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2019 continues to be a pretty fantastic year for our clan. Part 3 of our fall story brings us to my little girl’s (Kembria) unit 33 youth whitetail hunt. Some of you may recall that last year she shot a beautiful 170+ inch muley buck a couple weeks after turning 10. She then followed that up with a javelina in January. Little by little, my girl is getting better and better and having a blast doing it. I have found taking Kembria out and teaching her to be an entirely different experience than the first go around with Draysen. She loves the hunt and everything that goes along with it, but isn’t picking it up quite a quickly as Draysen. Her deer hunt last year may have been a little too easy, because javelina hunting with her was rough, but I learned some lessons in patience and being a good understanding dad that I hope to never forget. Kembria is a great shot and steady as a rock on the rifle. The challenge is getting her to that point. I think we have finally overcome her difficulties in properly shouldering the rifle and using the correct eye. Her biggest remaining obstacle is target acquisition in the scope. Like a lot of new hunters, finding the target in the scope is challenging for her. We have practiced shooting hundreds of rounds and she is improving, but she is impatient and gets flustered very quickly when things aren’t going her way. In the days leading up to the hunt it dawned on me to set up my Phone Skope “Skoped Vision”. This would allow me to see what she was looking at and give her a little extra help. This helped tremendously, and I highly recommend it if your youngsters are struggling with target acquisition. We were going to hunt an area in 33 that Draysen and I have hunted many times before. It tends to hold a lot of deer, but it is a transitional area where they are traveling at a decent pace, so you have to be fairly quick on the trigger. I knew this might be a challenge for us. Kembria is a bit of a social butterfly, so when I noticed that the Arizona Mule Deer Organization Region 5 was holding a youth camp in the unit, I decided that this would be a fun opportunity for her to get to meet and hang out with other youth hunters, and add to her overall experience. We headed out around 4:00 PM Thursday evening for the camp. Draysen had a football game that night, but I was anxious to get to camp and set up before dark. So my wife offered to drive him down to meet up with us on the mountain early the following morning. We arrived, set up camp, got Kembria checked in with AMDO and crashed. It was a cold night. We woke up the following morning around 4:30 to 42 degree temperatures. We were hunting on a full moon, so I knew the deer would be headed to their beds early after the sun was up, and wanted to be in position well before it got light. For Draysen and me, it is normally about a 25-30 minute hike into our area. Kembria’s little legs don’t move quite as quick. To date, this was probably her longest steepest trek. But we made the moonlight hike in about 45-50 minutes and managed to avoid the cactus and rattlesnakes that have been a problem for us in the past. We got into position with just a couple of minutes left before glassable light. Within our first 10 minutes we were watching a number of does sidehill the canyon across from us, and waited for a buck to show. Leading up to the hunt, I had talked with Kembria about deer expectations, knowing the shots she might have to take could be challenging. We both felt good that for her first Coues deer, she would shoot the first buck that gave her a good shot. About 30 minutes in I glassed up a spike side-hilling in the same direction the does had gone. Unfortunately, I also noticed a couple of other hunters (a dad and his son) on the same hill as the deer. They were working their way to the top of the mountain, were about 500 yards from our buck, and were slowly closing the distance. I knew they were oblivious to the buck. Having hunted this spot many times in that past, I have seen this play out in this very spot before. These other hunters had failed to get in position before it was light. They were headed up the hill in broad daylight on the east facing side of the hill. They obviously could not see the deer below them during their hike to the top. Worst of all, they were minutes away from blowing our buck out of the area. I knew we had had to move quick before our buck bolted, so I threw the rifle up on the tripod and had her jump in the rifle. She did well and found the buck pretty quickly at 350 yards. I adjusted her turret, and flipped the safety. We just needed a few more seconds, then it happened. The buck noticed the oncoming hunters and bolted down into the canyon bottom below and out of our lives. Flustered we watched the hunters blow the does out as well. Eventually they took up a position at the top of the adjacent hill from us skylining themselves. At this point, once they hunkered down to glass and stopped moving, I wasn’t overly concerned about them. They hadn’t done their homework, and they were out of position until much later that afternoon, if at all. As long as they didn’t make a ruckus, they wouldn’t be a problem. I was confident this buck was just the first of what would be multiple opportunities that morning. I made a quick call to my wife and Draysen. They were now about 30 minutes away. I instructed Draysen to head up to a different canyon several hundred yards away once my wife dropped him off and to keep me updated on what he saw. It wasn’t long (maybe 45 minute) before we had another opportunity. Kembria had decided to take a break from her binoculars and play on her tablet. At her age, I just want her to have fun, so don’t push her to stay in the binos. I had walked