HD Trophy Hunts

Apparently the 4th time is the charm. Our hunter for this trip TJ was originally supposed to fly in Friday night at 8:15pm from Milwaukee, I was coming out of the bear woods headed to Sky Harbor to pick him up when the phone started going crazy, he had missed his flight. This was going to be TJ's 4th Arizona Lion Hunt (3 prior with other outfitters) and he was on a pretty tight schedule. So he was a nervous wreck after missing his flight. Luckily, he was able to get a flight out the next morning and at 10am Saturday I picked him up from Sky Harbor with a truckload full of hounds and a camp trailer. We drove down to camp and met Daniel, only then did TJ finally calm down. Sunday morning we rode out in a spot we have not hunted all year. As luck would have it a big tom had scratched twice under the same tree. The dogs struck and moved the track steady. We got a little rain saturday and trailing conditions were excellent. The lion tried a few tricks in the bluffs but the dogs did a good job, they had him caught in a crack originally and we could see dogs but not the lion after he jumped from there is where the video starts. I wish I had let the camera roll the whole time, but it was my turn to be a nervous wreck. I kept shutting it off saying "we need to get over there." The dogs were in a couple of really hairy spots. Sorry about the shaky video, I handed the camera to TJ at one point trying to take care of dogs and holy cow was he SHAKING, the ground must have been moving underneath his feet. You might notice it in the shooting as well. :-) Also as a forewarning- THERE IS SOME SENSITIVE LANGUAGE IN THE VIDEO YOU MAY WANT TO TURN THE VOLUME DOWN IF YOUR CHILDREN ARE AROUND. It was a nerve racking deal and we were lucky to not lose any dogs, but we did lose our manners. Watching TJ try and drink out of a water bottle after the dust was all settled was one of the best parts he was shaking so bad he spilled most of it! Congrats to TJ on a fantastic Arizona tom. This tom had some age to him, at one point his lip had been split, he had large scars on both sides of his jaws and one of his toes stuck out weirdly and had a lot of scar tissue around it. Lion hunting this dry desert is tough, it never seems to happen like this, but it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Take care happy hunting and enjoy the video! -Mike Harris <iframe src="http://player.vimeo....3644190?badge=0" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe> <p><a href="[media=] [/media]> on <a href="

Hunter was with his dad on the hunt we did for him earlier in the month. He is a fantastic kid, most everyone in camp could not believe he was 13. After 2 days of close calls earlier in the month the unit closed and Hunter had to go back to school. He got caught up on school and his dad informed me if we had any openings he would love to get Hunter back out for another chance. Sunday morning at daylight they rolled in. After running into some other bear hunters in the spot we originally had planned to hunt we went to plan B. We changed country and rigged a bear late and did not end up getting him caught. The next 2 days were brutal, the feed seemed to have changed again and the bears had moved from where we finding them last week. Tuesday night Randy gave Hunter the option to go home so he wouldn't miss anymore school. Thankfully for us he stayed and we were able to get him what may be the prettiest bear I have ever seen. Literally if you run the hide one way it is a golden blonde, when you run it the other a strawberry red. Being his first big game kill Hunter got the honors of gutting the bear. He put a fantastic shot on it with a .44 lever action. It was awesome seeing the excitement in the kids face when he realized "thats MY BEAR" Ironically, he killed this bear on the 4th day of his hunt and his dad killed his on the 4th day as well. This was truly a nailbiter, the night before we found out the quota had been met and the unit was going to close and dark Wednesday. I think we will all remember this hunt for a long time, and we will look forward to future hunts with Randy and Hunter. In my opinion these type of hunts are the best part of being an outfitter. -Mike

Here's a better picture the other was off my phone.

Matt, Check out www.walkerpaintingspecialists.com. Nick is a very good friend of mine and they do GREAT work. You can see a gallery of their work on the website. Good luck, Mike

