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I've killed a few elk with my rifle, one being a nice bull that went on the wall. I've been apart of dozens of other rifle bulls killed, and cows killed. I've been apart of several archery bulls killed, and I've even had an archery bull tag myself about 10 years ago (Scouted 35 days, hunted 14, and went home with tag soup). Hunting elk with a bow is no easy feat. I scouted 15 weekends before my hunt this year. I also spent a full week scouting the week before my hunt. I then hunted hard for 13 days. On day 13 I finally was able to achieve the hardest thing I've ever done hunting........ Kill a bull with my bow. With all the scouting I did, finding elk was never a problem. I had plan A-Z, and then some. I was in elk every day of the hunt. The big problem was me. I was always able to screw it up some how. Lol. I've never been a super patient man. Well with every day that passed, I learned that patience is a very important tool to the elk hunter. I had opportunities every day of the hunt (most of which I blew), and opportunities at bulls much bigger than the one I ultimately killed. I had a standard of a mature 6x6 bull, score not being a factor. On day 6 of the hunt, I was able to make a shot on a very nice 315ish bull. He came in quartered to me, and I fought the urge to take the shot at 30 yards. He knew something was up, turned and started walking away. At the 40 yard mark, he was perfectly quartered away, and I took the shot. I hit exactly where I wanted. He took off like a bat out of heck, ran into a tree, and pulled the arrow. After tracking him for 400 yards, the blood was gone. My heart sunk. We backed out overnight, and began the search the next morning. After crawling on our hands and knees for another 200 yards, we lost all blood. We spent 2 and a half days searching for that bull, and I never found him. My only conclusion is, that I hit him a little too far forward, and only got one lung. I hope with all my heart, that bull made it. I spent the next half a day thinking about calling the hunt, or continuing on with it. I finally decided that I would continue hunting that area in hopes of finding that bull alive, or dead, and that I would only take another shot if it was a for sure thing. Once again I was on elk every day, and had more and more encounters. I had to stop myself from a few nice opportunities, on nice 6x6 bulls. I still wasn't over hitting the first bull. Fast forward to day 13. I get up a little bit late, but get into a spot that was close to camp, and had been abandoned by the rest of the other hunters. I hear 3 bulls going crazy, and I spent 2 hours shadowing the group, keeping the wind right, and the elk close. I finally get to where I can feel the bugles in my chest, and I can see elk feet. I let out a call, and my bull came running in like it was possessed. He ran in so fast, he actually over shot me by 9 yards. He was now quartered away, and only at 9 yards. I figured this was as good as it was going to get. I settled my pin 2 inches low, knowing my arrow would hit high at that distance, and sent one right through his heart. He ran less than 40 yards, got the shaky legs, and went over. 10 seconds later a 330 bull that I'd been after, comes walking right past me at a whopping 12 yards. He stops, he bugles, he pisses, he walks over to my bull, he barks at him a few times, and then he walks off like nothing happened. Every hair on my body was standing up!!! This will go down as one of my absolute favorite hunts!! It will go down as one of the hardest hunts (physically and emotionally) I've been apart of. It is also one of the proudest hunts I've ever been on. While I passed on bigger bulls, and saw much bigger bulls, I'm super pround of the little 5x5 I was able to harvest this year. I feel horrible about the one that got away, but I learned from it. ELk are big targets, but they're tough targets, and you have to be careful about your shot. While the kill zone is big, if you don't hit it right, you're doing yourself and the elk no favors. I could have left that bit out of my story, but it happened, and I wanted to be completely honest about my trip. I have a knew respect for how tough these animals are. Anyways, enough of my jabbering. Sorry for the photos, but I was solo, so I didn't have anyone to take them for me. I even had to do a selfie. Ugggg.

Me too!!

Just wanted to do my part to help out with those annoying cows.

Got the Unicorn Antelope back from Rossislider Son and sitting up there with the rest of the boys. Matter of fact Rossisslider son has done them all Ha ha.!!

I've been up bouncing back and forth helping a few different hunters in units 3B, 3A, and 3C over the past few weeks. As far as rut activity, it has been pretty terrible. I looked at a lot of bulls, none quite so eager for love as this youngster who I inadvertently (at first) drew in on a string from 500 yards across a steep canyon. I was initially just trying to draw him out of his tree cover to get a look at him, but after 20 minutes of back and forth bugling without him budging, I gave one chirp on the cow call, and he was on a mission. Since he was coming, and wasn't going to make our hit list, I decided to have some fun.

Been following this for awhile. Heard Game and Fish revoked Blake’s guide license for life on Friday.

