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After a lot of years of contemplating, I finally decided to bite the the bullet and apply for wyoming. I really wanted to hunt this year and decided on unit 102 becuase of the draw odds and a moderate amount of public land access. I only had 5 days total for travel and hunting which equated to about 2 1/2 days to hunt in a unit I have never laid eyes on before. The opener worked out great with my 5 year olds son's fall break so he came with me on the hunt. A big snow storm rolled in a couple days before the opener but I still decided to stick with opening weekend for our hunt. We rented a little air bnb cabin in our unit and our host was very gracious and gave us hunting permission on his aprox. 100 acres which bordered public to the north. Opening morning we decided to access a big chunk of public land along the big horn mountains. After a few miles along a county road road we hit a huge snow drift that was impassable so we had to hoof it the last mile to our acess point. When we got to the access point there were already numerous trucks there that had come along the county road from the north. We got up to a big knob and could see many other hunters who were clearly looking for antelope along with a lot that were making their way up towards timber who were probably deer or elk hunting. As we got to our high spot my son was complaining about his feet hurting so I told him to take his boots off. Sure enough he had big blisters on his feet. It was my fault as I made him wear brand new snow boots as opposed to his normal hiking boots because of the snow. After glassing for a bit and seeing no antelope and only hunters we decided to head back to the truck. I had to carry him 1 mile out of the hills and 1 mile down the county road back to the truck. We ran into town and got bandaids and electrical tape to try and fix his feet up and we switched to his regular hunting boots that were broken in and much tighter. That afternoon we decided to try the public land that was adjacent to where we were staying. Every access point had multiple vehicles parked at them and every little knoll had an orange hat on it. I was checking my onx, scrambling, trying to come up with a game plan. I found a stretch of public land about only 1/2 mile wide and 1 mile long right a long the highway but though it may not be hit as hard as some of the bigger chunks of land. It had a lot of little rolling hills that could hide an antelope. After about a 1/2 mile walk in this section we saw 3 does running and we made a break to try and intercept them. We went able to before they hit the highway and crossed over into another unit but at least we saw antelope on public. We decided to get on a knob in this area the following day because at least we had it to ourselves. The next morning we were kind of slow to get up and as I got up and looked out our window I saw a string of about 50 antelope on the adjacent private to the west. They and just come off public! We got dressed quick and and walked over the the big chuck of public they had just come off of and got up on a little hill where we could see them. They were acting really skidish and had probably already been shot at at day break. They we still on private but as a vehicle drove past them they turned and started headed back toward public. I was set up and ready to take a shot, but when they got within 50 yards of the fence line the mulled around and bedded down. I waited for about an hour but they showed no intention of crossing the fence. I decided to glass to the west and north in the public section to see if I could turn anything up. After a while I glassed up a head of a doe bedded down to the west at what I guessed was about 1500 yards. I kept watch trying to determine if it was within the boundaries of public when I see a big buck stand up and stretch right next to the doe and bed back down. I'm pretty sure the are on public so we make a bee-line towards them and when we get over there we realize the are 15 yards on the wrong side of the fence. They rest of the hunt was pretty much like this. Close calls but just outside of land we could hunt on. We saw probably 500 antelope in our unit but they very much know where they are safe. It was a great trip with my son and one that I will never will forget. We plan on doing it again next year but the key will be to try and line up some private land access as these antelope definatly know where they are safe.

No tags in Arizona for us this year. But it is always nice to look at my antelope from 2020 and my daughter’s from 2016. Considering last year was so dry, my goat on the left looks great.

I have been using Millers Southwest with good results. They have a cold trailer up in Forest Lakes you can drop the meat at as long as it isn't full. Then pick up in Queen Creek. Or drop it in Queen creek if you want. The trailer was there today when I drove through, but once they fill it up, they send it down the hill.

Here is a pic of the crew and family.

Story following.

