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Like many of you, I have spent almost a lifetime of applying for an antelope tag. I think I started in 1980, before bonus points even existed. I skipped a few years in college and finally drew a tag this year with 25 points. I had great plans to do tons of scouting, but with trying to figure out how to open up a high school in the midst of Covid, almost every waking hour these last 5 months was dedicated to meetings, planning and tons of stress. On Thursday, as I drove through Seligman, it was 95 degrees. This was going to be one hot, dry hunt. This has been a heck of a drought. I had patterned the antelope pretty well and knew where to be opening morning. I did not see an antelope until 9am. Very unusual and discouraging. The herd I spotted was working toward me so I stayed put and watched as they got closer. They ended up angling a little behind me and I shifted to get a better shot at the buck when it got in range. Well, cactus is not the best cover and one of the does busted me and off they went. Drove back to camp, cut some wood and waited for the evening hunt. At around 4pm I spotted a herd roughly 2 miles away. I knew this herd had a good buck. I started working towards them and thought there was no way I would get close enough for a shot, but it was opening day and I had 5 days left to hunt, so I tried. I had my frame pack and stool with me and was having a heck of a time staying low. Between the pack, my gun and binoculars, it was a juggling act. I am not sure I should say what I did, but maybe someone can learn from it. For the first time ever, I dropped my pack to make the stalk easier. My water, knife and saw where in there. Big mistake, don´t ever do it. I thought I could find it easily later.......I crawled for a bit and then realized I could get to a little drainage and cut off the antelope. They kept feeding and had no idea I was there. I made good time when a herd of cattle got between me and the herd. I walked parallel to the cows and they hid me from the antelope, it worked perfectly. There were also some horses in the area and a coyote. So, plenty of activity. There was one buck and 19 does. They continued to feed and ended up among the cattle. I got within 280 yards and set my scope at 300. So, very steadily, I pulled the trigger. I hit high and broke his back. Ran up and shot him quickly one last time. It was 6:30pm and I was a good 3 miles from the truck. This when I realized I left my knife in my pack. Forty years of hunting big game and I felt like a lost puppy. I went back to look for my pack and could´t find it. I am embarrassed to admit what happened, but like I said, maybe someone will learn from my stupidity. So, it is getting dark and after seeing the coyote, I thought, I need to drag it back to the truck. Right, with the guts, I made very slow progress. I am in decent shape, but this was the most exhausting thing I have ever done. Packing out an elk and moose is far easier. At midnight, I gave up. My ribbon was also in my pack so I left a trail of toilet paper every 40 yards or so. Got to camp at 1:30am, slept a few hours and prayed the coyotes did not get the buck. At daybreak, I found my pack, found the trail of toilet paper and found the buck untouched. Talk about relief, anxiety, thankfulness and every emotion in between. It got down to 50 at night and the hole in the spine allowed the internal gasses to escape. The sun did not hit the animal. The meat was 100% fine. I used the skinless method, packed out the quarters, the head and the rest of the meat in one trip. The buck has a 7 inch prong and great mass. The broken prong still measured about 4 and half inches. Rough score was just under 80 inches. Great hunt and I learned a valuable lesson.......hoping for one more tag before I am really old.... I included a picture of my daughter´s antelope 4 years ago to show just how dry it is up there.......The West is in a heck of a drought.

Third time was a charm for me with speed goats. After eating tag soup in Utah then New Mexico over the years, I got lucky and drew an Arizona tag. Put in the time and effort and on day 6 of a 7 day hunt I made a perfect shot on this guy. Super stoked. Special thanks to Markleo21377 who was so gracious to help me out on this hunt. Hopefully the first of many hunts together.

I only got one bird all weekend

I finally convinced my wife to go Dove hunting with me after 9 years of being Married. After she got her limit on her first time out she's officially hooked. We went out again tonight and she got another limit. Maybe now I can talk her into a guided Pheasant hunt:)

