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So i had the pleasure of hunting with my two older boys for the first time in 7 years. Both were competitive swimmers and missed most hunting seasons due to trips and then college. So after a long absence we hit the southern hills for a coues hunt. Glasses up two shooter bucks first morning and they slipped us on three different stalks the first two days. Great hunting though we were having a blast but starting to think these bucks had us beat. Third morning the wind was howling and everything seemed bedded out of the wind. We flipped to a side of the canyon that we thought would block the wind and just before 10am we caught them moving to beds. After some leap frogging to keep them in the glass and move to a shooting spot. The best we could do was 420yrds and we couldn’t get low enough to get out of the wind that was swirling around the top of the ridge line. My oldest got set up and we waited for a couple hours hoping it would stand up. During the time we went back and forth on the two bucks. One a classic 3x3. Most likely 85-90 so good solid buck. But we could get away from the old 2x2 with him. He was unique with great mass and tall. Big body and we just couldn’t pass on him. Yea the 3x3 would score better and look good but this old deer had to be taken. Finally we said let’s take him in his bed if you fell good. I know my son felt confident with his old 30-06. Not the perfect Coues rifle but he trust it and it shoots great. He didn’t have a BT so we were working out the drop at 420 and one of his reticle hash marks lined up good. So he went hot and let it fly. Deer came busting out. Shot was high. He found it again on the run up the to the top and fired an ill advised shot missing Unlike most coues I’ve hunted this buck granted him one last perfect broadside at the top. Reset he fired and the buck went ten feet into a prickly pear and folded up. Ranged 465. Double lung. Side note. Using new Sierra Gamechanger bullets. Went through and blew half a lung out a hole about the size of a quarter. Minimal internal damage. Nice bullet in the wind for sure. Couldn’t have had a better hunt with my two oldest boys after a long gap in the field. Enjoy the pics