After going through a divorce and trying to figure life out. I lost my fire to hunt (she hunted with me) and hunted a few years and it was depressing so I took a leave of absence. Then a good friend asked me to teach him how to hunt 3 years ago he got a javelina tag I half butt showed him how to hunt. He bugged me about deer until we got tags last year he got a deer I got tag soup. Javelina season was over in about 2 hours for us we both tagged out. This year was different for me I got a new 243 about a month ago dropped a leupold cds scope on it and learned how to use it lol I am old school. Everything I had heard was that this year deer where hard to find. This unit doesn't produce very many bid deer normally so my standards are typically set low. Opening day we see 5 doe not bad considering what people where saying day 2 we get to our first spot and people are there back up plan hit a spot we seen a good buck in the year before. I don't hike in in the dark so we where glassing the area we where going to be hiking through. I set up and within 3 minutes I have this guy glassed up at 7:30 a.m. I hit him with a range he is at 285 I dial my scope in and get on him squeeze the trigger sob I left the trigger on roll the safety off and squeeze the hand loaded Hornaday 95 gr sst hit him high rib hit his spine and out the other side. The fire determination and love is back. God is good now I just need to loose some weight

Finally posting about my DIY antelope hunt. Broke some stuff on the way up and on the way back, had tire failures too, but that did not deter me, lol. I scouted this area back in August, saw the biggest buck ever there, so that's where I went each day. I didn't see that huge buck again, but I sat a water hole in that area. I used my Ranger as a blind, sat about 200 yards from a waterhole. It was comfortable, out of the wind and sun and the antelope didn't seem to care I was there. On day 2, a very unusual buck came in. He had a pure white head and a prominent black cheek stripe. Reminded me of an oryx. Trouble was he wasn't very mature. Sure would of made an awesome mount though. He also came in on day 3, so I had to decide not to shoot him twice, lol. Also on day 3, I was amazed to see a small herd of elk nearby. I wouldn't have ever guessed there would be elk around there. 4 huge bulls and 2 cows. Man were they dark compared to Arizona elk. Also on the 3rd day a pretty big buck came in. I really liked him so I decided to try and get him. Getting out of the Ranger and into a shooting position proved difficult, plus he was dashing all over the place, then left the water pretty quickly. I moved to a berm, set up and took a shot at 645 yards. Just missed him! Went back to the Ranger and sat a while more. Another group of antelope showed up and there was a buck similar to the one I just missed. I watched as he chased does and ran off all the other bucks. He was ruling the roost! I liked him, so while he was chasing does, I got out of the Ranger and set up for a shot. When I got my sights on him, he had his head down getting a drink. When he lifted his head, he was kind enough to turn broadside, so I squeezed the trigger. After the shot he was gone! I stood up but couldn't see him. All I had on me was my rangefinder, so I started panning looking for him. I saw his white rump out in the field. He ran 80 yards! I go over to him, there's a huge pool of foamy blood next to him. Turned out the shot went through both ribs without hitting bone and took out both lungs. I was a happy hunter! As he lay Didn't have a pen, so I signed it with antelope blood. First broken leaf spring. Second broken leaf spring. First blown tire. Second tire failure. Fresh backstraps made it all better.

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Well after waiting for 10 years for this tag I finally got lucky and drew the tag. I knew that I wanted to go with a guide. After talking to many different guides I decided to go with A3. They were great and sent me pics of many different bulls earlier in the year. I was able to show up a couple of days before the hunt and we looked over a couple of different bulls but after seeing this 8x7 I knew he was number one on the list. On opener we were unable to turn him up but we were pretty sure he had not been killed on the opener. The next day Jay one of the owners was able to turn him up in some thick stuff. We headed that way. He was a couple of miles away from where we saw him the day before opener. There was no way to get in on him for a close shot so we set up on him at 885 yards. We waited him out and when he got up to get out of the sun we were able to place a shot that put him back down. It was such an amazing experience and the guys at A3 are the best out there. The bull scores 363 7/8

The wet paper sack bowl looking forward to ASU doing some damage in wrestling!!!

That buck is impressive! Wow what a stud! Congrats to your wife on a great shot and successful hunt 😃

Yes, it does not limit the ballistic solution. If it gets a distance reading it will give you a ballistic solution reading too. Yes it will give corrections in MOA, that’s what I use.

I will make a quick video when I do mine either tonight or tomorrow. The spring compressor that the auto stores rent are ok for working on springs for cars and such, but are really sketchy when working on the heavier springs on trucks. The heavy compressors I got from amazon work great and feel really safe during the process.

