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Scouted for a month ahead of the season. Hunted for 13 days and finally everything came together. Tough hunt. Was hunting unit 8 and it was hot and dry. It was 85 the first 5 days and not much cooler after that. 81 yesterday. My son was supposed to be my helper but melted in the heat. I took him home after 5 days and was alone the rest of the way. Some of you will remember my dad passed away in May. This was the first time I went on a hunt without him. Emotional roller coaster for sure. Had many close calls and got a tip from a guy I met on a little hidden water spot. Sat there a couple days with no results other than antelope, mule deer, coyotes etc.. I did get several bulls on camera at night and it kept me coming back. I chased bugles around in between. After 12 days I was about wore out and decided for good or for bad, I was going to sit that spot until the end. Day 13 found me in the blind before daylight with bulls bugling all around. As luck would have it, part of the herd decided to come down the ravine to the water. The big bull pushed his way through the cows and into the water. 40 yards. He turned to broadside, I calmed myself, settled my pin and let it go. Hit him just a little high which brought on some nervous moments because he bled in his chest instead of leaving a blood trail. But I knew I hit him well and was confident he was dead. Made a circle and found him about halfway back. Not going to lie, I shed some tears. It was a long, physically and emotionally draining hunt for me. Then, I had no help. Did everything on my own. Told my wife, I can say I did it alone now, but I never want to do it again. A common theme with the bulls where I was hunting, was weak backs. Everyone thought it was from the drought. Not sure, but if this bull had backs to go with the ridiculous fronts, I can only imagine what he would have scored. All in all, I had a great hunt and met some good people. Was considering doing euro mount. Anyone have any suggestions of someone in Phoenix that is good, and reasonable? Almost done. Should have my hands on him soon. Can't wait to put a tape on him. Daniel Gradillas of Spot-N-Stalk Skullz holding him.

My son Hunter was able to get it done on the Kaibab last night. He made a perfect double lung shot at 191 yds with of all things an M&P AR-15. Hunter turned 10 in August and this was his first real big game hunt. As some of you may know this year has been a challenging one for Hunter. In April he was diagnosed with a hip condition which required him to have one reconstructive surgery in July and another this coming December. He has been going to PT three times each week to rehab his hip and build strength in his legs. We put in for the Kaibab doe hunt because I really wanted him to have success and I knew that hiking canyons and carrying a pack just wasn't going to be in the cards right now. Before we left his therapist gave my wife specific instructions not to over-do it because Hunter was already showing some fatigue from hiking during a turkey hunt the weekend before. Well the first morning we were greeted by rain, cold temps and fog. We spent the morning spotting a lot of deer from the road and trying to find a way to get in range and set up for a shot. It never came together but we weren't alone, in our camp with 5 tags just one had been filled. The skies cleared up for the afternoon hunt and when we got back to camp there were three more deer hanging on the meat pole, leaving Hunter as the only tag left in camp. On Saturday AM we found some undisturbed deer away from any roads and Hunter said he was up for a hike. We went for a walk and crossed a canyon before we heard Mom honk the horn three times signaling that the deer we were after had left the area, suddenly we had a doe come bolting out of the aspens and almost run us over. It was not even close to a shot opportunity but it seemed to energize him for the rest of the day. From there we worked our way across the unit to the youth camp and he was able to shoot 3D targets, learn about the condors and get a stomach full of grub. What a great service that they do for these kids. Our whole camp was there and everyone had a great time. They made sure that our hunt was going ok and offered to help us get that last tag filled. We decided to keep doing things on our own but greatly appreciated the offer. That night we spent time further west in the unit but things were pretty slow and only turned up 3 bucks. By the end of the night Hunter wanted out of the truck and picked out a trail for us to hike . . . I could feel the stare from his mother but how could I tellt he kid no? We hiked, and saw nothing. By 5:00 AM on the third day, we were starting to feel the pressure. Our camp mates were packing up to leave, but we were in it for the long haul. In the morning our traditional routine turned up nothing. So we ventured a little further and peeked into some roadless country, of course there were plenty of deer but none none of them were in easy spots to get to. Hunter was up for another walk, in the burn over logs and up hills. We managed to get in range of the first group but a technical difficulty prevented a shot. The deer got buggered and headed out. We found more and moved deeper into the canyon, I got him lined up on a deer in the open while I set up my tripod and bino's as I am getting set up I hear "Dad, that's a spike". . . we look over each of the deer and they are all bucks. I was very proud of how calm and collected he was as we repeated this process a few more times over the course of the morning he was always so concerned about identifying his target, the shot angle and making sure the animal was clear of any others. His Hunter Education instructors had done a great job of instilling the importance of those things to him. Several times he came out of the scope and said Dad, I am just too excited, I can't quite shaking. He refused to shoot until everything was perfect. We didn't tag a deer that morning but I was beaming. Just before we headed back to the truck we saw two condors fly over. They are impressive creatures and definitely a throw back to a by-gone era. That night Hunter was feeling the effects of all the hiking over the previous couple of days and asked if we could just hunt from the truck that night. I was worried about being able to find deer with them being so spooky by this time, but I knew I needed to try to make it work. We went for a drive in some new country and weren't turning much up. I was beginning to have my doubts, I would be lying if I said that I hadn't lost a little sleep the night before worrying about how we were going to get this done. It was getting late and I knew I needed to make something happen sooner than later. We stopped at a fork in the road and I walked out to peak over the edge of the draw. It was only a couple minutes before I turned up a dozen or so does in the bottom. It was a frantic dash back to the truck to get the rifle, ear muffs (which had already been the source of one blown encounter), and tripod. We somehow paralleled the herd without being noticed and set up a couple times for shots that didn't materialize. Finally we identified an opening int he quakies that they were going to walk through. He managed to find them in the scope and true to form patiently waited for one to separate itself from the herd. After one warning shot he managed to stay on the deer and put one right through the ribs. I had been a bit concerned about shooting the .223 on deer sized game. But putting it right through the ribs ensured a lethal shot. I saw the doe stagger through my binoculars and disappear into some trees. Amazingly most of the deer didn't leave. I was nervous because I hadn't seen the deer go down but also couldn't see any wounds on any of the visible deer. We worked out way down to the trees where the deer had disappeared. As we approached I could see her laying behind the clump of trees, Hunter gave he rthe nudge and confirmed that no further shots would be required. To say he was excited was an understatement. In a year where he has been told what he can't do, or what he might not be able to do in the future he needed this moment when we could sit and I was able to tell him that he could do anything, sticking with it and not quitting is the key, just keep applying yourself. It was a great moment, and one that was sorely needed. This kid needed a can-do moment. He helped get it gutted back at camp (since we were using lead ammo) and helped with all of the processing today. Oh and there was the bakery at Jacob Lake Inn, so the cookies were awesome. Thanks to all of the folks who offered advice or help, Stanley and 1Uglydude were especially helpful. This site is awesome. Sorry for the long read, guess I had a lot on my mind.

