Flatlander

Regardless of whether you draw or not get a jump on getting yourself some gear. Firearms: You don’t need anything special. But if you plan to keep hunting coues you will find yourself wanting to shoot longer distances. I would recommend finding a common cartridge with a wide offering of factory loads. Any of the .30 cals are great (.308, 30-06, .300 win mag). The 7mm family have very good ballistic co-efficient and lots of factory options (7mm rem mag, 7mm-08) and of course right now everyone loves them some 6.5 mm, particularly the 6.5 creedmore. In reality, just about anything from .243 up will work just fine. Some sage advice here would be to buy something with lower recoil as you will enjoy shooting it more and will this spend more time practicing. I would suggest staying with a common factory platform that has lots of options to customize in the future. Remington 700, tikka, Ruger American Predator, and most of the savages are a great launching point. In regard to optics, you will need a rifle scope and binoculars. A spotting scope is a nice to have, but not the first place I would spend my money. I would rather hunt without boots than without my binoculars. Spend some money on your rifle optics, but prioritize your binoculars. There are plenty of low cost options these days that are far superior to what we were using even ten years ago. Expect to pay at least $300-$500 on a starter pair of bino’s and at least $300 on a rifle scope. Don’t forget a tripod. Without one you are basically wandering around the desert looking for Easter eggs. Also, this website is a good resource. If you poke around on here long enough you will find lots of info on low cost binoculars and other gear. Just look through the archives. Good luck and hit us up with other questions as you go.

After researching this is my first choice for my .300 wm I will be shooting in my Shiras hunt this fall.

Thanks for posting this Houston! A good tool for those of us who don’t look at elk every single day.

Restricting access to your personal, deeded land is one thing. However, restricting the access to public lands by their rightful owners (citizens) is something totally different. To hold public lands hostage behind gates on private checkerboards is nothing less than theft of the American people in my opinion.

You are a beast Fred! Always figured you would get the best of them.

Killing a 300” bull on a lot of the late hunts is a pretty good achievement. Even on the archery hunts, averaging 300” bulls is a pretty tall task. My guess is that even in those “top tier” units the average bull taken is less than 300”. I would say the next rank of units 6A, 5A, 4A, 5B, 8, 3B and 7W are all good quantity units with fewer really big bulls over 350”. After that I would put units like 6b, 19a, 7e which have lower qty and are not known for large bulls either. However yotebuster is right. You can kill a 300” bull anywhere in AZ. I think previously you mentioned moving to Payson. If that’s still your intent pick a unit close to there and start putting in sometime. You can figure that out and have a successful hunt in relatively short order. Good luck.

Thank you TJ! I hope you can get some enjoyment out of the thread, and who knows, maybe it will encourage you to come around a bit more often again!

I was really excited about the western hunter podcast, but couldn’t get past the first episode when Nate Simmons and Chris Denham were talking about cameras and filming. Not my thing. I need to go listen to the Colton Bagnoli episode and see what that’s like, he is a childhood friend. Anyone else got feedback on the first few of those episodes?

Yeah those live recordings are awful. IMO since Rinella sold the ME brand they have become way too commercial/corporate. Show content is good but the ads and all the spinoffs are becoming unbearable.

For AZ the first couple hundred Jay Scott sponsored were really good. A bit dated now but still lots of good info. I really like Meateater for conservation topics. It’s refreshing to hear a scientific discussion about the topics confronting sportsmen today. I also like Randy Newberg’s Hunttalk Radio.

Yes, it’s a 2006. Nothing special feel’s like a big upgrade from our 1996 Coachmen.

A few pics of last year’s adventures.

Yeah, this is why I was hesitant about posting. Lots of people question the system and start getting sour grapes when an 11 year old kid gets a world class tag. The tag is donated by the hunter to a qualifying charity. The charity has a list of qualified individuals who have submitted paperwork from a doctor who confirms that they meet the requirements. In Hunter’s case he has a permanent disability but children with life threatening conditions also qualify. Veterans have different requirements around combat injuries of certain severity. But I can tell you that the kids we have met at OE4A events are sick. At the OE4A banquet they have pictures in their slideshow of the kids who have passed away since their hunts. The wounded vets organizations sometimes have a hard time finding vets who meet the requirements but are still capable of the physicality of the hunt. The organization appoints the tag to a qualified recipient at their discretion. Last year Hunter received a late rifle cow hunt. This year the organization knew that he was better suited for walking and was really excited about antelope hunting. When Eddy called about the tag he said the donating hunter said he would like it to go to a kid if possible because it was a father and son who both donated their tags. The other tag went to a 17 year old boy. Hopefully that answers questions and people will continue to support these organizations. I know last year when we were driving home from Hunter’s elk hunt, he asked me if we could hunt again the next weekend. I reminded him that we were going back to CA for his next surgery that week. His response “Oh yeah, that is coming up.” We didn’t kill an elk on that hunt but for a few days he forgot all about surgery and the half body cast he would spend Christmas in, and the PT after that. He didn’t have to go watch his little brother play on the football team that he couldn’t be on. He just went hunting with his Dad. I can’t tell you how much that meant to that little dude and especially his Dad. So I am grateful for everybody who provides a tag or volunteers or spends 200+ nights a year helping or scouting or guiding these hunter’s. It means a lot.