Well they both are fairly new to hunting so limits on bulls werent huge but I had a couple buddies come up to help with my buddy who also drew a late rifle tag as I was going to be taking my girlfriend out. Well Kyle (the other hunter) went with the other guys we got a call opening morning that they hammered a pretty decent bull down in a big canyon. Was pretty awesome to hear about all that went in that morning on setting up on this bull and how it went down. Congrats to Kyle in his first kill ever and a dang good way to start. As with my girlfriend we were so close multiple times and had a really nice 6x6 at 60 yards in the thick cedars but unfortunately never gave us a shot opportunity. On night 4 we ended up getting into a heard and sealing the deal. Everything finally laid out perfect for her, we snuck in quietly and wind was perfect and after all the hard work she has put in for this hunt I couldn’t be more proud how it went down. This has been a year and half coming from when she first started hunting, so when this bull hit the ground the emotions we had were off the charts. She made a great 200 yard heart shot. I couldn’t be more proud of this bull you harvested, she definitely deserved it. Good luck to the rest of the rifle hunter out there putting in the work on the last couple days! The days like these is why we do it!

Well, some of my best elk spots came up empty this year. I did a lot of scouting, and they really moved around. But I did eventually find some decent bulls. It was a tough call, but I settled on a place that I thought wouldn't have a lot of pressure, and had a couple of legit shooters hanging around. Opening day did not disappoint, as the bulls were on schedule and in place. But by the time we had dropped down the canyon, and back up to a knob to shoot from, they disappeared. We sat there till 4 looking for them, but to no avail. My buddy went back up high to look some more for them, and found another 6x6. It took us an hour to get out of that canyon, and by the time we got up there, the 6x had moved on and we could not relocate him. On saturday, we went back in there, and could only find some smaller bulls that didn't slow down for a shot. By the end of the day Saturday, I was pretty beat up. I decided to take Sunday off completely and recover. After church, my son begged me, " let's drive down forrest road **** and just see if we can glass something up. I reluctantly agreed. And sure enough, we did. With my son standing there, excited, I couldn't help but shoot this bull. My son ranged him at 487, i touched off my tikka 300 win mag, and he dropped in his tracks. He struggled, and got back up, but fell over again. It took us a minute to find him, but we did, and thanked the Lord, who is always good. it was a great hunt. Good time spent with friends and family.

Good luck Jazz.

Sweet buck if that had eye guards (2-3 inches) it would go 123-125-

My son got it done today. Just about a week after he got his first archery elk he got his best deer to date. We made more amazing memories that will live a lifetime!!

Congrats on a great ram. That is awesome!!!! My best hunts where with my kids. Can't wait till my daughter draws her sheep tag. Been putting her in since she was 10 years old. I am hoping she will get to shoot both a desert and rocky in her lifetime. That one commit is shocking. Not a big fan of that attitude.

Bummer you weren’t able to pull it off. I have had good luck reaching out to landowners ahead of time, hopefully that works out for you. Another tip I like is to hunt a week or two after the opener. The pressure drops dramatically when you go later in the season. Congrats on great memories made with your boy and a new experience for both of you.

My little brother (zackcarp) and his wife found this buck. Unfortunately opening day we got the news that our dad had passed away so we left thinking we were done. Fortunately i was able to return with some friends a couple days later and make it happen. I know that I had my dads help getting it done. This buck will be known as my Dads buck from here on. I got my passion for hunting from my dad and am doing my best to pass it on to my daughters.

I’ll go 112”. Slammer

Got my first rifle coues hunt this month. I got this buck on camera once over salt. I've set up more cameras up and down this wash hoping to get him again soon. He is in low desert, so I've got a few hills picked out to glass the ocotillo from. If I can't find him, I'll head up to some higher country where the coues bucks are a little bit more dense.

My son has killed a couple mule deer but this year he killed his 1st Coues. Due to his school schedule he wasnt able to scout with me. I scouted 3 different weekends and with it shaping up to be a tough hunt we decided to hunt this buck. I actually figured he was smaller than he is. We were both happy as we walked up to him. We started our hike at 2am and made it to where he was by 6:15. Shot shortly after. Good scouting and a good plan worked out perfectly. Made an absolute perfect shot in front right shoulder/heart at 380yards. Bonus Rams during scouting