Good people of CWT, I have a confession to make.....I love big muley bucks. I hope that doesn’t make me a traitor. With that being said, my brothers & I drew some great permits this year including out of state archery tags & rifle Strip! Yes, the famous 13B. We were absolutely shocked when cards were being hit. Seven bonus points somehow got us in the show. Don’t think you don’t have a chance!!! With the early moisture we knew we were potentially in for an epic year of hunting. When the dust settled (and there was lots of it), it was epic indeed. Honestly, the prep for the hunts is the best part for me. I love everything about it. Shooting my bow is one place where I find peace in a hectic schedule. We made a few scouting trips & set up some cameras in hopes of finding a giant. My brothers & I were texting each other constantly formulating plans to the point where our wives were ready to kick us out! 😂 Finally, game time..... Opening morning just a couple hours into the archery hunt I got a text from Trent saying he had shot a big buck. According to him he glassed up a bachelor herd of bucks & made a mad dash to cut them off. Trent can be a bit of a joker so I was fully expecting to see perhaps a “trophy” deuce point. We hustled up to meet him & my jaw dropped when I saw the buck. NOPE, he smoked a giant! We were on cloud 9. I just absolutely love hunting with my brothers & if I didn’t personally have success on this trip I would have gone home a happy man seeing the smile on his face. Trashy Big bucks always get the VIP treatment Little did we know that was just the beginning. Four days later I spotted my buck. Being familiar with the area from previous scouting trips I knew exactly where he would head to bed which would make him vulnerable. True to form he did what he was supposed to do & headed into the kill zone. I stalked through the forest into 40 yards & waited for him to stand. 45 minutes later, it happened. I gathered my composure & let it loose. All that practice in the 110 degree valley heat came to fruition as my arrow hit its mark perfectly. He takes a few steps, his legs get wobbly, & it’s game over. Big buck #2 hits the dirt. Most stalks do not end in success..... Measuring session Onto The Strip! We’ve never been guided before but reached out to A3 for this one. We wanted to do it right. Hunter Weems & Heston Morrell were our help & were absolutely awesome to hunt with. Exceptional guys. The Strip was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced & is everything people say it is. Total of 4 flat tires.... Insane dust due to the drought.... Vast & beautiful...... Oh, & huge bucks!!! The first couple days we were hunting one of the local legends (along with numerous other people), but decided to get away from the circus & check out other areas. In the new spot, I picked up a buck moving through the sage flat bright & early. I casually said, “Got a buck, but I don’t think he’s a shooter”. In no time Hunter had him in the spotting scope & immediately said, “We need to kill this buck”. We went from 0-100 mph in two seconds!!!”. Little did I know we were looking at a true 200 typical. Whoops, my bad. I learned that the bodies on these deer are huge & their antlers are much bigger than you realize. After traversing the landscape we found a good high point approximately 680 yards from the big typ. We just needed him to stand, & when he did Daryl was ready. Buck #3 goes down. Hunter takes good pics! Pretty cool walking up on this beast. Admiring... It felt good to finally be on the board. We headed into a completely different area that evening riding high from the mornings events. On the Strip you just never know what you might see next & it didn’t take long for luck to be on our side once again. Right at dark we spotted just a beast of a buck. He was a super, super, heavy 4X4. Trent looked him over, put his gun down, brought his gun back up, then dropped him in his tracks! The mass was just to much for him to take. I think he made the right decision. Buck #4 - We call him B.A. Barrackus 😂 Perspective. Elk mass. I feel like I’m always the last one. The hunt is starting to wind down & I’m running out of time. I feel a bit stressed. I mean, I can’t eat my Strip tag!!! We wake up Thursday morning but I feel different, like there is no doubt it’s going to happen today. I’ve felt that feeling before & every.single.time it’s been upheld. The morning is slow & we don’t see much. 10:30 rolls around but I keep glassing hoping for some sort of movement, perhaps a change in bedding spots, anything! Finally, some does get up & there is hope. The rut is starting so we know if there are does, we need to double & triple check for bucks. Hunter gets his spotter out & within a matter of seconds finds an antler barely sticking out from under a tree. This wasn’t his first exceptional spot. The dude has eagle eyes!!! He gets up to follow the does & is BIG but has a busted g-3 on his left side. Hunter asks, “What do you want to do?” I wasn’t about to pass this buck because he was broke. He just had to much character. I knew he could be fixed, so off we went. We found ourselves perched on a knoll above the thick cedar country he was bedded in. We will have to wait him out as long as needed & prepared for potentially a long afternoon. However, after 30 minutes or so we hear the dreaded buck snort & they’re off & running out of nowhere. We look at each other wondering what the heck happened? Wind was good, we were hidden...perhaps a predator? Regardless, with no time to waste we head back to the truck to circle around & hopefully cut them off. Hesston is on a nearby high point watching everything go down. He guides us in on where he saw them last. We’re on a little hill overlooking the area & know they’re close, we just can’t see them. Like quail they flush out right below us & are high tailing it directly away. I grab my bipod & sit down to steady myself for a running shot. I find him in my scope & try to pin him down, it feels like trying to shoot a running coyote! I lead him just a tad & squeeze the trigger...miss. I chamber another shell & fire again but this time he drops like a ton of bricks! Holy crap! It’s over, the brother tri-fecta on the Arizona Strip has been completed. As I walk up to the buck I’m elated, relieved, & humbled beyond measure. What a beautiful creature. Buck #5 A3 has trail cam pics of this buck so I know exactly how he looked before he broke. I was pleasantly surprised to learn he has a split g-3. 😍 Trail cam photo credit-A3 I wonder if we could be so fortunate to maybe do this again. The sun sets on an amazing season. Thank you for reading.

Hello Everyone! Last week, I introduced my 3 year old and 4 year old to coyote calling on a two day hunt in AZ. First: Here are the links to the videos. I hope you enjoy! https://youtu.be/RTjgTweGK9I https://youtu.be/fREXpKq9iAs Day 1, my son and I had success on stand 1, calling in 2 and killing one. Called in 2 more on stand 2 but I missed ... just too dang excited Day 2: My daughter and I saw nothing on stand 1. However, called in 2 on stand 2 and made a couple of lucky running shots! First double and such a special experience! Gun: 7mm08 Browning A- bolt Medallion with Nikon Fx1000 scope Call: Tony Tebbe Hand call Learned that calling, filming, shooting, especially with young kids is HARD. Also, gotta do better at putting the ears on my kids BEFORE the shooting. Next time I will take out someone else that can shoot and I’ll video!

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......

