thegunsmith2506

Nothing

I got the chance to look through some of my Grandma's old pictures and slides this last weekend. Here are a couple of the 50 or so hunting pictures I found. I can't wait to get them all transferred to digital media. All of these deer came from units 30a and 29. The first picture is my Grandma's sister and her husband probably around 1946. The second picture is my Grandma's brother from the same time. The last picture is my Grandpa and his friend from around 1956 I think.

can deliver to Tucson or Phoenix this weekend.

SPF

Thanks guys! The boat does float and doesn't leak a bit. LIke I said, it has been repaired on the bottom, but doesn't leak. The motor runs great!

ttt

I was pretty excited when my Dad decided he wanted to put in for deer this year. We had one open spot on an app with my wife, her cousin, and my sister, who were looking to hunt Mulies. Once they drew the tag, we formulated a game plan that had my dad coming up to hunt the second weekend. Opening weekend Jason and I took the girls out and braved the wind and the cold. It was the most miserable opener I can remember in a long time. Even with the bad conditions we managed to put the girls on a few bucks. A few missed shots was all we had to show after 4 full days of hunting. Back to work for a couple of days and then it was time to head out with my dad. He made the drive up from Tucson and I skipped out of work just in time for a quick Thursday evening hunt. We checked the zero on his trusty .270, then hit the hills for the last few hours of daylight. The 15’s didn’t turn up any deer, and we headed home in the dark. The drive home was pretty discouraging due to the controlled burn the FS was conducting in the canyon we planned on glassing the next morning. Not that it really mattered. We were there to have a good time; a deer would just be a bonus. Gray light the next morning found us stumbling around looking for a trail I just knew had to be there. Turns out I was on the wrong ridge. We still made it to our glassing spot just as it was getting light enough to see. A few hours behind the binoculars turned up a few does, a couple little bucks, and a few too far away to tell. Nothing hung around long enough for a stock, so about 9am we decided to hike around the mountain and glass a deep canyon. It was steep, really steep. About 30 seconds after I said “this would be a horrible place to kill a deer”, I hear my dad say, “there they are”. Two bucks came running out of the bottom of the canyon and headed up the other side. I handed my dad the shooting sticks and got the bucks in the binos. “Shoot the one in the back” I said. “Ok”…. BOOM! “Miss, shoot again”! BOOM! “Miss”! I will leave out the details of what transpired the next 30 seconds. All said and done my dad made a great offhand shot at 395yds hitting the bigger buck one time right behind the shoulder. We picked up the spent brass and headed across the canyon to find his buck. Took us a while to get over to him due to the steep canyon, but we finally found him. This was my dad’s first deer hunt in about 15 years. I drug the deer down to the bottom to some flat ground. A couple of quick pics, the gutless method, and we were headed out with a pack full of meat. It was a long 2 miles out of that canyon and back to the Jeep. We made it to the Jeep about 3pm and were home sitting on the couch by 5. We got the girls on a couple of deer the next 2 days, but just never could make it happen. He may not be a huge buck, but we sure had fun getting him. Can’t wait to go again with my dad next year.

That's a great looking buck! Congrats to your dad!

Saw you on the way home from work just nort of Cordes Jct. Just wondered who it was.

That was a great story! Nice looking buck too. Thanks for sharing

That's a great looking bull! congrats!

congrats! thats a very nice buck!

