cmc

FYI the Elk/Antelope regs don't contain the draw odds from the 2010 season. For that info you'll need to visit the online link to download them.... http://www.azgfd.gov/eservices/documents/A...DrawingOdds.pdf

Wait are you saying they are #1 at something.... Speechless.

Cheat... pfftt heck no ASU doesn't cheat. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=5923283

Now that's funny.....

So how can one be a Cardinals fan since there isn't a school to graduate from? I'm sure glad I can take solace in being a Michigan fan. I do root for the U of A since my wife has a masters from there.

So.... Hows that Dennis Erickson rebuilding thing working for you guys?

PM sent.... will call tonight.

Happy Birthday Buddy.... Hope it's a great day for ya.

You might want to start with just playing around with 85gr field points and see how things fly for you. Changing up the FOC on the setup could have adverse affects to your arrow flight. Then again it might improve it. One thing you can do if you want to drop in grains is by changing your draw weight just a tad to compensate or see if going up or down a few pounds helps get better flight out of the new setup. cmc

Although I was sick for some of the shoot it was a great one. Thanks to all that came out and took part in the event. Special thanks to the Tucson RMEF Committee members for their efforts and labor putting on the event. We will be having more of them in the near future. Eric the FOB miester.... awesome shooting.... Thanks for letting me join you guys on the course. cmc

A slick fire starter that worked in a down pour of rain for us this year was the old Vaseline soaked cotton balls. I store them in an empty advil container. One tip is to stretch them out a bit so there is air pockets in them. They burn on top of water. Pretty cool. I'll second the P90X and add in that the Insanity program will help you get ready for a backpack trip. cmc

Congrats on the hunt. Nice set of bucks. The slippers in the tent photo are classic....

First know your limits. Don't go in thinking you're invincible or you are out to beat your buddy or something your read online or in a book. You need to test yourself as you go and monitor yourself to set limits and do not overdue it on your first trip. Learn from this one and work your way up to multi day trips and further hikes into higher country. Let someone know where you guys are going and what the game plan is. Plan now how you will get the deer out and back to town. Ice blocks in a cooler work great in the truck. Now for getting ready.... I suggest you get your body ready for the abuse. Train hard months in advance and then weeks prior to your trip load up weight in the backpack and get out on a steep incline as you can find and hike or get on the treadmill and set it to 10% grade at 3mph and go for 1/2 hour twice a day if possible. Make a pack list using a spreadsheet and weigh everything you plan to take then log in the spreadsheet. Use the pack list as a check list when you pack your gear into your backpack. It bites to end up several miles in and you find out you forgot a days worth of food. Been there as I rushed packing for the trip and failed to count out my meals right. Luckily I tend to bring more food than needed and bummed off my buddies to cover the missing food. That and being sick helped not be hungry. Speaking of food - I swear by Wilderness Athlete bars and drink mixes. You have to feed your engine inside and if you feed it crap you get crap out of it. This is not the time for a bunch of junk food. Quality by all means! For dinners I've had just about every Mtn. House meal they've made. Some don't sit well with me so try them prior to going out. Being sick back in there is not fun. Oh take wet wipes and a full roll of TP. Stomach bugs hit at the worse time. Like the first day of a 6 day bear hunt. That can set you back. Goes with having a game plan if things go south. For lunch items I like to take bagels and pre mixed peanut butter and honey in a tube. Tubes are sold in the camping section of Sportsman's Warehouse. Breakfast tends to be oatmeal as we like a warm breakfast to get things going. If we lack water in the area then change things up and go with a cold breakfast of bars or something. Water - We like to use iodine but have been using Aqua Pure water treatment products. But what ever you do treat your water some how prior to consuming. Filters take a lot of time and can break so if you go that route take backup iodine tablets just in case. They work while you sleep. If your water is cold to freezing put it next to your sleeping bag or boil some at first as the iodine takes forever to dissolve in the cold water. If you're going with iodine count out how much you need for how many days you'll be out there. Take maps and GPS, but don't forget the maps no matter what that GPS is subject to fail. I don't care how much it costs. Take a second headlamp. You're SOL if the main one tanks. Trust me. Have backup plans for everything you do and what you'd do if any piece of your gear fails. Test all your gear in the back yard prior to going. Have you slept outside in the cold in that sleeping bag and pad setup? Several miles into the back country is not the time to find out it's not warm enough and you shiver ALL NIGHT LONG. Again... trust me it's not fun. Packer and I still laugh about that trip. I got up at 2am and made oatmeal to just warm up some. Back at your truck: Some of these are in case you pack out your deer and need to crash there then go back in for your gear or help out your buddy. - Have a spare change of hunting clothes and socks - full days food or two days with multiple guys going in. - 7 gallons of water seems to work well. If below freezing - have a second stove or something to heat it up with at the truck. - ice chest with blocks of ice. Even if it's below freezing out. - spare sleeping bag to spend the night at the truck. If bag isn't rated low enough bring blankets to assist keeping warm. Just a sample of stuff but I hope it helps ya some. I suggest you get Cameron Hanes book Backcountry Bowhunting and David Longs Public Land Mulies. Both have a wealth of info for backcountry hunting. Cheers, cmc

