Old Buck

Thanks for your post. I started applying in 1968, you have given me hope! I hope you have a great hunt.

I was one of the 14 lucky tag holders for the spring buffalo hunt on the Kaibab. In preparation for my hunt, Corky was one of four people that I talked to. Everyone that I talked to was very helpful. Corky told me that I was welcome to hunt his salts and even offered me the use of his Polaris Ranger if I needed it. I think he is a good man!

A game meat cookbook sounds like a good addition. My wife has put together two cookbooks in the past few years. We requested recipes from our customers and gave free cookbooks to all who responded. She used Cookbooks by Morris Press for the printing. We were happy with the cookbook and have reordered several times.

I have been on 3 solo elk hunts and enjoyed each one. The most recent was last December. I drew a unit 10 late bull tag and my son and all my other hunting partners had whitetail tags for SE AZ . I drove into unit 10 on 35 miles of dirt roads and camped. I scouted 3 days, hunted 4 days and packed meat and antlers for 2 days. It was great! Even better than great when you are 60! As to your question of safety, I feel safe when I am out and carry a SPOT if something happens. I also found that I had better cell phone reception with the on-star feature in my truck than my i-phone. As far as success, I think that I hunt better solo than with a partner. Success is totally up to you and the decisions that you make. Sanity is optional or at least questionable when you are hunting elk solo. Only you can be the judge if you are up for it. If I were you I would give it a try!

I look at the list of leftover javelina and deer tags each year and don't understand why people can't manage to take their kids hunting. My cute little son and daughter started hunting at 10 and 11 respectively. They are both 30 something and both avid hunters. Youth hunts were very limited when they started hunting, so they put in on the general hunts. Hunting is a great sport! My kids have learned so many important life lessons while hunting. I credit much of their success in life to the things that they learned while hunting. The most important thing is to just take them hunting!

Dave_D I recommend that you head to Dallas. You could be there before the end of the day! I was in the same position that you are in back in the early 80's. I shipped my coues rack off to be panel scored for the biennial compitition.The covention was in Fargo, ND and I thought that it was way too far away and didn't go. I have always wished that I had gone. P+Y Club is one of the few organizations that I belong to. It has a strong conservation focus. Get yourself to Dallas ASAP!

I started applying for elk in 1967 in AZ and have draw 11 late bull or either sex rifle and 8 archery early bull or either sex tags. Seems like lots of tags, but that is over 45 years. In the past 20 years I have also drawn 2 bull and 14 cow tags between NM and CO. At first I turned up my nose at going out of state to hunt cow elk. But the question is do you want to hunt or just talk about it? Cows are fun to hunt and how many elk racks does one need?

All bonus or preference point systems are just a customer loyalty programs. Arizonas isn't perfect(I did draw an elk tag this year) but I like it. In Colorado if you draw your second choice you get a tag and a preference point. I like that. In Nevada you get a point for each year you don't draw and they square your points and assign you that many random numbers, but here is no set aside pool for maximum points. Thats good but not great. As has been pointed out New Mexico has no draw point system. The benifit here is that on the first year I have the same odds of drawing as someone that has applied for 30 years. All these states have good points and limitations. I have drawn great tags over the years in all the states I listed. The trick is to do some research and apply in several states. 10 years ago when I turned 50, it hit me, I may only have 30 or 40 more years to hunt elk! I began putting in in several states each year for elk, mixing bull and cow choices. I have only blanked on a couple of years and have drawn 1 to 3 elk tags the other years. It is really fun to have 3 elk tags in one year! My recommendation is for frustated hunters(those that haven't drawn a tag) is to do something proactive and research other states and apply for other hunts, in addition to Arizona, rather than try to change the bonus point system. It has done wonders for my frustation level!

I have gone out with several different lion hunters over the years and have learned more about lion kills and sign than I ever could have on my own. Basically if I find a dead animal tucked up under an oak or juniper tree or a skull with deep teeth marks in it, I call it a lion kill. I have never had one diagree with me! As to your wife giving you a hard time, thats as good as it gets. If they aren't giving you a hard time they aren't happy!

I have hunted in SW Colorado for rifle cow elk 5 of the last 7 years. The units that I hunted were 71, 74 and 711 and they were all draw units. I hunted the 4th hunt and found it much more difficult than any AZ or NM bull or cow elk hunt that I have ever been on. I guess that I keep going back because it is a real hunt! I recommend it.

I have a bag of 100 Remington 300 win mag unprimed brass in reserve. I opened the bag to check length, but haven't use any. I live in SE AZ so I could UPS them to you Monday.

I am considering putting together a new load for my 7 mag and 300 win mag in Nosler E-tip. A Google search of e-tips shows that most people love them, but a few people report that they just punch a hole through game without a good wound channel. I currently shoot Accubonds, but wanted to workup non-lead loads for the spring buffalo hunt. The other aspect is that I have been hunting in AZ for the past 50 years with lead bullets and have eaten lots of game meat, the change might be good for me. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Coach, I too have gone through periods of struggle in my life. Times when I just didn't feel anything. I have found that the Christian life is like hunting. Yep sure is! Lets say that you drew a "Strip" deer tag. I am guessing that you would prepare by physical training, shooting your rifle and doing all the research that you could. When you arrived on the Strip, you would spend all daylight hours hiking and glassing. You would hunt with everything that you had, you would give it your all. When you finally shot a buck you would "feel" the success. This is real hunting! I am guessing that you wouldn't after drawing a "Strip" deer tag, drive up opening day and road hunt hoping that a big buck walks across the road and stops 40 yards off the road and lets you shoot him. This is road hunting. This isn't you! The Christian life is the same. The preparation is Bible reading, prayer and spending time with like-minded believers. If you go after your Christian life in the same way that you hunt, you will be successful. If you road hunt the Christian life you might not be successful.

Thanks for the information on e-tips and barnes. I tried barnes 20 plus years ago in my 7mag and finally got them to shoot a 5" group at 100 yds. I said I would never shoot them again. I will order a couple of boxes of barnes today and try and work up loads for both the barnes and e-tip. Hopefully I will get one of them to shoot as well as the accubonds.