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So this year I found out I had drawn a tag like everyone else after the 3rd round of card hits. I was already making plans for other things in September because no one I knew drew a tag. But come to find out, not only did I draw, but so did my work partner for the same hunt. So the planning began. Over the last 10 years I have done everything I could to help friends and family on their hunts and to learn as much I could. And it definitely paid off. Opening morning we were able to call in this dink for my buddy. At 25 yards he was able to knock the wind right out of him. He ran maybe 80 yards and piled up. That night we hiked his elk out and I went back in Saturday morning. I had several close calls, but couldn't seal the deal. One was my target bull that will probably haunt my dreams. I had him at 37 yards but couldn't get him to step out from behind a tree. He decided I wasn't sexy enough and returned to his cows and out of my life. Sunday morning came, and now I had 2 buddies to help. It was a fun day with several passes and almosts. One stand we had a small 6 come in, when a wolf about 200 yards behind us starts howling. That bull cleared the country. But I was going to pass on him anyways. Later that evening we set up on higher ground when an elk bugled below us. We gave a couple soft calls and he came in hot on a run. When he got to 22 yards I made my shot. He ran down hill where he took his final breaths. I had a lot of folks give me solid advice before this hunt and thanks to them we had an amazing time. I definitely would not have got it done without them.

4 days before the start of this hunt, Eddie Corona at OE4A contacted me about donating this hunt to me from a very generous person who was unable to hunt. I'm a double amputee combat vet and a diehard bowhunter. Immediately I got to planning. I knew nothing about bison and about bison hunting. Luckily I got connected with Russ and Laura Jacoby. They are bison whisperers. I can truly tell you that I would not have been successful on this hunt without them. Their logistical expertise is on par with extremely complex military deployments that I've been a part of. It's amazing to see what they do. The conditions this year were tough. There is still a ton of snow on the Kaibab. 4'-7' drifts are still present up there. Without a snowmobile or UTV with tracks, it was impossible to reach the blinds and salt. And the road leading in to the north rim is closed until June 2nd. I'm not convinced that the snow will be fully melted in time to get access with a truck. My hunt ended June 6th, so I definitely hired Russ/Laura or else I wouldn't have been able to access the hunt area. As most people know, this particular hunt means you have to sit in a blind, 14 hrs a day for an average of 14 days before you harvest a bison. You have to wait for them to come off the park. I mentally prepared myself for this. And I knew I was going to take the risk and try with my bow. It took us many hours just to reach the spike camp deep in the Kaibab using UTVs with snow tracks. It was slow going, like 9mph for 12 miles slow. After we finally arrived at the camp, Russ sent us 3 hunters out to hunt half a day while he set up the camp. Myself, Randy and Dave set out on the 90 minute ride to the hunt area. Randy and I dropped off Dave and then parked the UTV to begin our mile long walk into the blind. We hunted our way to the blind and as we approached the blind Randy spotted bison already at the water source. We quickly set down our gear. I grabbed my bow and Randy grabbed his rifle. Randy was able to take a quick couple shots and down went one of the bison. One bison ran away into the Grand Canyon park and the other waited by the bison that was laying on the ground. At that point I was able to slip in to 28yds and put an absolutely perfect arrow in the last bison. I shot another arrow and hit low in the sternum, but it wasn't necessary because the first arrow was a kill shot through both lungs. He fell and was dead in 30 seconds. We were ecstatic. We celebrated, hugged, cried and shared our viewpoints on what had happened. It was absolutely amazing! I couldn't believe I had snuck in with a bow, on the rim of the Grand Canyon and perfectly shot a bison!!! It took us long into the night to cut up the two bison and load them on to the snow machines. We used Russ's winches on the UTVs and portable winches to hoist the two bison into trees to make the work easier. Another 24 hrs later we were finally back at the main camp. After our goodbyes I drove home and got to contemplate what had just happened. I think I'm luckier than I should be. I never even stepped foot in that blind. I can't wait to try the bison meat from this harvest and sharing it with friends and family! Other than that...all I can say is that I am so blessed and thankful for OE4A for what they do.

