thegunsmith2506

My wife and I had the opportunity to take Cody and his mom on his first hunt this year. He was lucky enough to draw one of the antlerless tags on the Kiabab. Cody and his mom spent all summer shooting my .243 Ackley and finishing his hunters safety course. Opening day finally arrived and we were off to 12a. We spent the first morning getting our bearings, and trying to find where the deer were hanging out. We had a close call and a missed shot opening morning, then headed back to Jacobs lake to check in to our hotel. Friday afternoon we were back at it. Thanks to a few friends, and a few guys from CW, we knew right where we needed to be. We had a few more close calls and missed shots that evening. We were all having a great time seeing all the deer, and seeing Cody so excited every time we got close. Friday ended with a lot of deer seen, and high hopes for day 2. Saturday we headed out to the same spot before daylight. I couldn't believe all the trucks parked along side the road waiting for shooting light. We decided to head for some lower country we could glass. On the way to our new spot I spotted 2 does across a small canyon. We parked the Jeep and Cody, his mom, and I, snuck back up the ridge across from the deer. We took it really slow glassing every few steps. I soon spotted the 2 deer but they had us pegged. We got Cody set up on the tripod and waited for a good shot. He had a hard time seeing the deer in the thick brush, but finally got one in the scope. I told him to shoot as soon as he could. It seemed like forever, but he finally took his shot and I watched the big doe drop and roll a few times down the hill. After the backslaps and high fives we hiked over to his deer. It took a little while to find the spot, but Cody soon found her right where she dropped. He had made a great clean kill at over 150yds. Not bad for a guy who just started shooting last summer. Cody and I field dressed the deer and I carried her back to the Jeep. That afternoon we got her skinned and boned out. Sunday we headed home and had her packaged and in the freezer by noon. Thanks to all those who offered tips and advice on this unit. It was really a big help to know where to start. I can't wait to help Cody on his next hunt!

I posted a story in the youth section, but thought I would add a pic here as well. Cody took this big doe Saturday morning. Thanks to all of you that offered advice on this hunt. It really was a lot of help.

We setup expecting a coyote on this stand, but at 3 min we had this cat charging in. I shot him running straight at me at 12 steps. 1 shot of 3-1/2 #4 buck put him down. Fur wasn't great, but was good enough to keep. So far its been a great start to the calling season.

just a few from the last cam check before the hunt.

Well to say I was excited to draw this tag with my best friend would be an understatment. Last year we had plans to hunt his Unit 8 archery bull together, but he was deployed before his hunt started. I thought this year we would finally get to hunt elk together. I was wrong... In June we learned that he would again be deployed during the hunt. Not knowing who would be available to help me on my hunt, I called my dad. As always, he was up for the adventure. Wednesday befor the hunt we headed up after work to set up camp. That night was too windy to do much so after a quick dinner we went to bed. Thursday we got in a little scouting before the wind got too bad. My buddy Jason headed up that afternoon and must have brought some wet weather with him. Shortly after he arrived in camp it started to rain. All night it rained on and off. Finally!!! 4am Friday and we were up and brewing coffee. Everything was wet so we loaded up the muzzy and wrapped the barrell with tape to keep the rain out. At 5:23 we piled into Jason's jeep and headed to our favorite spot. We arrived at our parking spot at 6:03 am. As we gathered our gear we knew this would be a great morning. Bulls were scraming all around us. Our quick prayer before we started out was inturepted by several bugles. I headed out on my normal trail with high hopes. Just a few yards in Jason convinced me that we needed to check out a bugle that sounded really close. With the wind in our face, we headed up the ridge towards the closest bugle. After about 200yds I realized we were going too slow. The wind picked up, and we picked up the pace. A few minutes later I eased over the top of the ridge and there he was. A big 5pt bull running back and forth screaming his head off. I saw a few cows about 125yds below me and set up on the shooting sticks. It was thick. I couldnt get a clear shot. After a few minutes Jason finally convinced me to move to our right into a small saddle. Just as we made it to the saddle my dad and Jason were pointing down into the brush. I moved to a big pine and set up the gun again. I couldn't see anything, but that is when the whole hillside came alive. Elk were running everywhere. Instinct took over as a big cow stopped in a shooting lane 80yds below me. Up came the gun, checked for horns, and dropped the crosshairs to her shoulder. BOOM! Too much smoke to see, so I look back at my dad. He is looking through the binos, so I look back at Jason. He is shaking his head. Nothing! Shoot again. What!? I was sure it was a hit! Now in a panic I set the gun on the ground and start to reload. As I do this, I look down the hill where I shot and see 4 hooves up in the air. I look back at my Dad and Jason and tell them it was a hit and she is down. I guess we were all looking at different elk. We make our way down the hill 80yds and there she is. Dropped in her tracks Now what? Jason walks down the hill and finds a loging road about 50yds away. We are in Luck! After the pictures I look at the time and it is 6:45. A 40min hunt and it was over. Some slick manuvering by Jason and we had the Jeep backed up the hill 50yds from the elk.It took us 2 hours to load her in the jeep, but at 9am we were back on the road headed to camp. At 1pm we had all the meat on ice and could finally relax. I really couldn't have done this without the help of my dad and Jason. Nothing better than a great hunt with family anf friends.

We normally don't start calling until October, but we have had a lot of coyotes around the house, so we made a few stands this weekend. Started the year out pretty good. We killed on 50% of our stands. I can't wait for some cold weather so we can go after the foxes! Looks like it will be a good season.Here are a couple of pics.

Right now I get the best patterns with 3-1/2 #4 buck and a dead coyote choke tube. I would prefer to shoot HD shot, but it doesn't pattern as well in this gun, and it is pricey. For foxes I shoot 3" lead BB's with the same tube.

Check ebay. I picked up a set of Redding dies for pretty cheap a while back.

Congrats! 21 can be a really tough hunt.

I was thinking the same thing........

Hilary

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!