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This year I drew a 7w Late bull tag for the second year in a row. Last year was my first ever bull hunt, and I was able to shoot a nice little 5x5 opening morning. Fast forward to this year's hunt. I went out scouting the weekend prior to the hunt with a buddy who had the late archery tag and was needing help as he was hunting solo. It was the last few days of his hunt and he'd been on several bulls during the week but just couldn't make it happen. I agreed to go out with him as I needed to get in some time locating bulls for my hunt. We went to a spot that I've hunted cows for the last 5 years and always been successful, and I usually see some smaller bulls in that area this time of year as well. As soon as it started getting light I had several small bulls in my new Swaros. (Just upgraded this year, will never go back what game changers!) They were grouped up with about 15 cows but he now had a spotter so he started in on his stalk. He had about 1500 yards to close to I proceeded to continue glassing some closer ridges and that's when I located 4 shooter bulls for my hunt. I didn't mention them to my buddy at first, as I was walking him in via texting. He was able to finally close the distance to about 50 yards when the two young bulls just decided to up and leave with good pace (not spooked). He was then gridlocked with the large group of cows and the stalk just didn't end up working out. I continued to watch the larger bulls on the closer ridge and they fed until dang near 10am before bedding. My buddy got back up to me and seemed a little defeated. Part of me didn't want to mention the big bulls I had located just 500 yards away from us in fears of them getting blown out by another unsuccessful stalk and me never seeing them again for my hunt the following week. Long story short I did the right thing and let him know about the other bulls I had found, and I was able to walk him into 38 yards before the bulls caught his wind and bolted off to the west. Well, there goes my hunt! My buddy was super grateful and excited about the opportunity to get in that close with such awesome creatures so it was worth it. Fast forward to my hunt. I went out the evening before opener to glass the same area. Never turned up my bulls but did locate a nice one up high on a mountain top about 1.5 miles away. High winds were expected the next day so I figured he'd drop down into the bowl on the south side and hangout there for the night. Went in opening morning and after hiking about 5 miles finally caught a small glimpse of the two bulls from the night before up on a ridge moving through the pines at 295 yards. Was never able to get a shot off and they disappeared into the abyss. The morning of day 2 I went out with my brother in law and decided to go back to where I had found bulls the week before. Right at first light I picked up the same 4 bulls we had bumped out a week prior, feeding down low in the cedars about 1200 yards out. 25 mph winds had them feeding for a short period before getting into the real thick stuff and losing sight of them. I didn't want to get down in there with them that morning with the winds being unpredictable in fear of blowing them out again. This would be the last time I'd see a shootable bull for 2.5 days. And after the weekend ended, I would be hunting elk solo for my first time ever. Monday I was by myself, and bumped out some cows and few spikes hiking into my spot. At this point, the mental games had begun to set it. It was 18 degrees with 30mph winds and only the mule deer and cow elk were up and moving. I glassed all day and never saw another bull. Tuesday morning rolls around and I didn't want to even get out of bed. I had already hiked nearly 45 miles in 5 days, and just felt defeated but something got me out of bed and back out to the same spot I'd been seeing elk consistently. I hiked up to the glassing point very carefully this time, and set up my tripod. As soon as glassing light was available to utilize, I found a lone cow wondering the flats. A quick pan up and down the cut she was feeding in revealed another shiny golden butt facing away feeding in a small old burn area. I patiently waited for this elk to lift its head and to my surprise I could see antlers! A quick scan with my rangefinder revealed a 980 yard shot. Not something I'm comfortable taking without a spotter or in high winds. I pulled up my maps to look for another high point I could get to and there was a another ridge just to my south that may or may not give me a better vantage point. I dropped my pack, and went in light with just my rifle, tripod and binos and hurried down the ridge I was on and over to the next one. I ended up coming to the edge of a rock bluff with a large dead pine tree laying perfectly across the top. I quickly pulled out my binos and scanned quickly to find the bull had actually fed even closer to where I had hiked over too. The rangefinder indicated a 459 yard shot and I quickly got my turrets adjusted and used the dead log as a rest in a seared position. The wind was in my face and sun at my back, so the bull had no idea I was there. I had buck fever like no other plus just having hiked 1/3 mile quickly I was shaking like a leaf on a tree. I called my nerves and waited for the bull to turn broadside and when he did I let one rip. I heard the thump and knew I had hit him, the bull did a 180 and ran about 60 yards before stopping again and giving me another broadside shot at 448 yards. Whack! I watched him take the bullet and the shock of it echo through his large body, but he didn't move and continued to stand there staring back at me. I loaded another round and sent one more down range. Another hit, this time a fatal one. I watched him hunch up his back and take several steps down into a ravine before going out of sight. I took a minute to process everything before calling my wife to let her know i shot one. I decided to give him a little time so I hiked back up to the ridge I glassed him from to retrieve my pack. I marked his last known location to the best of my knowledge and after about 30 minutes decided to creep my way over. The ground was still frozen solid so there were no fresh tracks. I also couldn't find any blood anywhere and I began to doubt myself. I began just making circles larger and larger until I caught a wiff of him. I followed that scent right down to his body where he laid down in a juniper thicket not 15 yards from where my last shot had been taken. I called my brother in law up from Prescott to get help for the pack out and he was on his way in no time. By the time I was able to get my DIY photos and get him caped and quartered my brother in law showed up to help me get him out. After about 2 hours, we finally were able to get him back to the truck and off to the processor and taxidermist. What an awesome and rewarding hunt, just when I felt like throwing in the towel things worked out in my favor and one of the bulls made the mistake i needed so badly. Thankful to our lord and savior for this beautiful harvest that will feed my family for the year to come.

