huntlines

My son's bow had a cracked limb which was found in the middle of the December hunt. He was upset he lost valuable time during the rut. We took the bow down to the PSE Pro shop and they advised him the bows limbs were not made any longer and couldn't be fixed. Since the bow was twelve years old they told him they would give him a new bow at 50% off the price. He was able to get a 2015 Bow Madness at half price. He is extremely happy with his new bow and the thought of getting back out to hunt before the rut ends. I wanted to give a big thanks to PSE for standing behind their product.

Big bucks finally started chasing ladies yesterday. I was able to arrow a nice buck who was love struck...... story and pics will come later.

My youngest daughter took this nice buck last December. I have been busy all year and have not got around to mounting the buck for her until earlier this month. I wanted it to be under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning. Between my hunting and the holiday craziness I was able to get it finished just in time. The look on her face Christmas morning was priceless! Well worth me missing a few days last week of hunting.

I seen a buck checking does and pushing a smaller buck off this evening. It is getting close......I still think it wont get nuts till right around Christmas like years past. I will be out there hunting with my bow and will let you know..........

My issue with hunter surveys are how they are used. Game and Fish like to keep the hunter success rate around 20 to 30 percent on hunts. Success rates go up and they issue more tags to try to push the success rate back down to the 20 to 30% range. Problem with this is we as hunters are getting better with the use of high dollar optics, faster bows and rifles shooting 800 plus yards accurately. More animals taking dirt naps equals more tags to keep the success rates down to the proverbial 20-30%. Problem is does Arizona have the game numbers to sustain this type of management?

I am writing this with joy and disappointment. I have been so busy getting ready for my oldest daughters archery bull elk hunt that I have not had much time to take my youngest daughter out deer hunting. Yesterday she found out her big brother was going hunting and she was not going to be left behind. My son is 19 years old and is becoming a great hunter so I knew she was in good safe hands. I just always want to be there when my kids are hunting! There is nothing more rewarding than to be in the field with you kids. Harvesting an animal is just icing on a big fat cake. So being stuck at home drove me crazy! I was constantly texting them to see if they are OK or if they are seeing anything. They always tell me "sorry dad we didn't have cell service" when they get home. Ya right they just don't like their dad pestering them when they are trying to hunt. I had not heard from them all day and was getting a little worried when I got a text about noon. All it said was "Killed one!!!!!!! 3x3 YAH BUDDY!" What?????? It came from my daughters phone but I didn't know if my son had killed it or my daughter. If it was my daughters it was her first buck with a bow. In an instant I'm calling both of their phones and to my frustration I get their voice mail instantly. There is no feeling you can explain when your wanting more information and not knowing what is going on. Two hours later I finally get a call, "hey sorry dad we didn't have cell service" (ya right). They are almost home and had spent the last two hours packing the deer to the truck. According to my daughter it was a 20 yard shot and he was slightly quartering toward her. She said she had to wait for his right shoulder to move forward because I had told her not to hit the shoulder with her light poundage. Boy did she ever listen. When I met up with them I looked at the buck and couldn't see an entrance wound. My son reached down and pulled the right front shoulder forward.....there it was. A perfect shot so behind the front shoulder you had to move the leg forward to see it! Just to see I put a tape on him and he green gross scores at 86 and 5/8ths. What a heck of a FIRST buck. My daughter had field dressed and packed out half of this buck with my sons help. I am one proud papa to say the least.

Nice to hear there are still some good people out there.....

That is a very nice FIRST coues. Congrats

Nice buck! Love the smile on his face!

There is nothing better than hunting with your kids. Congrats

Great footage. Having your boy that close to those bulls must have been the highlight of the trip. I think you got a hunting buddy for life!

