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Any tips for things to bring to Arizona for hunting? I am going Feb 19th - 26th for Mt. Lion.

Just booked a Mountain Lion Hunt, "Tom Hunt Package" with Wade Eckel in Arizona, http://www.killerlionhunts.com/. Have heard only great things about this guy! My December Minnesota Bobcat Hunt got cancelled due to lack of snow, so I decided to take my flight voucher and go to Arizona for a dry-ground Mt. Lion hunt. My Dad got one about 15 years ago in Colorado and said it was an intense hunt, once in a lifetime type experience. I expect this to be the same as you can tell from the videos on Wade's website. I'll be going late February, and then a month later going to Ontario, Canada for a wolf hunt. Also in 2012 I'll be going to Wyoming the first week of October for a Mule Deer/Antelope combo hunt, back to Pennsylvania with the crossbow for whitetail, and then hopefully to Minnesota for the Bobcat Hunt that got postponed. Should be an awesome 2012.

PA Bow and Crossbow open till Jan. 16th. NY Fox, Coyote, and Bobcat still open for another month or two.

Anybody ? ? ? ?

He didn't make it through yet. Looks like a tasty meal for a Bobcat or Yote! lol

Any tips for the next few weeks? My PA tag is good till January 16th. Plan on using the Crossbow on some state land in PA the next couple of weekends. There are some food plots there, not sure what they will look like when I get there. Should I be watching food plots in the afternoons? what about the mornings, trails/travel routes?

I have the spitfire, it works well. I used it in under 0 degree temps and it worked fine. I set it up like 30-40 yards away when hunting in the dark, and like 60-70 yards away when hunting during daylight.

awesome, you can make a cool chandelier or something out of all of those!

Antlered Deer harvest #'s would drop, and fawn harvest #'s would increase. Remember when the NYS tags asked you to check off Adult or Fawn?

Simple question, Bare hands. Sit as quiet as possible on a known trail or near a food source. When the deer comes within arms reach (I've had this happen numerous times), grab the deer and the let the battle begin. No knives or any sharp tools. Just bare heads, choke the deer out cold or snap the neck.

Sorry to hear you dont have success every single year.

If I dont go to MN. My plan is as follows: Monday, Jan. 2nd (Holiday at work), go to PA to check out the land, mark some trail, etc. Hunt the afternoon watching food plot. Then go up and hunt there the next 2 weekends after that. Hunt all day Saturday and Monday both weekends. No hunting on Sundays in PA.

love the white patch on the chest, congrats! where did you get it?

I wear Under Armour snowboarding socks as my first layer, then cotton socks, then wools socks, then my boots which arent anything crazy or heavy-duty. I have hunted 10-12 hour full days under 0 degrees without any issues in Alberta, Michigan, Ontario, etc.

agreed, 100%

All im saying is that you can't base your judgment of 3N based on 50 hours and seeing 2 deer. How many deer saw that hunter and he never saw them? could be 1 or 2 , or could be 10? so say it was 10, now 12 deer in 50 hours doesn't sound so bad right?

Everyone is entitled to your opinion. I do know that every year, people from around the U.S, shoot deer between 10am - 2pm. The people who don't shoot these deer, are the people who aren't in the woods, right? You dont have to sit all day long. Mid-day I take a 2-3 hour walk, 2 steps stop/look/listen, and continue. I have snuck up on many deer like this. Also everyone has their own techniques. I am a huge believer in being scent free, as quiet as possible, least amount of movement as possible, etc.. I also hunt from the ground, so these things are more important for someone like me, than someone in a treestand or ground blind.

I can't disagree more. We hunt dark to dark and right near a hunting club which im sure pressure the crap out of deer. My father and I have killed many bucks on public watershed property in Putnam County, when we dont get them on private property. The key is to get away from the "orange army", and then when everybody leaves the woods at 10-11am for lunch, they kick up all the deer. You cant shoot deer sitting in your house. The original poster talks about 50 hours in the woods, like thats a lot? thats a little more 4 days only. So 2 days he could have seen nothing, which happens. It happens to us all the time, and the other 2 days he could have seen 1 deer each, which is not uncommon. In regards to the lousy 8 acres we hunt, the deer dont eat there or bed there. Its simply a pass-through spot SOMETIMES. Some years its first light, other years its never, some years its middle of the day. This year it was last light.

Yea it was pretty sweet looking. It's camo with the grips on it and stuff. Im used to all my dad's weatherby's which are all wood grain with engravings, etc so this looked so different lol. Good Luck!

I personally know absolutely nothing about ML's, however on sunday I hunted with someone who was using the TC Pro Hunter. He showed me some "speed breach" feature thing it has, etc. He has it paired with a leupold scope. Pretty cool looking gun. He said its very easy to use, and that he could even buy different barrels to make it a shotgun or rifle, etc?

agreed. Also the technique and ability of each hunters vastly varies. Some guys sit for 15 minutes at most, then walk around all day and complain they dont see anything, etc. Or guys go in after 1st light, etc.

Guy takes 3 bucks and only has to pay $500 fine? How about a 5 or 10 year ban of his license? or better yet, banned for life!

Guess it depends on what you plan to do with them. If your just killing them to get rid of them, a higher caliber like a flat shooting .243 or higher if you want. If you want them for pelts or to get mounted, maybe a .22-250 or .224 something like that

hillbillies! Shooting from the highway, baiting deer, no licenses, etc. I think there are more people who got tickets in that area than total hunters overall in my area lol. I drive down the road with a deer on the back and everybody stares and wonders what is going on.

Honestly, its not hard to use. What kind do you have? I bought an Excalibur and their website is very very informative. They have tons of 2-5min. videos explaining everything and anything.