My son and I took off this past weekend for a father-son fly fishing trip to the San Juan while my wife and daughter were on a girls trip. I haven't been to the San Juan in 11 years and its always been bugging me to go back, especially to get my family really into fly fishing. We've all fly fished a couple of small streams here in AZ and Jacob has landed a YOY rainbow w/par marks, but that's it. We got to Abe's about 1pm Friday afternoon, got checked in, license purchased, and some local fly patterns. I was nervous about Jacob wading since he's the skinny kid who has to dance around in the shower to get wet, but he did great. I had a life jacket for him to wear, but the guys at Abe's put us in a spot where he wouldn't need it. When we got there, I asked a guy if we could squeeze in downstream or if he'd prefer we go somewhere else and he graciously offered Jacob his spot. Its nice to see (especially for Jacob) that kind-hearted people are still out there. We started off close together with him upriver of me and me not fishing until I knew he was ok wading, getting his casting game on, and knowing what to look for when a trout takes his fly. He was amazed at all the big trout swimming within a foot of him and he fell into a groove. After an hour or so, the river started clearing, so we moved up to the next good looking spot. I re-rigged his set up, removing the weights so the emergers acted like true emergers and, after 20 about 20 minutes, I hear "I got one!" I coached Jacob on how to use the rod and we were able to net his first real trout on a fly rod. It was a fat 15" bow and I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was completely addicted to flyfishing. That was the only fish of the day, but we stayed for the hatch. Jacob said "How about we stay for 30 more minutes." when the hatch started. Three takes and three misses later, an hour had gone by and we finally worked our way back to the truck. He made it clear that he LOVED dry fly fishing! As we were walking back, I turned around to snap a sunset pic, and I saw a 10-year old boy walking with the swagger of a seasoned fly fisherman. Jacob's first real trout: 15" fat bow Kid with swagger (can't get it oriented right) We got up early Saturday morning, had breakfast, and were on the river by 8:25. It didn't take long for Jacob to hook into another bow, then another, and then he had some real fun. He hooked a 15" fat brown and figured out why I've always said I'll take a 15" brown over an 18"-20" bow any time. I managed to finally get on the board with a smaller bow, but I was finally on the board and giving Jacob some competition. We took a quick lunch break and short nap back at the truck and then decided it was time to get back to our spot, hoping someone hadn't come in. During our lunch break, I reemphasized his casting technique to work on because I spent a big part of the morning undoing wind knots and/or changing leaders because the knots were so bad. That worked and his casting came back solid. I noticed several fish rolling subsurface, so I took my weights off and, after missing a few takes, I ended up landing a 15" fatty bow, too. Jacob and I both played that game off and on, after I set him up with the same flies I was using and removing his weights. We stayed until the hatch went off and I managed to land two bows on my brand new TFO 4wt. Jacob missed a couple of more takes, but is definitely loving this new addiction. He asked me several times on the drive home when we're coming back to the San Juan. Yesterday, we finally set up or fly-tying bench and organized our kits. He was off school for a fall break day and he ended up tying four flies, following the instruction book. His elk hair caddis (#12) needs work but its a great start. His beetle, wooly bugger, and nymph were all pretty solid. He's loving this whole fly fishing thing and I'm loving having a fly fishing buddy! 15" brown Lunch Break My 15" bow Jacob's fly tying

