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I was truly blessed again this year being able to take this buck. I had actually passed this buck up 2 years ago waiting for something bigger ( still kicking myself). He is actually not much bigger than 2 years ago, but did add a small point off his G2. I sat in my stand for 35 hours before this guy made his appearance. That is the only good thing that will come out of the trail cam ban... not knowing what's coming in, I wasn't waiting for a "bigger buck".

Had a chance to catch up to this tall goat. 16 6/8ths

My first buck of the San Carlos!

10 years old gut shot from the road Walked up to it dad was going to finish it with a knife, didn’t realize it was still THAT alive. It jumped up and stopped about 20 yards away and I took the hair off it’s back. It took off and we had to track it for a little while, jumped it again, went to shoot it off my dads shoulder and I flipped the safety back ON not knowing he flipped it off for me. Tracked it awhile further found it bedded on the opposite side of a small tree. Dad told me to shoot it through the bush you see in the picture. Me being 10 tried to look through the scope and missed it at about 6 feet. Then told to just point the barrel at it and shoot. Finally finished it off.. I’ll never live down missing that deer that close. Good memories

I had never hunted deer in Arizona before. I asked my friend how big Coues deer were. He said if you can see antlers, it's a good one. This was about 1985 near Geronimo's Surrender Site.

I think its becuase there is always someone starting or talking chit about there kill or hunt pics. People are a$$holes now days

1988 30a

Moved to AZ October of 1998 from Washington State. Buddy invited me to go with him on his December rifle hunt since I could hunt OTC archery too. We spotted 2 bucks at about 1.5 miles out. He let me put a stock on them and I ended up shooting the bigger one in his bed at less than 20yds. He told me that I had no idea what I just did. I soon found out that filling archery tags with a spot and stalk Coues was not as easy as it seemed to be. It took me years to arrow another one. Funny part of the story was that coming from Washington we always gutted and then drug our deer back to camp to skin in a cleaner environment. I started dragging this one back and only made it about 300yds before the whole side of his body was as bald as a baby's rear end. AZ rocks are rough on a deer hide!

Wow, beautiful man well done!

I’ll quote my daughter, “That Lope is Bad Donkey!” Great pic.

Ah man, I thought those were blue jeans. I am disappointed. I thought you went full redneck on that hunt. I should have known you were too fancy for that. Well done regardless. Keep on keeping us jealous!

Off the top of my head, I believe this fallacy has been misproven time and time again.

some bucks made it thru opening weekend

Couple more

I cleaned my rifle in 2015. It’s good to go. 1” is fine for me, I just aim in the middle

See this is your problem. You’re too reasonable. Have you seen the absolutely ridiculous prices that people ask on this particular site for vehicles? You need to ask $40k for this and it will sell.

Outstanding!!

Big muleys like the flats . Especially during the rut. The older bucks tend to move down lower away from the younger ones that want to fight over does. Normally you won't see them with more then one or a couple older does .This was taken in 37b in December of 2018 archery

Christmas morning in 90 I think. I thought it was big. I hunted every x/mas day after that for a long time.

Should have gone to a statewide draw

whatever the most effective way to hunt Is how someone should be hunting imho. I mean, minus spotlights and what not. but I get exactly what you’re saying. It’s kill or be killed out there now. Probably mainly dinks off the Road

It’s as simple as this. If you have the time to scout and learn the unit you don’t need to hire a guide! If you don’t have the time to scout and you can afford to hire a guide you better start looking! Best unit in the state and with all the early moisture should be a fantastic hunt! Good luck!!

I had the tag 7 years ago. It’s a fun hunt. I wouldn’t say it was head and shoulders better than other hunts I have had. The quality isn’t really out of this world. You see lots of elk and have less hunters in the field but still rarely see bulls over 350. I think you have high tag numbers on the late rifle hunt to thank for that. As some have alluded to already, there are WAY more people in the field than tags. . . This really diminishes some of the benefits of only 15 tags. You will likely run into many people out calling and enjoying the woods/rut who aren’t even hunting or with a hunter. I never really did have confrontations but did find that when I was on a great bull, there were often other hunters/callers after the same bull. The year I had the tag there were cameras on almost all water sources and often these cameras were being checked multiple times daily which made many elk go nocturnal in spite of limited “hunters” in the field. If water is scarce, water sources getting hit by big bulls are in high demand. This year may change, to a degree, with cameras banned for hunting. For the most part, I think you draw this tag for great rut action and experiences and not for sitting water. I think if you go into it expecting to get into rutting bulls that you will be happy. If you think the bulls are a lot bigger in 23 than other units, you will be let down. One other benefit to this hunt is different topography. You can be in gentle rolling hills covered with pines, steep canyons overgrown with oaks after fires, or pinyon/junipers. All hold elk and have the potential to hold a giant. You can pick what you’re looking for in your hunt. Enjoy the time and hope the rut gets going early this year for your sake.

Don't hire a guide. If theres any elk hunt in the state that you don't need a guide, thats it. Enjoy success from your own hard work. I can't stand dragging a guide around with me on an archery bull hunt. From your profile pic it looks like you have a lot of experience hunting, you should be fine if you can put some time into it.