1uofacat

I had an interesting finding a short while ago. I applied for elk w/paper in early January, however put in for one of my sons in late January including purchasing a new license as well. When I went online to change the card today I was re-directed to another site that handles the "payment" details. That's where it got "interesting"... The site I was directed to listed his home address as the card's BILLING ADDRESS, not the billing address I entered in late January and tied to the card I used. Since I don't trust the G&F to get it right, and even though I was able to get his license charged & printed etc., I'm not convinced that this discrepancy wouldn't cause the CC company to rejected the charge as the billing address wouldn't match my card's billing address. Since he's likely to get drawn for what he wanted to be put in for, he may have become a casualty of "credit card mistakes" although I did nothing wrong when submitting his application (putting in my "billing address" and his "home address" where I was asked to put them in, which were clearly different). I changed it all with a new card number and billing address...

as always, whenever you're having a "full day" at work, just log on to get big grin and a good laugh, especially over the next week or two!

If your account wasn't charged, your app may not have gone in. That said, I think you should wait until March and find out if it worked!

525 archery elk tags in 5BN... too many cow tags.

It's a shooter IMO first and foremost... unless you have another that you've scouted and want to hold out for. 105 looks right, but as noted herein it's hard to tell with just pics. I will say that most hunters overestimate scores on animals. Ignoring all the NT points is hard for most and often adds to inflated numbers in addition to only looking/scoring the smaller of each...

What unit(s) do you know better? Are you an accomplished archer? Remember you can find quality bulls in every unit, but more in some. 23S can be a rough hunt, but sounds like that's not an issue for you. I haven't hunted 23S, but know some who do and they find those large bulls every year in those deep nasty canyons. Either way, I can't believe you waited 20 years (or more) for a bull tag! That's a long, long time, too long IMO. My son drew a September rifle bull tag when he was 15, a year after he took an elk with a juniors tag in 6A, so you just never know who will get those September rifle tags! I will say that a late September rifle tag was a lot of fun in 5BN back in 2008. With that many points I'd probably put in for unit 9 archery, and consider where else I'd like to go aside from 9 and forgo a rifle tag... unless archery isn't really your thing. Unit 1 & 27 used to be my favorite units prior to the Wallow Fire. I haven't hunted there since... family does, but like said before, it's just not the same, perhaps never will be. Either way, good luck, you've waited a long time!

Good job! You'll remember that for a long time...

September

Good choice on not passing up the spike! Sounds like you earned it, especially for that hunt, and a young bull like that should be great eating. Congrats! I can't say it gets easier, but a September tag typically gives you a lot more opportunities than what it sounded like you had.

According to NOAA, there is up to 11 inches forecast as possible in the Flagstaff area from now through Sunday. Typically we won't see near as much as prediction models indicate. To me, the snow isn't so bad (aside from limited visibility during storms), but the wind would be very disheartening. I think I'll use my smoker on the porch this weekend on some elk backstrap! Best of luck to those braving the elements!

Those were some great pics, too bad they were all 4 years ago!

If you're seeing fresh tracks, but not elk, try cow calling... make a "stand", call for 15 min or so. It can work.

Evidently! haha Below you can see the entrance wound on my bull (not a real good pic for that, but you can make out where it is). The exit wound was a mirror of the right side (broadside 37 yds). We had very little external blood so the blood trail on this bull was almost non-existent, however the arrow was a complete pass-through including the top half of the heart & shearing ribs on both sides and the chest cavity was full of blood. The arrow just missed the humerus on both legs (just above it). This bull went about 200 yards and was dead w/in a cpl minutes. Second pic shows the "L-type" cut typical of many single bevel broadheads as they pass through tissue.

Swhacker for a frontal shot? It's possible he had a good angle and the bull just got his head in the way, but if he was shooting at a quartering toward him or frontal shot with an expandable broadhead I'd say that's a great mentality to have if one doesn't care about contributing to lost animals. Expandables can work well on broadside shots, but that angle looks suspect.

great story, and you're right on regarding waiting before tracking an animal you can't see. One of the worst things you can do is to push an animal that's been hit by an arrow, especially a bull as tough as they are. An hour is what we wait, minimum, but that all depends on the circumstances. If it's raining, you probably need to change your tactics, and for gut shots, you may want to wait for several hours, but each situation is different. Congrats!

looks like you did better than "OK"! Great job!