I got the opportunity to help out my good buddy Dan for his archery 3a/3c bull tag this year. After 10 years of applying he was lucky enough to get one of the last tags available. Opening morning we went in to an area we have hunted in the past and as the sun came up we were greeted to a few bugles but nothing to really get your blood pumping. We tried a few intermittent cow calls and bulges but the bulls just were not ready to cooperate. Finally about 8am we got a bull fired up and were able to work into bow range of him and his 10 cows. Being the first day of the hunt we decided to pass on the bull and hold out. it was way to early to fill the tag with a smaller 5x6 bull and end the fun. That evening we moved to another spot and did some looking around and glassed a few canyons. Found a few waterholes that had water still and pretty good sign. We made the decision to hunt this area in the morning. The second morning we parked and started our hike into the area we checked out the evening of the first day. With no road traffic we figured the elk should be more vocal and receptive to calling. We were right about the bulls being vocal, we had 5 bulls going crazy bugling all around us. As the sun came up they continued to bulge and could hear one group splashing around in the waterhole near us. We called with no luck, they bulls were not ready to commit and come in to our set ups. we decided to circle around to get the wind in our favor and make a play on the 2 bulls we thought might be worth shooting. After an hour we worked our way down into the draw we thought they would bed in and got in front of a decent 6x6 bull (think this is the bull he ended up taking on day 7). That afternoon we decided to sit on a waterhole that was in the area the elk were in and had a good amount of sign on it, we had a bunch of deer and elk come in but no bulls that peaked out interest on day 2 of the hunt. the most excitement came in the form of a sow with cubs coming in for a drink The 3rd morning of the hunt was much like the previous morning, lots of screaming bulls all around us but could not seem to get them to interested on our calling. not sure if it was our calling or set up but we could not get them to commit. We again decided to just play the wind and move in quietly and try and get in front of them as they headed to their bedding area. With the wind in our face we slowly moved in to where we thought we could get a chance and everything worked out perfectly. Unfortunately this bull too was not quite what my buddy was looking for and he made the decision to pass, in a year or so he should be a pretty good bull. Days 4-6 were much of the same, the only day we really did not get much bugling action was day 5, not sure why but they decided to stay quite. made the decision that morning to call it a little early and head back toward the cabin making a detour over to Three Bears Cafe for a good breakfast to recharge the body. we did quite a lot of glassing as well as sitting water just trying to figure out if there was any type of pattern we could put together. Day 7 of the hunt we hiked in to our area to find the bulls screaming, we were able to get our eyes on three of the bulls and watched them all morning until they headed into their bedding areas. We could not make a play on them due to where they were bedded and the wind direction. We decided to hike back out and head back to the cabin for some breakfast and cat nap. We got to our parking spot and made the hike to our area. we set up on a finger leading down the canyon to where the elk were bedded. I glassed up the bull my buddy Dan ultimately ending up tagging bedded across the draw from us. We talked back and forth for a couple hours trying to decide if he wanted to make a play on him or not. He decided not to and wait it out, that is when things got a little haywire. About 4pm a bull down the ridge starting piping off pretty good. that is when the hole canyon became a bugle fest. we did some quiet subtle cow calls and had a bull coming running in from behind us. The bull stopped broadside at 43 yards but decided to pass as he was smaller than the bull across from us we did not go after. Dan and I continued to call and made the decision to get a little bit more aggressive. After a few minutes of calling the bull we had been watching across the draw made a bee line down the hill to the bottom and started up the ridge we were on. We could hear him crashing through the thick scrub oak, I told Dan to move around the other side of the jack pine we were sitting by and get ready just in case he changed his mind and wanted to take this bull. The bull kept screaming as he worked his way up toward our position. I got my camera out to record just as the bull crested the top of the ridge and stopped broadside at 32 yards. Dan told me he was going to take him and let the arrow fly, The shot was a little bit back but looked fatal. we called called and got him to stop at 57 yards and Dan was able to put a second arrow in him. The bull got wobbly and fell over just 10 yards from the second shot, we were thankful we would not have to track him. Unfortunately during this whole turn of event my phone did not record, i was bummed to not have it on video. I can only figure I forgot to hit record with all the excitement. When we got to the bull we paid our respects and looked back at the fun we had for 7 straight days. He was not the biggest bull by any means on the mountain but one Dan could be proud to have harvested. We got him taken care of and packed out, we were thankful to have some friends show up for the pack out. I am sitting on 13 bonus points and will hopefully be able to draw this tag next year and do it all over. for some reason the pics are turned and I cannot turn them