about 20 yard up the hill to get a different angle and spotted a buck moving almost straight down the hill across from us at about 300 yards. I rushed back and again got her in the rifle. But as expected the buck was traveling to his bed and dropped too far below us before she could acquire him in the scope. I gave Draysen a call. He had seen a couple of does, but no bucks and wanted to join us, so I told him to hike over and up the backside of the hill. I was also anxious for him to join us to have the second set of eyes watching the deer as I was working with Kembria on the rifle. About 20 minutes later, we found our third buck of the morning. This one was traveling sidehill, but moving VERY fast. As I was watching him Draysen showed up and got him in the binos. Unfortunately, this buck covered about 500 yards in a couple of minutes and despite our best efforts, Kembria couldn’t track him in the scope as fast as he was moving. Eventually, he dropped out of sight and I could tell Kembria was started to get upset. Draysen decided he would walk 100 yards down the ridge to watch a spot where we had killed a buck on a past hunt. I noticed a tear coming down Kembria’s cheek as he walked off and asked her what was the matter? She said, “Daddy, they are moving too fast, I don’t think I am going to be able to shoot one.” I put my arm around her and assured her there would be plenty of opportunities, we just needed the right one. After reassuring her and taking a couple of minutes to have a candy break with her, I got back into my binos. First thing I saw was two bucks walking up hill SLOWLY, directly across from us at 250 yards. Again, I threw the rifle on the tripod, got her in the rifle, and within seconds, could see on my phone screen through the “Skoped Vision” that she was on one of the bucks. I encouraged her to shoot as soon as she was ready, but after a few seconds, no shot. I asked why she wasn’t shooting. She said. “I am waiting for him to turn.” She has been taught to take broadside shots and the buck she was on was facing uphill straight away. But he was giving us the break we needed. He had paused momentarily to eat some fruit off the top of a barrel cactus. I said, don’t wait for him to turn, he may start moving fast and not give us a shot. His whole spine was exposed to us at the steep angle, so I told her to shoot for the middle of his back between the front shoulders. Seconds later “BANG”, followed shortly by the unmistakable thump of a bullet impacting flesh. Her buck flopped and rolled downhill till it stopped rolling at a bush. Draysen came running up as we were hugging and high fiving. We showed him where the buck had rolled. You could just make his head out to the side of the bush. He was still moving, but was clearly not going anywhere. We were going to have a pretty decent and steep hike down the mountain and up the next to the deer, only to be flowed by the reverse hike back. So we stashed all non-essential gear under a bush to pick up on the return trip and left Draysen to guide us into the deer if needed. As we hiked down we found a nice 3 point shed and eventually made it to the deer. Kembria had blown his spine out, but he was going to need another shot to finish him. She put a round in his chest at close range and it was over. As Draysen made the hike over to us, I tried to find a good spot for pictures, but everything was too steep, so I dragged him down to the bottom where hundreds of pictures where taken. Draysen, eager to learn, asked if he could quarter out and get all the meat off the buck himself. So with a little coaching, big brother broke down Kembria’s deer, I piled all the meat in my pack, and we headed back for the truck, stopping to pick up our gear on the way out. We had decided to stick around for the rest of that day and the next. Draysen has a unit 33 whitetail tag for the end of December, so we turned the rest of the trip into a scouting trip to expand our knowledge into additional areas of the unit. Poor Kembria wasn’t used to the level of hiking we were doing, so asked us to keep the long steep treks to a minimum. It was her hunt and making sure she had a great time was the top priority, so we never strayed to far from the truck and also managed to make lots of stops at convenience stores for treats. Saturday afternoon we broke camp so we could head home after dinner. Tim from AMDO told us that they were going to be raffling off some prizes for the kids after dinner, so of course Kembria and Draysen wanted to stick around. I am glad we did, both kids scored big time. Draysen took home a pair of Nikon binos and Kembria took home a camp chair, a rifle shoulder harness, and the grand prize, a new rifle! It was a pretty great weekend. I want to give a big thanks to the Arizona Mule Deer Organization group from region 5. They put on a great camp for the kids! They fed us excellent food, made sure that any kids needing help had mentors, and all the kids took home goodies. Stay tuned for part 4 of our fall adventure. I head up to 3A3C this weekend for my mule deer hunt!!! Here is a look at the "Skoped Vision" setup. It was a bit cumbersome, but helped a lot! Kembria's Coues Hunt Camp Setup Night 1, getting ready for bed. Who doesn't need a break from the binos at times. Post kill shot. Her buck is on the hill in the background, just before we hiked over. The victory shot! Kembria's crew. Big brother processing his sister's deer. Picture break on the hike out. Little afternoon nap after getting back to camp. Draysen wouldn't be happy about this picture being posted!!!😂 Bedtime on night 2. Scouting for new spots. As usual, dad does all the work!🙄 Time to break down camp. Dessert just before the raffle. Getting our money's worth out of the grinder this year. The new raffle rifle.

