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Showing content with the highest reputation since 07/07/2019 in all areas

  1. 71 points
    As I lay here in my tent, Mr. Buddy heater on low, 6" of snow surrounding us, camp 75% packed up....well...what can I say. Taylor is a badas$. We packed up Tuesday night and headed to Kaibab Wednesday morning. Rained the first 4 hours of the drive until we hit The Gap. We were ready for a 12 day mule deer marathon. Taylor was so excited to finaly be on the road.... The rain held off just long enough for us to set up camp, then started snowing. We tried to get some scouting in, but it started snowing hard enough we couldn't see 50 yards. So we headed back to camp for some dinner and a good night's sleep. Thursday morning, snowing up top, raining down low. Scouted down low, saw a couple "end of season" bucks tending does. Went up top in the afternoon, and battled the snow. Saw 3 more "end of season" bucks, but a lot of deer. Lots of smaller bucks too. With 2 minutes of "legal light" left as we were heading out...we saw an "opening day" buck. Only about 26" wide, but really tall, good forks, good mass, and a nice 6" sticker on his left antler off the G3. He would be our goal on opening morning....or so we thought. Opening morning showed clear skies, 19°, and snow covered hills above 7000'....and fog. Made glassing more than 100-200 yards impossible. So, we left the location we had seen the big buck for later, and went to a spot that has produced for us in the past. Got there just as the sun was breaking, and glassed up one of our "end of season" bucks and passed on him. I walked out on a point to glass some canyons and started picking deer out, from 200 to 2000+ yards away. Found a decent 4x4 @ 1575 yards, but across 7 or 8 canyons....no thanks. Found a 1 antlered 3 point, and I swear I saw 2 lions hightailing it. Couldn't get a good look, but definitely not deer running like that, and light tan. So back to the truck,and fog had burned off by 8:00. Decided to drive back and look for the big buck. On the way out, I was glassing every finger and cut....at 8:40...."there are some does.....ooh. And a buck. You might want to get out for this one....and grab the rifle....yeah, grab the rifle for sure." I range him, "430...dial 1.5MIL. He is moving....454, dial 1.7MIL. He is quartering away...he stopped...put one in him." BOOM! "He is down! Great shot!" We watched him for 10 minutes without so much as an ear twitch. Got landmarks, grabbed the packs, crossed two canyons, and definitely no ground shrinkage when we got to him. 5 hours of exhausting pack out. At the check station, they measured him at 31" inside spread, 33.25" outside. Taylor made short work of the late season, getting her buck about 1.5 hours into the hunt. And topping my biggest buck I have ever taken too. I am so proud of her, for the hard work she puts in shooting, for the positive attitude, for wanting to spend time with me, and her being such a great kid. I thank my wife too, for putting up with the time and money I put into hunting. And most of all, I thank God for allowing me my health, my wonderful family, and the beauty and the creatures he put on this earth.
  2. 70 points
    Here is my 2019 Az strip mule deer. It only took me 19 years to draw the tag!! This was one of the best hunts I’ve ever had! Mostly because I was able to share it with my girlfriend who was there for the scouting trips and the Hunt. She was so excited to be there and watch me take a buck of a lifetime! I couldn’t have done it without her! After finding out I was diagnosed with cancer and had surgery a couple of months ago I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to make the hunt. She was there every step for me!! This Buck is OUR buck!!
  3. 59 points
    Got drawn for the 1st general WT hunt in 33, had two locations I was tossing back and forth that hold deer. Well I went to the Redington location and it paid off. Started glassing at 0600 and by 7:15 had 3 bucks at 792 yds. Closed the distance to 438 yds and tag filled. Kind of sad that it’s over so quickly, but looking forward to WGP’s chorizo and snack sticks!!!!
  4. 54 points
    It was a TOUGH hunt where I was at in 6A......almost no bugling the entire hunt. The first week, I found 4 mature bulls feeding together down low and not a cow in sight! I knew it was going to be tough. After several passes on smaller bulls throughout the hunt, I finally got lucky and sneaked in on this bull while he was raking a tree. He was all alone and only bugled twice after daybreak. Pure luck I was able to come across him in the rain. One arrow at 36 yards did the trick...he was down in 25 yards after a bugle stopped him once he was hit. I feel very fortunate to have this bull on the last day!
