AZcoues_addict

Congratulations Christian! Those are some dandy bucks right there, with an outstanding write-up! I remember not too long ago, arriving in camp the same way you did late thursday night after a college exam, paper or project. Your story brought back some great memories of hunts with my father, much the same. Thanks for posting such great stuff.

Beautiful bear! Wishing I would have seen one like her a month or so ago with my bow! Congratulations and thanks for sharing.

I was thinking 30 inches wide, 165 gross, but I think he hasn't hit his peak yet. Amazing buck, thanks for posting!

Those are some stud bucks, and for that unit, amazing bucks! I'm so envious of that first buck right now, words can't even explain. Do you have a mounted picture of him? Congratulations, and thanks for sharing!

Two years in a row, sounds lucky! Great looking bucks! Congratulations and thanks for sharing!

I had a great deer hunt, it was a tough physical area to hunt, but I worked hard hiking back in to out-of-the-way areas and all around those mountains trying to locate a good buck. This was a DIY public land hunt. The first morning I hicked back into a remote area with my gear on my back and plans of staying 2 or 3 nights out alone. I made it to one of the highest locations and made a spike camp, where I would spot from in the mornings and hike out from there in the afternoons to hunt the surrounding canyons. The first day I saw numerous groups of deer, mostly does, some small bucks, and numerous heards of elk including many 320-370 class bulls. It was one of the most spectacular elk encounters I've ever had, as I saw more mature heard bulls than ever in my life and probably 7 heards of 10-30 elk at one time. It was truly ridiculous and yes I've been in the premium units in Arizona for elk. I have to say that this particular area of this unit had a higher elk density that anyhwere in Arizona I've ever seen. Many of the heards had 2 or 3 mature bulls in them. The first night as I sat by the fire cooking my dehydrated meal for dinner and slept under the stars, I could hear bulls bugling down the canyon every 5 minutes or less, all night long. It was awesome. The second morning I awoke 15 minutes before seeing light, and got out the spotting scope. Elk were everywhere and in all I had found 4 differnt groups of doe, one small buck, and a 3 point. After another hour or so I finally found a nice buck through the spotting scope at over 3/4 mile away right in the thick trees where I expected one to be. I made a stalk to the thick burnt ridge pictured, where I had to cross a huge creek (the largest in the area) so it was straight down and back up again over a ridge to the closest shooting lane. The shot was 452 yards across the canyon into an old burn since there was no way to get a closer shot without possibly spooking the buck up from his bed. The first shot was a hit but not the best, the second shot missed him on the run down to the left of the top of the ridge, and the third shot was throught the heart at nearly 400 yards as he was heading to the bottom of the thick trees. No other big bucks sighted, so I couldn't pass this guy up when I watched him bed, and I'm extremely happy with him! He's fairly symmetrical, 23 inch wide 4x4, decent fork depth, with only 1 small eyeguard, but a beautiful buck! I packed the buck out on my back, by piggy-backing the 2 large loads back to the truck. I arrived at base camp at 11:00 at night exhausted. The next morning I had to hike all the way back to my spike camp and pack out my sleeping bag, pad, food, and cooking materials. Hope you enjoyed the pics!

Wow, awesome bucks! Congratulations and thanks for sharing!

You can only have 1 tag from the draw, and 1 tag OTC. This is the same for elk now, turkey, and bear. So yes you can have two tags but only shoot one animal, but you cannot have two of the same type of tags.

No Way! That is amazing right there, one camp fire story for all time! Congratulations on the animals and thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the pics and story! That's a nice buck, congratulations. It sucks that the antlers were taken, but someone else obviously heard all the shots and they were probably even watching. Maybe they just thought that you didn't know you'd killed the deer or even hit it? They might've thought, that you thought you missed completely? That's what I'd be thinking if I didn't see you guys even look for the buck or blood. Who knows though, but I'd have taken a nap and watched the buck's area, then gone looking for the blood instead of leaving the area. Sounds like you couldn't properly range the distance but had a very good estimation, but if you shoot that far then you have to know that 50 yards in error can mean as much as 16 inches difference depending on the load. That can mean the difference between missing high or low, even with diligent practice. It also sounds like you had packed water, but I'm guessing you hadn't checked on it in a while ? But the water wouldn't have played a part in my leaving the area. I'd have sent my buddy back for water for the both of you. Sorry you had to find out the hard way that maybe you didn't make the same choices others on this board might have, but I guess hindsight is always 20-20. We all do things a little different, so I'm not trying to criticize but just give you a different constructive perspective. A little bad luck too, and everything just went wrong, but that's how we learn.

Now that is an amazing hunt right there, one to remember forever! I'm sure you dad was enjoying it more than you know. Congrats on two beautiful animals, we're all envious!

I can't seem to draw a good tag in Az for floppy eared mulies, so I went north and shot a nice buck in UT this year. Check under the big game section, my buck might get you all worked up for your hunt! Good luck and show us pics when he's on the ground!

Beautiful buck Blake, great pictures and what a season your family has been having! Congratulations!

I was out hiking quite a few times in Aug and Sept, didn't notice any big bucks or above average antler growth, but you'd think it would be a little better? Remember, you can't archery hunt in that unit, until Jan next year anyways.

Great looking buck and sounds like a fun hunt! Hopefully I can draw a NV tag one of these days Did you draw through a guide or just get lucky? Thanks for sharing!

Wow, that sounds like a fun hunt! Congratulations on such beautiful bucks!

General hunt for deer, but LE for elk which explains all the elk rutting activity even this late. I'm hoping to draw a LE hunt sometime though! I've been applying out of state the last few years since I can't seem to hunt often enough. Thanks for the comments, I'm pretty happy with him.

122 7/8 Gorgeous looking mount!

Awesome bull! My 10 year wait just turned into at least 11 Congratulations and thanks for sharing!

Awesome cat! Thanks for posting the pics! I think someone was exaggerating, and he was just saying that the 5 and 2 got reversed in the email, 250 instead of 520. But 250 still sounds high, as others have posted.

Awesome bull! Congrats to Denny and his contribution to wildlife. It looks like the bull was in some open terrain, maybe that was his downfall? I wish it was a DIY hunter as well and not the money train, and I'm not the biggest fan of Mossback, but why do people have to suspect a freak of nature? We should all stop being jealous, this is a well known and highly publicized bull for the last few months. Everyone in Utah knew about him. Bulls do grow this large, period. Its rare, but it happens and Utah if not AZ is probably one of the most likely states for it to happen. I haven't heard any suggestion that this bull is anything but a primarily public land bull. Congrats to the guides for finishing off a bull that nobody else could. Even more congrats to the animal for eluding all the numerous hunters this year looking for him. What an amazing brute!

Now that's a face-paint job! Awesome bull, congrats to your son, and thanks for sharing!

Congrats on a beautiful trophy bull! Thanks for sharing.

I'm always a little late, but here's a nice buck my friend shot one of the last days of the season up on the Kaibab. I held out and ate tag soup, again.

Chuck and Ed are great, the skill center has been doing work for my family for at least 15 years or more. Its a bargain for sure. Like always, you should make sure the meat is as clean as possible before you bring it in.