Well I suppose it has been long enough that I better get this written up and posted. Last Spring just after Hunter’s most recent surgery we had a good friend call and mention that OE4A had a cow is on permit available and wondered if my somHunter would be interested. To be honest I have avoided these hunts like the plague because 1. I hate sitting in blinds. 2. I have always thought of bison as the icon of the American plains and hunting them in heavy cover and 90+ temps just felt wrong. But the day Ty called Hunter was down sick with strep, still healing from his 3rd hip surgery plus we had just moved and changed schools and he was a little down in the dumps. So I when I asked him about it and he lit up I decided to bite my tongue and get on board. Everytime we do one of these OE4A hunts I am reminded of how important these things are. It means a lot for a kid who has been through some stuff. So thanks to everyone who contributed. This work matters. The season was 3 weeks long but school was supposed to start on the 5th day so we would have a 4 day run and then two more weekends. Unfortunately two weeks before the hunt Hunter tripped and caught his toe, fracturing it right at the base. This meant he would be in a walking boot for the hunt. To get the hunt started we took the whole family up and celebrated Hunter’s 12th birthday the second day of the hunt. We made cupcakes in the trailer and Hunter’s helpers Ty and Alex gave him an amazing Damascus steel knife. We decided to work with Russ and his family, although we were not paying clients. I’ve heard a lot about how all this goes in the past, andI will provide my perspective. We met with the group everyday. It included 10/12 tag holders + an auction tag holder who was holding out for a B&C bull with a long bow. I honestly couldn’t tell you who was a paying client and who wasn’t. Russ and Laura treated everyone really well. I don’t know what happened behind the scenes on blind selection Etc but every single hunter had an opportunity at a cow while we were there, interestingly enough every single paying client killed one. The first day I had low expectations based on what I had heard about these hunts. But before we even got to our blind, a full mile off the boundary we found ourselves staring at 100+ bison staring into our head lights. We were with Russ who killed the motor and turned out the lights. We cracked the doors and could hear the buffalo grunt and groan as they headed into the trees. At daybreak we eased onto the woods and could hear them all around us. We were with two other hunters and trying to keep pace, but we were setup for a blind not a mile long foot pursuit and the effort was comical. We did catch up a few times but a cow never presented herself for shooting. Out blind those first four days was on a salt 50 yds from the boundary. We never saw a bison but we did have a mule deer for named Martha who spent each morning for us. With just the salt to look at there wasn’t much else to see. Day 2 we had just pulled up to our parking spot, 1 mile from the blind when we heard the radio crackle and Russ’ voice urging everyone to head the the highway. The buffalo were out in Demotte Park and everyone who could hear would meet there. This produced one of the most chaotic hunting scenes I have ever witnessed. About 6 hunters rolled up in 4 or 5 trucks. The bison were between 50-200 yds out in the meadow. We were towards the back and our strategy was to find a group of cows separate from the main body of the herd. We found 8-10 cows towards the back of the herd, slid out and set up. Just as Hunter was squeezing down a rifle cracked down the line and things got crazy real quickly. The cow hunter was on started moving and we called him off that one. The scene repeated a few times with a European hunter next to us shooting off hand and emptying multiple magazines before finally getting lucky and dropping the last cow in sight just as hunter was taking the slack from the trigger. When the smoke cleared three cows lay in the meadow and two wounded made it to the park. We packed up and headed for our blind while GCNP tourists stared at a scene that looked like something straight out of a Frederic Remington painting. On our hike in to the blind we repeated our awkward dance with the bison who were in the trees before our location but they were onto us and stampeded through the trees as the wind swirled. Two more days of sitting only produced more time with Martha. The following weekend we made the 300 mile trek back to the top of the plateau. 4:15 cam early but we were game. It was deja vu as we once again heard the call to assemble at the highway. This time my game plan had changed. I was determined not to set Hunter up at the rear of the herd to avoid them escaping so quickly. But you know what they say about the best laid plans... We jumped into a different truck and joined another hunter to limit how many vehicles would be there. As we approached the herd they were on both sides of the road, and started to cross right in front of us! We were trying to get further south but right there the truck began to overheat and went into limp mode. Jacob threw it in park looked at us and said it’s now or never. We pushed our way out of the truck and nearly hit a calf with the door. We were literally in the middle of them. Hunter got set and was waiting for me to identify a cow. But I couldn’t do it. Every buffalo I put glass on had a tuft under its belly and straight horns. Without clear views under the tail, I couldn’t pick one out. It didn’t take long for a rifle to sound the alarm and the main body put a cloud of dust in the air. The sound was unmistakable and you could feel it under your boots. The few stragglers that remained were all packing gear under the hood. That’s when another rifle cracked. I was surprised as I saw what I had identified as a bull drop in the meadow. Russ was motioning for us to join him 200 yds up the road. Hunter, on two reconstructed hips and a broken foot took off at run, his hands straight and flat pointed at the sky opposite each step. I caught up and took his rifle. We made it to Russ who moved us down to a salt right outside the park. We went into the trees and hoped a straggling cow would meander by. We watched and listened as 5 bulls wandered by, but never a cow. With that opportunity played out we headed to sit. We had four more days of hunting but all resulted in 0 more bison encounters. We did watch the Bab in all its summer glory. Velvet mule deer everyday. Chipmunks became personal friends, until the resident hawks swooped down and grabbed Jim 3’ in front of our blind as he was munching on a hand fed frito. We listened helplessly as he squeezed all the way to the nest. Hunter did have an opportunity to take a calf that was found wandering outside the park, but I was impressed at the thought he put into that decision. He declined as he wanted to hunt a mature animal, especially on a OIL bag limit. I smiled and nodded and was proud, but secretly a little concerned. I hope that he will always have the physical ability to do these things. But with a degenerative condition everyday is a gift and must be seized. Considering that and weighing it against the hope of an even brighter tomorrow, I held my tongue and prayed his mind could always old that hope. So with that said we will be jumping into the bison app game and hoping for another shot in the future. And I will cross my fingers that someday I may be blessed with another opportunity to sit knee to knee with my boy for hours on end with no greater worry than what furry friend might become a raptor snack.

