Devil Diver Down

Good job on the video and sticking with the hunt! Dumb question from a total newb, but would most of you call that many times and that often with the tom close by? Is that what pushed him off his hang up or was it general horniness? I've not really hunted turkeys - tried to help my kids (no available mentors at the youth camp) without any success - but would be hesitant to call so often/much myself. Any advice is appreciated.

Unit 22 archery for piggy piggy. Last year (my first) I got bested by swine, but I predict sweet revenge on the stink pigs.

Unit 1 for me - first time really hunting them myself, other than carrying an archery tag along with me in the fall. I don't even know what I don't even know about turkeys. Should be fun, though.

Great job by you both!

Great job on the cow!

I hunted 6A for early archery last year and scouted the Rattlesnake Wilderness area, but didn't find any fresh sign at all so I abandoned it and never went back. I'm sure things are much different for the late hunt, but don't know anything else about that particular area than my scouting trips. The beauty of 6A is that there are elk all over the unit and I suspect when pressure from the 2,000 hunts before the late hunt mounts, some will move into Rattlesnake and other less-accessible areas. Best of luck to you and your son!

Awesome bull, congrats - glad you were able to find him even though the meat was lost. Total stud using your setup!

I have a Limited Opp archery cow tag for the Coon Canyon/Flat Top areas near Eagar starting Friday and am wondering if the elk are still vocal at all. I was up scouting my area right before the general archery hunt began and got into some different small herds. I didn't want to be up there while archers were trying to tag out and head up for my hunt in the morning. Hopefully they haven't moved out of the area. They were vocal in the morning and at dark but that was about it - not a ton of elk in there, which is why it's LO, I guess.

Nice bull - looks like he might have figured he was surrounded and surrendered. Congrats to your brother.

Congrats on tagging what is a really cool looking bull.

Cool looking bull with some crazy tines - great character on him. Congrats!

Holy base mass, Batman!

twowindy- looks like your bull got tangled up in the timber and ended up with a couple trees where his antlers should be! His 4ths are ridiculous - congrats on a great bull.

NICE BULL!!!

A lot of guys will hunt their whole lives and never kill a 320+ bull. He's a giant and he's your first! Good job on hanging in til the end.

Ya Know when I was younger the thought of that never occurred to me, then a friend of mine told me about a friend of his that he had hunted with. This guy had a unit 1 bull tag and he stated that his bull had to be over 350". Why? Because our mutual friend had killed a 350" bull the year before. He shot a bull that upon inspection he didnt think was big enough, and walked away from it. He ended up shooting a rag horn 5 point on the last day for the meat. My friend has never hunted with or to my knowledge even talked to that dude again. We went in and found that bull about a month later, he scores 343". Plenty big enough to hang on my wall! Guys that do things like that should be neutered in my opinion. Good luck to all those out searching for their bulls, and don't forget to ask for some help from up above! I wouldn't be considered 'younger' by anyone with vision, but that thought still had never occurred to me before I read this thread. Wow. Some people suck.

You and the G&F officer: Way to use your head to solve this: Daisy: Way to use your nose!!!

I really, really like the idea of fewer hunters in the field per hunt, without lowering the opportunity to draw (fewer tags) but I'm with others who don't see this as necessarily increasing draw odds and tags drawn over time - one apple cut in half is still one apple. Biologically, I think there might be an issue of increasing stress on the animals, as having hunters in the field for more days (i.e. 20 for archery instead of the 14 now) doesn't give them a rest period. If it's a non-issue from a biology standpoint, I would like to see it tried out in some units.

Awesome bull. Only raggies and cows should fall dead that close to a road!

Pretty great first bull! Way to get it done on opening morning. Sounds like you pretty much got it figured out on what to do and when to do it.

That stinks you lost your camera. I had some lousy SOB mess with my 2nd camera location in 6A last year. Tried to pry it off, I guess (pic 1) and couldn't so he walked away. 1 second earlier on the trigger and it would have gotten a pic of his face. He was only able to move the field of view a little bit because I secured it to the tree pretty tightly with a python lock, and another lock on the box to keep the SD card safe. I'd disagree with someone else's percentage that 90% of hunters are doing the right thing out there. It's a lot lower than that from what I see, unfortunately. Plus, a whole bunch of people I spoke with on that hunt last year considered driving roads the day before the hunt started as their preseason 'scouting' so I'm not real surprised that some #$#$%^#@@ would steal someone else's property and hard work, so they could get some easy info. Yes, it starts at home. Too bad it doesn't stay there.