My friend I both ended up tagging out. Sunday morning for me and Sunday evening for him. Two opposite locations. We always found the cows with the bulls. Had a great hunt!

try puzzle rock................. lee

Opening morning 12A West we got a late start but she tagged out @ 7:50 AM. Kids hunts are so much more fun than my own!

my mother knew of my wanderlust and that after HS graduation i would not be around too much longer. So in that short period of time she told me she wanted to spend some time with me on my pursuits-camping, hunting, fishing, trapping. It was hard for her when at about 16yo I stopped bringing bass home for the freezer. But one night trip to Saguaro when every popper or torpedo was hit-and hit again-as soon as it landed she threw all of her bass back also. One morning I took her out to run my trapline in Bulldog and we walked up on a trap in the dark with a truly giant bobcat in it. All I had on me was my knocker stick and I did not want to tangle with it like that. I went back to the truck for my .22-"keep your eye on it mom". Years later she was still cursing me for leaving her alone in the dark with that cat. She slept in the truck bed at Roosevelt and in tents at Big Lake and Lyman and Chevelon. Breaking camp one afternoon at Big Lake she points-"Over there between those two blue spruce is where your daddy and I made you on the Fourth of July!". Oh Mom! LaVonne Marguerite Elbert 1927-1990 RIP lee ps i saw mom cry only 4 times. my graduation, my wedding, dads passing, and the time i walked in her front door in a surprise visit and butchered a 40lb Cortez halibut in her kitchen sink. she was gone just a few months later. Grandmother Bessie couldn't have cared less about the dogs but she always wanted to see the cats.

Thanks to the Arizona deer association for hosting a great camp. Met a lot of cool people up there. Opening day was windy and cold. I froze in our tent the night before, it was miserable. We were cold, tired, etc. saw nothing. next day the bulls were fired up. We got in on them early, but my son missed a 60 yard shoot. He shot 5 feet over its back. that afternoon we were gonna sit water, but they started screaming again. We left the water and chased them down. Son made a great shot, drilled her and she dropped. Crazy packout. We drug her to the highway, which wasn’t too far, then hiked back to the 4 wheeler and then drove back to the truck. We drove the truck up to the highway and then loaded her up, traffic and all. headed back to the ada camp for a steak dinner.

This year my wife drew her 3rd Antlerless Elk Tag. We have also hunted there with my son on a youth hunt. I've also had one tag for this unit. Of those 5 tags we have filled one, mine about 6 years ago which was kind of dumb luck. I thought I was a decent elk hunter but this unit has served us some humble pie for the last 3 hunts. I'll keep it short but we didn't really see much at all. We tried glassing, sitting water, and still hunting and we only saw some elk on one day. That was mostly due to some assistance we got from CatfishKev. Saw a herd up on a knob but by the time we got to where we could possibly get a shot they were long gone down in a deep canyon. Went back to that same area later that evening but we only saw a couple from a long ways off and no time to get there before the sun went down. Sitting water was fruitless. The areas we still hunted were not productive. Not sure if I just suck at helping or I'm just not very good when I can't chase bugles but we had very little action in general. The hunt was not a complete bust though. Got to meet a forum member in the field and hunt together a bit which was very cool. Thanks again Kevin! My father in law from Indiana joined us in the field one day and it was his first time seeing javelina. My wife and her Dad started up the hill while I was parking the truck and they walked themselves right into the middle of a herd. Wish I was there to see that but glad they had a little excitement together. I guess the boar in the herd was not too happy that they got in between him and his sows and made quite a ruckus about it, running back and forth trying to protect his herd. We also met Dale and Heather from Wild Heritage at their place returning some sticks that Kevin had borrowed from them. They tried to help us but the area they recommended we try did not pan out. I was reluctant to post this lack of success, especially after seeing these reports of youth success and others filling their tags, but maybe this might help us learn something for next time. Probably didn't really help that the elk had been stirred up from the youth elk and deer hunters, pushing them into their comfort zones where easy opportunities were few and far between. It is what it is. I can admit that I basically suck at elk hunting when the rut isn't going off and I can't chase bugles.

Great prices! These won't last long. What Generation is the Glock? Looks like Gen3.