  5. 54 points
    My season lasted a little over a half day. I got into my blind at about 7 am. Didn’t have any action until about 10 am, when a doe came in. After she left, nothing went on till just about noon when a two point came in. After that it was a steady stream of deer, couple spikes and does, till 1:30. I had about as much of the heat as I could take. I never had been so hot in a blind. I was wringing wet with sweat. At 1:45 I had enough. I got all my gear ready to go and took one last scan out of the blind to make sure I didn’t miss something. I looked up the hill and here came a big buck down the trail a long with a 1x2. I scrambled to get ready. The buck came right in front of my blind at 15 yards and was quartering away. Drew, settled my pin on the last rib, and released. The arrow it exactly were I aimed. The buck ran up the hill and stopped then walked off. I didn’t like the reaction of the deer so I gathered my stuff and went back to camp. Decided to give the buck two hours. At 4:00 I started on the blood trail. Not much blood. A few drops here and there. When I got to where I last seen him, the blood quit. Slowly I followed a few tracks and a couple broke limbs. 40 yards later there he was piled up. The arrow hit the last rib and came out on the back edge of the opposite shoulder. What an amazing day for a great buck! Brian
  6. 49 points
    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
  7. 49 points
    Thomas was able to harvest an unbelievable Buck this morning. Huge thanks to those who dropped everything and assisted this morning! Kevin, Shelvin, Blake and Cliff are first class! You guys are my heroes!!!!! Thanks for making Thomas's last day very special!
  8. 49 points
    we got a call Yesterday from her 1st time we talked since the initial Hostage call they make when they arrive at boot camp. she completed the Crucible sat. in 11 weeks Ive seen a chin a nose or forhead in pictures and wasnt sure it was her. today this was sent to me via txt. we go to her graduation next week and bring her home for 10 days. Final Drill picture this afternoon. went from this to this.
  9. 48 points
    Well, not much of a story on this buck. Didn’t have time to scout much this year and didn’t really see anything when i did. My brother took a friend on the youth hunt a couple weeks ago and kicked this buck up in one of our old honeyholes. Went in this morning and killed him at first light then spent the next several hours packing him out. Lots of mass, blades and stickers on this one. He was an old dude
  10. 47 points
    Got my first mule deer and i couldnt be happier. Hunted this guy for days never seeing him and yesterday morning he decided to show up. We weren't sure if it was him or not so i gave chase. Once i was able to get a good look at him i texted my buddy that i was going for it. Chasing muleys for the first time was pretty fun but man finding a mature buck can sure be a challenge!
  11. 46 points
    Holy cow was this an adventure!!!!!!! First, I started off by spending $2300.00 on a sheep tag. Then I didn't know if my wife had the tag or if it was mine. Luck ended up in my favor and I got a rebate for the additional money spent on the tag. In all I made 5 scouting trips and one trip down for the hunt. As it turned out I had 14 days of scouting (buddies had probably more days than me towards scouting). After scouting ended, we had only seen sheep 1 out of the last 8 days of scouting. I can't begin to tell you how difficult it is to sit there and glass for days on end and not see sheep. We had a 3 day and then a 4 day stretch with seeing no wildlife. We didn't even see a deer, rabbit, nothing. As opening morning rolled around the feeling in camp was different than any other hunt I have been on. Normally everyone is super excited and ready to go but everyone knew this could be day 5 with seeing no sheep. We also knew this would likely be a hunt that lasted more than 10 days to get the job done. Either way we knew that heading out before first light would need to happen. We developed a plan and sent everyone to their spots to find the elusive ram. After a solid hour of glassing, I decided to grab some grub out of my daily bag of food. That went so well that I decided that grabbing something else would be even better......little did I know that would be the last food I had before dinner. I kept on glassing and finally found a few white butts moving in the distance. I told my buddy to get eyes on them and then grabbed my BTX's after he obtained them in his glass. He started off by saying he could see 3 sheep and one was a ram. Then he said that there were 4 sheep and all of them were rams. Then his voice changed a bit and he said that one of the rams was really, really good. Once I got my glass on the rams I could see one that was well above average. We were sitting about 2.5 miles from the sheep. We knew he was big enough to look at but we really couldn't judge him from that far away. Luckily, we didn't have heat waves yet so we could tell that I needed to go in for a closer look. I grabbed my pack, glass and rifle and off I went. My buddy was going to stay and keep an eye on the rams. My other buddies were off in the general direction of the rams so hopefully we could all meet up if this came together. After a 2 mile walk (seemed like the longest walk of my life) I would see the rams up the mountain and decided to take a look at the bigger ram with my spotter. He was with 3 other rams. One of the rams was probably in the 150 class and he just looked tiny compared to this guy. I was fairly confident that this was going to be my ram. He had great mass all the way through. He looked like he was turning up at the tips and seemed to have good length. I'm far from a sheep expert but he looked good to me. Well after looking at this ram at 1000 yards I decided to make my approach. Off I went through a wash moving slowly (mostly because it was hot and I was tired) and gaining ground on the