GotBowAz

I like a lot of the new line ups coming up. Im looking forward to see what Bowtech will put out as well. it will be a long time before I buy another bow. My good friend and hunting buddy passed away from bone cancer Sept 1st. I now own his Bowtech Experience. Im not sure after shooting this thing that I will ever need another bow.

Big congrats to you both. One heck of an achievement. there's got to be two great stories to these, any chance you could fill us in?? Spot and stalk, were they bedded, ambush etc. etc.. Love to hear the details of big deer taken with archery equipment.

Man Steve, im sure sorry to hear this. I've been thinking about that tag myself, it's been sense 2010 that I was drawn for Elk. Guess I don't think I want to take the chance. Like you If im not drawn next year im looking at either Colorado or Montana OTC.

I got to wonder if its a matter of culture more than anything. Is it possible this guy could be from back northeast whitetail country somewhere? To this day everyone I know from those areas still puts their deer across their hoods and go show off the deer to their buddies. Its a tradition. Non hunters usually don't care one way or the other. Anti's cry but only to deaf ears.Schools still allow/excuse 1st day of deer season off. Oh and they hang their deer for 2 or 3 days before removing the hide. Sense being here in the west for 30 some years I see the differences more than most. I cant stand to see any animal with the hide left on longer than it takes to get some pictures but we live in a different environment where we cant do that or we risk loosing the meat. Where I come from they drag their animals out whole, where we here in the west quarter and pack them out in pieces. They haul their guts, deer and all out of the field and bury their gut pile in a hole in the back yard. We leave it for the critters. Its all just a matter of culture.

In January I mostly do spot and stalk but August hunts always finds me in a tree stand for about 13 hours a day. I read a lot. I have books loaded on my cell phone. I have trained myself to look around after every page I turn or at the end of a paragraph. Im actually more aware and spends better quality time looking so I see more this way then I did when I wasn't reading and I was daydreaming. That's not to say I haven't had a doe sneak in without seeing her first. However that's happened when I wasn't reading as well.

Just think how different this whole conversation would be if we were talking about pigs/hogs. I see the horses as no different, matter of fact they are worse.They are pushing out the wildlife taking over areas that used to thrive with deer and other native wildlife, not to mention tearing up the landscape. Again im not advocating whipping them all out but they do need to be managed and if these were pigs they would be hunted and none of you for the horses would even bat an eye for them. A small tag fee, removal of the carcass, with same requirements as for deer and elk and you have the state making money and fixing a serious problem with population control.

Back in the early 80's I used to hunt Muleys from Usury mountain down to the river and Usury pass/Ellsworth to the south bend in the salt river. But then the horses population grew over a few short years. At first they were cool to see but then the deer moved out of the area completely. You might get lucky and have one amble through where I could always find them on any given time. I think they should be managed. Put out a hunt on them, Id buy a tag and im sure others would too. Id like to see the hunt in the spring when most other seasons are closed. Horses breed year around. I think they would be a blast to archery hunt.

They are cool creatures to watch and a very curious animal. I have had huge groups of up to 20 plus come in close to check me out. The babies are fun to sit and watch, they are so playful and remind me of kittens playing. They can be obnoxious around camp at night. like raccoon's they get into everything they can get their paws on. LOL Im thinking your Coati was probably grubbing much like a bear will. Roll over rocks looking for some bugs, grubs or moths to eat. Cool Pic's Christina, keep em comin!

to the OP, with your limited funds and resources I think I would try to do a high country pack in mule deer hunt in Colorado. I'm sure you could get some great advice and starting points here for an OTC area and I think it would be a pretty awesome experience. You may even get to do some trout fishing but this would be the trip that may get you the most bang for your buck...no pun intended LOL Flatlander, take it from me, keep your self in good condition and hunting shape. Kids grow up fast and before you know it the pendulum will swing the other way and you will get more time to hunt so long as your body can do it when the time comes. My kids have grown up and are doing their own things for now. My boy was on nearly every hunt trip I did and we hunted together when he was old enough to do so when time and money permitted. Our last hunt together was the Revise Ranch hunt that you are aware of. I hunt with some partners here and there but I sure miss him with me however I am hunting more than I ever have as I have the time and resources available that wasn't there before when raising kids. I wouldn't change it fore the world.

I use a Kodiak tent in the late seasons and a 3 season back pack tent in January. I have never trusted a Mr. Buddy or any other propane type heater to leave on over night while im sleeping. I use a propane lantern that I fire up in the mornings, the tent is good and warm even when its down to the teens in 5 minutes or so. Get up get dressed and go hunt. Wet wipes every night before going to bed and solar shower every few days. Water wont get very warm in a solar shower that time of year so boil some water and add to it.This is how I do it, otherwise get a motel room. Seems like you can find one in Payson with hot water for under $100.00 a day.

For all you guys that cash water, how in the world do you keep the bears off of it? My last cash of water a bear found it and I had holes in my jugs and most of the water was gone. I cant seem to fool their nose even if I bury it. I sure would be a bummer to be going in on foot expecting to have a week to hunt just to turn around and come back out because all my water is gone.

