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Only two deer we saw were trophy bucks. We were very fortunate to take this one.

Sitting in my elk camp now around the fire dealing with the last 3 days of being rained on chasing a few bulls around with my bow got me missing the warm southern weather. I started the season off with killing a solid buck on the opening morning. I found this buck on the 2024 late December hunt helping my dad. We opted to not shoot him last year as he had half an antler broken off. I kept tabs on the buck from February on. Opening morning I went to where he had been frequently spotted and never turned him up. About 9:30 with not seeing much I decided to change spots and go look for my backup buck. To my surprise the first buck I found in the new location was the buck I was initially looking for. I had never seen him in this area. After watching him bed I snuck in and shot him at 227 yards. Hit him mid body. Slightly panicked I scrambled to reload the muzzleloader. Shot again in a rush and made a bad follow-up shot knocking a chunk out of the top of his back. He went and laid down and I watched him expire about 5 minutes later. My apologies on sub par pictures as I’m not good at solo photography deal. Went over and quartered the buck packed him out and all was wrapped up before 1:00pm opening day. Following that 2 weeks later I took my Mom on her whitetail hunt who turned 66 on opening day. It was slow. Didn’t see any mature bucks. We hunted 3 more days until one of the bucks I was looking for finally showed up. Nice 100”ish type 3x4. We played cat and mouse with him but he unfortunately disappeared on us. A while later my mom found a nice little 3x3 across the canyon that she said she would be more than happy to take. We snuck in to position and set her up 290 yards from the bedded buck. After 3 1/2 hours the buck finally stood. She heart shot the buck and he dropped where he stood. She was extremely happy as this was the first coues she had taken in the last 10 years. She’s taken a lot of time off hunting to help take care of family and grandchildren so this ment a lot to her. Couldn’t of been more proud of my mom. it was a tough 4 days on her hiking the hills getting after it in the October sun. Currently still a busy season going on as I am on a late archery Bull elk hunt and my 10 and 12 year old kids have rifle bull hunts after thanksgiving. We have one late December whitetail tag left to fill this year and can’t be more excited for it.

A few years ago we sold our home and our plan was to wait until prices came down up here on the mountain before we started to build. Well it didn’t happen so we built last year. Anyway during this time we had invested some money into my remodeling my parents “little” house (580 sqft) so they allowed us to live there rent free for the next 3 years. It was the first time I hadn’t had to pay rent or mortgage in our 25 years of marriage. My wife was ok if I invested some of that money saved into my personal and emotional well being. I was able to get CO vouchers the last couple of years. I shot a good buck my first year, but I hadn’t seen anything over 170” to shoot until this year. I’ve always been ok going home empty handed but when this deep forked buck gave me the opportunity I decided to take it. A couple of random bucks screenshots. My first CO buck a few years ago. this years buck.

Got to help my nephew on his 33 youth hunt. These hunts are the best!

With 2 new grand children coming this fall my wife decided she didn’t want to hunt. It never was in my plans to give her tag back, but she told me she wanted to spend time with the new mothers and babies. So I headed to my draw unit by myself. My son and his wife decided to come visit for a couple days and my wife made the trip up with them. needless to say very little real hunting happened that opening weekend. After they all went home I spent a few days by myself putting everything I had into finding a decent deer that my friend had pre scouted. Lots of driving, still hunting. Glassing and enjoying the woods. I got lucky right before dark. I saw a group of 4 bucks, 2 big bucks and 2 small bucks. Thinking it was the group I had seen opening morning I made the quick decision to shoot the one that was in the opening. Either of the two big bucks I would be happy with. It actually was a buck I had never seen before. It took me a while to find him at night and with flashlights and by myself I took a few videos. These are the best screenshots I got off the video. Here are a few pictures from that trip

Merry Christmas

Up for my dad's muzzleloader elk hunt in 6a. Dad has a cow tag and Nick from another site has a bull tag. I'm playing chauffeur and guide. I'm running 4 blinds as dad is 75 and Nick is in his 60's. So dad's in one spot Nick another and me another just to see what's going on. No point in me going back to camp . Saturday I had a group of elk at 730 and another at 830 am . It's just me and im already done hunting elk as I had the general cow hunt here a few weeks ago. Tagged out on my hunt on opening day. Dad had 9 bulls at his spot at 5 pm but has a cow tag . Nick hasn't seen a elk but has a bull tag. Raining like heck today so going to spot and stalk tomorrow there's water everywhere! The picture is the group infront of me at 730

Custom Ruger #1 .270. Custom wood, case colored frame, lever, quarter rib, rings. Checkered steel grip cap and butt plate. Accurized and custom trigger. Shoots great - sub 1-inch groups with several factory loads. $3700 for local sale. In Queen Creek area. Was told it would cost $6000+ to do it again. Scope not included. Many more pics available Hate to part with it but divorce requires you to do stupid things...