rams. They were starting to look like they were going to bed. I continued my stalk. The rams decided to bed down in a spot where I could take a shot if I could get into position. After a good chunk of time, I finally got as close as I could to the group of rams. The bigger ram was at 462 yards and bedded down in a position where I couldn't have a good shot at him. I knew that I would have to wait until he stood up before I could shoot. I'm not a very patient guy so this was going to be a challenge. I found a good resting spot and laid my rifle down on my pack. At the time I could see the ram in my scope but I couldn't see his body. It was now right at noon and the sun was just beating down on me. This was not typical hunting weather in my book. After about half an hour two of the smaller rams got up. Now I'm on high alert because I'm sure the bigger ram is going to get up any second. At many points I was shaking like crazy.....not because of nerves but I was just tired of laying behind my gun waiting for my ram to stand up. Every so often I would put my head down and get off the gun just so I could take a few breaths and relax. Then all of a sudden I look through the scope and the bigger ram stood up. two seconds later there was a light click and then a big boom. Big ram down!!!!!!!! I was super excited but knew the work was just to begin. My buddies joined me for a photo session and then we did a life size cape job on my ram. After breaking the ram down into pieces, we went down the mountain and made the journey back to the glassing spot which was 2.5 miles away. Luckily, we barely made it back before dark. I was plenty thirsty. It was 6pm and I was looking forward to getting some water in me and hopefully a good meal. A few guys were heading to camp to help for the second day but their help would be needed to pack up camp. We might have celebrated a bit and had ribeye's for dinner. Life was good. I was spent. The reward was worth the effort and I feel very fortunate for all the help I received from many people. Many of the people I only talked to on the phone and have never met in person. I even had one buddy Greg that went down twice on his own to scout and found multiple good rams. It's hard to believe so many people were rooting for me to find a big ram.......but that is sheep hunting.
  12. 46 points
    My Archery bull .Unit 18A,public land. So I hired James Fleming to do this hunt with. I have been talking to him since before the draw.A few thought I was crazy burning 9pts on a marginal limited opportunity area. I went with a gut feeling and it paid off.James knows the area like no one else.Day 1 was slow with only a few elk spotted and no shooters. sat water for 8 hours in middle of day till evening with only javelinas coming in. Day 2 up at 4 and into another blind for barely an hour when I received text bull spotted. James picked him up at 4 miles away and it appeared he wasn't moving to another zip code. He then disappeared into a sea of junies . we estimated where he might be and made the trek. About noon we lucked out and he bugled. We had to assume it was him as they weren't active calling at all. we estimated him to be around 500 yards away so we moved in a couple of hundred yards where we would remain on the ground for 4 plus hours. Around 5 he bugled once and on went the sneekee feet and we closed to about a hundred yards. we hung the cow decoy in a cliff rose, I set up and James got behind me about 20 yards. 2 cow calls set him off tearing up a tree(sounded like a train breaking limbs).he did this for 15 minutes without bugling and stopped. I was shaking like a leaf. More mews and I could hear him coming in on a rope. Still having not seen him his swords appeared( knew it was him at that second )above a juniper in front of me. he turned to get around the juniper and downwind and as he was walking in to a 3 foot shooting lane I was drawn and calm. I was preparing to shoot him walking but he froze with vitals exposed to look at the decoy . I released arrow and center punched him at 30 yards. At this point I practically collapsed.It was very warm and I guess years of frustration and missed opportunity were coming into into my thoughts.The arrow was complete pass through 4 blade wacem. we waited about 20 minutes to start the recovery. quite a bit of blood at first...but it tapered off.Fortunately his tracks were easy to follow in the dirt. This beast made it 500 yards and expired. James was as excited as I was. after lots of hugs and high fives we set about the work. we carried what we could.hung the rest and got back to camp at 430 Am. we slept for a couple of hours then made the 3 mile trek to pack out the rest.
  13. 46 points
    Spent all summer scouting turning up a lot of good bucks. Went up for the hunt and was able to take this heavy buck opening morning. Big thanks to everyone who came up to scout and help out on the hunt
  14. 44 points
    My son and I scouted hard all summer, he named a buck that was coming in regular “eye guards”. After some tough misses on opening day, Saturday about 2:00 pm eye guards came strolling in and Tanner capitalized on him with one 50 yard shot, the buck ran 100 yards and piled up. He is still on cloud nine, I’m super proud of him. For those that care he rough green scored 111”.
  15. 43 points
    We had alot of fun while chasing the September Bugles. It was tough for finding big bulls this year however, with the drought during horn growth season. We passed on many herd bulls trying to find something better. We shot the biggest bull we saw, a bull I saw while scouting, minus one tine, on the 4th day of hunting, which happens to be our shared birthday! Getting in position and the final sequence and realization of the accomplishment will be quite the memory for the rest of our lives. My wife and daughter are better shots than myself and most men for some reason. Maybe because they care just a little bit less and that allows them to focus on the task better?