Well here is the short and sweet version of my wife's first elk hunt. She drew a limited opportunity "Any Elk" HAM hunt. I knew it had the potential to be a tough hunt so contacted my friend Shane Koury to help us out. We got on a monster bull early on day one that none of us had ever seen before, but he wasn't in a shootable location. As we moved in on him, he and his cows busted us. We were determined that he would be our target bull and set about to pursue him the rest of the hunt. The first day and a half were great. He was a very silent bull and bugled very little, which made it tough to find and trail him in a flat, cedar heavy unit. Late on day two the weather started moving in and for the next few days we were pelted by rain, snow, sleet, hail, and heavy wind with little to no breaks in the weather. This weather effectively killed the rut in our unit. The bugling slowed to just one bugle before light by day two. By day four the bulls were back in bachelor groups and there was zero rut activity or behavior. On day five Shane and I did an evaluation of my wife's mood. We agreed that we (mostly me) were putting our standards and expectation of bull size/class on her and encouraged her to be more open with us about what she was looking for in the hunt. It was clear she really just wanted to shoot a mature bull, and we didn't want to kill her enthusiasm with the continued grind for our target bull. After we "adjusted" our expectations and plans, we quickly came across this guy in a bachelor group of three bulls. Kursty made a good 235 yard shot with the muzzleloader. We heard the loud unmistakable thump of the bullet making impact, but he ran off into the thick cedars. After a short time we began tracking him. No blood, but because of all the moisture, a blind man could have tracked his deep prints in the mud. After bumping him a couple times we agreed to back out and give him four hours. It was probably about 40 degrees at the time so we weren't too concerned about meat spoilage. We could tell he was struggling to stay ahead of us and was done, but needed some time. Those four hours drove my wife to a near nervous breakdown. After picking up the trail where we left off that morning, we found he had bedded up not far from where we left him. Kursty put one last shot in him at 21 yards and he was done. This was a fantastic first elk hunt for my wife that had a little bit of everything, highs and lows, grinding it out, crazy weather, a little rut activity, etc. I am super happy for her and can't wait to get her out in the field again.

My kid got his first buck. Story to follow.

Since the elk season has started I was thinking back on how tough bull elk really are. I have gutted/cleaned/processed many bulls with old bullets, broadheads etc.. still in them. I am never surprised anymore on what a bull can withstand. A few years ago, I thought I hit a bull perfectly, even had my buddy film him walking away with blood midbody right behind the shoulder, this bull proceeded to go over 3 miles. My first arrow was at 7:30 am and my last was at 6pm. It was the craziest thing I had experienced. Also a couple of years ago I was helping a friend and he made a perfect shot (see picture) this bull stayed alive for almost 8 hours before we were able to glass him up and then close the distance. This picture was taken literally 5 or 6 hours after the shot. They are incredibly tough. Anyone else have stories or pictures showing the incredible will to live these bulls have, Post em up! congrats to all of those elk hunting.

Super cool Andrew and congrats to Hunter!

Congrats to Hunter. You have a beautiful family.

Excellent write up Andrew. Congrats to Hunter, way to get it done!

That’s a great story. Glad it all worked out for you guys and especially for him. Solid job.

Awesome bull congrats

Awesome.

That's a tough first elk hunt. Nice work staying with it. Nice bull and 200 plus with a muzzy is solid shooting.

Awesome bull, congrats

Great job. Congratulations.

Great Job!...Congratulations!!

Very Cool!

That right there is very cool. Congratulations to your wife on a nice bull in some pretty harsh conditions!

That's awesome!! Congratulations and thanks for sharing her hunt with us!!

Congratulations way to get it done....

WOW, very cool! Congrats to your wife!!!!

Congratulations to your wife on a great bull. This has been some crazy weather.

The G&F also use ear tags and collars for tracking movements for highway projects. I-17 the large fence ADOT built, the elk flashing sign on 260 past star valley, the bighorn sheep over pass on the way to Las Vegas.

Number of bulls she's been with. She's a sleaze.

I live in Maryland but head out west a couple times a year. I have a 3rd season Mule deer hunt in CO Unit 66 coming up and figure I will be doing more than usual glassing.