azelkhunter69

Apparently you guys are all forgetting the "Assault weapon ban" in 1994 while Bill Clinton was in office. You couldn't have more than a 10 round magazine either. That was when all the AR's and similar guns started selling for a minimum of about $1500. It lasted for 10 years but they couldn't get it renewed. And, if you REALLY think nothing has changed in the last 7.5 years, you have had your head in the sand. Thanks to Obamacare, I basically pay medical costs myself. We have a high deductible HSA where we used to have insurance where we didn't pay hardly anything and only ever had to pay co pays when we went to the Doc. I could go on and on but I really don't want to get started.

Gotta agree with Jack on this one, he killed dang near everything with the .270. They don't call it "The rifleman's rifle" for nothing. Personally, one of our favorites. My dad and I own several .270's and .270 WSMs.

Awesome story. One you all will never forget. What an experience.

I am putting in for the early hunt. Should get drawn for sure with an avg. of 7 points. Talked to a couple Game and Fish guys and they said the bucks are getting bigger. He said the archery guys were having too much success so they started cutting the archery tags back.

Made my first trip up to 12AW this past weekend. Beautiful country and a great experience. Learned a lot. We covered a lot of ground. My 16 yr. old and I had turkey tags, which I got only because I thought we would be taking a scouting trip for the deer hunt....just didn't know it would be the 2017 deer hunt. It rained and we didn't get any turkeys but in 3 days we saw 150+ deer and 30+ bucks. A lot of small to medium bucks but we did see a few big bucks and one great big sucker. Saw a group of 7 bucks Sunday morning and I would have shot any one of them. Can't wait to get up there again next year.

soooooo, does that mean we have pics on the way or no?

Don't sell yourself short. Nice bull. Especially for your first. Congrats. Great job.

From what I have seen and heard, same as every other year....hit and miss depending on where you are. I hunt 8 a lot and have seen/heard people say 8 is super slow this year, but talked to a guy that said he was shocked at how great it was considering the early opening day(the 9th), said the bulls have been going off the whole season.

I can relate to the lack of respect. Last year there were guys fighting over water holes, guys intentionally walking a circle around other guys just blowing on a bugle. As long as I have hunted that unit it has always been horrible with road hunters. The first time I hunted deer there, I called the game warden for some info....his advice, "Drive the roads until you see one." I couldn't believe he said that. That was the end of the conversation.

Finally!!! We have a winner. 1st elk pic posted. Great bull. Congrats.

It's hot up there. Over 80 in Williams already this morning. But yeah, you would have thought that someone would have posted a pic by now.

When I didn't get drawn for early archery bull again this year I tried to convince myself the silver lining was that the hunt starts early this year. Next year it starts on the 15th which typically is better. BUT, the moisture this year seems to have made for some big bulls and the weather is looking really good. 2 out of the last 3 archery hunts we had, the weather was terrible....in the 80's. This year, if the forecast holds, it looks like 60's and low 70's. No telling what the rut will be like yet, I guess we will see in a few days. Good luck to all of you lucky guys and gals with tags. I'll be waiting for the pictures to start rolling in. P.S. Not sure who I am trying to kid. There is no silver lining to not drawing. I wish I drew every year.

We have shot a few bulls during that hunt and I can tell you, a lot of where they are depends on the weather. If it is fairly "normal", ie 50's-60's during the day and 30's at night, I have found them right where I would during archery season. If it gets cold and snows, they will bail and go lower. This was the case in 2011. 11 inches of snow the week before the hunt. Hardly saw any tracks the first morning, and the ones we did see were going lower. Went down lower and there were elk all over. My wife shot a 6x5 the 2nd morning in a transition area between pines and junipers.

^^^ Heard this a couple times today.

So much for the forecast holding. 80 degrees in Williams and warmer tomorrow. That and only being Sept. 9th probably explains some of the complaints about not hearing bugles this morning. Should be good about mid week though if the weather man is right. Supposed to be in the 60's.

Just got up to go to work.....the wrong kind of work. So freakin' jealous right now.

Oops, sorry about the extra "i" in the topic title for all of you spelling police out there.

Beautiful buck !!! Heavy, heavy, heavy.

We use 100 gr. of Triple 7 powder pushing either a 250 gr. or 300 gr. Barnes. Combined, we have 4 bulls to show for it. My wife will be trying for her 3rd bull in November.

No new pics in over a month? Always look forward to seeing them.

Doesn't matter....TALL...great looking buck....shoot !!!!! Honestly, I am definitely no expert but... mass avg.+prongs avg.+length exceptional = shooter. Going to guess 85.

Well, looks like we defied the odds and didn't get drawn. Totally bummed. Can't wait to see the report when it comes out. Well, next year I guess. I'm tired of saying that though... I am 0 fer on tags this year. Sitting on a lot of points now. Good luck to those of you that did get drawn.

Seems to be awefully slow going. I would have expected a ot more "hits" by now. I'm still holding out hope. My dad and I had an average of 6pts for 12AW in October. I thought that gave us a really good chance.

My son and I got hit for turkey tags this morning at 7:15. Still waiting to see if my dad and I are going to the Kaibab.

Wow, look at the 3rds on that guy.