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The new father of 3-week-old twins in fact donated his 7W tag to Heroes Rising Outdoors / Hunts for Heroes this morning. Good for him in supporting his wife in this new chapter in their lives! He did have Point Guard, so all is not lost. Thanks again for thinking of us, Troy! Your generosity will put an Arizona vet out there in the middle of bugling bulls in some awesome country ... FYI, 'tho this is last minute, if any one (experienced with archery elk hunting and/or Unit 7W) is free this Thurs afternoon - Sun/Mon (Sept. 20-24) and would like to be part of an amazing experience, give me a call ASAP! >>> (480)760-3868 I just returned from several elk camps near Flagstaff today. Two disabled Arizona vets were successful using their own crossbows over the weekend -- one tagged a cow (his first ever elk!), the other a nice branch-antlered bull. Yee Haw! --- Tom

Most of my friends who r die hard hunters are now divorced. So gotta walk that fine line

I am trying to figure out an accuracy issue. The problem is typically on the 3rd shot of a 3 shot group I am getting a flier. Shot 1 and 2 are acceptably close, and the 3rd shot can be an inch or two away, of even worse. The gun is a CZ 550 full mannlicher style stock in 6.5x55. All stock with a leupold vx6 2-12 scope. Part of the problem I think is the loads are touching the land for group/pressure testing. When I shoot factory ammo I still have the same issue, but since they are not right at the lands it doesn't seem quite as pronounced but still shows up. Is this just a product of having full stock with a thin barrel on a hot day? I let the barrel cool between 3 round groups. Thoughts?

Well I was fortunate enough to draw another early bull tag this year. This year I would be chasing rutting bulls with a bow in hand in a unit I personally had never elk hunted before. My hunting partner and I spent a lot of time this summer running cameras and scouting with very little to show. About 2 weeks before season everything changed and the bulls started to move in. The hunt started off great with good rutting activity and several solid bulls to chase. Opening day found me in a pocket of 5 or 6 bulls tearing up. The bulls were very responsive to calling and several smaller bulls were passed. The second morning of the hunt had me intercepting my target bull and his cows. The cows passed by me at 10 yards broadside but the bull opted to walk right to me. At full draw the bull was staring me down at no more than 4 yards when one of his cows circled behind and winded me. The cow barked and the bull started to take off. I managed to stop the bull and guessed him at 35 yards with no tome to range and let it fly but he ended up being at 51. That night while heading back to camp I had a black heffer jump in the road in front of me. As I hit the breaks and tried to avoid hitting her my side by side decided to flip over. Miraculously I walked away with a bruised arm and a sprained ankle. I ended up coming home to recover and hopefully able to hunt again later in the hunt. Wednesday I was able to head back up and give it another go. With my ankle in a brace and immobilized as much as possible I was able to stalk a great bull but was unable to seal the deal. Thursday morning I decided to head to an area we scouted and saw several good bulls. We got in the area and had bulls sounding off all around us. We played cat and mouse with a group of 6 bulls that had 2 groups of cows. After calling to the bulls for 30 minutes while working in on them one of the bulls finally committed. The bull worked from across the canyon right to me. The bull was at 30 yards when I let the arrow fly. He started to walk when I released and I hit him a little back but still in the liver. I immediately started to cow call and the bull stopped at 20 yards. I was able to get another arrow in him and this time took out his lungs. The bull ran about 20 yards and piled up. This hunt definitely won’t be one that I will forget anytime soon. Can’t thank all the guys in camp enough for all the help and encouragement.

7W Archery Bull tag to be donated, my boy just had twin babies and will not be able to hunt, he would like to donate the tag to a Veteran, anyone with information on who to contact please text him 602-380-6094

ATTENTION EVERYONE!!! >>> CHANGE OF PLANS/DATE OF HUNT: Just confirmed a disabled vet who is qualified for this hunt, but he can only hunt the 2nd half of the hunt (starting probably Friday, Sept 28) Hunt will still run Friday- Monday, arriving in camp Thursday afternoon, Sept. 27. Volunteers still welcome! --- Tom

1 working towards 1.5.

Didnt mean to hi jack your thread...I was too lazy to start a new one.

Thankfully my wife of 18 years also spends some time with me. Her birthday was yesterday this is what we did since Wed. My tag, her birthday. I'm a lucky guy

Anniversaries too. Mine is 8/27. First couple years the wife said she didn't mind me being gone for archery deer.... there's a different song playing these days.