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/azgfd-portal-wordpress-pantheon/wp-content/uploads/archive/2020-Pronghorn-and-Elk-booklet_191217_web.pdf

Well, our hunting "party" was fortunate to draw 5 tags in the same unit for late bull. Getting two bulls on the ground and taken care of is daunting, five seemed downright crazy. Out of the 5 hunters, 2 of them would be happy to just get bulls on the ground (both guys around 70 years old) and the other 3 were were going to hold out for good bulls. With all the snow on the ground, it made access to some of our spots impossible but it did push a LOT of bulls into some other country that seemed to have basically zero hunting pressure with much more forgiving terrain. The first morning started with spitting snow, fog and wind. My dad called us pretty early and said the two older gentlemen in our party had both knocked down bulls and they needed some help. The rest of the day was spent trying to get two bulls broken down and into the trucks through a blizzard. The storm put down a lot of snow fast. we had to get out of the country soon before the roads were impassible. I didn't take any photos of these bulls because we were in such a hurry to get them taken care of and the amount of snow coming down would have made it tough anyways. One of them was a broken 300" type 6-point, the other was a raghorn 5. Nothing too impressive but they were happy. We woke up to about 8 degrees and around a foot of snow on Saturday. We headed back to the same area the two bulls were taken at the day before and immediately started seeing bulls. We spotted 8 or 10 on a near ridge (500 or so yards away) but nothing too enticing. I swung and started glassing the opposite direction and found a bull that needed a closer look. Just when we were packing up i took another look at the near ridge and suddenly there were a lot more bulls that were standing up. 3 of them would have been shooters. I just got a look at the tops of what i thought was the biggest bull and we decided we need to kill him. He had a 340" type 6-point, and a 350" type BEAUTIFUL, palmated 7x7 with him. I had to talk my brother out of shooting either of them because the one looked to be bigger. It was hard watching those two bulls walk away. The biggest one bedded after all the other bulls left the country and we could just see his tops. We decided to sneak in a little closer and ended up getting to about 410 yards where we'd wait for about an hour for him to stand up. He finally stood and walked through a very narrow shooting lane and my brother was able to knock him down. When we made it up to him, we found out that his eyeguards were extremely short. He probably doesn't score as high as the 7x7 would have but he is an ancient bull with incredible tops and main beams. I've been around a LOT of bulls on the ground and this one was probably the oldest. Hunters throw around the term "past his prime" "he's digressing" or "he wouldn't have made it through winter" FAR too often, but this bull was most likely all of those. He was bony, hips protruding, his spine looked like a razor back and his teeth were in BAD shape. Now that my brother was tagged out, we decided to bring Forest and Heather into the same area the next morning. Right away we found a bunch of bulls including the 7x7 that was running with my brother's bull. they were on the move and Forest had to shoot fast. He hit the bull and it bolted. we figured with the fresh snow it would be easy to locate. 5 miles and just some pin pricks of blood is all we found, until our buddy got on a high knob and was able to glass him up again. He made a giant loop and ended up in the same spot he was when he hit him initially. It looked like he basically just burned him and top of the shoulders, he'll be fine. After relocating him and realizing the wound was extremely superficial, we decided that we needed to get Heather on a bull that we had glassed up while pursuing the wounded one. He was in a great spot. We made our way around to him and got to 475 yards and waited for him to clear the other bulls. Heather made a fantastic shot through the middle of the shoulders. The bull didn't even twitch. He has great main beams, wide and good tine length on everything but his left G-5. Heather was thrilled, as she should have been. We spent the rest of the day taking care of this bull. The next morning we went back at it trying to relocate the 7x7 or find another good one. We glassed up a LOT of bulls again, including the one he killed later that day. We made a move on a 340" type 7x7 but he busted us. On the way back to the truck, I glassed a few bulls that were BIG. There was really no way to get withing shooting distance as they were bedded in a big PJ flat. We decided to try to push them off the thick flat and into the open flats. I made a loop around them so my scent would push into them and they SHOULD have left the country the opposite direction as my scent. Well, they didn't read the script and ran the wrong direction into some country that that would have been impossible to hunt. This was definitely not their first rodeo. There were around 10 bulls in the heard and 5 of them were no-brainers. The biggest at a glance looked to be a 380"ish bull that was busted past his 4th on one side. At this point the day was winding down and we decided to get a better look at a bull that Forest passed earlier that morning. We were able to relocate him and we decided he probably shouldn't have passed him. we worked our way into position and Forest shot, hitting him a little far back. All the bulls in the heard headed north. We looked around for an hour or so and scattered in all directions, not finding any blood or a sign of a hit. The smart old bull button hooked the rest of the heard and headed the opposite direction. Forest glassed him beddded under a rock outcropping about 250 yards away and put him down for good. He had 8-10" busted off his left fourth is why he decided to pass him earlier. This elk hunt was a blast. I've been on a lot of them and i don't think i've ever seen so many good bulls. We probably saw around 150 bulls in four days. Till next time

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!!!!!!

