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I didn't really want to start my own thread but I haven't seen a meat pole thread all week to add to. I did want to thank the forum for all the help and advice, though. Being from CO originally I had a lot to learn about AZ elk when I moved in 2015. I drew my first AZ elk tag in 2017, a late rifle tag, and it's what pushed me to join the forum (thanks for the recommendation @cpugsie). I didn't fill that tag in 2017 and had to face the fact that I had a lot left to figure out about these elk. Drew the same tag this year, learned from my mistakes, and got it done on a bull I was very happy with. Thanks for all the lessons, guys!

I had an opportunity to do my 2nd DIY moose hunt in Alaska this year. I traveled to a remote village with an old friend and we spent 6 days with our friends who live in this village. It is always important to be reminded of what it is like to live in the bush and realize how challenging life can really be. This is a special place. But, sometimes the wrong kind of people are discovering these areas. We see how trophy hunters and a few guides have caused quite a disruption to the way of life up here. It is not uncommon to see hindquarters sitting in the sun on a pallet at the airport. Chunks of meat dirty and rotting away. Some guys go out to areas for the sole purpose of shooting a 60 plus inch moose. The problem is that these big bulls need to be left to breed another season. Not to mention, the meat on big musky bulls has to be hung for at least a week in order to get rid of all the smell from testosterone running through their bodies. Most people don't have this kind of time. So leaving a hunt with a 40 to 50 inch bull is okay with me. It equals great meat and a respectable rack. But, most importantly, respect from the locals........ Day 1 - Rain all day, no live bulls seen. Day 2 - Sunny all day. 13 bulls seen. 5 cows seen. One bigger bull passed up due the difficult of the pack out. Three of us in the boat and we are all over 50 realizing our limitations we decided to look for something closer to the river. We spotted a bull feeding in the shallows of the side channel. As we got closer I decided it was a nice bull. I raised the 375 Ultra mag and shot him in the lungs, between 2 ribs. Bull ran and we saw the pink blood. He turned to go into the willows, so I shot again and hit him low in the front leg. He turned again and ran into the main channel. He is running like he was not hit. I waited for him to exit the river and shot him in the head. The last thing we wanted was for him to travel into the wilderness. But, at the same time, you do not want a bull dead in the river. Well, instead of him dropping on the shore, he flew backwards into the river. Trying to keep the motor out of the rocks, reaching for the bull and hanging on to antlers and not having a workable reverse all turned into a challenging situation really quickly. Two of us grabbed the bull, while our buddy controlled the boat and found a piece of shore a few hundred yards down river. Tied up the boat and used a come along to get the bull on shore. One guy working the come along and two of us pulling the moose and we could barely move it. We laid out some tarps and got to work. If you have never handled a moose, here is the break down into 10 manageable pieces - neck, brisket, rump, 2 sides of ribs, 2 front quarters, 2 hind quarters, head. Put all the meat in game bags and on a clean tarp in the boat and got back to the village at dark. Day 3 - Snowed all day and night. Started butchering that night. Day 4 - Snowed all day. Butchered and wrapped meat all day Day 5 - Finished butchering, wrapping and grinding meat. Day 6 - Flew back to Anchorage with 400 pounds of deboned meat. Stayed with another friend in Anchorage and filled up his spare freezer with the meat for the night. Day 7 - Flew back to Phoenix with the meat in totes lined with foam board. Each tote held 90 pound of meat. All the meat stayed completely frozen. My friend and I each lugged a soft cooler of 40 pounds of meat onto the plane. He gave me grief the whole time! Basic hunt. Nothing fancy. Just good, down to earth people and incredibly good meat.

Thanks to everyone that gave some guidance on my sons first elk hunt. Was a tough hunt for us as it never got cold enough for the elk to move down and the country is just big. Seen a few good bulls but with no way to close the distance and not wanting to shot a 1000 yrds, we did not have opportunities to shoot the first half the hunt. On Monday morning he was still hopeful of a good bull, he decide to pass on 2 rag horns and a spike that were within 400yrds. Monday night this 5x came within his range as we where glassing cuts that led to water. Cody decided he was the bull as it was only the second one he had ever glasses up. Made a great shot and we were able to find him that night. Got him skinned, guartered out and hung in a tree till the next morning. Pack out was great being the first time we were able to use our two mules on elk. Can’t wait to do it again.