Does this count for feral horses? Asking for a friend lol

Do you know how to skin a deer skull? If not, I just posted a video on my Instagram page showing you how to do it. @bigbrownstaxidermy

I nearly wrecked my truck on the way to work when I checked my credit card statement in June. It seemed impossible, but somehow lightning had struck, again, and someone in our family had a bighorn tag for the second year in a row. In 2024 my 15 yo son became the first member of our family to harvest a sheep. And now, just 6 months later, we were starting the adventure all over again. I talked to all my contacts from the previous year. Lined up conversations for advice on the various units we may have drawn and agonized over the thought of how we were going to make the dates work. And, I pondered THE decision. Six members of our family had applied, including my son who had the tag the year before. Everyone except for him had applied for the same two choices, 37B and the Kofa’s. The lucky bum had to apply for Rocky so I was juggling that unlikely scenario in the mix. But of everyone, I was the only one in the family with any significant amount of bonus points. Well below max, but still double what anyone else had. If it was my tag, one thought echoed in my mind. How cool would it be to take a ram with my other son. Two rams, with my two sons, approximately 350 days apart. From the moment the thought occurred to me, there was never any hesitation. It would be his. And we would do it together, his senior year, the last year he could receive a donated tag and before he left for mission and college opportunities. It would be a senior trip for the ages. And so it was. The results came and there next to my name it said DRAWN for the Kofa’s. I made some calls and drove to the unit that weekend. It was absurdly hot. And desolate. And remote. And 180 degrees the opposite direction from all of our other hunts for the year (everyone in the family had a different tag). So I called a few trusted resources and @trphyhntr recommended I speak with Zack Doster. I knew it would take 12+ days of scouting plus the hunt to figure things out and I just couldn’t pull it off this year. So I did something I have never done and hired a guide. Zack was incredible and kept us posted on his monthly trips and sent lots of pictures. Hunter and I focused on staying ready physically and with the gun. By the time we headed out for sheep we had been on 4 other hunts and done 3 pack outs. The week of the hunt we did a final check of the gun and worked on prepping. The weather looked like it was going to take a turn and we were prepped to backpack into the interior if needed. Thursday night Zack sent an Inreach message and said he had located a good ram just before dark. Game on. We arrived at camp after dark and my buddy Ty was waiting for us. We burned some excited energy chatting for a while before settling into cots for a quick sleep. First light we had the bowl the ram from the night before had been in surrounded. From 4 different vantages we searched every crack and crevice. Nada. We disembarked and headed to camp to patch a couple tires and throw our tent up. Hunter ate a sandwich and I made one for later. It wasn’t long before the hum of the compressor stopped indicating it was time to hit plan b. Zack and his guiding partner Bo along with my son Hunter and our buddy Ty all split up to cover a large basin where other sheep had been seen early in the week. It was a quick mile jog out to our first glass post. Zack spotted a ewe on a bare slope in the full sun. It was almost 90 degrees and I was shocked. Another quick jaunt had us posted on a knob with a 360 view. Zack left Hunter and I to cover the sunny basin while he climbed up to a spine ridge to look into the next canyon. Forty five minutes later the radio cracked and Zack was whispering. Three rams had fed out below him and had him pegged behind a lone Palo verde. He told us to work up the canyon to a saddle where he would meet us once they fed out of site. I had to wake Hunter from his afternoon nap, and when I said we had rams he sprung to his feet. We worked our way up to the saddle and met with Zack. Slowly we dropped packs and crept to the edge to relocate the sheep. First a ewe, then a young 5 yr old ram. Zack started to explain they may have fed over, but it was too shady and too lush in that cut. We kept creeping and peering down low into the cut. And then, a big mature sway back climbed out of a creosote. His horns were thick and broomed. His belly was potted and his legs looked short. Definitely a mature ram. With the spotting scope on him and his partner at 180 yds Zack could easily count the rings and he let Hunter take a good look. Hunter said “I would love to shoot either of those rams.” And then hesitated, “but I don’t want it to be over. It just started.” I smiled and said it was his choice, but also reminded him of the reality. This was one of the top 5 rams they had located in 15 days in the unit. It was forecasted to rain 1/2” the next day. And although we could come back a week later, he did have to go back to school on Monday. The bird in the hand proved more than he could argue with. He asked if it was as big as his brothers, I confirmed it was, and also older. And he said “Let’s kill that ram.” The ram kept looking up our way, he knew something was up, but he kept feeding our way. He was getting close enough that now I was nervous. By the time we were done sizing him up and making the decision, he had closed to 130 yds. I laid the rifle on the edge of the bluff and Hunter slid in behind. He was shaking so much he jammed the feed. I crawled up and fixed it. And he leveled the rifle. The old ram looked up from his feeding and stared a hole in us. Hunter had to turn the magnification down on the scope because he couldn’t see what he was aiming at. I saw his hand move from the cat’s tail, down to the grip, his finger moving first to the safety and then inside the trigger guard. At the click of the safety I nodded at Zack. The crack of the suppressed rifle hadn’t even clapped before the thump of the Berger meeting shoulder hit my ears. The ram took a few steps, nearly reuniting with his band mate, before raising up and tipping backwards, resting with his broomed tips pointed up in the very spot he had stood to feed. And there it was. Once in a lifetime. We hugged. We fist bumped. We cheered. We called mom and then grandpa. We thanked God. And as I followed his steps up to his trophy I quickly wiped away tears before he could see them. It wasn’t just a once in a lifetime moment for him. It was the culmination of so many moments. From carrying him on my shoulders when he was still in diapers, and giving him some old bush bell field glasses to practice “glassing”, tying a parachord around his Red Ryder to sling over his shoulder as we wandered wash after wash searching for javelina that were never there. It was a 10 yr old boy who had faced surgery after surgery, first learning to crawl and drag his half body cast, then to walk and then to run first track, then cross country, then a half marathon. It was boy who earned the right to be called a young man. His future still remained uncertain, but he had learned to live for today. For the moments that could never be taken. Tomorrow is promised to no man.