I was only going to be able to hunt opening weekend due to work and other things going on. I had planned on sitting a tank since the monsoon has been pretty lackluster and then like clockwork a big storm rolls through the area on Wed evening. I get to camp on Thurs and there are puddles of water everywhere, I decide to sit water anyway and see what happens. Friday opening day comes, sit all day and only 2 does come to water. The weather was heating up friday and the puddles were starting to dry out, higher hopes for Saturday sit. Morning comes get to tank, I hear someone in the distance yelling at his dogs, some Turkey sound off gobbling after that. The hours go by, have people coming to tank mid day to check tracks, Have a drone flying overhead, more people coming to check tank. Im hot and irritated, its 1pm and I decide Im going to leave. I get up to stretch and look around and see a body of a deer, cant see the head. I get ready, a doe comes to water. I knew there were more than 1 deer so I stay ready. Second deer comes in and its a buck, looks like a decent buck. I decide I will take him. He drinks and I think maybe I wont take him, a little smaller than my original thoughts. He messes with the doe for a little while and starts to walk off, it was then that I decided to shoot him at 43 yds. He took a tumble right away, got up junped the fence and almost fell there. I lose him in the trees. I wait 30 mins and start to track, short blood trail as he was piled up only 30-40 yds from shot.

Fourm needs some hunting content so I thought I'd post my January archery buck. Opener I missed him in his bed at 58 after a crawl. Arrow deflected on a piece of grass in front of him that I didn't see. Clean miss. Next AM before light an epic battle occurred below me. Couldn't wait to see what they were. The guy I missed the previous day got whooped and was being escorted out of the area. He bedded on the top of small ridge. Guy who kicked his butt was a big old guy with crabs all around. He got a pass. Solo stalks are fun with no spotter but I had a hunch he'd stay for a bit after his whooping. I started crawling up the slope stalking the bush he laid under. Stalk took 2 hours to get to 30. I got to 30 from the bush and no deer or sight of him. Figured he'd left but I've been burned before thinking I was done. So I stood up slowly and still nothing visible. Crept up standing. At 22 yards a big rack was now visible from a bedded deer. I couldn't see him as his face was in the dirt. I only saw him after he woke. So he's at 22 yards bedded, doesn't know I'm there. No play. He's gonna have to stand and walk left or right three yards for a window. 4 hours later after I watched nothing but his rack move, and listening to him groom himself, he stood, stretched, and started feeding. Shot was 28 yards. He went about 150 and bedded. Found him dead in his bed an hour later. Sorry for crappy photos. He's only 17+" inside but he's tall and forky and heavy and scores well.

Today will be a grateful chore of deboning my first elk, & done with a bow. Lots of time spent prepping for this hunt: Road knowledge, locating concentrated areas of bugles at wee hours of AM, water holes, benches, & how bulls use the line of No Return (Rez border) to evade pursuit. This was a TUFF hunt; mostly due to my learning curve, but locals tell me this was the slowest they have seen in yrs. Seemed like all 125 tag holders brought 5 buddies in the forest, so many dudes buzzing around and sitting water! It was hot, smokey, high winds, & no cows to be seen/heard. I only saw 1 bull killed in the back of a truck. No real rutting activity until day 12!?! Bulls actively bugles from day 1 & called back to challenge bugles… but no interest in cow calls. I don’t call often. I actually don’t like to call until the last 150yrd—for any game. It was obvious when other hunters were near due to cow calls & the over frequency of use. I had my share of “could have been done”, like the 6x6 on Day 2 (narrow shooting lane and killed a tree at 63yrd). My caller granted me 8 days, then returned to the real world. I kept grinding. Hunt sun up to sun down. Trying different areas, different times of AM, different approaches. Even though bugles occurred every day, some days went by without seeing a bull. Then, things changed on day 12. Responsive bulls, yet still no cows (I guess I never found them). Bulls engaging to challenge calls & kept around with soft cow calls. I had activity all day long. I bumped a bull 5:30pm when pursuing his bugle. It ran 73yrd up hill. A scraggly tree 8’ in front of me partially broke up my figure. Quickly counted left side: G4, G5, G6=thinking this was a 6x6. Face to face we stared for “eternity”. He barked several times. Calmed him with meek cow calls. His caution factor overrode desire to breed and he slowly turned to walk away. Ranged at 83yrd, pulled back, broadside, WHACK, punched him with 100gr G5 Montec. Then heard a crash, but not sure of what was really happening due to topo incline changes. Found blood at impact site. Found bull 30yrd away, face down into a rotting tree on a steep slope. Ecstatic rush of achievement! Antlers were actually 5x6 with an earlier broken right G1, but I didn’t care! It was a late night. Had an awesome friend drive up to help pack out. While not a monster, he will be just fine as a memory to the hunt’s high/lows resting over the cabin’s fireplace. Took him to Authentic Taxidermy/Troy Smith yesterday; it was a haul & I passed several taxidermist en route, but Troy did great work on my pronghorn. History has shown me—go with the proven & you won’t regret it. Troy asked if I wanted G1 tine fixed… “Nope, keep him just as I found him”.🏹