If the area supports big game animals then I would think there were closer water sources you may not known about. I could be wrong but 8 miles seems a long way in from some kind of water source for deer, bear etc.etc.. Pretty cool you guys haul in water for other folks though. Makes for a much nicer camp for sure. It's good to know some folks are willing to do something like this for others.

I bow hunt only, with that said for the first time I put in for a Coue's rifle bonus point to build points so eventually I can hunt an area with my bow in late October rather than hunt it in the warmer weather in August.

One thing to add, If I am not mistaken this is not for Bow only hunts anymore. This is for any hunt using a bow even in a any weapon hunt. This is the "NEW" change for 2015.

From what I understand, and I hope Im wrong, you can complete the coarse here or on line but you STILL have to go to Alaska and do their one day field test which is not much more than shooting your bow at 20 yard targets. The problem is the coarse/class fills up fast and they are not convenient. IMO its a ridiculous requirement which will cost a lot of cash out of your pocket by the time you payed to fly up there and take the class just for one day.You can still hunt rifle without the class certificate. Good luck, let us know how it turns out for you. I hope Im wrong, I wanted to hunt caribou or moose in 2016

2 Archery bulls 6 archery cows 1 archery Coues 9 archery Javelina 1 archery squirrel 1 shotgun Turkey several archery bunnies

Totally guessing here Todd but I figure we a little over five miles round trip. Its a pretty hard tough 5 miles. Shooter was panting like a dog on the last leg out but their packs were light this time. Its their first hike sense mid December. I need to make another Sawbucks soon. Im currently trading packs from the black goat Miss B to the white goat Bonnie. Bonnie being in training and all takes the pack out when it is empty. She is taking to it pretty good but has issues with not knowing how wide she has become with them on. She nearly knocks the pack off when passing a tree and has come close to knocking me down with them as well. a few more trips and she will be good to pack some weight and she will figure out how much she needs to give way on her sides.

Thought I would add a few more pictures from some recent hikes. One of them I took Saturday with my hunting partner. With the exceptions of the 2 pics of the boys chillin in their yards we took a couple of roughly 5 mile hikes. The goats are fat and out of shape but it wont take me long to get them packing bigger loads. I had to expand their harnesses on the sawbucks to get them on the fatty's. Appears they put on a little weight getting hayed over the winter while the grass was dead. I just reviewed the pictures and its pretty neat to see how much they have grown sense i first picked them up from Southernexpress

You couldn’t convince me that on line apps haven’t made a huge impact on getting drawn. im used to getting drawn at least every other year for a cow archery tag. It has now been 5 years straight without a tag. The on line process allows you to fix your mistakes, it allows you to put in for more hunts without losing much as a result. And I'm sure there are a few that put their non hunting wife’s in because its cheap up front so they can pass a tag down to a kid as well. When it was a paper process I figure at least 3 percent made mistakes. I did that myself once…only once! That 3 percent helps increase my odds. Also by paper you must have the money before the drawing. For those who cry because uncle Sam is earning interest on your money. You are the ones I don’t get. You lost nothing out of your own pocket. The money/interest goes back into the animals in your state. Exactly what is the problem here? To my dismay the on line process is here to stay. I think they should at least charge the card up front. This IMO would reduce the number of applicant significantly.

Ha ha, my first thoughts when I seen the pictures was those boys are gonna be in the tents! Close the tents when your inside and they will be on top of the tents. Speaking from experience here. LOL Glad to see more folks get into them. Two things to keep in mind, don't pack them with much weight until there about 3 years old and be sure to get them in good hiking condition before you pack them with much wieght. They are just like us and need to be exercised and the weight picked up gradually as they get stronger. I just started packing a young doe I have. First time I put on a blanket and sawbucks she had no idea what was on her back and she took off at a high speed run. It was funny but Im glad I did so in my back yard/pasture and not out on the trail. Good luck to your son, they are great hiking companions. Southernxpress, the boys are huge, I will get you some pic's soon.

Wow, awesome work Jeff, just beautiful. I like your attention to detail.

I like to be at least 17 feet off the ground. I prefer 20 if possible. Can anyone explain to me why you cant put a climber stand where you can put a hang on stand? I do it all the time and never had any issues. I do add a ratchet strap to the base of the stand around the tree to keep in pinched to the tree so getting in and out it cant slip.

I guess I will throw my 02 in here. I think anytime we do something for the wildlife regardless if its to hunt over or not is a win win. The animals will benefit from it and I would like to think they would stay to populate the area. Any wilderness areas without much water should have rain harvest drinkers in them. I see nothing wrong with making rain or spring harvest containments, it will benefit all wildlife in a given area. The cow punchers have been doing it for years, fish and game does as well. I agree with Mulepackhunter that I don’t like seeing trash anywhere in our forests, however if it’s a working water tank and it benefits the wildlife in the area Im all for it. I would ask that if anyone decided to build one to do the best they can to make it blend in with the environment. Personally, if I ever decide to do something like that I would do my best to keep it hidden so others wouldn’t stumble onto it. If you cant see it , it cant bother you.

I am even more pleased as there is one less dog in our nighborhood. Great job Christina! Nice shot too! 1 down and about 12 more to go.

Congrats on a GREAT buck of a lifetime! love the drop tine. is his left eye messed up? hard to tell from the photo. GBA