Everything pictured is free to any youth hunters in need of this stuff. Kuiu bino chest pouch size L and XL, Leupold bino harness, Harris bipod, Limbsaver butt stock, sling, gloves, hats, small day pack, bird bags, Highgear Summit watch. Buck, Smith and Wesson, and small 2 blade pocket knives with parents consent. I’m in NW Tucson for P/U. 520-444-767one.

2025 tag holder spotted

Nah, this is still money in the bank. They’re gonna be fatter and healthier going into winter. Won’t have to move much all winter. Go into growing season primed. the way it’s shaping up, could be wet all winter

I think Lance just posted about some pipe that would work.

The hunt was an amazing adventure. I left home late Friday/early Saturday (midnight-ish) and headed up, stopping in flagstaff and fredonia for fuel along the way. I reached my camp spot 9 1/2 hours later and heard my passenger rear tire leaking after unhooking the trailer. After plugging the tire and airing it back up, I started unloading and setting up. Around 3 pm I jumped into the SxS and set out to check some of the spots I had scouted. I found lots of fresh sign in most of the same areas as before. Once it got dark I broke out the spot light and drove every road and two track I came across until around midnight, then headed back to camp to sleep. I would then wake up around 4-5 am and head out spot lighting until the sun came up and I could see. Usually I planned it so I could be stopped at a place I could glass for a couple of hours until mid morning. Then I would head back to camp and sleep until 2-3 pm and repeat. I did this until Wednesday afternoon when I needed to drive into St. George to pick up my cousin from the airport and resupply. We spot lighted that evening and into the early morning of Thursday before heading to camp for some much needed rest. Around noon we checked a couple of areas we had chosen as opening day spots and decided on which was best. We glassed until dark then headed back to camp to organize our gear, have a quick dinner and then go to sleep. We woke up early to ensure we were first to our spot and waited for a few hours until grey light before slowly walking in, glassing along the way. We unfortunately bumped the deer and broken heartedly watch them head to their bedding area which seemed like a position we couldn’t access them or have a chance at them in. Nor did we want to push them out of their core area. There were lots of vehicles that seemed to want to be in this spot so we didn’t want to leave and give it up. We waited, glassed and move around a bit until 3pm when they started coming back out from the cut. We watched as two nice bucks ran each other off, both wanting to be the dominant male for the group of does. The bigger of the two presented a shot when the smaller buck ran him off but I decided to pass. An hour later the smaller buck offered a closer shot but after passing the bigger buck I couldn’t justify shooting him either. My cousin called me an idiot for passing either of them. We watched until dark then slowly backed out and headed to camp. We had a nice dinner and discussed the day, looking at the video we had taken of the two bucks. It was decided we would head back out to the same spot to get another look at them if we could. We woke up extremely early and drove to the same spot, arriving first again and waiting until grey light. We went about half as far in as the day before and stopped not wanting to bump the deer again. We spotted the group with just the smaller buck in it. We couldn’t locate the bigger buck. After a couple of hours the smaller buck gave me a shot and I connected at 475 yards. He hunched up and moved away a bit. We thought he would go down at any second but slowly turned broadside again at 525. I adjusted the turret and connected again. He lumbered a few feet and collapsed. We waited 20 mins and walked towards him. I instantly started having shooters remorse. I was done after a day and a half of the 10 day hunt. When we reached the buck I was surprised at the body size of the deer. He was definitely the heaviest deer I