Well after waiting for 10 years for this tag I finally got lucky and drew the tag. I knew that I wanted to go with a guide. After talking to many different guides I decided to go with A3. They were great and sent me pics of many different bulls earlier in the year. I was able to show up a couple of days before the hunt and we looked over a couple of different bulls but after seeing this 8x7 I knew he was number one on the list. On opener we were unable to turn him up but we were pretty sure he had not been killed on the opener. The next day Jay one of the owners was able to turn him up in some thick stuff. We headed that way. He was a couple of miles away from where we saw him the day before opener. There was no way to get in on him for a close shot so we set up on him at 885 yards. We waited him out and when he got up to get out of the sun we were able to place a shot that put him back down. It was such an amazing experience and the guys at A3 are the best out there. The bull scores 363 7/8

Dustin epitomizes the desperation of UA fans to stay relevant when compared to ASU. After going on the worst losing streak of any major sports team in AZ (worse than the suns and d backs which have been historically awful at times) he decides that because ASU lost 4 games total in a year, UA is successful. This is typical of losers and liberals throughout the world who are too insecure to look themselves in the mirror and face their failures and instead spend their lives justifying their shortcomings and making excuses about the success of others. Now, can I get those fries please?

Ernesto C.

I applied but my portal hasn't updated showing I applied 🙃

Its important to engage our kids and keep them hunting. One of the great things about the AZ System is a chance of anyone getting a tag. I know of a 12 YO girl that got a Desert tag a couple of years ago. That is very exciting. Its too bad you don't feel the same way. Its really too bad you missed a few years and aren't a max point holder. BTW did you read the story of my daughters hunt on here when she was 20. It was, and will always be the most memorable hunt of our lifetime. Best wishes Mike

I have been aging midwest whitetail for the past 20 years. To me, it make a big difference in tenderness and i like the aged flavors. But to each their own! I grilled up a few of the Venison brats for lunch today and had a couple snack sticks. They turned out great!

Looks pretty awesome! We have a walk in cooler at the farm and I love the ability to cool animals in cold weather etc. I’m not a big fan of hanging wild game for long periods of time. I’ve found that so much of it drys out and needs to be trimmed you aren’t left with much. I will say it works OK with elk but with deer and antelope when you lose 1/2” all the way around the outside you end up with only 1/2 the meat. The other thing that wild game don’t have the advantage on over aging like beef does is being able to control the killing of the critter. Anytime you open up the stomach cavity of the animal you are getting bacteria on your meat. While aging is somewhat slowed rotting, it’s much more controlled with a beef killed in a slaughter facility and you don’t have to worry about the stomach contents (read sh1t) getting on your meat. I like to let my critters go through the proper chemical changes that happen in the first 12-24 hours after death while getting them as cool as possible as quick as possible and then get them cut and wrapped ASAP and the quality of the meat we end up with has gone up substantially from when we were “aging” game.

In a twisted sort of way.......I am hoping Newberg or one of the HUSH guys draws a tag. Just for the drama. 😁

We grow lots of veggies, make cheese, etc. So boxes of veggies, aging cheese and other stuff will go in there year round. Not to mention i went in on a beef share this year and will be getting lots of beef in March. Basically why I decided on this instead of just hanging in fridge or freezer I could have used it today… 85 brats and 25 lbs of venison snack sticks ready to smoke. I need the cooler to put this in. Won’t fit in fridge.

we watched a ram get shot the other day, was with a ewe that had bad limp. looked like its leg was broke. the hunter said a couple days before the ewe got tired of the ram and gave it a little head butt. they said the ram reared back and head butted the ewe and broke its leg. theyre high test, low inhibition, treating women as property.

Like the dumbest big game animal we get to hunt. They make mule deer look smart

Absolutely aN embarrassment to the sport that we cherish. Unacceptable and ridiculous Behavior IMO.

You broke this down very well. That guy is a trip. Got humiliated and pulled a gun.

Such a bad look for Chad and Mossback AZ, wow.

The intent of this "loophole" is to get young people in the field. Tag transfer is a family deal with transfer only going to minors. I am all for tag transfer within families but suspect this young lady drew her own tag. Hope this family has an amazing experience.

This isn’t a loophole. It’s an intended function of the system.

Now that I know she took your tag. I feel much better. 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂

ask her if she gives a crap what a drunk on a hunting website thinks about her getting a tag. who is a real hunter? certainly not your sorry butt.

Sorry to all for not updating this in a timely manner. With all your input, I did contact rcbs shortly after this post and worked with a nice rep who pretty much said “how else are you supposed to fix it without doing what you did” and sent me a brand new unit very quickly. I also took the advice of making sure it’s plugged into a reputable surge protector and utilizing a beam scale to x2 weights. I have not had any issues since I received the replacement. Thanks again for the help and guidance.

You can use CHIRP or the software provided. I prefer the included software.

Yes they are, 100 times better than the baofeng or wouxun. I keep an extra at the house, but moving to APRS on a HT and want to get the new FT5DR from Yaesu, so this one needs to get sold.