Man, you know you gotta plan baby making days.

If you get onXmaps, and there is public land in there, it is legal to hunt. And it is illegal for anyone to keep you off any public roads that lead to it.

I also use the 12x50s and really like them. I haven't ever used the 15x56s, but am sure they are also great. I chose the 12x50s because I don't want to carry two pairs and I can hand hold the 12x50s for brief periods. The glass is also slightly better on the EL series than the SLC.

Got my first Coues yesterday! Been hunting with traditional archery gear 10+ years and coues proved to be a challenge. Been in Arizona for the past 3 seasons and finally got one!

F -Clancy, Jayson was bad butt.. Must be nice to use hunters money to stock your leased land with goats. The game and fish should catch and relocate this goats on lands that we can hunt. And no money for the ahole rancheros, ya I said it Aholes

USDA has more power than game and fish and ranchers usually get what they want. That and the Navajo nation...

13B day 4... I have 2 gas cans and a map for ya. Ed F

I was living in Utah and between a Colorado Elk hunt and an Arizona Course & Elk hunt. I asked boys Mom if I could take 8 year old son deer hunting for a day and she was all like, Get Him the F out of here for a day? Yes Yes Yes take him and leave me in peace. I told my 8 yr old that we would head out at 3:00 AM. He was all for it and I had truck all loaded and ready, but decided alarm at 3:30 was good enough. At 3:20 my son woke me up and said "Dad you told me 3:00 (WTF) so we headed out and drove 1:45 to trailhead. Only squack from boy was that he wanted to go in front of me down the trail. I got it, boy wanted me behind him going down forest trail at 0 dark thirty. It was another 1:50 hike into hunt spot. When we had enough light I started glassing as we slowly walked down the trail getting closer and closer to our area. Right when we got to the center of basin to hunt I glassed up a nice 4X4 buck. I ducked down in the oak brush and dumped my pack and told Quin I had to stalk a bit for my shot. He sat in the twilight quiet as a mouse as I worked my way closer to my Muley Buck. Finally the brush got so thick I had to stand up and take a 100 yard offhand shot. Buck Down and went to get Quin and gear. I told him I was impressed he stayed quiet in the semi light and he told me he knew he had to stay calm/quiet as I stalked closer (very proud Papa). Got deer broken down and lashed to pack frame and had my hands full with REM MOD 7 708 and 4X4 head. Looking at Quin I told him I need his help, needed him to cary lite day pack with our fleece coats 2 qrts water and also binocs and belt with knife and extra shells hung over his neck. He rucked up and helped out. It was a 400 yard hike up slope to trail and another mountain trail hike for 1:50 back to truck. He did mention how spectacular the fall colors looked but nothing more than that. When we got to trailhead and rig, I was like "man I am glad thats done" my boy said "me to". That was 20 years ago and one of our best enduring memories.

Its been almost 21 years since events posted above. Quin has been out of the Army for couple years and now settled enough to go on our first AZ Coues hunt in 12 years. Here we are at a PRS match getting him checked out on the rifle he will hunt with. Praying I can keep up and hoping he gets a Coues buck to match the Muley buck we took way back when.

Why

I've been involved with helping several people obtain CHAMP permits (the last time today). As for crossbow permits, I repeat (trust this) >>> "FYI, if you already have a CHAMP permit, all you have to do to get a crossbow permit is go in to G&F office with that CHAMP permit and they'll issue you a crossbow permit without any other hoops to jump through." OR you can take a newly filled out CHAMP application in to G&F and they'll both process that CHAMP application and issue you a crossbow permit immediately afterwards on the spot (if you want one). And yes, the qualifications to get a CHAMP permit have changed the last couple years (see attached) ... H4H - Az G&F CHAMP-Crossbow applics.pdf

Champ permits do not allow you to use a crossbow during archery hunts. You still need a crossbow permit. They are not the same.

Great buck! Yes they can shoot from a vehicle that is pulled off the road.

It was a perfect hunt for my Dad. He has shot dozens of deer and elk, but he has always been a meat hunter. This was the first time he ever passed on a buck, and he passed 52!! Born and raised in AZ and had never had a Kaibab tag. Construction took its toll on his body and he became camp cook for a few years until he put in for the Champ hunts. This is his once in a lifetime buck!!!! He also killed his best bull elk on a Champ hunt last year!

get this to Jim Hefelfinger from AZGFD to look at it. More D