After Googling the name on the dog tag I found, I was given several phone numbers, addresses and possible family members. I sent a photo of the dog tag to the cell numbers associated with the veterans name. About a week later, I got a response simply asking "Who is this?" After an explanation I was told that I had indeed located the next of kin. The vets widow, son and daughter in law were living in the same home. When I asked the daughter in law how the tag might have ended up out there in Morristown where I unearthed it. Back 60 years ago, the hotel there was also a general store, post office and had a Texaco garage. Sp4 Jarvis and wife were living in Sun City. He loved trains and since the old hotel was only a few hundred feet from the railroad tracks, he could take photos of the trains while having his car serviced. The tag arrived at his sons and widows home yesterday, this Memorial day weekend. Y'all have a good weekend and remember the reason we have a 3 day weekend.

Saw tons of antelope today but this one made the mistake of coming into my decoy at 30 yards! Added story! Was in a valley just north and way of the highway 82/83 intersection. Saw probably 50+lope running in a circle around the valley. They would let me get to about 70 yards and then push the does off. About 10:00 in the morning I moved to one of the few trees to get out of the sun and put up my decoy. I saw this buck and a doe about 200 yards up the hill running towards another hunter at the top of the hill. The doe spooked and ran and this guy turned, saw my decoy and slowly made his way to me. Took about 30 min to cover those 200 yards. He stopped at 60 and started to go the other way so I drew. At that point he started to come back again so I let down. He went down into the wash and popped up behind my decoy at 30 yards. Two steps to the left and I had a solid quartering towards shot. Put it in right in front of the shoulder and came out the opposite hind quarter. Took out lung, liver and femoral. He ran about 20 yards and went down. Was a ton of fun.

I was able to take my son on his second youth turkey hunt this past weekend (last year being the first). After several close calls on the first day of the hunt with no shots fired he was able to connect on this tom on the second morning. The birds threw us a curve ball on the first evening and roosted in a different location several ridges away. From hunting this location in years past I knew where I wanted to get before first light and set up. The birds ended up being roosted a little farther than what I had thought but I still liked my chances and setup. There were several toms gobbling off the roost but you could hear the hens show up to pick them up. They were out of sight over a ridge or two. It sounded like they were starting to head the other way but luckily the boss hen was talkative and we got into a nice argument. After about 5 minutes of back and forth she decided to come kick my butt. And guess who she brought with her a strutting gobbling tom. My son made a great one shot kill to the head. I love it when a plan comes together. It is so fun and exciting to be able to share these experiences with my son, some of my favorite hunting memories.

We were excited to see that my son drew a junior deer hunt again but this time in an area we never been in. We put in some crazy hours scouting google maps and onX maps just to find an area that looks interesting. I hit up some friends that hunted the area before and they gave great advice. We did scout trips and seen 10+ bucks a day and was feeling great before the hunt. Thursday I parked right outside Colby’s school and when his bell rang, he came running out, jumped in the truck and I think I peeled out a little bit. We got to camp, my pops had things already set up and we ate dinner and were ready to roll in the morning. My son decided to go to bed at 7:30 pm which was a new thing. Opening morning was the exact opposite of scouting, basically saw a coati, 4 mule deer does, 2 small coues bucks and 5 coues does. At 10am we decided to move to glass bedding areas. Glassed for a bit and my pops and I told Colby that we have to glass at 11am, we cannot go back to camp for lunch. We told him that’s when bucks change their beds. Sure enough at 11:12 I saw a buck moving from one bed to another. Colby asked if it was bigger than his buck from last year (that’s his only goal, to get something bigger than his last buck)I said yes and he said game on. We waited til the buck bedded down again and made our move. Colby is real confident under 300 yards so we snuck in to 267 yards and the only place we could find a lane to shoot in was out in the open field. No shade, just dirt and sun and no wind. We waited 3 hours and 12 minutes and when the buck was ready he stood up, the buck was quartering towards us and Colby put a bullet behind his shoulder and the bullet went all the way to his opposite side rump. The buck hunched up, went a few steps and rolled down the mountain. Turns out that this buck is real old, can’t imagine how many lions, bears and hunters he evaded the last 9-10 years. Had some giant hooves and teeth were won down pretty good. We hung around the area for a few more days glassing, saw plenty of bucks but nothing in this caliber and headed back home today.