The changing of the leaves in October brings the best bear hunting Arizona has to offer. Last week we set up camp in one of our prime units and went to work. We were able to tree, or see bears everyday. Unfortunately for us the weather was exceptionally warm and while the dogs could get the bear treed. Most of the time the bear would come out or "jump" before we could get a chance at them. The bears were incredibly congregated on feed and at low elevations with high temperatures it turned out to be one TOUGH but exciting hunt. The evening before opening day Daniel and I were able to glass up a nice blacky while we were waiting for our hunter to arrive. http://youtu.be/dsAcmmGzsR8 On the 4th day of the hunt we were able to glass up what looked like a good boar headed for water, we tried to get a shot on him but could not. We put dogs on him where he hit water, they ran him about a mile and half up the mountain and sat down treed. The rest of the story you can see in the video. http://vimeo.com/51361454 We hunted for a bear for Randys' 13 year old son "Hunter" the next 2 days. Tuesday we glassed up at least 4 different bears way up high on the mountain. When they did not cooperate for a shot we walked the dogs in to what we thought was our best shot. The dogs treed in some really nasty bluffs, Hunter and I were 150 yds from the dogs when the bear came down and with the temperature in the high 80's and low 90's the dogs were finished. Wednesday brought more of the same. We glassed up a small bear at about 1000 yds. We watched him work his way up towards the bluffs. Then at 750 yds Paul glassed up a much bigger boar. We watched him feed in the top of the tree for what seemed like an eternity. He came out of the tree looked around and at a dead run went the other way up the mountain. We walked dogs in to where he had been and they screamed out of the country, Paul watched the bear run the dogs through the rocks and bluffs even taking the time to stop, turn around and look and see if the dogs were still coming. We are fairly certain we ran that bear 3 times this week, as he took the dogs to the exact same spot on the mountain everytime. This time 5 of the dogs made it through the bluffs and bluffed him up. It was around noon and very hot before they finally got him caught. Again though, Hunter and I did our best to get up to the dogs as fast as possible but we were 170 yds when we heard him come out and leave the dogs bluffed up. With the heat this was one of the toughest opening weeks I have ever seen. It was 93 degrees when we got Randys' bear back to the truck. We are recuperating and reloading. Next week we will be back at it. Special thanks to Paul, Ben and Jeff for all the help and hard work they put in this week. They really helped make this hunt a success. Thanks guys! Take care and happy hunting. Mike

This is a valid question and a situation that comes up more often than people think. As a hound hunter, the safety of my dogs is my #1 priority. We raise, train and breed our dogs and while I know some guys think of them as tools, to a lot of us they are part of the family. If one of my dogs was shot, I would be out for blood. Personally, I spend more time in the woods with my hounds than most people spend with their children. A pack of hounds is a lot like a team of basketball or football players, you've got your superstars, your role players your promising youngsters, losing any part of that team can really set a guy back. If a guy is looking at a bear and hears dogs coming and when the bear takes off decides to shoot, I have no problem with that situation as long as it does not put my dogs in harms way. If my dogs have run a bear to someone and the first time they lay eyes on it it's on the run, lead better not fly. Pursuing is considered "taking" to game and fish. It's no different than an elk hunt, you're sitting there glassing and you see a couple guys trying to sneak in on a bull one guy shoots and the bull runs away from him 200 yds across the hill you're looking at, do you shoot? I know there are some ignorant dog owners out there that don't care about others but not all of us are that way. As for flatlanders question, yes, last year I was bear hunting while an archery elk hunt was going on. We had been after a big bear, he had been hitting water regularly drove to one of the tanks he had been hitting and the dogs exploded got out found his track sure enough it was him. Only there was an elk hunter sitting in ground blind on the other side of the tank. I didn't see him because his quad was hidden. We got in the truck and drove away. He was there first. I know this is not always what happens but my opinion is we have enough problems to deal with out there as hound hunters, every do-gooder and tree hugger out there thinks our dogs are too skinny, malnourished and poorly treated we don't need to create problems with other hunters. What it comes down to is respect. I respect you and your way of hunting, I hope that you will respect mine and I will treat you as I wish to be treated. Mike

I believe it is a chromed 1:7. And it has probably 1000 rounds through it. I might be willing to do a partial trade for a wall tent and cash if anyone is interested in that.

posting this for a friend****** My buddy Tommy is selling his 84 Toyota reg cab. Straight Axle, 22r, cold a/c. Very dependable, he removed all the egr crap, has new radiator and he just did the top end on it recently. Has brand new 31 inch tires on it. he's asking $2500 Firm Give him a call at 520-208-4305

Not sure on mileage on the engine. He put the 22r in it and the entire top end is brand new. along with radiator and entire cooling system. it went on craigslist today too, so better hurry.

Does this record in HD?

I have some redtick/black and tan pups for sale, you can email me at hdtrophyhunts@gmail.com or call or text me at 520-840-5252.

I have some redtick/black and tan pups for sale, you can email me at hdtrophyhunts@gmail.com or call or text me at 520-840-5252.