Lark, That is pretty neat to have the personal history and ties to the event as you do. Have you been back to the site? It was quite interesting to read portions of the book and then see the site in person. Like seeing the bullet hole next to the window that damaged the one son's eye. Photo by Ron Green. It's also impressive the operation and gear they back in there. The IR air compressor and rock crusher were very cool to check out.

Just a reminder of the archery shoot this weekend. cheers, cmc

Mark your calendars for December 4 & 5 for the 1st annual RMEF Conservation 3D archery shoot to be held out in Vail Arizona (I 10 & Marsh Station Road area). There will be 3ea - 15 target rounds for fun shoots, and prize awards to the winners of the smoker round, long shot and a few other novelty shoots. Camping spots are available for RV's if you want to stay the night. Cost is $35 per shooter for all three rounds or $60 for the family. Looking forward to seeing you all there. Email or PM me if you have any questions. Chris McCotter RMEF Life Member Tucson Chapter

Awesome job Matt. Congratulations on tagging your deer. Mark you should be very proud....

My wife shot her first deer on opening day just before dark. It made for one heck of a pack out by headlamp but one I'd do over again in a second. My wife is extremely excited but I think I top her as I can't quit thinking of how proud I am to have been there with her on the adventure. A lot more to the hunt than the photos show but all the time I have for now. I'll try and add more soon. I apologize for the horrible photos as I fought my camera in the darkness and never could get a good photo to be had.... She has an AZ elk and NY Turkey to her name and now an AZ coues! So with the camera issues we didn't get many pictures to show up well so we took the time the next morning to demo my wife's new Badlands Kali pack that she now loves more than any pack she's had.

I went and dug out of my shop my first ever coues deer I took and snapped the photo of our first coues deer together.

I got our 2010 coues deer skulls boiled out. My wife's is on the left and my coues is on the right.

That is awesome! What a great first coues deer! My wife took her first deer every this season and reminds me I haven't posted that yet. GRONG - I know I can probably speak for you - It's an awesome adventure and sharing a hunt like that with your spouse is a memory you'll never forget! Again Congrats! cmc

I have KM2's on my jeep and they are as sticky as Spidermans hands. Air them down and they grip everything I've put them on. They are much quieter than I would have every thought and worn very very little since I put them on. Jeep has been to the white mtns several times and seen mud, rocks, sand and more rocks. I wish I could afford these on my 2500HD but I fear the 5th wheel weight would wear them down too fast. I wish I'd had put KM2's on my Wrangler as that thing would lose traction way to fast. cmc

+1 +2 +3 (some of the best wild game I've had)

I vote trigger work, bed the stock and see what that gets you. If you want better go with reloading to fine tune. I'd look into Casey's setup for what you could get out of that round, all joking aside from above post.

At coues deer?