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I want to first thank Lance Crowther, Jon Vance and Jake Lindsey of Timberland Outfitters for all your hard work in making my hunt such a success and my husband, Sam, for his 100% love and support. This year I drew an antelope and an October bull elk tag. What are the chances of that? With that, wouldn’t you think I wouldn’t have any luck left? Well whether it was luck, dedicated guides, supportive husband or my good shooting (ha,ha), it all came together just as Jon planned. My husband often asks me if I’m excited about something. Most of the time my honest response is “I’m looking forward to it but I can’t say I’m excited.” Well upon learning what tags I had drawn, I told Sam. “Okay this time I’m EXCITED!!!” The excitement has only been building since the release of the fall draw results. As Lance put it a couple of days before my hunt, I was “like a lil girl waiting for Christmas morning wondering what’s in those packages with my name on them!!” With all this excitement came nervous feelings. What if I get buck fever and miss the shot? What if I do something to mess it up, etc. etc. I was excited and nervous at the same time. Upon our arrival for the hunt Jon took us out to where he had been keeping daily watches on this antelope which Lance named Stumpy. We were to bed him down so we would know where to find him in the morning. Our look out was like FOUR MILES AWAY from where Stumpy and his does were, so good optics paid off. The most we saw that late afternoon were a couple of white butts within a lava flow. Rain set in and you couldn’t see much after that except the end of a rainbow. There went a little more of my luck. Jon was confident the antelope would be in about the same area in the morning. Remember my nervousness mentioned above? Well to add to my nerves, Jon shared that Lance believed Stumpy was the biggest buck in the unit and that Jake was coming up from Tucson to video tape my hunt. Can you imagine how nervous that could make someone? I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep a wink that night. Surprisingly I was able to sleep…a wink or two. The next morning we left camp around 4am. Sam and Jake were to stay at the spotting place to find where the antelope were that morning. Jon and I rode down to the low land to wait. If any other hunters were to come in we would start heading toward last night’s spot but if no other hunters came we would wait for Jake to join us. Once Jake spotted the antelope he would ride his quad down to join us and lead us to where he had seen the antelope. Sam would stay on the hill for the show. It was a cool cloudy morning and to be able to spot the antelope from such a distance you really needed some sun to pick up their white color. We did see other antelope; 3 bucks and about 10 does. Jon was very patient with me. He could tell without optics none of them were Stumpy but I’d ask him to check just to make sure. In all of his days of watching Stumpy, he had never spotted him outside of the lava flow as those other antelope were. After about three hours Jon glassed up an antelope in the lava flow. Jake too had spotted them and was on his way down to meet us. We drove a ways down the road and started the hike in. Our hike was about a mile and half in. We walked keeping piles of lava rock between us and the antelope. Thank goodness I was with Jon and Jake because once we got into the lava flow everything looked so different and I had no clue where the antelope were. As hunters do, we would stop very briefly to glass for heads, ears, horns, etc. and move on. When we got to the where Jon and Jake thought the antelope were we couldn’t locate them. Jon climbed up on a large mound of lava rock for a better look and immediately caught sight of a doe. He eased himself down and our final stalk began. We only walked about 50 yards and Jon stopped and told me to get ready. I could only see an antelope’s head moving behind the rocks. A quick thought ran through my head. “Oh no, I hope he doesn’t want me to shoot at a neck!” Then I remembered from my past experiences. He may be seeing more of the antelope than I am because of his height. I’m only 5’ tall. I told Jon I need to be higher. We needed to move up. I tried to quickly explain to him that because of his height he saw more of the antelope than I did. When all the antelope were behind rocks we moved a little higher up the mound. One by one the does presented themselves with full body view in an opening. The buck was next. I was ready, only he didn’t come up into full view as the does did. He stayed lower and all we saw of him was his head. He never presented a shot. The antelope were slowly making their way westward. Once they were out of sight. We were just about to make a move to another spot to try and get on them again when the antelope turned around and came right back up and were only about 75-80 yards away. First one doe passed through the opening. Two does followed behind her. They looked our way. We froze. I thought “We’re busted!” but I guess not. Next I knew would be the buck so I slowly eased my eye down to look through the scope. I saw horns! Jon whispered “Here he comes. There he is! When he stops shoot him.” He stopped. He was angled slightly toward us. So I took “a second” to decide on where I wanted to place the shot and I shot. Stumpy took off running and Jon and Jake were jumping up and down saying “Good shot! Nice shot! You got him!” The way Stumpy took off running I wasn’t as convinced as they were. I was confident I shot him but boy did he take off after the shot. I chambered another shell believing I was going to have to finish him off but no need. He ran about 50 yards an expired quickly. I have limited experience with antelope and honestly in the short time I saw Stumpy before the shot my only thought was on shot placement. It wasn’t until we walked over to where he expired that I noticed Stumpy’s horns. I kept repeating “Oh my word! Oh my word! Oh my Word! Look at the mass! Look at the mass! ” Jon and Jake checked him over and exchanged looks and comments which I interpreted to be pure amazement of what we had just downed. I guess they too were surprised by Stumpy’s mass. Jon, Jake and I exchanged more congratulatory hugs. I bent down to thank Stumpy for giving me the opportunity to take him. I also thanked God, St Francis, I'itoi, the antelope gods and said thank you to any other spiritual beings that had a hand in what had just taken place. Sam saw the whole show from our original spotting place. He said he knew when I took the shot because he saw all the antelope suddenly start running. It took a while for the sound of the shot to travel up to where he was. The shot sound just confirmed what he believed had just happened. Well whether it was luck, dedicated guides, supportive husband or my shooting (hard to miss at 75 yards)…it all came together, “exactly” as Jon planned. Great planning, Jon! Thank you to everyone involved in my hunt. What a wonderfully exciting time it was!

G & F Commission meeting on May 11, 2012 includes a couple of items of interest about recent elk/antelope draws and the proposed Grand Canyon Watershed National Monument. Here's the link: http://azgfd.net/artman/publish/NewsMedia/Commission-to-meet-May-11.shtml Of particular interest on the agenda: A briefing on the 2012 elk and pronghorn online draw. A presentation on possible remedies for online elk and pronghorn draw applicants who were denied permits as a result of the recent credit card security breach involving a non-department payment processor for VISA and MasterCard. A briefing on the department’s analysis of the proposed Grand Canyon Watershed National Monument, and presentation of a draft resolution addressing overarching concerns regarding loss of multiple-use public lands due to special land use designations, including national monuments.