Shot at 400 yards with Rem 700 in 7Mag I bought new in the early 90's. Barnes Factory ammo 160gr and Swarovski 3x18 with custom factory turret for 168 Nosler LRAB. Broke both shoulders. Guided by Grant Hottman and his assistant guide Tyler Sanchez. I'm old enough to be their grandfather but somehow managed to keep up with them. This bull was taken on day six after a 600 yard stalk.

I saw a post made on HuntAz’s Instagram page. I am not trying to steal anyone’s thunder and I apologize if the hunter did not want any publicity but I think this is just bad butt that he shot this in a super tough unit and did not allow his disabilities prevent him from getting it done. Congratulations to him.

So after chasing mule deer in Dec/Jan archery my wife decided she wanted to try her luck on a desert mule deer during the general hunt. We’ve chased these deer only during archery and had decided to keep tabs through the years. We finally felt we had a solid plan so off we went. We got to her u it the afternoon before and set up camp then went out to glass. On our way to our glassing spot we came across a groups of 4 bucks hanging out in the area we were goi g to focus on. We got up early Opening morning and my wife and son got ready and headed to the area we had chosen to be at sunrise. I went to the glassing spot. At about 0611 I glasses up a group of 5 bucks, one of which was a definite shooter. Once they had formulated and approach everything just worked out perfect. I was bummed I couldn’t be with her when she shot but having just had hernia surgery a week earlier I was relegated to glass duty. 312 yard offhand shot with her 300WSM and the rest is history. Super proud of her!

I haven’t shared a story in a while, been trying to find the time to write this one up and finally taking the time today. I didn’t draw a tag this year but my 2 youngest boys did. My 16 year old, Rusten found a spot he wanted to hunt and made a couple trips in there and scouted it pretty well. He found where we could get water and got a good lay of the the land but never found any big bucks. The first few days of the hunt we decided to go to an area we were already familiar with. After a pretty brutal hike we set up a quick camp and started glassing. We quickly found a cool 2x3 buck bedded at 600 yards but while we were trying to decide if one of the boys wanted to shoot him, he got up and disappeared into the brush. By then it was mid-day so we decided to drop into the canyon and filter some water to get us through the next couple days. After filling up we made our way back to our glassing point. At around 2pm, Rusten glassed up two bucks bedded at 800 yards. We took a good look at them and thought the bigger one might be close to 100”. My 14 year old Camm, decided he wanted to shoot the bigger of the two bucks so we made a plan. Rusten stayed on the hill while Camm and I moved closer. While we were getting into position the bucks got up and started feeding. We got to 415 yards and found a big boulder to get into a semi-prone position. He was able to make a great shot and put down his 3rd coues deer and his biggest buck yet at around 97”. By the time we got him broke down and back to camp it was 830 and we were pretty exhausted. We got Camm’s meat cooled off and hanging in the shade and we were back at it the next morning looking for a buck for Rusten. He had his sights set pretty high on an only shooting a big buck. He has been lucky enough to kill two bucks around the 100” mark already. One of them was on the same hill that camm just killed his buck on so we were hopeful of finding another good buck. Unfortunately, the next 2 days the wind picked up big time and we only turned up some small bucks and a bear. We decided to pack Camm’s deer out and move camp to the area Rusten scouted After a few hours at home we were back at it the next morning in a new area with high hopes Monday we found around 10 bucks, nothing big, but that evening we saw a couple that were too far out that looked promising. Tuesday morning we glassed close to camp at first light but by mid-day we were over were we saw the bucks the previous evening. We were on top of a the biggest hill in the area looking down into some shaded cuts. At around 2pm, I found a buck up feeding about 600 yards below us. As I was trying to point him out to the boys, he disappeared behind some trees. We were waiting for him to come out and another buck appears that was noticeably bigger. I wasn’t sure how big but I could see he had long beams and decent point length. Rusten decided pretty quickly he wanted to shoot him. Normally, I would help my boys find a place to shoot from and get the rifle set up for them but this time I just told Rusten to make it happen. We weren’t able to get any closer because of a big bluff below us so I gave him the dope for 613 yards and he knocked him down. I was pretty surprised when I walked up to him to see that he was a better buck than I thought. This is Rusten’s 5th coues deer and also his best at close 106” We were beyond blessed on this hunt. My boys impress me so much with their willingness to put in the hard work chasing these deer in the backcountry. We had a lot of laughs especially trying to stuff the 3 of us into a 2 man backpacking tent. Good memories for sure.