I had mixed results last year (my first archery elk hunt) with the Montana Miss September decoy. Pros: A herd bull was bugling down the other side of a hill and I got busted by a bunch of cows when coming over the top - they started hauling butterscotch butt. I slammed the decoy into the ground so it stood up and blew my cow call. The cows put on the brakes and started grazing. It was amazing the difference the decoy made. I was having a rest in a big shady bowl I knew elk had been using, but they weren't home. I set up my decoy uphill from me a little. After my nap, I stood the decoy against a tree to pick up my pack and blew the cow call, just to see if I could get an answer. A calf came scrambling in about 6 feet from me. I laid down when I saw it coming and my head was underneath the decoy belly. That calf stopped and gave me the strangest look. Tried to get a picture but couldn't. Cons: When you're hunting solo, it can be a little bit of a handful to set up and take down. I started leaving the 'legs' attached and putting it over my shoulders so the body was trapped between my pack and back. It probably looked a little funny to anyone who saw me. Not sure which category this should go in - I was following a herd of about 50-60 elk with several nice bulls for over 2 miles and trying to get in front to cut them off. I cut one small lagging group off but they went wide around me, so I slung my pack and picked up the decoy to start back to where I'd come from. Well, here comes about 5 cows and another nice bull walking right to me about 30 yards away. I let the decoy drop flat on the ground in front of me and my pack tried to get set up. The cows stopped and the bull started bugling at my decoy flat on the ground. He knew something wasn't right. He stayed behind the trees and called his cows to leave with him. If I'd have had another 15 seconds or so, I might have had the presence to get it set off to the side and behind me and set up for him.

This whole post is very good but I actually think the bolded area is a fantastic idea - at least an optional add-on to the course. I wonder if slaughter goats or something like that could be purchased in big numbers by AZGFD so each participant could get a crack at it. It would require more volunteers/instructors for the classes and increased fees but I think it would be well worth it for most people. I'm talking beginning to end field care - not just getting the meat off the carcass (or field dressing the traditional way), but also storage for transport. It's too valuable a resource to ruin, IMHO. I've watched some videos on the gutless method and AZ Elk Society was going to have someone (IIRC, it was Mike Miller from Miller's SW Processing) demonstrate on a goat at their elk seminar last year, but they ran short on time. I planned on doing it last year if I tagged a bull, but my dad convinced me to chicken out and do it the way I grew up with. I wish I had tried it. Most processors will tell you that they can net you more meat, but when you're dealing with big animals like that I think you'll be able to manage smaller pieces like a quarter much easier and be able to keep it cleaner as a result. Just my 2¢. This is a really good thread. My wife wouldn't be thrilled with me DIY at home either, plus I usually shower and jump back into work the moment I get my truck unloaded, but I would like to give it a shot and make it part of my hunt in the future.

I understand your concern over ruining the meat by DIY butchering, but I think taking care of it properly in the field is where you're going to make or break the meat quality. Wrapping it properly is also going to be key to keep it from getting freezer burned, but I think there's enough good info out there. Time vs. heat is my biggest worry but I'm planning on learning DIY myself (is it already mid-August? holy cow!) sooner rather than later because I think I got screwed out of some meat last year. Plus, I plan on killing a bunch more critters with my bow now that I finally popped its cherry last September.

As much as I enjoy doing bivy hunts, a November hunt does create some issues from a weather/gear/rations standpoint. For Arizona hunts, water is typically my limitation so I base my plan on how much water I want to carry/what my available sources are going to be. If sources are limited (often) I leave extra water at my truck and hike back every few days. It's not ideal, but is the best formula I've come up with so far. I typically carry 100 oz of water for 2+ days for drinking and cooking freeze dried food. If I'm going to set up a spike camp and the hike back to the truck is punitive, I will pack an extra 100oz to leave at camp. The extra water is not an option if I'm carrying camp as I go. Here's what I typically take for each day for food for August/September hunts: 1.5 oatmeal packs for breakfast (I alternate between 1 and 2 each day); a protein bar for mid morning snack, about 4oz of trail mix, an ounce of jerky, another protein/power bar for mid afternoon, then a MTN House for dinner. I pack my food in individual gallon ziploc bags so I know what I have each day and put the trash back in the ziplock. Most people tend to eat more in colder climates because you spend more calories keeping your body temperature normal. Personally, I don't see much use for a bivy hunt in AZ unless you're going into a wilderness area or deep in a canyon. Pretty much every unit in the state has enough (too many, IMHO) open roads to get you close enough to your hunting spot to worry about bivying in. The extra walking both ways in the dark does drain your energy, but the tradeoff is usually increased comfort in the way of real food, less pack weight, a more comfortable bed, etc. Plus, if you get some serious November weather moving in or you get a bull down, you don't want to have to double back to pick up your spike camp. Many hunters will be helpful packing out animals - if they're around and have a good pack. I've run across a lot of hunters who don't even have a pack or plan to retrieve the meat they've tagged. Often times, when you get something on the ground the other guys are out trying to do the same and your clock is ticking. Likely you will have cool enough weather so you won't have to have everything out in one day. Best of luck on your hunt!