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my friends who are members here spotted this buck saturday night but was too late to go after it. they figured it was about 85." I went back on Tuesday with my Dad to the same spot, not specifically looking for that deer but figured if i did see him id probably try to shoot him. there was a couple guys already there. we moved down the road a ways and started glassing a different area but i could still glass back and see some of the original spot. we saw does but no bucks. at about 8:30am when the sun broke through the clouds I spotted him 2200 yards away. we drove around a little closer, walked out, hiked up on a hill 600 yards away from where we last saw him. he was no where to be found. kept glassing the same small area i thought he was in and 30 minutes later out of nowhere i see him just standing broadside out in the open. i range him 648 yards, took the binos off the tripod and shot off it, missed the first shot. kinda hard to time it right when youre just drifting the crosshairs over him. second shot, i hear the wallop. i get the binoculars up and hes hurt bad. he goes down, gets back up, goes down again. no movement, high fives. then i see slight movement, my heart sinks im afraid i wounded him with a bad shot, blew his foot off or something. i watch a while, no movement then i see his antlers swaying. its been probably 25 minutes since initial hit and i see what appears to be death throws then nothing. we get over there, and he was absolutely smoked with a golf ball hole through the power plant. tough son of a bitch, i still cant make sense of it. Big bodied deer, swollen neck

We were ready to tough out the weather on Friday. We didn’t realize visibility would be near zero. Friday afternoon after the weather cleared a little we glassed 11 bucks and a handful of does. No shooters. Next day we hiked in a ways and after spotting small or young bucks we found 2 shooters. Classic scenario, waited til they bedded then made our 2 hour stalk and they weren’t there anymore. Started glassing the surrounding areas and spotted this buck just 248 yards away and buddy decided he was a shooter. The crazy part was that 30 seconds after he died a bunch of ravens showed up and landed in the tree above him.

Wanted to share an opening day buck I took during the October central Az coues Hunt. Enjoy and good luck to all the coues hunters still out there.

Shot my first elk on Nov. 30th. Couldn't be happier with him.

I too had no idea there was a hunt in AZ where an adult could kill a doe, and also that there was such a hunt open in December.

Nice bull and cool pics. super steep! Did you drag him up or ride him like a sled to the bottom???

That's a really nice bull! And a great bonus, as you know , is you had time to field dress and get it hung/loaded without worrying about losing the meat due to warm temps! When you get a chance can you let us know rifle/bullet combo? Due to the almost unending choice of artillery, it's always interesting to me what was was used . I'm sorta the nostalgic type and use a 1946 Remington 300 H&H magnum for deer and elk. Thanks

We've seen a few more bucks, but nothing worth shooting yet. I got my first Rio this morning. Small jake.

Had a good coyote hunt this morning in southern Arizona with my son. We made 8-stands, took 4-coyotes and I had one miss. Longest shot was 35-yards. Closest shot was 18-yards. 3 of the coyotes were taken with the. AR-15s in the picture. Shooting hand loaded 55-grain VMax bullets with Varget powder. One was shot with the Benelli Super Vinci shooting 3.5 inch #4 buckshot (54 pellets). All-in-all a great day.

Okay guys I went scouting today and I seen something that seemed like I was in a fantasy.... After seeing countless whitetail deer. I spotted some in a pocket really high in a canyon and what I seen next you would not believe......

I'm pretty sure someone got lucky or knew how to find him this year. Unless he has a twin he has been killed. Great video!

He is hard to find once hunting season starts! Maybe one day...

Not a 357 Mag, but I used to hunt them with a 38 Spl. I was usually able to get within 30 yards of the herd, and at that range it was plenty to put one down. My favorite bullet was the Sierra 140 gr HP, but factory 125's and 130's did fine too at those short ranges. If you choose a holster for your belt make sure that it sits below the lumbar belt on your pack (if your pack has one). They're lots of fun with a revolver. Here's one from several years ago

I am headed up with a couple others tomorrow. Planning on bringing kayaks. If anyone can join up it would be cool to have a cwt group of folks combining efforts whether it is on the ground or on the water. 8:00 AM at the Bar X crossing. I will have my CWT hoodie on. If you want to text me to coordinate here is my cell 480 266 4811

If you are content shooting a doe I might be inclined to sit water in a blind with a buddy heater inside. But I dont know north units at all. If your willing to travel down south i got some spots we could set you up at to kill something. Dont expect nothing big but a first is a first.