I like hunting. But I also like being successful. I am always tahnkful for the opportunity to be in the woods, but seeing a Tom, Dick, or Harry under every tree is aggravating. And I know some will say "then you're too close to the road" and I am getting to the stage where this is more of a fallacy than a truth. People are getting deeper and deeper in the woods every year. Short of doing backpack style hunt (which I did for a couple days this year), it seems as though more and more hunters are making their way in the depths and off the roads. Just something we all have to deal with, as I personally am not willing to go 5 or 6 or 10 years without drawing a tag just to have a premium tag every so often.

Like Adam previously stated not a coues but it was harvested with a specialty pistol. With 30 BP I finally drew an AZ desert bighorn sheep permit. I used a custom Remington XP-100 in 284 Winchester to harvest my ram at 157 yards.

Hey Guys! Over the last year a couple local hunters and I set out to design a simple yet visually pleasing mount for our trophies. We wanted to represent our state in the best way possible. Our first test batch has come in and we are overall pleased and are ready to make them available to our community. While we have some ideas to improve these mounts for our next batch we do have inventory ready to sell. This test batch is perfect for coues deer, small to medium sized mule deer, and any other game you can hang on it. We are excited about these designs and hope you guys like them and would love feedback. We are working on mounts for larger mule deer as well as elk. Our price is $25 for CW members! I didn't want to overload the post with pictures so if you want more pictures of the other designs reach out! Call txt or reply to this post for my questions or if you're interested! Noah 602-885-5308.

I guess I’m next in line for a late 35a tag. hopfully who ever turned it in is ok.

Used on one hunt has light scratches on body armor can be seen in pictures. Glass is in perfect condition and will come with original box and accessories inside. $675 shipped tyd or 650 pick up local in tucson.

Tessa and myself just got back from a quick trip to Kansas we both took good bucks but mine will need some fixing

He will get all new 1st layer tops and bottoms from First Lite but the rest we may wait until the day after Christmas and catch some good deals. He is a very active Civil Air Patrol and Jr. ROTC young man and has his head screwed on pretty tight right now so the least I can do is help him with hunting and driving costs so he remains focused on his studies (4.1). Thanks for all the input folks...

Kings XKG line is really awesome.

I'm in Cave Creek come get some. Free

Killik at sportsmans is good stuff. Kings is another great option. Even the wrangler stretch stuff at Walmart is good and comfy.

He served an apprenticeship at remington before designing this 22 Quackenbush rifles where first of their kind. 1890's

This storm we just had saved some water hole kills for sure...

https://www.collectorsfirearms.com/products/12087-quackenbush-safety-cartridge-22-al3363.html

Outstanding times!!!!! Thanks for sharing with the site!

Good stuff man. Some great animals and eating.

This is great!!

Awesome.

Who cares! It is hunting! Congrats Oz!

Really? I didn't see another hunter the entire week I was out there. I did see some birders and bikers but 0 hunters. I scored on day 6, check it out.

Finally harvested one.