Leaderboard

10 10 10 10 10 10

My body finally stopped hurting enough to type. Short story 27 days hunting two bull bison seen on the last day. Long story Checking my cc when I saw the spring cards getting hit. I saw the typical nothing, a week later for s&g I check my points and then I see I was drawn after a few cards were declined. I literally lose my breath for a moment. I immediately start googling everything, watch every video on youtube and post something about getting drawn and get some big time help from a couple of CWT members WHTMTNHNTR, Tom and Chewy. I spend the months talking, practicing with my bow and talking to the guys who previously had the hunt. After talking to about 20 previous hunters I discover a theme about the politics of the situation. 18 essentially said the same thing and two had glowing reviews of Jacoby. I decide not to play and go away from the group always being respectful to the group but doing my own thing. First weekend (5 days) I run into a giant wall of snow and that doesn't allow me to get much past Jakob Lake. I decide to try Saddle Mtn Wilderness. Saturday morning just before dawn I am just waking up I hear a clop of a bovine animal 30 yards from where I sleep, I grab my flashlight and see a smaller bison escaping up the hill next to my truck. Nothing interesting happened for the rest of the time except for stopping at Lee's Ferry for the first time and catching a few trout. Two weeks later I go for 3 days I get within 3 miles of the traditional area and see my first bison sign at some far off point. getting stuck and nearly getting in a fight with some californians that rented some pretty cool razors and were driving like they stole them was the highlight May 10th , nine days, My brother and step dad come and we stay at big springs cabins. Finally get to a marginal area stina point and timp point. Lots of sitting no bison. Me and my brother decide to look around a bit and meet some other hunters and discover the main guide does not like people on his trail cams. My brother took it as a personal challenge and the next camera he saw he started using his Fortnite Repertoire and did the "orange justice" than the "carlton" and finished off the day with a "Dab" We meet a couple of other hunters and they suggest the loser dance and I go retro with MC Hammers U cant touch this. Snow is still much to hunt anything but the three mile stretch that the majority of hunters are in, I do my best to stay away from them. Jacoby very likely has 80 salts with cameras so it is very hard to leave his grasp. The week ends drinking Bacanora with a couple of turkey hunters from Chihuahua and a retired game california game warden telling hunting stories and looking at successes on each others phones. It was a good evening. The final week I go solo (10 days). I head to the nameless point where we cut some fresh tracks and I left a salt and a camera. Nothing. I check the other eight cameras I left out there and nothing. I learn that the only thing I missed for the week was more snow. Total one Bison was seen for the all of the group of hunters and it was still deciding its gender. Sitting there thinking and watching the same piece of salt for a few days I decided if I am going to fail, I will fail the way I am best hunting. Thick cover stillhunting. I go to the deepest canyon I can find and find one of the super special areas that one of the paying clients is in. I leave shaking my head in frustration. Friday comes around and I hear three gunshots, for the first time its warm enough not to wear jacket. Later I learn, a gentlemen I met at Arizona Archery Club filled his tag deservedly. Saturday I hear four more shots but no reports of any more bison taken, first day without rain or snow. Last day, I am resound to the fact I will not fill my tag and tell my wife I am leaving around noon. the voices in my head are telling me to go by the park entrance which I do. (you will hear voices in your head too if when you go ten days solo) I wake early and pass the groups meeting place an hour before there scheduled meeting time. I get to dirt tank 1 about the time the remaining hunters are getting to their group session and for the first time in the morning I leave my bow in the truck (packed to go home) and take my WW2 model 70 instead. I work my way to the southeast corner of the small field and then I see a brown head pop up and ram another brown head. For a second I think I am watching a couple of bears fighting, then I realize they are not bears. The fight is going on for several seconds as I am just realizing what I am watching. All of the videos and studying is kicking in and I start figuring out if they are male or female. The vitals are out of sight but there eyes and horns have me pinned. I drop to my stomach and crawl to a flatter area. they stop fighting and it looks they are going to leave when they turn and head to the flat part of the field. The closest bull is about 60 yards and the farther one is about 80. after 27 days i no longer care about which one is bigger and am waiting to see the penis sheath to confirm sex and a broadside shot. the one at 80 obliges. I place the crosshair on his heart and squeeze. He buckles and starts jogging I place two more shots in the lungs in a few seconds. the bull stops and place my last shot and last bullet for that matter in him and he drops and is down within 45 seconds of my first shot. This is where the pain begins I get my truck 248 yards from the bison on snowy road. I take pictures and take my pack. I start about 545 and put the last piece in my truck around 300. It was the second and final bison taken out of 25 tags. This is also my eighth big game species of the big 10 all of them solo, seven with my bow.

