4X4 Coues

Here is a trail cam photo and mount photo of a great buck a friend, Willie, killed a couple of years ago with his bow. He hunted him in velvet but never had an opportunity for a shot. Persistence paid off in the late season and he was finally able to harvest this buck. He grossed around 116" and had huge bases. Willie had photos of this buck from the prior year as well. He talked for two years about how he wanted to lifesize the buck if he was ever lucky enough to harvest him.

Kofa Water Hole

This is looking from the dam into the pothole which is 12-13 feet deep

This is looking at the dam and the silt pile that was moved with buckets and more than 50 volunteers

Above is another view looking at the dam side of the catchment. Below is the crew that went with us. We had my two kids Hannah and Cole, My nieces Madeline and Megan, and my nephews Gage and John. My dad Bill and Brother Garrett were also along.

We just returned Sunday from a waterhole project in unit 45B in the Kofa Mountains. This project consisted of cleaning out all of the silt and sealing the catchment. This project was first completed in 1982 and has since developed some leaks so that it wouldn't hold its full capacity. Prior to the dam being built in 1982, the hole held about 6000 gallons of water and after the dam about 40,000 gallons. The catchment got very low on water last summer and had to have water flown into it by helicopter. This becomes very expensive so the project became a priority. This project was funded by the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society and the labor was provide with mostly volunteers. These projects are a great way to give back to our game populations and volunteers are always needed.

Years Gone By

Here is a photo of my grandpa with me on the right and my brother Garrett on the left. I believe this photo was taken in about 1976, so I was five years old. This was on a ranch we called "the Float" which was the ORO ranch northwest of Prescott. It is a huge chunk of private land that my dad, grandpa, and cousin hunted every year. It was open to the public until somewhere around 1980 when it was closed off. It had some great mule deer as this photo shows. When our family hunted there, it had no elk. Now there is a healthy herd of elk and some huge bulls are killed there each year with an outfitter who has the lease rights to hunt the ranch. I think the private land encompasses about 150 square miles, and controls access to more checkerboarded land. Some of my fondest memories as a young boy took place there while I tried to keep up with my grandpa or dad each day. I actually killed my first deer there. If anyone has any old time photos and stories they would like to share, they can email them to me and maybe I can post them. Enjoy!