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But a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then...

When my buddy Jake and I drew our tags, we assumed they were rifle tags. Imagine our surprise when the tags turned out to be out first choice, early archery bull tags! That meant new strings, new arrows, lots of gym time and upcoming 3D shoots in Flagstaff! Unfortunately, the family cabin in Pinetop sold right before the 4th of July Sunrise shoot. On to the hunt. Jake and I were able to get the entire hunt off from work, and we were both pumped! First few days were a little rough, full moon, etc you know the drill. On September 13th, we followed a huge train of elk with many bugling bulls for a few miles. We never truly caught up to them, but we marked the area on the GPS and decided to beat them to the area the next day. As some of you will remember, in 2014 my grandpa passed just a couple days before opening morning. I killed my bull 4 days later, on my moms birthday, September 14th. The next morning (the 14th) Jake, his brother Tate and I headed in to the area where we followed the train of elk, with the idea of beating them to their bedding area. As we approached the area, there was another truck where we wanted to be. We backed off a couple hundred yards and changed our strategy a bit. As we walked to our ambush point, I found a spot that gave me shooting lanes above and below my position, asked Jake his opinion and he said it looked good, so I settled in. After doing a little landscaping, I settled in for the wait. After an hour or so, I hear a bugle right behind me. I grab my bow, turn around, and glass a elk behind me. As I am looking at what appears to be a spike, I see a small 5x5 below him in shooting distance. I went in to this hunt wanting anything 5x or better, as I am not a dedicated archer and the idea of tagging a 5x5 or better on our own sounded plenty fulfilling to me. After assessing that his bull met my reasonable standards I ranged him at 56 yards. As soon as I snapped on to the string, he took a step and exposed his vitals. One Slick Trick Magnum to the top 1/3 of his lungs and he was dead in 75 yards. A quick look at the phone and he was shot and dead at 7:13 Am on 9/14. 56 yards: my sons football number 7:13, my birthday 9/14: my moms birthday. The hunt was fantastic and one of my best times in the woods ever. Fourteen days in the woods is a long time, even in a comfortable trailer! elkhunt1.jfif elkhunt2.jfif elkhunt3.jfif elkhunt4.jfif elkhunt5.jfif elkhunt6.jfif

Found a pair of Binoculars in Unit 27 on this Months Archery Bull hunt. PM me description and location and we will figure out how to get them back you.

Here is my 2022 NM archery mule deer. I hunted hard for 8 days, passing many bucks before I was able to sneak in on this buck and his buddy. 46 yard shot through the heart.

I know this has been covered , but does anyone have recent information on where to donate a Coues tag ? My son’s tag will go unused this year and I prefer to donate it to a nonprofit that assist veterans or youth hunters. The tag is for unit 33 general rifle hunt. Dates are October 14-20. Thanks Jim