Below is an excerpt from "Outdoor Life's Guide to Spring Bear Hunting," which I wrote some time back in the 1990's. The outfitter was Roy Pattison from British Columbia. He died from natural causes a while back. *********** "Earlier our binoculars had located two dark spots in a swath of emerald green grass more than a mile distant. Although the sighting prompted Pattison to assemble his spotting scope, I surmised he already knew what he was seeing after having chased Canada's bears for over 20 years. Once, however, it was the other way around. On a fall hunt a few years ago, a lady from Germany put a bullet through the hump of a big grizzly. Armed with a 30/06, Pattison, along with his German shepherd, Radar, followed the bear into the bush. The dog soon found the wounded grizzly, and Pattison put three 220-grain bullets into it. Still, the enraged animal managed to launch an attack, tearing a huge chunk of flesh from Pattison's left buttock and biting his ankle. The dog's persistent harassment and Pattison's kicking and screaming while hanging upside down with his ankle in the bear's mouth eventually caused the bear to let go and flee. While Pattison spent a week in a Prince George hospital receiving numerous skin grafts and treatment of a chipped ankle bone, his brother and friends unsuccessfully searched for the bear. The following spring the lady from Germany returned and wounded another grizzly. This time, with a new-found respect, Pattison borrowed his brother's .458. Radar again located the bear, and two shots from the big-bore rifle put it down for keeps. When Pattison removed the hide, he found four healed gunshot wounds and recovered two 220-grain, 30/06 slugs; it was the same grizzly that had mauled him the previous fall. The 10-foot tall, life-size mount sitting in the main lodge now serves as a grim reminder of the guide's close encounter."

Interesting topic, public lands are managed differently and are setup for different purposes. For instance, State Trust land isn't general use land. Everyone has to be permitted to use the land. There's a long list of activities that are off limits. Comparing this to say BLM or Forest Service is apples to oranges. Checkerboard property is usually State Trust and BLM. As this discussion plays out one thought that we should keep in mind is that without the permitted grazing operation very little water development is done. Simply put, last years drought would have killed most of the deer, elk, antelope and small game on public lands if a Rancher hadn't been hauling or pumping water. We own a small ranch that is checkerboard in 2A. We provided water and minerals for way more elk, deer and antelope than we did for our cattle. The neighboring ranchers provided the same service. Quite frankly, the Mule Deer Foundation, The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, The Game and Fish and the public hunters were no where to be seen during this time. We also allowed some hunters access for each of these species as well as a trapper targeting bobcats and coyotes.

Restricting access to your personal, deeded land is one thing. However, restricting the access to public lands by their rightful owners (citizens) is something totally different. To hold public lands hostage behind gates on private checkerboards is nothing less than theft of the American people in my opinion.

Been out walking the dogs every chance I get. This has been the best year for finding horns for me. Found my first confirmed lion kill, first match set, first nice deadhead (only deadheads I've found have been spikes 🤣🤣). Heres a few pics. A few of the dogs are locating sheds, one brings them back, one runs off with em, and my pup is addicted to them.

I have debated about what to say about this as I know some have mixed feelings about these highly sought after tags being donated. But after thinking about it I hope that if we are able to share the story that more people might enjoy the experience this increasing the good that has come The selfless decision someone made to donate the tag. A little background. In April of last year my son Hunter (9 at the time) was diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Toothe. CMT is a degenerative neuro-muscular condition that causes muscle atrophy and reduced sensitivity in the extremities. As a result of this condition Hunter also had hip dysplasia in both legs which led to two separate reconstructive surgeries last year. He turned 10 in August and we squeezed in a youth Kaibab hunt as well as a cow elk hunt (from a donated tag) between surgeries. I was proud of his effort as he did whatever he had to and filled his deer tag and stuck with it through three cold days for his elk hunt but that tag went unfilled. He goes to PT twice every week and probably will do PT//OT until he is skeletally mature. We are blessed that his lifespan is not impacted and for now he can walk and ride a bike likE his friends, other than limited strength and the unknown of when and how fast the degeneration of his nerves will occur. Well a couple week’s ago Eddie Corona from OE4A called and asked if Hunter would be interested in an antelope hunt. This has been an aspiration of his for several years since accompanying me on scouting trips for my antelope hunt in 2014. So the next day, after going to PT, and the dr and getting x Rays we met Eddie Corona and picked up the tag. It’s been his top choice every year since so of course we were in. Then to find out it was Unit 10 tag, well, we were over the moon. I hope to share this experience with as many as possible and want to make sure that those involved know how much this means to a kid who has not had an easy past 12 months. Thanks to Eddie and everyone who helps OE4A in anyway and also to Darren Couturier who donated the tag. We can hardly wait to share the journey with everyone.

