. I heard a slight noise and turned around and was face to face with him. His eyes got big as saucers and he took of at warp speed out of there. Watch for snakes when you guys are out there saw 3 rattles. Any one else having luck? Good luck everyone. Hopefully I can get off work this weekend and head back up.

Very little gobbling. Most between 4:45 and 5:15am. They are really being quiet after leaving the roost. I did call in a tom at 9:00am this morning but he hung up 100yds out. He was gobbling for 15 min but couldn't get to come in. It was just starting to get hot when I left so maybe want to try sitting water if they are quiet. They were not talking much in the evenings, but I heard several gobble after 5:30 pm on fri and sat. Good luck. With less traffic this week maybe they will start gobbling more.

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.