GreyGhost85, I think we are saying the same thing. I understand there are big bulls killed every year and there will continue to be however the hunt itself is not the quality it used to be. With the amounts of tag going up, in some cases doubling, the hunt experience is being destroyed. Yes I live in the same state and have all my life. I have been hunting since the mid 1980's and have taken six elk with a bow in my life. The units I like to hunt have gone down in quality due to the number of tags issued. Late 1980' through the 90's if you were drawn you rarely ran into other hunters. I ran into more big bulls and ones that were not running in the other direction at the sound of a call. Now I see more hunters running up and down roads bugling from their truck or quad. The roads sound like Phoenix during rush hour traffic and the woods are full of people cow call/bugling. When I elk hunt now I don't even carry calls because they are useless epically on big bulls. Not carrying calls is fine with me just a noted change from just fifteen years ago. Bigger bulls seem fewer probably because now you have to go deeper into the woods. I remember the 90's when I seemed to see 375 plus bulls nearly everyday. Now with the pressure it seems like I see one every three to four days during a hunt. Sure this is just my opinion but the hunter numbers in the field killing the experience. I also agree bulls need to be able to get old in order to get big but with tag numbers the way they are and lots of people wanting to just harvest an elk the smaller bulls are getting killed. A trophy is in the eye of the hunter and I don't frown on anyone who shoots a rag horn. If it is what they want then great. My last elk hunt I wanted a 370 plus bull. I passed a handful of 330 to 340ish bulls and countless smaller bulls. I came home empty handed and was fine with that because I knew I only wanted 370 or bigger. I didn't need the meat and have taken several bulls in my life already. What I was upset with was the amount of people hunting. Quality elk hunts are a thing of the past due to the amount of tags per unit.

This isn't just limited to unit 8 and 9. It is state wide and should be something we are all concerned about. Supposedly you all wanted more hunting opportunity and not quality when game and fish was seeking input a few years back. Not enough of us spoke out and the ones who did wanted more hunting opportunity. So for those of you who wanted more hunting opportunity this is what it looks like. Quality elk units are now a thing of the past........

Been out with my daughter the last four days. She had to go back to work which sucks because we were just starting to see real rut activity. The last day we were there we chased screaming bulls from 545 to noon. She had a big bull at 15 yards at full draw but he stopped behind a few trees. While she waited patiently for the bull to clear a cow busted her. These last few days of the archery hunt should be good and the lucky rifle/muzzy hunters should have a great hunt. Good luck

cohntr6, My daughter shoots the Hoyt Ruckus with whisker biscuit, truglo sights and set at about 37 lbs. Quad pro 100 grain broadheads on goldtip hunter arrows. I have never been a fan of whisker biscuit rest but for kids they are great and she shoots tight groups at 20 yards. She only has a 20 and 30 yard pin because I wont let her take longer shots with her light poundage.

Nice! Hope some pictures are to follow.

Thanks to all you who have posted your kind words. My daughter and son love reading them. Now I will be off to help my 21 year old daughter on her archery elk hunt. She just got a job as a nurse and her schedule is crazy busy but I'm looking forward to spending time in the woods chasing screaming bulls!

I have been doing taxidermy for a little over a year and have mounted a few coues. YES she will be getting a shoulder mount done and I am the one who gets to do it.

Yes that is the one. There are tons of elk in there and some really big bulls.

One good place to start is rattle snake canyon just off of I-17. Good luck

Get it in at least a week before the hunt starts and brush it in good. If you don't the elk will shy away from it.......

More importantly the temperatures are going to drop at least 10 degrees with the storms. This should get them bulls going!

From the trail camera pics I have the horns look just fine to me this year!

A little in 1/27 but they shut up just after light. It's coming but they are not real fired up yet.........

I was up in 27/1 this last weekend also. Heard a few bugles but they shut up shortly after first light. One bull bugled and he sounded like a small rag horn but when I got close he was a 360 class bull! My daughter has a 1 and other family members have 1 or 27 tags. I will be busy helping them and am counting the days. Have some really nice bulls on trail camera from both units. Horn growth looks just fine to me this year!