had harvested. I tagged the buck, we took some pics and then we attempted to load the deer into the SxS. Wow was he heavy!!! It took us a couple of tries but we somehow managed to get him into the back. I didn’t want to gut the deer there as I thought it might mess up another hunter who might want to hunt that area. We drove closer to camp, unloaded the deer and gutted him. He was sure easier to load the second time and then we drove to camp and using the winch on the SxS, hoisted him into a tree at the back of camp. We skinned, quartered him and washed the meat. After it dried we put it into game bags and hung it all. We had barely finished when an AZGFD and BLM officers rolled into camp. They checked my tag, license and pulled two lower teeth for an age check. We talked a while and they told us about some coyote areas and a possible spot for a lion. We took the deboned carcass to the lion area and disposed it in a spot we could see from a knoll a few hundred yards away. Over the next few days we switched looking at the gut pile and the carcass hoping for a shot at a coyote or a lion without any luck. It rained, hailed and lightly snowed the next couple of days making it pretty sloppy and messy. We waited until a break in the weather, broke down camp and left late Thursday. It took almost 3 hours to hit pavement which was a slippery and sliding drive out. We also stopped at Jacob’s lake for some cookies to eat on our way home. We had a trailer tire shred 25 miles before flagstaff, but other than that it was pretty uneventful. We pulled into my driveway early Friday morning, took out the rifles, binos, spotters, the expensive gear and put them into the safes. After a quick hello to sleeping family members and a shower we went to sleep. The next few days we dried out and put away the gear, washed our clothes, took care of the deer and celebrated a great hunt. We saw 112 deer, 36 bucks, one fox, one owl, 2 coyotes, 17 turkeys, 14 horses and an uncountable amount of cattle during the trip. Thanks to all who helped and/or offered info. A shout out to Jason “coach” Jones who had the tag a few years ago and offered up everything he knew. He was very unselfish and I hope to follow his footsteps for future tag holders. A special thanks to my wife for holding down the fort while I was gone and to my cousin for taking time away from his day to day to help me. Happy safe hunting ! -Sig

To see this moisture already and have a lot of points for 2026. 2025 rut hunters are in shambles

Thank you everyone. As pretty as he was he tastes even better!

These pecans are great. Just made my first pie.

As a Gambels quail freak, I'll not be completely satisfied without a wet winter plus a nice kicker storm sometime in mid-late Spring (Call me greedy for wanting a double hatch!). But as an AZ native and general fan of rain, I say heck yes to every single drop! 👍

Good luck to all the lucky tag holders! Be safe and post those trophies!!

Made it in to pull blinds today. It's like driving thru a stream into a lake to get in. The blinds in two spots were almost in the water! It's bad lots of rain ,snow Picture from my dad's blind . All bulls!! Dad had a cow tag. Lots of guys were looking for bulls were only needed a cow. No luck this year just good memories with dad!

Sorry for all the scams and nasty stuff under my name. Thanks to all my buddies who hit me up to check, then posted about the scams. Thanks to the admin who got it sorted out quickly, and texted me personally. Screw the scammers! Glad everyone was on their A game.

Was able to connect on a decent little 3x3 175 yards with my CVA Optima this year. Of course after the shot a much larger buck ran out from behind cover, still happy with this guy.

Roosevelt really produced this year. Had some 30+ fish days and some big fish days. Sorry about the sideways pics! All fish released. Big largemouth 8.25# and big smallmouth 4.3#. I’m watching the rain in Tonto Basin now and hoping for a lot of runoff in the spring. Water temperature Monday was 70 degrees. I suspect it will be low 60’s when this storm passes.