3-bladed broadheads are the worst for penetrating hard tissue/bone. I had a complete pass-through on a satellite bull, however my setup utilizes a single bevel broadhead on a very heavy shaft. Arrow went through both shoulders, but down low, and right through the upper half of the heart. My bull went about 200 yards, but was probably dead within a minute or two. It wasn't a huge bull, but was bugling trying to get cows away from a bull that had cows I was chasing, so I decided to take him instead. The bugling in unit 8 was very active the entire season. We experienced more bugling for longer periods of time as the season went on, but never had "quiet" days. We had other issues to deal with like lightning caused fires as well as controlled burns. Sorry about your lost bull, many of us have been there too.

Our camp was at the corner of 110 and 11. There was a huge camp right before we got there... toy haulers, pull behinds, tents, & 5th wheels, upwards of 40 people or more I'd guess. That said, they left it pretty clean. It only took us one small bags to pick up what they left behind. Not bad...

Elk are talking a lot in 8 right now, but quit after about 7:30-ish in the morning and don't start up until late afternoon/early evening. Hunting bulls is so much fun this time of year!

There may be some bugling, but don't count on it. Likely some at night or before daylight, but that all depends on the cows and if their cycle is running late. Typically by that time they're done. That said, bulls bugle all year long so you may want to send out a "location bugle" to see what happens. If you do hear a bugle or two, it's quite possible that the bulls will be solitary by then. Funny story, my wife had a December unit 10 cow tag in '05 and it was spitting snow (her first hunt in a while). She got cold and asked me to just "call one in" for her. I told her it doesn't quite work that way, especially in December, but after insisting I gave it a try (cow calls) and sure enough called in a herd of cows where she proceeded to take a very large one. You just never can tell...

they didn't, but once they tell you (as they did me) that will hold up in court... or so I'm told. Also, since it had been established I knew exactly where I was... (with Onx) No, and that's the problem. The new ranch manager is Brent, son's name is Clancy. I've been the first at a fatality on a snow-covered highway w/kids in the car... not a pretty site. We stayed there until units arrived, which was a little while. Thankfully the FD/state police (in Vermont) let us leave/drive through before they started extracting... it was midnight, but the kids were wide awake and very curious...

Well, I did not tag a goat, but finally did get a shot on the last day (spot/stalk). There's a lot of water in 19A now due to all the rain, including more that was added the first 3 days of the first hunt, so sitting water was basically worse than a crap shoot. Also, the bucks were not quite in the rut and using decoys even after getting as close as possible did not work for myself and a few others that I met in the field. BTW, two comments that anyone hunting antelope in 19A needs to know: 1) The Fain Ranch does not allow hunting on their property 2) Corner Hopping IS LEGAL in Arizona I had a run-in with the Fain ranch manager's son on Sunday. It's a long story, but basically he blew my afternoon hunt trying to run me off of state land because I "corner hopped" to get there. His opinion was corner hopping was not legal in Arizona. Afterwards, the G&F got involved and basically set him straight that; 1) corner hopping in AZ is legal as there is no law saying it is not, nor has there ever been any court case in this regards, and 2) any hunter that corner hops on state land has every right to hunt on state land, regardless of adjacent private property owner's wishes. BTW, hats off to Virginia who is the WM for the unit, she's a great advocate and supporter of what we do! That said, he pretty much screwed up an afternoon hunt, and given we only have seven days, it hurt some. I heard repeatedly that in the past the ranch manager didn't mind people hunting on the Fain Ranch, but the current ranch manager won't allow it. Plan accordingly...

Hard to sit at water when there's water everywhere due to all the recent rain! I never had a shot while sitting on water, but spot/stalk was more productive.

yes, of sorts! A very large "BULL" :)

same here, & it's likely going to be wet.