We went out Elk hunting friday evening and when we got back to camp one of my dogs was missing. The collar was laying there with no dog in it. I have a hard time believing a 12yr old dog fought the chain hard enough to slip her collar. The dog is a walker female, white with black and brown spots. If you have any info of her whereabouts or talked to someone who found a dog please call me at 520-840-5252. Thank you for your time. The dog would've been NorthWest of Heber and if she slipped her collar should have a GPS collar on and a tri-tronics collar on. Mike Harris

I did that already, I also put signs at the onion and ace hardware and lone eagle. thanks for the idea though.

Eric thanks for the kind words. Congrats again on a fantastic bear. That bear will be hard to top. We all had a great time in camp with you, that Bacon wrapped Bear was DELICIOUS. I'm still not sure whether the venison or the bear was better, we may have to do a side by side comparison. How did you like the bear meat? Guys this was the second time Eric has gone out and hes seen 7 bears in 5 days of hunting I believe. I might have to take him on other hunts with me as well. Eric you are welcome in my camp anytime. Thanks for posting the pictures I can't wait to see what that bear of yours scores. Take care and talk to you soon, Mike Harris

Couesdeerhntr- FYI I just went through the statistics. There has not been a SINGLE UNIT in the last five years to have more than 26 lions taken TOTAL for the YEAR. And out of all the units in the state for the last five years ONLY 2 have had 20 lions taken in a single season. So either your "buddy" isn't reporting lions, or he's pulling your leg. One of those is highly more probable than the other. This problem developed because of studies done before technology improved how closely and successfully we could really track and monitor wild animals. Back in the 70's and 80's studies were done which claimed this widely accepted "norm," literature is still available (even one done in arizona) that say that lions will kill a deer sized animal every 6-12 days. But today biologists are proving that lions are much more oppurtunistic hunters/scavengers than they were given credit for and the 10-12 large animal kills is widely accepted. Another problem is studies done in other states do not represent lion behavior here. Just because a lion in Colorado kills a deer a week doesn't mean a lion in dry desert arizona kills a deer a week. Also every time you find a dead deer in the wild doesn't mean it was killed by a lion. Recently while working on a ranch in 27 while the fire was going, I found a calf elk dead that got hung up in a barb wire fence, I left it and rode off, a few days later the elk was gone, upon further investigation i found a lion had drug the elk off, ate on it and buried it. If somebody stumbled on this buried kill they'd say that lion was ruining our elk population. This is not to say that lions do not kill deer. Big toms do kill deer and calves and pigs and skunks and rabbits and coyotes and other "pre-adult" lions as well. If hunters just harvested nice trophy quality toms you would be doing a bigger service to the deer population than "killing every lion." Yes Andy is a guide, as am I. We are not "coming at you," but more so just trying to educate the "hunting public" and help stop the spread of WHAT IS A VERY WRONG BUT VERY COMMON MISCONCEPTION. I'll leave you with another little peice of food for thought. Arizona game and fish estimates there are anywhere between 2500 and 3000 lions in the state. They estimate anywhere from 70,000-80,000 coues deer and roughly the same amount of mule deer. If every lion kills 52 deer a year (a deer a week) that is 130,000 DEER A YEAR on the LOW END(2500) and 156,000 deer a year on the high end (3000 lions). For a state that only has 140,000 to a 160,000 deer total. That would mean we only have enough deer to feed the lions for one year. Look out colorado here he we come! Take care, and good luck with the lion on the original post I'm sorry your post got hijacked. Mike Harris HD Trophy Hunts

the information you were given is NOT CORRECT. YOU DO NEED TO CALL EVEN BEFORE THE SEASON IS OPEN. IF THE ANNUAL QUOTA IS MET FOR A UNIT ANY HUNTS AFTER THAT PERIOD WILL NOT OPEN. for example the october hunt in 3c never opened last year because the annual quota was met BEFORE THE HUNT EVER STARTED. if the annual quota is met a unit shuts down FOR THE YEAR. when u call they will tell you "individual hunt quotas" and "annual quotas" listen carefully as ignorance is no excuse to be bear hunting in a closed unit. btw i just called for u. no annual quotas have been met. also i'm not sure if most hunters are aware any problem bears that the department has to take that are sows count against the quota and any poached sows will still also count against the quota. good luck in 24a. Mike Harris HD Trophy Hunts

andys nickname is not the giant slayer, i don't believe anyone calls him that on here. I threw THAT on there because we talk every once in a while and I know he has been hunting his butt off but still having a rough year with lions. when he did Finally get the job done HE caught the biggest lion I've ever seen.....and i've seen a couple....... granted I've only seen pictures of the tom they caught...... but that thing isn't right. I do not speak for anyone else, or this board, don't take my little joke so literally dbcooper. Mike 520-840-5252