I have always enjoyed journaling my noteworthy hunts on here both for posterity and entertainment. Although this is not MY hunt, it is noteworthy as it is my sons FIRST hunt. Not just of deer but of ANYTHING.. My son has never shown ANY interest in hunting. ZERO. Not even in VIDEO GAMES. I mean ZEEEERO. So when he said he would be interested in applying for the deer draw I was somewhat surprised. I think we were ALL shocked when he actually got drawn. I spent a LOT of time planning and preparing and begging for advice (a HUGE thank-you to all that sent info to me) I had a pretty good game plan of how to get him a deer. All that went out the window after we learned he is HORRIBLE at shooting. We practiced and practiced and got help from some extremely good teachers(not me) but he just couldn't find the rhythm. He developed a pretty bad flinch even with the lightest of deer rifles. So I switched him to my 223ar and locked him into a pretty decent tripod system(field optics research) to help with the flinch and stability. He was shooting good this way but it severely limited our range and options for hunting. I decided we would be limited to 100 yds or less and in a controlled environment. So that means sitting water. So now our epic journey begins,,,,,, Day one. Opening morning. It's over. The end. Our view curios visitor The best part of the entire hunt for HIM The end...... Sat until 10 am when it started getting hot and I figured they might come get a drink. First saw the above doe and watched her for quite awhile. Then another and another. Eventually two small bucks showed up. There was a larger buck farther back behind the water hole but Easton could not see it well. The small one was standing broadside at 80 yds. After about 5 min of watching and waiting for the bigger buck he decided the little one was good enough. Calm as a rock he he went through the process we practiced. Pretty much a bang flop. I was a "little" nervous about the 223 but it WRECKED that little deer. Never had a chance. He was a ROCK. ZERO nerves. ME on the other hand. I was a nervous wreck. Took me forever to calm down. I was so bad I for got to video it. Oh, I HAD the camera set up and I turned it on. I even followed the deer around for 5 min all the way through the shot. I just neglected hitting the record button. I so totally suck at video. It is my Achilles heel. About 5 min after the shot 2 buggies came up the trail. I think if he waited for the bigger buck any longer we might have gotten nothing. I commended him for his good call and his excellent shooting. Funniest part of the entire event was afterwards. I asked if he had fun and he said it was awesome. I asked if he wanted to do it again and without pause and very emphatically he said... Nope. Oh well. We'll see,,,,,

Spending the last few evenings processing my bull has been a lot of work , but something I always look forward to . Teaching my son to take pride in your blessings , along with teaching him skills that I hope he will carry on to his son. Having my father there this time to see me pass on the passion of hunting and the outdoors the way he instilled them in me is something I will hold tight for the rest of my life. This has been my favorite part of this hunt.