For the price range you are looking at, take a good look at the Maven C1 10x42's. And get a Field Optic Research bino tripod adapter. I see you are in Gilbert, I am as well, , if want to take a look through mine we can meet up and you can check them out .

Stop replying to posts from 3 years ago, Kenneth. 😂

thanks. If that still works, I am game

This made it all worth it though. We turned in about 400lbs of meat to the processor. It will be Traeger time in a few weeks.

Good effort man. Last couple have years up there seemed to have been a little tougher on the youth hunts. It's like the only thing those powerlines produce anymore are 200 inch mule deer! No shame in it. You tried and as stated that's hunting.

Sweet. To many obligations to make it to the early hunt but I will be there for the late hunt. Which side did he draw?

I have a buddy who is being guided by him on the Bab in November....I am jealous.

Well I’ve drawn Gould’s three times....😎😮. Brian

First time elk hunting and first time hunting 7W. Our scouting trip in July gave a few potential spots to camp and hunt but we did not see any elk at that time. When we arrived on Wednesday, 10/16, we were happy to see our primary camp location was still open and we quickly setup camp so we could get to scouting. We went out to our primary hunting area that looked promising in July but did not see anything moving and no real fresh sign. Thinking that maybe this area would be more suited to a morning hunt, we headed back to camp for the night. We were excited to hear a few bugles in the early night and went to bed feeling optimistic for the morning. Thursday morning scouting was very uneventful with no game seen at our primary spot. We decided our afternoon scout would be closer to where we thought the bugles from the night before were coming from. We didn't see any game that afternoon but decided that we would sit this area in the morning hoping to catch something in the field before they headed to bed down in the hills. We set up our blind with good views of a field and tree line. We had some downed trees in front of us and set up plenty of natural background to hide our silhouettes. No bugles were heard that night. Opening morning we head over to our blind and wait for the sunlight to start to peak over the hills. We were not super optimistic since we hadn't seen any elk and did not hear any activity the night before but to our surprise, at first light, we spotted 2 bulls and 6 cows in the far corner of the field. We watched them for a while but we could not get them any closer and they slowly made their way off into the hills, well out of our range. Feeling better that we at least saw some elk, we went back to glassing the area hoping for another chance. Within a few minutes, we spotted a bull and cow about a half mile away. My buddy let out a few cow calls and they immediately perked up and started looking our way. A few more calls and they both started heading towards us. We continued to call and they continued to advance. The bull was a beautiful 6x6, the cow was good sized and they continued to come towards us and our call. There was a barbed wire fence about 100 yards in front of us and the pair continued to advance. They quickly closed the distance to fence line with the cow in the lead. One last call and the cow jumped over the barbed wire. She was broadside and I squeezed the trigger of my 7mm Rem Mag. The cow gave a quick jump and started to bolt to my right, A quick cycle of the action and the second shot had her down for good. This was all by 0645 opening morning. I was extremely excited but almost sad that it happened so quickly. We got her field dressed, loaded in the truck and took off for Casey's Processing in Flagstaff where she weighed in at a nice 294lbs dressed and caped. We cut out a backstrap for dinner and headed back to camp happy with our success and looking forward to filling our other tag. That afternoon was uneventful but the next morning was very similar to opening day. We had a group of 4 cows that we were able to call in to approx. 150 yards and my buddy quickly filled his tag. 2 days, 2 cows, mission complete! I'm blessed to have such great hunting buddies, that helped me on this hunt and allowed me to take the first shot. Here's my girl.

the sounds of autumn...........actually come wafting through the open window at 6am. skedaddle out the back door-sure enough Dude and another smaller buck sparring in the neighbors back yard.

Couple weeks ago I was west of Payson on 414 I glassed 3 coues bucks for awhile. I was also told that the 414 goes all the way to rye and there is some good country there as well. I was also told to take sycamore road off of 188 to the end and hike the trail into the canyon and that was a good area for some coues and there are mullie bucks in the lower elev.

I hiked up the Abineau trail last week and there was a nice herd at about 10,500' uphill of the waterline trail/road. Bulls were bugling at 10am. Don't call me for help if you get one there!

If you go to ashurst get there as early as possible. The bite is better early in the morning.

Last time I hunted there, the Border Patrol came by my camp and made sure to tell me that I was camped in the middle of a major illegal migration corridor. That sure didn't help me sleep at night, constantly hearing things in the dark. I slept with my .357 on my chest at night.

Just watched an episode of meat eater and he was in the wetstones. Watch it and you can see what the country looks like .

Maybe cause the last line in his post says “What do you all think?” I said what i thought, and I wasnt talking to you