Its took me over a month to read that comment but im pretty sure Big bro covered most of it. 😂 but all joking aside we have been very blessed this season. I managed to smoke a solid high country Colorado Mule deer, filled my white mountain cow tag and just finished tagged out on a great southern arizona coues deer. I have over 200lbs of the best meat a man could ask for. That should hold me and the family over for most of the year.

I do not even want to know how you used that sock to make it stick to the wall.

37B near Picket Post. The snow in the Superstitions got so deep that it pushed all the bulls across the 60 and into that country.

I've done a couple with the mouth open too and I like them the best.

I have a few CZ rifles and love them. I have been looking at CZ shotguns now with the success I have had with the rifles. A used Browning, Beretta, SKB, etc is something to look for. Dont be afraid of 20ga. Shooting 20ga doesn't make you less of a man.

Hats off to Duwane and his guides ! First class all the way! We had a blast and got it done opening morning of the late hunt on 12ae! A big thanks to John Weiler great guy and a great guide. The whole hunt felt like hunting with old friends. Can’t say enough good things if you draw 12ae or 12aw give them a call!

When I read that article, I also thought about this thread.

Great guy here, buy with CONFIDENCE!!!

I plan on trying them for fit before I buy one, but brand matters, too. If there are brands out there that are known to fall apart or be of crappy quality, I want to know that, too. I hadn't really thought of CZ or Stevens, so that is great info! Thanks!

I did the Williams to Phoenix ride about 10 years ago with the BWM. Learned packing from a couple of their members. .

Great Ram! Congrats

Beautiful animal!

After eleven years I drew my 12 AW late tag. Due to health issues two of my three doctors said I should not go deer hunting. Fortunately one of my doctors said I could go but not by myself. I knew I had to hire a guide and I decided to hire Duwane Adams. Duwane has been guiding on the Kaibab for 40 years and knows every two track road and ridge to glass from. Usually a hunter gets one guide but I had three, Duwane, Rick Wyler and Johnny Wyler. I had never harvested a mule deer so I was looking forward to a fun hunt. In addition I had spent one day on the Kaibab in the past 35 years so I knew nothing about the unit. Opening day was cool and clear after 3 days of snow. They found a nice buck at first light but I missed the 440 yard shot. I was told the shots would be long and they were right. The rest of the first day were multiple sightings of nice 150 to 170 inch deer. I was looking for something better after waiting more than a decade. Days two and three were much the same seeing multiple bucks but passing on them. Monday, day 4 was clear and bright but the weather forecast was for high winds later in the day with snow for days 5,6,7 and 8. I was concerned about the weather and the possibility of bad and dangerous road conditions so there was some concern in my mind. Mid morning Johnny found a buck bedded in some oak brush. We could see the buck' right side but could not see his left side. We could not tell if he had 4 points on his left side. So we glassed for 40 minutes and finally Duwane said get the gun and shoot that deer. We ranged him at 350 yards and I took the shoot with the 270 WSM. I could not see anything but everyone said he was hit hard. He went behind a tree and we lost sight of him. We waited an hour and found him. The shot was good. I did not know how vast the Kaibab is. It is a tough hunt to scout for because the deer are migrating every day and a person needs to know where the deer are going and how they get there. One thing I wanted in addition to a great deer was to have a fun time with lots of laughs. I got all of that and more. Another thing that was important to me was not to feel any pressure in case I missed a shot, could not keep up with guides, or could not go to certain areas because of my health issues. Having three guides with me caused me some nerves early in the hunt having three people watching me shoot. In addition when I took the shot three of Duwane's friends including a former client were behind me. I was comfortable because we talked about my nerves a bit and they alleviated my concerns. I want to thank Duwane, Rick and Johnny for a great hunt and an enjoyable experience.

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.