Well the tag came in the mail today. IDFG also included a nice letter outlining the requirements for reporting, all moose must be checked in with F&G, and suggesting hunting methods and explaining moose behavior. Also got the camp situation figured out today. Picked up a new-to-me 2006 Nomad camper. Should keep us dry and warm. Should start testing moose loads next week while also setting the bow up with heavy arrows/heads.

Jim - Good pts and I agree with you. Better to Hunt now than wait for some fairytale that can be undone with any number of factors out of your control. As a point of clarification the super point was not proposed by AZGFD, it was simply something they asked for feedback on. I believe the proposal was taken to the Dept by sportsmen groups.

He’s from Oregon.

Man, quite the deal. Keep up the adventure and be sure to update us!

What year?

We will also be hunting the 10 rifle lope hunt for my son who is 11. We will be hunting on and off the Bo. My son is over the moon excited, this is the hunt he has always wanted more than any other and he’s got it in just his second year. Should be exciting.

Good price

Hopefully this thread provides a road map for you and others. Its way more do-able than I thought it would be, at least so far.

That pic is rad. What badass way to pack a moose. Did you do any calling on your hunt?

Nope. This is a general hunt. I am kicking around the idea of hunting with my bow as calling is an option and most of the moose encounters I have had were at pretty close range. I am reconciling that in my mind with the fact that the surface ownership is pretty mixed and I could be potentially be trying to capitalize in brief windows when the moose is on accessible land. We will see, but in the meantime I am working on getting both the rifle and the bow set for a moose size opportunity.

Since this tag is once-in-a-lifetime and I will likely never experience this again, I want to share my experience with those who might be interested in following along. For those who do not know, Idaho is a pretty well kept secret when it comes to trophy species. What I mean by that is not that they have a lot of trophy caliber animals, but when it comes to their once-in-a-lifetime species, they have a unique combination of circumstances that keep their draw odds curiously reasonable in a time when point creep, draw strategies and ever-slimming odds are the norm. There are three factors at work here that keep this phenomena intact: First; although Idaho is growing rapidly it is still one of the least densely populated states in the west. Second; There are no bonus points, your odds today are very likely going to be your odds a few years from now. In the ten years since I left Rexburg, the resident draw percentage for this hunt has only reduced from 20% to 18% despite a consistent success rate above 90% and maintaining an average bull spread near 40". Third; Idaho requires applicants to choose to either apply for any one of the three O-I-L species (Moose, Mt Goat, Sheep) or to apply for a limited entry for deer, elk and antelope. Because deer and elk both have OTC general seasons in much of the state residents can be guaranteed plenty of hunting without a special draw, but Idaho is as much mule deer country as it is potato country. So many residents are reluctant to pass up a chance at a rut/migration carp tag to apply for other tags many residents consider a novelty. Just as impressive as the draw odds are the resources that ID has available on their website. Along with harvest data and draw odds there are also interactive unit maps with surface management layers and boundaries. They do a top notch job of making it super easy to research and explore your options, even if you aren't previously acquainted with their regulations and systems. After calling some family and friends, I wasted no time in reaching out to an old friend who was the wildlife manager for this unit when I lived there. It didn't take long to find our that he was still in the area and happy to help get me pointed in the right direction. He even gave me the address of a bull he knew of in the unit. With that connection made its time now to start the process of figuring out gear, times, methods and locations for the hunt. I will likely only get one scouting trip in July, other than that I will be running off of what I can remember from a decade ago and a few dropped pins from my game warden buddy. So if you are interested in seeing how this turns out, check back and I will update the thread with gear prep, e-scouting, and other updates along the way. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and experience if you have any. Thanks for checking in.

I have a buddy who is a dentist. I go to him because he’s straight up and doesn’t try to sell me a bunch of extra work that I don’t really need. I hate dentists that are always telling me I need every filling replaced or some special cleaning or other treatment. His name is Karl Baker and his practice is Ujique Dental. You can tell Him Andrew sent you. He will at least give you an idea of what you are looking at. If it’s an emergency he’ll get you in right away.