In the fall of 1873, the US Army adopted the 45-70 Govt round and a new generation of the Springfield Trapdoor rifle. Made with the Allin conversion of the Civil War era M1861 musket, it was a fairly reliable breech loading rifle. The Trapdoor model like the calvary carbine model above, would undergo a few more changes over it's two and a half decades in service. Improvements like a serrated trigger, a ramrod that doubled as a bayonet and the Buffington rear sight; a flip up ladder sight system, calibrated out to 2000 yards. The 45-70 was conceived by the army brass as a volley gun, capable of raining down 405 grain lead projectiles from up to a 6000' distance. But the Buffington sight proved difficult for troopers to master, add to this ammo shortages and an anemic post war Defense budget and you had troops sent into the Indian Wars woefully un-prepaired for accurate rifle engagements. The Trapdoor carbine was heavy, it's ammo; heavy. The rifle rounds trajectory was much like a brick and it's rate of fire was less than stellar, specially when compared to the repeating rifles often used by the late 19th century soldier's adversaries. But that's our history. And I thought a quick comparison to today's Army assault rifle might give one pause to think what carrying a Trapdoor into an engagement might have been like and how far we've come. Weight: An 1873 Trapdoor and 100 rounds of ammo (60 rounds of 45-55-405 was standard issue for the horse soldier) weighed in at about 18.5 pounds. Today's M4 with 500 rounds weighed about the same. Rate of Fire: An army trooper with an M1873 was expected to put 6 rounds of 45-70 downrange per minute. The M4 has a sustained rate of fire of 700-950 rounds per minute. Not a bad improvement over less than a century. But what will the next century bring?

Thanks for the cow culling. I could have used it for sure a week ago.

Finally decided to make the dreaded trek to the ER. Will probably go early Weds. and will likely be admitted. So if you don't see me around at all, you'll know why. I'll be back if I don't wind up with C-19.

Well after 10 Days I finally got it done. Shot him around 5:30 as he and 4 cows came into water. My brother in law also had the same tag (The unit with the most archery tags) unfortunately had to leave Sunday morning. Not the biggest bull I saw but, After hunting 14 days in 11m in 2018 and eating tag soup this bull will do.

Spent the last 2 weeks scouting about 9 days off and on. The heat would force me home every couple days. The rut seemed like it was over. Very few bulls bugleing. I keeped running into another hunter all over the unit. We were looking at a lot of the same country. We shared a lot of info and he told me about a specific bull he was after. Wednesday night we were back in the same Canyon and after dark he stopped to talk. He told me he had found his bull. I let him know with that being said we would not be hunting that canyon and would head for a different area. As a unsolicited thank you he gave me info on another bull. My son found the bull the next morning and again in the evening. A friend spent the night at the glassing point. About 3 am myself and the crew show up and we occupy 3 vantage points. At first light were in shooting position and here comes the bull. As other hunters arrive and park next to us and walk on out the cows spook and away goes the bull. Public land has its frustrations but Has way more pros than cons. Heading back to the truck I’m informed that a friend has spotted another bull. Off we go and the chase is on. Our friend calling turns this bull around at about a half mile. Not sure what he said but at about a quarter mile the bull starts running in. We get set up quickly and the bull showed up at 35 yards. My son shoots the smoke clears the bull walks about 25 yds and falls over. I have to thank everyone that helped glass, pack and occupy real estate. Adam, Jim, Jim Bob, Bobby, Colt.The successful hunts myself and my boys have had over the years is a large part because of you. And a special thanks to Mike. I hope to hear soon you need help packing.

Made until the last morning. Left hip took a dump. Great hunt and I ended up losing 25 pounds along the way. Once I recover I should be feeling a lot better and even more prepared for the next hunt.

I was out and about this weekend and saw hundreds of birds in the desert. Some of them are 2-3 miles from the closest water holes. Can't wait for the opener.

Well, my AZ rifle hunt was successful! I had some great tips on bucks in 5B sent to me by a couple individuals here on CWT in private messages and other tips sent to me by Curtis in Mormon Lake. However, tips are no good unless you put your boots on the ground to verify them and learn the area and behaviors of the target you're after. I had a perfect field crew who came together on this hunt (Keaton, Jared, John, and Mike) and I owe them my thanks and gratitude for their help and support. Likewise, there were others who were willing and ready to help out as well. This hunt was incredible, and truly was a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I am writing it up for publication. However, John put together a YouTube video of our journey to success and that link can hopefully be found here... https://youtu.be/QR0x5hY_70U

Congrats again Cody!!! That was an amazing morning!!!!

Something in a stiletto heel. LoL

I got this guy chasing cows on 9.11, had several pictures of him hounding the group of cows and him buggling in a couple shots. Only heard a few bugles that weekend, pretty slow due to Temps I believe.

Been after this guy for a few days. Finally put him to bed this morning. I sat on him all day and rushed my stalk due to some road hunters hearing his bugles. Hopefully he comes back. Every time he would try to mount a cow they'd run off and he get pissed and charge the other cows and destroy every tree around him. There is still little to no action from 0900 to 1630. Don't know why its upside-down.

How many bugles are man made? Cows and calf's no bulls 20 total no bulls and elk don't drink with cattle.

Lots of bugles and called this bull from cows opening evening for my son. His first archery bull!

Here is my opening day. I love chasing bugles but wouldn’t change this day for anything.

My niece filled her poverty tag pretty quick this morning