Devil Diver Down

Way to stick with it and get it done. Hunts rarely go perfectly (never, in my experience) and hopefully we are defined about how we regroup rather than how we retreat.

I'm glad we were able to help him and I think it was an eye opening experience for my son on preparation. He's pretty good about making sure all of his essentials are with him, but I don't expect him to ever leave his headlamp in camp again after this. Hopefully the kid we found - and the 'adults' responsible for him - learns a lot and is better prepared next time out. Except rare individuals, anyone who spends a significant amount of time in the woods - especially when chasing game - will get turned around at least once. I've done it and probably 99% of folks on here have. My beef wasn't with the kid - although he was certainly old enough to think for himself and bring at least a jacket to a place getting sub-freezing temps - but his dad and his uncle should know better. At minimum, the kid should have a pack with some essentials - light, something to build a fire with, proper clothes and water. Ideally, everyone would have either a GPS or a compass they know how to use with a map, but lost overnight is way better than frozen to death in the morning.

Back in town with tag in pocket. Brutal weather Thursday/Friday didn't help my son's cold, so we cut today short. We did hear one bull bugling at first light this morning but couldn't get a shot on his cows. We sat a bedding area late morning and had a nice 6x6 walk by us @ 25 yards. He must have gotten his butt whipped sparring because he didn't have any cows with him - I saw at least 30 smaller bulls than him with at least a few cows during my archery hunt. Thanks for the replies and congrats to all the young hunters who had a great time - tag soup or tag filled!

We must be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Haven't heard a peep. Wind and snow were blowing too hard Friday morning to hear anything other than the temperature dropping. Nothing in the evening or this morning either in spots I was into elk every day during archery.

Looking at the Fall/Main regs last night I noticed most of the junior deer hunts are set for the same week as many of the junior elk hunts. It seems odd to me that AZGFD would do that since they seem to be encouraging hunter recruitment/retention. Have they always done this? I never noticed if they had and only caught it this year since my oldest drew a Jr elk tag. Can't put or his little brother in for the junior deer hunts in the areas we want to hunt and they'll have to go general.

That's a tough hunt! Did that one a few years back - the G&F officer I talked to said 'shoot the first one you see (bull, cow or calf) because it might be the last one you see!' I ate tag soup that year, but I did see a real nice bull along with another bull and one cow. Couldn't get into a good spot for the shot and those were the only/last elk I saw that hunt.

325 ish. No question he's a shooter in my book.

Hats off to you - congrats on sticking with it and getting it done! Lots of people I met in our unit went home with tag soup. Your animal is going to eat a whole lot better.

Toad of a bull and a great shot. I don't think I'll ever be able to get a kill shot on video - I have enough to worry about w/o the camera in the mix. lol If that was my bull, I'd probably set the video on a loop playing on every tv in the house until I shot a better bull, which likely would be never. Way to go! Think I'll watch it one more time...

Great job! Awesome bull and you pulled off a great plan.

Pretty sure I (don't know about m77) never moaned or whined about my camera. Painting with such a broad brush is almost never a good idea. FYI, people driving in closed areas aren't 'doing something you (I) dont like.' They are breaking the law. Pretty simple fact you missed out on IMO. Yes, I'm aware vandalizing someone's quad would be breaking the law too. Difference is, I haven't done that. Plenty of people rode in to closed areas. Many of them did it after they were aware it was closed. Got nothing to say about that I guess...

That is awesome. I know a guy who claims he carries a havalon knife in his pocket just to cut sidewalls of quad tires in closed areas. That seems extreme to me but a spark plug seems like a pretty good idea. The Forest Service hasn't marked the roads as closed and that chaps my butt. They took the time to put numbered signs on most roads this year (ones that haven't been marked forever) but not to mark them as closed. WTF? G&F has nothing to do with the closures but I think they will be enforcing closures (writing citations) on violators starting next year. 95% of the people I talked to weren't aware of the closures in that area. 90% of those I informed kept driving those closed areas...