  16. 43 points
    I was fortunate enough to draw another deer tag this year and have been putting in alot of time in the hills the past 2 months. I had 2 bucks picked out for sure this year and knew it would be one of them or nothing. I packed in the day prior to the hunt and set up my camp. I managed to turn up a few nice bucks the evening before the opener but wasn't able to locate one of the bucks I was after. 3:45 came early the next day and I crawled out of my sleeping bag and started getting everything ready. Within a hour my brother inlaw showed up to hunt the morning with me before he had to work. We managed to get to the glassing hill with time to set up everything before the sun came up. I soon found my self glassing into the basin that I've seen my target buck in. I scanned the only turning over a few does. I was about to turn and glass below us for my other buck when some coyoties started sounding off below ous and deer came pouring over the cut above us. I saw what looked like a nice buck come out of the same area I've seen the big buck and although he was a solid deer he wasn't the one I was looking for. We glassed for another hour or so then started focusing our efforts on the shade. My brother inlaw called me over to his spotter and he had located a buck that he knew I needed to take a look at and make the judgment call myself. We sat and watched him for probably 15 minutes before I decided to pass. We continued to glass when I turned up 2 bucks. one was a smaller 4x4 maybe mid 80s and the other was a stud of a 2 point. As im watching the larger 2 point I see a deer making his way through some thick brush. I turned to my brother inlaw and said we need to figure out what that deer was. We knew that most of the bucks were still running together and he had to be a buck. We stared at a 40 yard circle for close to 20 minutes when my brother inlaw happened to glass the buck bedded in a small opening inside the thicket. He was just sat in a way that we though it was him but couldn't quite tell. We compared him to the videos we had back and forth for what seemed to be forever. Finally he turned jsut right giving us the look that we had been looking for to make conformation. Laying down below us bairly noticeable through the 15s was the one of the bucks I was after Pitchfork. We got set up and checked the range, we waited for what seemed like a eternity and finally he stood up. Shortly after he got up, I was able to successfully harvest this amazing buck. What a awesome, yet short hunt it was. I cant wait to do it again.
  17. 42 points
  18. 42 points
    This is my Son, Aaron Altaha Jr., 11 years old, this past weekend was the last weekend of his rifle hunt for deer and he tagged out his 1st deer the day before the last day on 10/30/21. And he was blessed to harvest a Awesome 7x8 Coues buck from the San Carlos Apache Reservation in AZ.
  19. 42 points
  20. 42 points
    My Girlfriend Ashley got it done in a big way this past Friday and knocked down a monster first Coues Deer! It was our only full day to get out and hunt together so we decided to roll the dice on a special buck that i've had 3 years of history with. It all happened so fast and was/is surreal because everyone knows that 99.9% of the time the stars just don't line up for you. I still can't believe that we got him and I am very proud of the effort Ashley put into harvesting this beautiful creature. DAN
  21. 41 points
    Like others it started in July w a 2100 $ hit and goof up from AZGFD, but I got the refund later. Who cares I was going sheep hunting. Scouting started right away and I spent over 30 days scouting in the summer heat and leading up to the hunt. Several target rams we’re seen but as sheep hunting goes they move off in September making it hard to relocate them. Opening day came quick and I spent 8 hard grinding days trying to locate target rams with my close friends. Day 8 we spotted a group of 7 rams and this old desert warrior was a new ram I have not seen before. We’re did he come from ? A quick stalk and some videoing is the rams before the shot my lifetime tag was filled. This ram will probably be the biggest taken in that unit. Rough score 179.5 net 177.5. On cloud 9. I can’t thank my buddies enough for grinding it out with me.
  22. 41 points
    I didn't really want to start my own thread but I haven't seen a meat pole thread all week to add to. I did want to thank the forum for all the help and advice, though. Being from CO originally I had a lot to learn about AZ elk when I moved in 2015. I drew my first AZ elk tag in 2017, a late rifle tag, and it's what pushed me to join the forum (thanks for the recommendation @cpugsie). I didn't fill that tag in 2017 and had to face the fact that I had a lot left to figure out about these elk. Drew the same tag this year, learned from my mistakes, and got it done on a bull I was very happy with. Thanks for all the lessons, guys!
  23. 41 points
    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.
  24. 41 points
    Tessa was able to take this buck on the last day of her hunt. We saw over 100 bucks and this was the biggest taped him right at 180. Off to Wyoming next month for buffalo
  25. 41 points
    I will post a story and more pics when we when we get done driving all over the state. But for now here is my favorite pic. He’s not a giant per the tape, but there has never been a happier kid. He hasn’t stopped grinning since Wednesday.
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