When I found out I had drawn a Unit 21 Antelope tag I set my goal on an 80in buck. I have never been a trophy hunter, and I never get hung up on scores. I just wanted to make sure I shot a nice mature buck, and I wanted something that would look nice on the wall. My strategy was scouting all the out of the way places I could in hopes of staying away from all the other hunters. Most of the summer months, I scouted at least 1 or 2 days a week. We did a ton of hiking with little to show for our efforts. When August rolled around I started scouting hard every weekend. We looked over dozens of bucks and I started to realize there are not too many 80in bucks in this unit. With 2 weeks left to scout, we looked over all the bucks we had seen this summer, and I picked the 4 bucks I thought looked the best. We focused on finding those 4 bucks. We never did find #1. I believe he may have been killed during the archery hunt. We did however find a new buck that was quickly added to the list. I was very fortunate this hunt to have my dad, wife, and huntin buddy Jason all with me for the first 3 days. I was very excited to have them all there. The day before the hunt found my dad and I glassing for the buck I wanted to kill. We watched him and his 6 does for several hours before heading back home to get out of the heat. The afternoon was spent prepping gear, and shooting the rifles. That evening we checked a new spot, but only found a few antelope. Finally it was opening morning. We were up at 3:30 and left the house around 4:15 for the 40min trip to our glassing spot. It was hardly light enough to see and we had the buck located about 800yds in front of us. I took off down the hill only to realize there were several hunters all around the basin looking for this same buck. I am not sure exactly how everything happened, but someone bumped the buck and everyone took after him. He ran by me at about 400yds, but I decided to pass on the running shot. About 2 hours later our chase ended when 4 guys on quads cut us off and started chasing the buck. I have never been on a hunt with some many people after the same animal. That was enough of that! We got caught in the rain on the way back to the Jeep, so we headed home to dry out. That evening we hunted another area only to run into more hunters. I was amazed at how many guys were driving cross country looking for antelope. It was a real shame to see. That evening we watched 3 guys on quads with rifles ready, ride within 200yds of a bedded buck. They had no clue he was there, and he never got up. He wasn’t big enough to shoot, so we hiked out and made plans for day 2. On the morning of day 2 we hiked in to a canyon that I knew help a good buck the week before. After a few hours of glassing we had only spotted a herd of 3 does. With lots of hunters in the area, I figured this buck may have already been killed. About 9am I decided to make a change and head for a spot I thought would get a lot less pressure. By 10am we were hiking some big hills and glassing several big basins that were a ways off the road. My plan was to stay on the top and move from basin to basin all afternoon. It was getting hot, very hot. I stopped in the shade as soon as I got to the 4th basin of the day. I put up the binoculars just in time to see a buck stand up, stretch, and lay back down. The 4 of us crammed ourselves into the shade of a tiny little Juniper tree and set up the tripod. We all looked over the buck and decided he was worth a closer look. We decided my dad and I would make a mile long stock while the other 2 watched the antelope from the shade. Once we determined the antelope was not going anywhere we headed out. It took us about 40min to get to the edge of the bench they were bedded on. The wind was swirling all over the place so I tried to stay higher on the hill, but there wasn’t much cover. It was great having my wife and Jason spotting for us. They let us know when to sit tight and when we could move. When we knew we were close we began glassing every few steps. I was just about to leave the cover of a Juniper when Jason came on the radio and said the antelope were on the move. One had turned into 7. The six does were up, and headed right to us. He had warned me just in time. I had just enough time to sit back down as the lead doe came into view. A few minutes later I had the buck in the 15’s at less than 300yds. My first thought was to shoot. I settled down and looked the buck over for a few minutes. He looked nice, but just didn’t seem to be as big as I had hoped for. After a few minutes of debating in my head, I asked my dad what he thought. He said he thought the buck look nice, but he couldn’t see him very well. I only had one more morning to hunt with everyone before I was going to be on my own. Everything had worked out so perfect. I decided to shoot. Of course that is when the buck fever kicked in, the wind swirled, and the buck decided it was time to leave. He started heading for his does as I was getting the rifle rested on my tripod. I got the crosshairs on him just before he made it to the Junipers. The shot felt good, but I couldn’t see if it hit. I looked back at my dad and he said he thought I missed. I ran 20yds down the hill and set up again hoping for another shot. Just as I sat down Jason came on the radio and said I got him. They got to watch the whole hunt unfold through the binos. Without their help we never would have got him. The .243 had done its job well. The buck made it about 75yds before falling over. He isn’t the biggest buck, but he is a great trophy for me. It’s always better to have family there with you. Thanks to everyone for all the memories! I would also like to thank TLH for answering a ton of questions for me, and offering lots of good advice.

thanks for the replies!

awesome! congrats on a pretty bull

nice job! thanks for sharing

I have a rifle tag in 21 this year as well. We have been scouting hard all summer and have not seen a lot of bigger bucks. The ones we have seen are getting a lot of pressure from the archery hunters right now. I doubt the few big bucks in the unit make it past noon on opening day. I am not very good at judging antelope, but I don't think there are very many bucks over 80". My goal was to try and shoot an 80" buck, but I think I might have to settle for something smaller. It doesn't really matter tho, I have my whole family coming up for the hunt. I will be happy with any nice looking goat. Good luck! Hope you guys can find a big one.

Only found a few this last weekend, but it was still nice to get out. I never put trail cameras on water close to a road, but I risked it for 2 weeks and it almost paid off. I had a cow elk come in and move my camera after only 2 days. I did manage to get a few Antelope on trail cam before she moved it.

I just started using Strelok to get me close, and then I dial things in on the range. It has worked pretty good for me out to 650yds. That is as far as I have tried it.

Here are a few from 2 weeks ago.

Here are my biggest. 38lbs, 39lbs, and 44lbs.

We just got hit for deer tags this morning. Or at least that is when the charges showed up.

Kinda reminded me of this bear I had a few years ago. Very cool color for sure! Hope you get a chance at him this fall.

I always hunt the first week when I have an archery cow tag. I think most of the hunters only hunt the weekends and the woods really clear out during the week. The elk seem to settle down during the week and go back to their regular habits. Just my opinion.

Braved the wind and the snow flurries to get out and do a little scouting. Here are a few pics. Sorry about the quality but I had to zoom in a lot on a few of them. Total we saw over 40 elk, 35 antelope, and 10 pigs.