First off thanks to the good Lord for the time I got to spend with my boy, it was a heck of a time with plenty of ups and downs. Can't say enough how cool it is to watch your kids slowly become young men. Second thanks to @M@tt for coming down to help the first couple days. Great guy for sure. And of course @zackcarp for squeezing room in the walk in to hang the kids buck. This hunt started with high expectations, Kiki said he wants to hunt muley's, and so we did. Started off in an area I thought was a slam dunk. As usual (for me anyway) hunting mule deer made me humble. Spent the first couple days glassing up only forkies and does. Moved the camper closer to home, glassed up more forkies and does. Luck turned Sunday morning when we spotted a couple decent coues bucks and we went for it. As they do like ghosts they disappeared while on the stalk. Thought for sure they were heading for thick cover but in retrospect that phrase got me.. "coues are always where you last saw them". Looked up to see them high tailing it away from us. Next morning got off to a 15 minute late start, my fault but it could a made the difference. Got to the glassing point and immediately picked up a herd of muley's. Saw one that I knew right away was a stud. Bailed off the hill to give chase. No biggun where I thought he should be though. Had a doe and a spike walk right in front of us and that was it. I decided to pull out to not ruin a future chance. Came back that evening and no deer to be seen. Talked momma into coming the next morning, promised her we were close to sealing the deal. The next morning she was not as gung-ho when 330 rolled around, but she still came. Got breakfast at Denny's (part of the deal we made) and off we went. Got to the spot early and started glassing in the dark. No deer... Kept glassing... No deer.... Kept glassing... A couple does.... Oof. I told Caliche even if it's trash deer we should probably go for it since momma don't come out often. He agreed. Well once the sun was up I spotted one lone coues over a mile away verified he was a decent buck based on overall frame but we kept glassing for a closer opportunity. Suddenly like clockwork several white rump patches started appearing very close to the coues buck. We all converse quick and decide there is a chance the big one is nearby and if not we still got the coues. Bailed again off the hill, while in route momma said the big one is out there. We got to where I felt comfortable stalking and started to glass and could not find any muley but the WT buck was right in front of us under 200. The wind also started to shift. Momma said where the big muley was but due to the wind shift and not knowing the location of the rest of the muley herd we quickly decided let's kill this coues buck. Texted momma we are on the WT and getting ready to shoot. Well momma was so mesmerized by the muley she didn't keep eyes on the buck we were actually shooting and she didn't realize what I meant by WT. So we set up for the shot in a quick and quiet rush, Caliche looks at me and says "dude, this is so exciting!" and a minute later bang! I see the buck in my binos fly backwards and drop. Clearly we are full of adrenaline and I tell him he dropped, I texted momma "he dropped him". She responds I'm still looking at him??? I'm like no babe he shot the whitetail buck! So we rack another round and creep in just in case. we were in tall grass and sure enough the hit was a spine shot. Saw him up flailing and told him put one through his neck high and he did but for good measure had him put another in his head. Hence the bulging eyes. Once we really stopped and got to look him over I was pretty stoked at the buck he just killed. I assured him this buck was an old stud. Pretty gnarly horns and big body. Rack had some serious character and we had no regrets shooting this guy over the big muley. Called momma for the pickup while I showed Kiki how to quickly gut a deer. We earned ourselves some deer dragging sweat and met momma for some more pics. As per usual my new hunting partner Bucky the Boston terrier was there for the entire hunt, although not on the stalk he still put on the 12+ miles with us for the rest of it. Can't say as a dad how proud I am of Caliche.. out of all of my kids he's the one that seems to be bitten by the hunting bug the most. He was all in and fully immersed in this hunt. Even being the first one to pick up deer behind the glass a few times. This kid has grit and he sure makes me proud. He even caped his buck himself and measured him. He did dam good too on both fronts. Buck grossed 94" and netted like 88 and change. Can't wait to do it again. Got another youth tag this Friday and can't wait. It's my youngest boy Enoch. I don't think he's gonna embrace the suck though so probably forkies are on the menu, but if he's happy I'm happy. Thanks for reading. Ps. Not gonna lie, we had a hard time not laughing while taking the first few pics. Them crazy Steve Buscemi eyes

Shooting a bull when it's 90 degrees outside is a lot of work. I've been hunting close to home for the most part with the occasional excursion to the greatest unit. Seeing more than a few elk. Until today, i had my standards pretty high and passed up maybe 20 spikes and small bulls. The area I liked themost got hit hard by a couple of professional hunters and you may have seen the bulls they took on ig or Facebook. That being said my normal area was devoid of elk the last couple of days. Mostly from insomnia and little from curiosity I went to the greatest unit ever this morning with determination of shooting the first branch bull I see. My dog gave me a guilt trip so he came along for the ride. We get to our spot maybe 30 minutes after first light and start walking. 10 or twenty minutes after leaving the truck I spot a calf and few other non bulls. We get closer and for the first time ever my dog is not growling at rocks he's picking fights with. Then all of sudden an antlered bull sticks his head out for a moment 65 yards away and disappears just as quickly. I wait maybe 10 minutes, maybe 20 minutes, honestly idk, he comes out broadside at 60 yards. I am shooting a 1948 marlin off handed that I picked up from cwt member. (Apologies I forgot your handle) My first shot, no reaction, second shot no reaction, chambering of third shot he starts to cantor off and I go full.john Wayne shooting everything he's in an opening. I go to where my first 3 shots were and I find blood instantly. The herd climbs the hill opposite of me without my target in tow. i start following the blood trail thinking hes within a few dozen yards. Not the case, at all , I follow and the blood trail actually gets bigger for once. After an unknown distance and time, I catch up. He stumbles up and I put two more rounds into him, one behind the shoulder and the ending shot in the neck. I think this is my 10th elk and first with a rifle.