I agree with the comments above but let me know if you decide to put in for 6a. I should be up there this year helping or hunting. Just need to know where big boys go when pressure starts. Here's a bull in there I put a friend from New York on in archery season and he missed at 38 yards. He's currently in therapy 😂

Well, I couldn't hold out for long. My best scouted ram is down. Not the biggest or oldest in the unit, but my lifetime desert bighorn was taken at 8:30AM on my 33rd birthday. Most of my hunting partners, as well as my dad and brother all had a heavy, contributing hand to make this one special. More to come, but for now..

Hey guys, I just realized little brother had a thread going .. I was jumping on to thank Jay Scott Outdoors .. I no sounds cheesy... but I work a lot of hours and I had to of listened to every pod cast related to Colorado or high country Muleys at least twice, my brother had ta’of gotten sick of me calling acting like I knew what I was talking about , only because I’d been getting pointers from the man himself and some of his awesome guests, the things that they share is nuts .. not how my old man was when I was growing up , we kept to ourselves, but times have changed and I think it’s pretty cool , so much info to our hunting community can only help for trips like the one I just got to take with my brother. Once it was a dream, Now just another awesome memory of what we love to do in spending our time off from work and family In the beautiful outdoors.. Gods Country.. Huge thanks to Jay and his podcast guests , If you’ve never listened to his podcasts I highly recommend. To answer your question Outdoor Writer we stayed up on top between 10.5-12,000 feet. Despite what the locals were saying we were in does, forks and spikes every day along with lots of does with fawns... We just couldn’t leave them knowing the bucks had to be close. It snowed and rained daily .. highs of 14 degrees and the wind blowed what felt like 30 mph literally everyday, all day .. but.. we stayed after it cause that’s what ya do right?? never slept in and hunted till dark everyday. Drove back to the camp daily though , I wasn’t sleeping on the hill, my Phoenician butt was froze all day everyday. By the 5th day the locals were popping up on top and we no longer had it to ourselves.. little brother was tagged out quick, he don’t mess around .. he really is modest , guys a killer .. I’m was so frikn proud of him .. it wasn’t the first hour of the first day when I got word he smoked A solid buck.. one an done .. so FF now it’s been on me and the weather was trying to get to me .. we’re on day 6 now when all the sudden the wind just stopped, first light.. I’m hiking into a spot I had a hunch on , it was exactly what I’d been hoping for so I hustled to where I wanted to be and sure as heck threw up the 15s .... 5 bucks , 2 shooters 400 yards and I was dialing... the wind picked up just as quick as it had stopped . I needed to move . The bucks were headed back down to bed as soon as it picked up , I dialed to 300 and thought if I can get to 3 I can make it work.. Started to crawl so I wasn’t exposed to the three small bucks still up higher, with the wind covering my noise I was able to flat move , got a range.. I was right at 330 yards .. good enough set up and had a tight hole where the 2 better bucks were working towards, the crabby 4x stepped in my lane and I Poleaxed him .. I was done , it happened so quick and I watched the big 3x3 run up the hill to the other 3 small bucks ... questioning if I’d shot the right buck , he was solid .. not real tall but had some mass , but , it is what it is and I couldn’t be happier with our first Colorado hunt .. my first rifle mule deer tag I’ll add. So I’ve been hunting with my dad since I was aloud to tag along .. I was 9-10 I guess .. it’s been something inside of me I haven’t been able to control since I was a boy and I hope It's always that way .. My dad doesn’t hunt mule deer , never has and has no desire to he’s a whitetail deer hunter .. just how he is and how I was raised, not that I never got an itch for a muley I’ve chased them with my bow but I just couldn’t ever pass hunting WT .. just not worth it to me , I flat out live for my coues hunts every year.. so when we got this idea to draw outta state muley tags and still get to hunt coues, I could give that a go.. and honestly I hunted these high Muley’s same as I’d hunt our deer at home .. hike and glass... so our whitetail hunt kicks off after thanksgiving and starting to get pumped!! Sorry for the novel fellas but it was awesome experience.. oh and to be honest he eats great! Happy hunting friends and congrats to all the guys done already .. I’ve seen some toads this year hoping we can add to that bone pile god bless! 👊🏼😎

Well boys we got it done. Only regret was waiting to buy bear tag until i got there. I didn’t realize they had a cap on the tags. Glassed up a big cinnamon on morning two and a decent black on the second to last day. Anyway thanks for all the help and thought i would share some of our success pictures.