Here’s the conclusion I came to when I went to Alaska. 1)most likely nothing smaller then a 12ga shooting a good slug will stop a determined grizzly consistently.2) I’m not going to carry a long gun around on a regular basis 3)ANY handgun is going to be marginal at best. Look up the numbers, even a .50 handgun ranks surprisingly low energy wise compared to even smaller rifle calibers 4)a 10mm with a good bullet has just as much energy as a .41 mag 5)I can get 3-4 aimed shots off for every 1 with my red hawk .44 mag. Thats 3-4x chance to hit something to change the bears mind. Minus a miracle shot, chances are the bears not gonna drop. You gotta turn it.6) glock is much much easier and more comfortable to carry at all times then big revolver. 7)16 rounds vs 6. 😎 bear spray really is your best defense, until it’s not. Wind in face, 2nd encounter etc. I carried bear spray and glock 20 with 220 gr hard cast underwoods

I would bet the empty chamber mentioned above has nothing to do with the firearm, but a personal philosophy of the person.

Just thinking ahead. Would like to fish and hunt up there in about 5 years.

I’m worried about target acquisition with a revolver, and double action accuracy. They say even a 44 mag won’t stop a grizzly attack unless it’s in the spine or brain. There’s a case where a guy was killed by a grizzly lately and it appeared he didn’t have a round in the pipe of his glock. That’s why I’m leaning xdm, you have the chamber indicator. a 12 gauge with slugs is also recommended, but can be cumbersome while fishing or dressing wild game. nothings perfect, I guess.

I believe the one NW of Superior is the Woodbury fire.

According to my interpretation of proper posting of private land if I enter state land and happen to corner hop at a corner of private property that is not posted and marked according to the standards of arizona requirements for posting private property then i am not doing anything illegal.

I was just up in the area about 20 miles to the west last week. All the cows were gathered up ready to drop calves. We saw literally hundreds. Feed looked great. Should be a good year, good luck.

Glock Fanboy here and like the 10. If you visit the Alaska Outdoors website you'll find the 10mm is widely accepted. With that said a 4" Super Redhawk in 45 Colt or 454 Casull would be my GTG. When it comes time to throwdown you'll be in the minority if you get off more than two or three shots. Plenty accounts of people using 9mm and walking away too. If you're that deep into bear country less weight is appreciated , cross draw chest holster like the Diamond D or an Uncle Mikes is what I would use. Walking on muskeg drains you and going is slow. Having spent time in some pretty remote parts of the 49th state I can personally tell you that bears can be expected when you least expect them. 95% of the time they leave you alone and you see them when they are on their way outta Dodge. "If" I was going to buy a sidearm for protection it wouldn't be a 10mm unless I was recoil shy. Heavy bullets break bones and slow or stop the charge. I would not want to put my well being in a semi auto, even as reliable as a Glock is. If you have the coin I would also look at Bowen's offerings. Just my personal opinion.

Yeah all Az

I used to work for them when I was in high school and I used to always hear talk about them maybe one day having a very limited number of tags for archery/muzzy deer....but nothing yet I guess

I'm away but will be back in a few days and will follow up with FFL Sportsman's about their policy.

Not even close to the definition.

I'm all for private land owner rights, the one thing I have a problem with is corner hopping not being allowed, that's bs in my opinion. I've heard it's illegal in AZ but I've also heard it's just a grey area.

The wyomings are great... I easily put 1200 miles a year on them... Crispis are best boot on the market hands down

PM sent

Where are you located? What draw length range is that cam set up? I need 26.5-27. Thanks

I have owned several hunting rigs over the last 15 years. I even built an all custom samurai that would go anywhere, but I had to tow or trailer it. I finally tried a Suzuki Grand Vitara years ago and it was an awesome hunting rig. I drove it to where I hunted and used it the entire time and drove home. Several years ago I moved up to a Suzuki XL7 and put a 2 inch lift and some mud tires on it. Built a custom rack on top that can hold two adults for glassing the flats and winch mounts front and back. It is a total sleeper and goes just about anywhere I want to hunt with ac and heat. I even got the one with leather heated seats. It has a 185 hp v6 and hauls all my gear. It has never broke down or left me stranded and they are a lot cheaper than the others. David