Markleo21377 Report post Posted December 12, 2019 Hey all, Been enjoying all of the great discussions for many years and finally decided to join. Been in Arizona 9 years now brought here kicking and screaming from Michigan by my lovely wife. I quickly fell in love with this incredible state and have harvested many animals in those years. This year my good buddy and I drew 22 south muzzleloader elk tags, him for the first time and my second. Killed a great bull in there in 2014 so was very excited to get back. We ran 12 cameras all summer and felt like we knew what our expectations should be. We had one bull in particular we were targeting we named El Diablo. We figured he'd go close to 370 and we kept tabs on him all the way up to 2 days before our hunt. Opening day came and we went to where we figured he was living but only turned up a handful of satellite bulls. Day 2......On the second morning I had an old bull with huge 3rds and 4ths at 185 yards and the temptation was to great so I dropped the hammer. Spent the rest of that day with 4 buddies packing him out. Day 3......my buddy and another friend headed to a spot that always had a herd with a great bull and I slept in recovering from the packout. At daybreak we had multiple bulls screaming outside of camp. I grabbed my binos and quickly found a big herd bull pushing cows around. Got a hold of my buddy and after an hour of cat and mouse in 6' Manzanita he dropped the hammer at 35 yards. Spent the rest of the day packing him out. Day 4....we spent the morning of day 4 cutting up and packaging elk as well as dropping off the 4 quarters to a processor in Payson. That evening we decided to go see if we could find El Diablo. We didn't locate him but found another great bull. We had a camp of two guys down the road from us with on gentleman from Wyoming having a tag. I offered to take him in to try and kill that bull the next day and a plan was made. Day 5.......we left before daylight and hiked into the mountain I wanted to start calling from. At light I called in a decent bull but no shot opportunity. I had a bull screaming across the canyon and he sounded mature so we took off. As I got closer I got eyes on him and realized it was El Diablo. He bedded with his cows just out of sight so we found shade and waited him out. At 1 pm he got up to move and Bill dropped the hammer. He had no idea what he killed but I did. After lots of celebration we packed him out and I put a tape to him....366". What a trip!!!!!! 19 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Swivelhead Report post Posted December 12, 2019 Great bulls! Welcome to the site. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Big Browns Report post Posted December 12, 2019 Fantastic bulls for 22 south! Great job!!!! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Brooktrout26 Report post Posted December 12, 2019 nice story, great work 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CJNAZ Report post Posted December 12, 2019 Impressive!! Great effort to all. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
520HUNT Report post Posted December 12, 2019 There are hidden Monsters in 22S! Great job. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AzRaised08 Report post Posted December 12, 2019 Those are some awesome bulls! Congrats to all of you on a really great hunt, and thanks for sharing your story! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Markleo21377 Report post Posted December 12, 2019 Thank you all!! My pops from Michigan finally drew a unit 8 late bull tag and we had an incredible hunt. His first elk hunt ever. I'll post soon. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CatfishKev Report post Posted December 13, 2019 Nice to see a new poster sharing success and not asking for help. So your done hunting and volunteer to help somebody else fill a tag? And on a great bull at that! Your my kind of dude! Congrats man. Will be looking forward to more if your posts. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Will K Report post Posted December 13, 2019 That's a bad butt hunt. The pack out is a killer though as you know as well. Congrat's. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yotebuster Report post Posted December 13, 2019 Great story. Looks like you guys have that hunt dialed in! Pretty stand up to take someone you meet in on your target bull! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CouesPursuit Report post Posted December 13, 2019 Very cool all around, and nice bulls! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Markleo21377 Report post Posted December 13, 2019 Thanks for the comments! I feel like often pursuit of big game and often older age class animals becomes so competitive that we lose sight of why we hunt and the impact of our actions and examples. I lost 2 trail cameras on this hunt, both in lock boxes and it troubles me to share the woods with such individuals but what can you do. I guess, never miss an opportunity to do good and teach, especially young people and new hunters. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Heat Report post Posted December 13, 2019 Great work on some very nice bulls! Thanks for sharing! Strong entrance. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AzRaised08 Report post Posted December 13, 2019 Incredible story and even better photos! Congratulations 😃 sounds like a perfect hunt—couldn’t ask for anything more 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