A while back, Edge posted about finding a dog tag and getting it back to its owner's family. Tim (Edge) is 1000% a great guy. I chimed in on the dog tag discussion about having my Great Grandpa's WWI dog tag and full uniform. Tim asked to see pics, but I had to wait to get into my safe after the keypad died. Access happened yesterday, so this post is for Tim/Edge! My Great Grandpa on my mom's side was in WWI and he passed away when I was in 8th grade. He was 92. He had 12 kids (that survived, 14 total) with my great grandma. As everyone was going through stuff, they came across his original dog tag and full uniform. My great grandma asked what should be done with it. My grandma knew I was a military history buff at 14 years old, so she grabbed everything and said "I know who will appreciate this!" and got it to me. It wasn't until a few years ago when my grandma's sister passed away that I was able to get the original helmet to go with everything. As promised to Tim/Edge, here are the pics. Full set of leggings (plus an extra), helmet, oversees cap (dad had a different, nsfw name for those), pants, jacket, and helmet.

In this day and age you try to raise your kids right and give them opportunities and experiences that you enjoyed as a kid! Then getting to watch your kid pass the tradition on to their kids! Gives hope that not everything is a complete wreck out there in the real world!

I keep replaying Friday afternoon, Oct 6, in my mind and am so proud of our son, Jacob. I'm also thankful for the friends (family) that helped make this happen. Grandpa Goose and Christian made this hunt even more special. We were glassing in Unit 10 Friday afternoon, looking for a cow elk that we (Christian) spotted that morning over 2000 yards away bedded between two junipers. A bull bugled to our right down in or across the canyon immediately east of us. We knew he had to have cows with him. While making a plan, I decided we didn't need three people going in. That was too many bodies and, therefore, too many chances for something to go wrong. I stayed back with the gear while Jacob and Christian went in to look and, hopefully, make something happen. I know when it's time to let go and time for someone else to lead him, especially someone I trust wholeheartedly. 10 minutes later, at 4:40 pm, I heard the shot, followed by the wracking of the action of Jacob's 300WM. Then dead silence. Nobody answered my radio or text inquiries. This dad was shaking, but confident. Jacob is an ice-cold shooter. My radio went off at almost 4pm letting me know Jacob hit a cow solidly. She entered a thick clump of junipers and never came out. I grabbed the gear and headed down to Jacob and Christian. I got the full download. Jacob made a perfect 357-yard shot on a slightly quartering-away mature cow. Christian kept eyes on the area while Jacob and I picked our way across the canyon. Christian guided us in perfectly after seeing her fall and tumble down the canyon side. Jacob paid his respects to his elk and helped me drag her 15 yards down the canyon to the wash where we could process her easier. We got some great trophy pics before we ran out of light and began the hard work. Fortunately, Christian and Goose were able to drive Christian's Pioneer right up to the elk. The ride out on the tailgate of the Pioneer was beautiful under the stars. I got my chance to say thanks to all those above who watched over us. That's when my emotions caught up to me. I lost track of how many times I hugged Jacob.

Well my turn finally came and I drew a bonus pass tag on the second hunt for a Gould's tag. I was dieing to get in the woods after all the Gould's photos were posted last week. Finally got to the woods yesterday afternoon set up camp and had a few hours to do some scouting. First thing this morning I had another hunter move in on the birds I was calling in off the roost and it was game over for both of us. The scouting from the day before really paid off and we hurried to our plan B spot. We were able to locate and call in this strutting tom and his 7 hens. It was a short hunt and we were done by 6:45 this morning. I look forward to putting in for Merriam's again and getting to hunt for myself more often.

I was able to take this absolute behemoth of a bear this morning. I typically hunt the spring but due to the shortened season, late winter moisture and cool temps, I was not able to turn a bear up. I had hesitations about hunting higher elevations in the oaks due the great crop of prickly pear not far away at lower elevation. Well I'm glad I stuck with my original plan.

had a great fly fishing trip to Colorado and was blessed to hook into this 26" giant brown trout... it was similar to the River Runs Thru It movie where he falls in and fights the fish while floating down the river... lucky to be alive and to actually land it.

Went to grab something out of the jeep when I realized I wasn't alone.

Story to follow, I'm still packing out

I was blessed again with an awesome Goulds tag, and was able to take this awesome double bearded gobbler with a muzzleloader shotgun. It took me a long time to draw this coveted tag and used my 26 bonus points. We had 6 gobblers talking to us opening morning. This one came in on a string to the call and put on a show for us.

I just got hit for a sheep tag!!! Brian