He did it wearing sweatpants and sandles with socks!

Very good guesses! AZGFD checked in 170 7/8", 8 1/2 years old.

Another day, another 8 heart wrenching hours in the water picking through debris piles and beaver dams with family members, volunteers and search crews. I will say this, the lack of leadership and coordination from GCSO is appalling. With the manpower and resources that have shown up, I cannot believe that there is zero cooperation between their incident command and the “church people” as they referred to the civilian volunteers. I spent the afternoon searching with a rescue team that had come up from a privaye entity who had provided the team and equipment at their own expense, and when they called in to GCSO to get briefed and join the operation they were told to report to the civilian “incident command” (which is a food tent and parking lot, there is no civilian incident command). So this trained search and rescue squad just headed out on their own with no briefing, no information, nothing. The wasted opportunity is sickening.

Jk! That's a monster good for him!

That's my nieces bull. Ill post a pic of my nephew's bull once he official ly comes out. Ok he's out

Thank you all for your kind words and following along! It’s still hard to believe it all turned out the way it did. I took measurements on the bull and the unofficial score we calculated was 305 4/8! We did most of the butchering at home today and have some jerky marinating in the fridge. Can’t wait to make it tomorrow! (The picture is from last night before we cut up all the meat.)

Third Day Update: TAG FILLED. As I finally have a chance to relax and look back on it, wow what a day it’s been! We decided to go back to the spot I posted about yesterday morning. While we had seen some bulls yesterday, we weren’t entirely sure if they’d be there again since we didn’t scout this area before the season started. (It was a whole new spot because we couldn’t get to the spots we had scouted and wanted to hunt due to all the snow.) We looked at a map last night and decided on an area to sit and glass and wait in the morning to see if the elk would come through that same area. We got up early and hiked in about a mile to sit and glass. About an hour after sunrise, we decided to cross the ridge we were sitting on to get a better view of a tree line and valley that we had seen tracks in yesterday. 30 minutes later, as I’m loudly clearing snow off a log to sit on, my buddy spots the first cow. She was coming from a saddle connected to the little valley we were sitting on about 150 yards from us. He tells me to shut up and look and I see her clear as day. A few more cows follow her and I think to myself “where are the bulls?” After what seemed like forever, but was probably about 30 seconds, we spot a bull following the cows. He’s a decent 4 pointer and being the third day I think “game on, I’m gonna tag my first bull!” All of a sudden 5 more bulls come into view from that same saddle but there’s one (potentially major) problem. The lead cow is now at the bottom of this valley we are sitting right on top of about 80 yards in front of us. She can either keep going down or turn directly towards us. There were tracks all on the hillside we were sitting on, so I’m just praying she doesn’t head straight for us. My prayers went answered and she continued leading the group down the valley. I turn my attention back to the bulls, but I’m starting to get so excited that not only will I get a shot at one, I’ll actually get to PICK the one I want to shoot. And they are only 125 yards away! I quickly look at each bull through my scope and pick out the one that looks the biggest. Honestly, I probably should have looked at each one longer but I was worried that I would miss this awesome opportunity because the group was moving steadily through. The big one stopped and I had a clear shot at about 125 yards. I pulled the trigger. He went about 30 yards and dropped on his side. He was down! I couldn’t believe it. Clean, double lung shot. I was shaking so hard and for some reason my left hand was tingling like crazy. We waited about 10 minutes but he was down and gone. I walked up and he was a beautiful 6 pointer. I honestly couldn’t have dreamed of a more perfect way to fill my first tag. Thank you all again so much for your tips and words of encouragement! I’m really glad I got to finish this thread with a success story and a great bull. Until next time, John

Thanks guys for the input I decided to go with a polaris general 4 seater. I have taken it out a few times and no complaints here . Thanks again

I have shot a bunch of different CA Ridgelines. Every one has been a shooter.