Testing the waters here... I may be putting 1500 rounds of 556, 55gr PMC up for sale for a friend. Would there be any interest at .45 -.50¢ a round, 500rd minimum?

who ever buys it save your brass, PMC brass is some of the best brass ever for reloading .223 especially there earlier brass form the 90's

Ha! That’s right. Awesome. It’s supposed to get cold the next few night. Looking forward to things getting going opening weekend.

Only 3 things that matter in real estate and CWT CA's is location, location, location. Eddie

The hit list changed the last week before the hunt. The big bucks got sick of all the pressure and I only saw a couple of the big bucks leading up to the hunt. Opening morning actually found me chasing my #4 and #5 buck but I honestly thought i had a legit chance at killing one of them. All of the bigger bucks had not been seen for a week or two or had 4 or 5 guys stitting on them. 📷 credit on top buck by Jeremy

Me and my friend Denton put in work these last couple weekends. We saw over 20 bucks the first weekend but no real big one. Yesterday we had this 2 point come in to 50 yards and Denton smoked him. We quartered him out and got back to the blind. We sat for 20 minutes and then had a bigger 3 point coues come in. He smelled something and busted. I unfortunately didn’t get a shot at any decent deer but I still have December. It was still fun hunting and getting this buck. IMG_0655.MOV IMG_0661.MOV

Brother and I pulled 2 5bs early archery tags. We’ve killed 2 bulls in there over the years on the late hunt. I want to keep a thread posted on how we do throughout both weeks. Hoping for some success! Hunting hutch mountain area and turkey mountain general areas in spots we’ve used for years. Rutting should be amazing this year and I’ve already located a few good groups of elk. Last minute advice before the hunt? If anyone has any other places to check out as a backup drop me a pm and I’d appreciate it. Looking forward to a fun hunt which has been 7 years in the making!

Been hitting the desert working trail cameras in several different locations and I cannot believe how many quail I’ve seen. Some waterholes have 50-100 birds and one had to of had 200. They are every where. I’ve even seen some in areas where the closest water hole is a couple miles away. Looks like it’s going to be a fun season.

Ok todays archery hunt turned almost exclusively to bears. Saw a nearly white blonde with black that was about 3/4 of its size (3 total today). We all know you can not shoot a sow with cubs. But what constitutes a cub? And what if two bears are just traveling 'packed up'? The black bear in the pic if by itself looked full size. the white bear was something special. sorry for the crappy pics.

Yeah he did. Two hunters actually shot bulls and self-reported on this hunt. I wasn’t rolling the dice with my 12 yo sons only buffalo on the line.

I can vouche for the owner, solid dude amd takes care of his stuff! GLWS

Was that south of Arizona city? I went down and helped out on that one. I was out of town when they did the one over at Newman mountain.

Sunday

Buy with confidence. Good guy.

This video should get posted on every Facebook blm argument. Truth was never simpler.

Here’s an educational video from Chris rock on the subject.

I'm in the hills last couple days but listen to talk radio nights. Heard some fool named LeBron whining about how cops are out hunting black men (joker could hardly put 3 words together in a sentence...). Yes LeBron, when you're a serial rapists and woman beater with outstanding warrants, law enforcement will hunt you down, that's their job. Idiot. A couple tips for anyone subject to arrest, regardless of your skin tone: 1) Comply with lawful orders. Ignoring a cop doesn't make them go away. 2) Don't resist arrest. Jail is inconvenient when your livin the thug life, but hey your earning street cred. 3) Pointing weapons at cops looks cool in the movies but don't try this in the hood. Waving a knife or reaching for your gun, gives that cop you just head butted and spit on some social justice options that are detrimental to your health. 4) Stop making babies you'll never support. Finish school rather than disrupting it. Be a productive American and stop playing victim.

my last 3 shots were -1/A, H4, G2