AzRaised08

Nice video and congrats to your father in law! Those fronts are great. Too bad he was broken but shows he was a fighter!

Been a bit busy with the holidays but made some Elk Tamales with the family this year in time for Christmas! Absolutely delicious

Awesome to see you were able to get on so many quail! Hoping I can make it out at least one more time before the season closes in a month

Too bad it didn’t work out, but I’m glad you were able to enjoy the time out hunting! Thanks for sharing the update with us

Truly awesome buck! Thanks for sharing your story with all of us. Congrats!

Good luck, excited to see how this ends for you!

Super awesome ram! Congratulations and thanks for sharing!

That’s awesome you got to do some school and hunting at the same time haha. Congrats to you and your son, that sounds like an awesome hunt!

Super awesome bull! Congrats on your first 😃

That buck is beautiful! Congrats

That is fantastic! Congratulations on your first elk—what an experience! And to get it done in an unexpected way adds to the journey and story. Enjoy some wonderful meat with the family

Oh wow super cool rack! How big was he? Looks like a nice 5pt on the other side

Unfortunately it didn’t work out but in the end it’s the time spent together that makes it all worth it! You found a couple of giants—maybe you’ll get a crack at them next year?

Yes the late hunts this year we’re incredibly different. Tons of snow last year and hardly any moisture to be found up there this year

That is awesome! Congrats on your first bull. He is a nice one

Good luck on heading back out tomorrow! Hope you have some success 😃

Hello all, I’m sure several of you are in the same boat as I am— excited to start your hunt first thing in the morning. Last year I had a semi-live hunt going on the site and really enjoyed sharing my first tag experience with you all. Luck would have it that I was drawn for the exact same hunt this year—the late bull hunt in Unit 27! I will post as often as possible keeping you updated on how things are going. Until then, here is my first bull elk from last year and some photos from scouting this past week! Hope you all enjoy following along, and I hope I can end this thread with a success post! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, John

That’s awesome you got to keep it! And thanks for posting what to do in those situations—I’m sure it’ll help someone out sometime

The rifle is 30-06, and this year I was shooting some good ole Remington Core Lokt 180gr PSPs

Wow that is awesome you guys went 3/3! Congrats to you and everyone else for what I’m sure was a memorable hunt 😃

Congrats on the hunt! Definitely some really tall spikes. It’s funny that this thread just got started. I’m currently in the process of a DIY Euro Mount for my bull. If this doesn’t turn out too good, now I’ll know who to contact for the next one haha

The first year was my father in laws tag and we came up empty, but the last 2 have been mine. I think as a group we’ve been more motivated after coming up empty in 2018. But even in our first year, which ended in some disappointment, I loved every second of elk hunting!

Good luck on your hunt Eddie! I hope you’re able to punch your tag

Thanks Kev! I appreciate the kind words. After 3 years of freezing my butt off, I’m definitely starting to feel more like an arizona elk hunter. I love doing it every year. Maybe I’ll have to put a pause on the late hunt and start saving points for an early archery

Well, last year it took 3 days to get a bull down. This time it only took a few hours. It wasn’t quite the way we drew it up, but I couldn’t be happier for another year with an elk-filled freezer. We left the camper at 0500 this morning and got set up on a small incline overlooking some meadows we’d seen elk in this past Tuesday. After hearing a few different shots around us, we figured the elk must have been in the next valley over and we missed our opportunity for an opening day, first-light kill. Around 0815 we decided to relocate to another ridge line a few miles south so we hiked back to the car and piled in. As we were heading back into the spot, my wife and buddy spotted 2 bulls trot across the road about 150 yards in front of the car. They said one was likely a young 4 point and the other was a more mature bull but they didn’t get a good look at it. We decided to park the truck and see if we could get on their trail. Luckily, a little bit of snow this morning helped us pick up the tracks of the 2 bulls and we were off! As we hiked up the hill, I spotted the younger bull and thought to myself that I was blessed enough with a beautiful 6pt last year, and this year I would be thankful just to fill the freezer and enjoy another year of elk meat. If I caught up to him and had a shot, I’d take it. Unfortunately, the young bull crested the hill and went out of sight. My buddy continued following their tracks while I stayed a bit to the right, trying not to directly follow their trail. All of a sudden we hear a truck somewhere else in the valley. I couldn’t see it, and I didn’t even know another road came back into this same area but all I could think was “this truck is gonna scare these elk off and I’ll never be able to catch up or find them again”. Well maybe that truck confused the elk because all of a sudden my buddy half whispers, half yells at me. I turn and look over in his direction and couldn’t believe what I saw. I was so focused on where I thought the elk had topped the hill that I wasn’t even paying attention to where my buddy was or what he was seeing. I look over and there is the mature bull, broken on both sides, trotting 20 yards in front of my buddy’s face and 40 yards from me. My buddy immediately drops to the ground and I bring my rifle up only to realize that I’m zoomed in at 9x and can’t locate what part of the bull I’m aimed at. I quickly dial back to my lowest setting (3x) and re-aim at the bull, but it dawns on me that my wife, father-in-law, and my buddy’s girlfriend were a couple hundred yards behind us and in the general direction I’m now aiming. I take a second to double check my shooting lane is completely clear, aim at the vitals as the bull continues trotting past, and squeeze the trigger. The bull stumbles about 200 yards before finally laying down under a tree, and a few minutes later I know he’s gone. It still amazes me how fast everything happened and how much I had to adjust/take into account for my quick, 45 yard shot. From my buddy spotting the bull coming back toward us to me pulling the trigger might have been 5-6 seconds but it felt like a lifetime. He’s not quite the bull I tagged last year, but he’s perfect to me. I couldn’t be happier for another successful elk hunt and another year of great elk hunting memories. I’m slightly disappointed we’ll be heading home earlier than planned this year, but it’s for the best of reasons: tag filled.