az_runner

Very cool story and congrats to the kids. That is a whole lot of meat from a few days of hunting.

Jason - these videos are just awesome. I'm guessing that most of this action can almost be on a schedule right? With that said, do you ever go out and sit to watch everything real-time while not hunting?

For sure there are some really good people on here.

Yep, Tikka 7mm-08 youth.

Oh man, he was grinning the entire trek out out. We had a pretty tough hike out with the meat and he was so jacked to be hauling those loads.

Bad to the bone man. Congrats.

Friday: We started hiking to an area just before sunrise. We sat on a small hillside and could hear a bull screaming a few hundred yards away. Ten minutes later one of the larger bulls that I've ever seen was standing 30 feet from my son, he busted us, screamed and ran off. We waited awhile and started to hike where he came from, but never found him or any ladies, so we left dropped a cam and left the area. We spent the rest of the day hitting a bunch of other solid areas and had a near miss with hitting a bull and a few cows that blasted just feet in front my bumper. That miss is a whole other story. Saturday: Once again, we started the morning with a nice hike just before sunrise. We got settled-in hillside, and things got loud quick. It sounded like multiple bulls in the draw around for us. We fought the urge to get up and go look to see if they were coming our direction. Minutes later, I could just barely see 4-5 cows moving in slowly at a few hundred yards out with a decent bull trailing them. The bull stayed back and the cows made it to about 70+ yards from us. My son was all in at this point, but the cows were moving all over this small area and the target kept changing. The bull that was with them was sounding off big time and looking in our general direction. I can’t imagine what it took for my kid to filter out everything and focus on one of the larger cows that had now stayed still. I could hear Carson say “I got it Dad, can I take the shot” and I responded “do it up son”. A few seconds later he says “I got it Dad, can I take the shot” and responded “yes, do it up…I said”. A few more seconds go by and now he turns around to me and says “I got it Dad, can I take the SHOT” and I responded “TAKE THE dang SHOT SON” followed by a smack on the back of his head. A few seconds later I hear the safety pop and he takes the shot. I just remember watching the cow take ten steps or so and was like did he miss… then I see a perfect lung shot for split second just before it dropped and expired a minute or so later. We put in all kinds of work camping, scouting, and hiking for my son's youth cow hunt. Outside of fresh sign we never turned up much besides a few random spots to sit and water littered with cameras. I started chatting with one of the members here and he gave us some solid leads. Out of complete respect for Beaton, I left out most of the detail. I can't thank you enough Beaton, very much appreciated man! This was Carson’s first big game hunt, so you made me look good and sure as crap set expectations high for his deer and pig tags down south in a few weeks… ha.

Not sure if any of you guys need this. https://www.azsci.com/events Stanley sent this to me a few months back. My 12yr old has a tag in 36a. We plan to be out there for a few days. Don't forget the companion pig tag for like $25 if in 36a. I have stop reading half post from my small a$$ phone... sorry duplicate info.

dang sorry to hear that Beaton as I know you guys put in some serious work for that hunt.

Not much of one man. Did my normal deal and left Phoenix around 330am yesterday, sat a blind around 545am where they were appearing. Only a few ladies showed up… about 10 feet in front of me for that. Long story, but we just found this new spot a few weeks back and started putting out cameras. I’ve been out there probably six times or more before and knew there had to be water around the immediate area because tanks just seem to be too far away from this spot for some many birds, pigs and deer to be. I hiked up and down the area with my oldest boy and we never found a seep or anything though found a few spots where a spring was just slightly showing moisture at the surface. Fast forward a few weeks, hunts and hikes out there to yesterday. I’m sitting the trail from what looks to be about mid-way in to these crazy game trails and bedding areas. The does show up and pass right in front of me, the one on the back catches me and they all bolt out of the area. I sat for another maybe 90 minutes or so and kept hearing all kinds of noise about 30-40 yards down from me and figured it was my boys and maybe they would make their way to me. Nothing ever came my way, so I finally got out of the blind and made my way down to where I was hearing all the noise. I knew where the noise was coming from as we’ve hiked down that way a few times. This time I crept the bottom in case they were coming down the trails towards me. I started seeing tracks of everything, like when you can’t tell what direction anything if going… another step or two more and there was the dang seep forming a nice little hole for all to drink from. We must have walked past this seep so many times, but were always on the trails where all the sign was. We sure as heck put in work and boots on the ground, but it just didn’t play out for us. I’ll be back out there before Jan to scout the area some more and hopefully be a bit more ready (at the seep now) in case these boys make it through the rifle hunt. I haven’t seen a single person or vehicle out there and knew there wasn’t much traffic and not to mention it’s a bit of a drive in and nice little hike in and out. With all that being said, there was a camera right on the seep… good times.

Velvet fork..

Thank man. I have a cool pic of a velvet with these cool tall prongs, I try to post it later.

Well another uneventful morning while waiting for these boys to show up again. I should be able to get out once more before Thursday evening... fingers crossed.

My lord!

Bought my 11 year old a Stoeger Condor youth O/U in a 20G. It's a a bit heavy, but solid as heck and easy to clean.