being a 40+ year member of the "turkey hunting community", i thought having to miss the first weekend of the season to go to a funeral was a bad thing. this was the first time i got to hunt turkeys during the week, when the rest of the "turkey hunting community" was at work. dang, it is plum cool to have the woods to yourself. got some nice toms. caught a buncha cold water trout. (i'm a lifetime member of the fishing community too). by the way, big lake and crescent are plum full. first time in about 20 years they've been to the highwater mark. didn't try crescent. don't know about a winter kill or not. but we had our way with em at big lake. didn't try carnero either, but did chase a big tom and buncha hens to it somewhere around it. with all the snow and the long winter it seems to have either pushed the strut back later or lengthened it some. turkeys seemed to be still bunched up fairly well and calling a fair amount. sorta windy tho and it hampered calling efforts some. saw more deer in a week than i've seen in the last 10 years in unit 1. then i heard the azgfd ended the archery deer draw for that unit? what the heck for? it "was" good to see all them deer. not for much longer. saw thousands of elk. saw a couple that still had antlers and bunch that were in various stages of growing. drove down a 2 tracker one day, then again the next day, and there was a 4 point shed laying in the road. saw a buncha spikes that still had antlers. anyway, it was a great time. melting snow, lotsa water, deep mud. you could actually watch the country green up. i think it's gonna be a banner year for all animals in the mountains. well, if road bombers don't wound every small buck this fall anyway. but there are gonna be some big antlers and a helluva a fawn, calf and chick crop. really had a tremendous time. headed back again this week. ya'll best take advantage of good fishin'. when you guys are old you're gonna tell stories about "back in ot 10". Lark.