I feel your pain. I had quads blow out the bulls I was working - twice! - on opening day. One was a nice 6 right after first light and the other a raggie that was coming on a string to my cow call near sunset. I kinda let the second guy have it. All of this, btw, happened on roads (well, the first one was only a trail) in areas that were supposed to be closed to all motor vehicles per the new Forest Service TMPs. I hiked in and it took me over 90 minutes to hike to where I was hunting. Those other guys drove in (to the closed area). I explained to a number of people about the closures, showed them my map - some reacted well, even moved their camps out of the closed area. Some had some unkind things to say about FS and about me personally. One guy, after I told him about the closures (we were 2.5+ miles from the 'open' road), asked me in his best (I'm assuming) a-hole voice, 'Yeah, well then how did you get here?' When I told him I hiked in, he said 'Yeah, right!' like my Left Quad and Right Quad couldn't get me there. Only Polaris or Yamaha, I guess...

Up in 6A and I've been in bulls every morning and evening but they seem to be quieting down to almost no calling. Anybody else seeing/hearing the same or have the resident bulls just packed up and left the area?

That's awesome. Hopefully he's still ready to fall for it in 5 days. And I mean FALL.

Good stuff. Thanks for sharing.

Some of these were taken about a month ago. Some this week. Different locations. Are you slobbering like I am? Keep a close eye out for this bull.

You're pretty cool. 7x6 is little, I guess. Why don't you throw up some pics of big bulls then?

She's got a torn ear. When I first looked at the pics with her, I thought she had an ear tag. But it's ripped midway through. Better pic

Ouch. You can always come up to 6A and help me locate some bulls.

This is what will chap my butt. I have no problem playing within the rules (and I think these TMPs are mostly good deals) but I don't want to be at a disadvantage because of it. I have a 2 mile walk down a closed (but marked with a FS road number) road just to get to the spot where I launch into the hike to my spot of choice. If some #$@#% comes driving up my back to beat me to a spot I'm using my quads (left and right - not Yamaha, folks) to get to, there'll be a new book out: Fifty Shades of Red.

Just got back from a couple days in 6A - very few bugles this morning. None during the night and none the night before in an area where I know there are bulls because I saw them. Last week, one old boy was bugling his, um, marbles off from 8pm-9am. Heard him a few times at around 7am today. I was on the move at 4:30. Two 5 pointers on my trailcam at water less than 1/2 mile from where I was sleeping under the stars Tuesday night and not a peep from either one. Maybe it was the early rising moon? Getting worried. Getting fired up. It's almost game time.

Wow. What a toad! Would love to see more pics of this bull. Some jealous hunter might reach for a 'weak 7ths' comment. lol

My experience has been with cattle being bad news for elk. That said, when there's as much feed and water as there currently is in some areas, I don't think it'll be an issue. Case in point: Tuesday evening, I'm driving in to my #1 spot in my archery unit and cattle all over the place. My face probably came unglued. About 2 minutes of driving further on that same road, I spook a small herd (15 or so) of cows and raghorns. Another 2 minutes and another, different herd of about 12. Non-issue. Next day I check another favorite spot, but the cattle have been fenced in and overgrazed an area - no fresh elk sign AT ALL. Outside the fences, plenty of feed and water so that's where the elk will stay. Did see a mountain lion in the canyon there, which was cool because it's been a LONG time since the last one.

I was in a different unit mid-week and had different experiences in 2 different parts of the unit. First spot, one bull kept me up all night bugling every so often from 8:30pm-9am. He was cowed up, with a bunch of raghorns with them and he kept sounding off from where they were feeding during the moonlight to their beds in the dark timber. I never got a look at him, but I saw a bunch of the cows and smaller bulls with him. Some of the raggies were still in velvet, if you can believe that. Next night, I went a little bit further south and not a sound all night (except thunder) but I did spy a beast of a bull from real close quarters the next morning. Not a cow in sight. Weird for sure.