How in the world is someone supposed to know that someone else already found the track they are looking at, if A ) there are no footprints, meaning they did not get out to look at it B ) there is no one around for an hour C ) there are no dog tracks D ) you have not ran into another dog hunter all night Seriously, do you think Andy the giant slayer is like the old time indian trackers where he can "feel" the track and see all the way back to when the animal was standing in it???????????? This reminds me of a great story from when I was little, my dad and me were huntingt lions up on the kaibab, there was no snow at the time. But lots of rain and muddy roads. We cut a really nice tom track in the mud and dumped the dogs at daylight, we trailed across a few roads and went back to the truck to get closer on the next road over we found dog tracks and lion tracks. On the tree next to the lion track there was a note, "This is MY LION TRACK, I WILL BE BACK at daylight to run it." and it had a mans name, phone number (utah), and the time I think it was like 11 oclock. I thought it was hilarious, there was no evidence anyone had been back and only our dog tracks SO my dad being the courteous houndsmen that he was, pulled a pen out flipped the paper over and wrote "I'm SORRY, MY DOGS MUST NOT HAVE READ YOUR NOTE" it was one of my first real experiences with the competitive side of lion hunting. I still laugh when I think about that. Seriously, if the guy wanted to claim the track he should have stayed on it. A wise man once said, "THERE ARE NO RESERVATIONS ON PUBLIC LAND"

Mike Harris HD TROPHY HUNTS

The big tom is from 11/29. Had a late bear hunter in (no snow) and the 2nd day of the bear hunt it snowed all day so we went in to town and got a lion tag. Caught this tom the next morning. I had him pretty well located before the snow hit. Hes a 5 or 6 yr old and was VERY HEALTHY. Lots of fat on him. The smaller tom is from Sunday the 12th. Had another client and caught this young tom on the last day of the hunt, the client had been on 2 previous hunts and said he had been waiting 32yrs to kill a lion. It was a very enjoyable hunt, this lion jumped 4 or 5 times before finally treeing in a big desert oak. The clients son in law and 10 year old grandson all were able to make it to the tree and take part in the hunt. Not sure what you want to know on the dogs. They do ok for me ;-) I will try and post video later.

Caught this bear November 6. He will book. My buddy Lance came up from Tucson and got to kill a fantastic bear. I had been after this one for a while he was old and mean. Lance had passed up a few smaller bears in the past, this is what happens when they are allowed to grow. Mike Harris HD Trophy Hunts Here is a short video after the kill

Yes I believe he took him to Wellers Wildlife.

I'm camped out in 27 at the moment bear hunting made what i call enchilada pie in the dutch oven last night. It's delicious, and simple. -Brown some burger with onion and garlic and mix a little of the enchilada sauce when the meats close. -Butter the bottom of your dutch put a flour tortilla down -Layer of beef, then enchilada sauce, then cheese -repeat for another layer -put down last tortilla cover with enchilada sauce cheese and onion. Put it to the coals for 15 mins and you're good for 2-3 days lots of leftovers for 1 person. Everything you need- 1 small can of enchilada sauce (red or green) 3 large flour tortillas Cheese 1lb of ground beef (onion and garlic if you've got it) quick and simple

Wow. This is why we have sow quotas. Seriously what were you thinking? Unless you're shooting a 4 foot arrow that bear MIGHT be 3.5 feet long. BTW aside from the size, if that was a mature sow that you had taken, one that had her share of cubs people wouldn't be on here posting negatively about it. Think of it this way. A bear has 2 cubs a year every other year. If she had dropped 8 cubs in her life (8 years old), maybe one of those would have been a mature COLOR PHASE BOAR of a RESPECTABLE size that you could have killed. Instead you chose to shoot the equivalent of a fawn. I can guarantee that if I shot a coues deer fawn with my bow and posted pictures up of it saying it was "my first with a bow" there would be an uproar. Now I know you will make the "it's a legal bear" argument, just remember LEGAL IS NOT ALWAYS ETHICAL. Business Ethics 101. Mike