I had some good luck on the early archery tag. Killed this bull opening morning at around 11am. He was the main bull we heard bugling and that turned out to be his downfall. My cousin - who also had a tag - was able to get a good chunk of time off work so he was out scouting 4 days before the hunt started. He saw this bull every single day prior to the hunt. I made it up late Wednesday and scouted with him on Thursday... and again, saw this bull and his cows in the morning and in the evening. Bugling as well. We saw another 10 bulls or so in this same drainage so we figured we'd start there opening day and give them heck. We hiked into the area in the morning and we were able to chase some bugles, but they weren't as vocal as they had been the couple of days prior. We ran into a good group of elk, but they spooked and we thought we might have boogered everything up too bad for the afternoon. My dad and uncle were on a ridge glassing above us and could hear elk below them bugling every so often - even after the bigger group spooked. For some reason - even though we were pretty close - we couldn't hear the bugles. The ridge we needed to climb was pretty steep and thick with overgrowth so I wasn't thrilled about the hike to get up it, but we sucked it up and made the short, but steep, hike. We finally got up to the same elevation as the elk and spotted them about 250 yards away. I saw a group of cows and had a feeling we were on the same bull we had seen all week prior. Sure enough it was him. We watched from a distance as he ran off a couple of raghorns that were nearby. He was one of the few bulls that seemed to be ready to rut. We continued working in closer, but didn't feel like we would have the shooting lanes available if we kept stalking straight at them. We were in some thick cover. At this point, the elk had been milling around in the same small area for more than an hour. We backed out and looped around to get on top of them. For the most part, the wind cooperated. It started to swirl a bit as we got close to the elk. They were in a thick stand of aspens and the cows knew something was up. They weren't quite sure where we were though, because the vegetation was so thick. They first trotted one way and then back another way. We could see them in the aspens less than 20 yards from us. The bull let's out a bugle to corral his cows and get everyone going the same direction. At that point my cousin gave a quick cow call and the elk stopped. I side stepped to an opening to my left and could see the cows going one by one up a trail into a small shooting window. Naturally, the bull was last. My cousin ranged the cows at 65 yards and I drew back. Right when the bull stepped out and showed his vitals, I shoot. Downhill, quartering away. I hit the spine and into his cavity. He was paralyzed. I quickly moved in closer and finished him off from 20 yards. (I would love to say that my first and only shot was the arrow shown in the picture - I'll be honest with you guys, but probably not my drinking buddies ) Needless to say, I am thrilled with this bull. Good mass, lots of character. It's also pretty cool that we were able to watch him for a few days in a row and put a plan together that got it done. This early archery elk stuff is awesome. Can't wait to do it again...... in twelve years.

Hunt of a Lifetime— terminally ill kids. Nationwide with Az presence. Phone, email, and pod cast below… https://huntofalifetime.org/media/podcast/amazing-hunt-of-a-lifetime-az-with-pat-beard

Tom Wagner (Lv2hnt) is a good choice

My next large frame will be a 6 creedmoor or .243. A fluted 20” Wilson Combat seems just about right for a barrel.

Dang wish this was FFP! These are awesome scopes! Glws

Great looking buck

Congrats

My dad is doing a 6.5 creedmoor but wants a 7-08 upper also .I got him the aero upper and lower .I'm just waiting for the missing barrel and extended mag release button that never made it into the box of all the rest of the parts I ordered.Go figure it was never put in the box even tho the pick ticket said it was there.Now its on backorder and I might get it in late October.

I do not think there is anything .473 boltface that will be cheaper to shoot commercially. A couple of easier rounds to find tho would be 22-250, 243, 300 savage. Not sure on the barrels but anything to reduce the weight on an AR-10 would be worth it to me. My .308 is HEAVY.

Not yet but I did get a 21ft triton… maybe next year👍

69 shots is artillery not precision shooting.

170's are the ticket, especially Core-Lok's.

When my buddy Jake and I drew our tags, we assumed they were rifle tags. Imagine our surprise when the tags turned out to be out first choice, early archery bull tags! That meant new strings, new arrows, lots of gym time and upcoming 3D shoots in Flagstaff! Unfortunately, the family cabin in Pinetop sold right before the 4th of July Sunrise shoot. On to the hunt. Jake and I were able to get the entire hunt off from work, and we were both pumped! First few days were a little rough, full moon, etc you know the drill. On September 13th, we followed a huge train of elk with many bugling bulls for a few miles. We never truly caught up to them, but we marked the area on the GPS and decided to beat them to the area the next day. As some of you will remember, in 2014 my grandpa passed just a couple days before opening morning. I killed my bull 4 days later, on my moms birthday, September 14th. The next morning (the 14th) Jake, his brother Tate and I headed in to the area where we followed the train of elk, with the idea of beating them to their bedding area. As we approached the area, there was another truck where we wanted to be. We backed off a couple hundred yards and changed our strategy a bit. As we walked to our ambush point, I found a spot that gave me shooting lanes above and below my position, asked Jake his opinion and he said it looked good, so I settled in. After doing a little landscaping, I settled in for the wait. After an hour or so, I hear a bugle right behind me. I grab my bow, turn around, and glass a elk behind me. As I am looking at what appears to be a spike, I see a small 5x5 below him in shooting distance. I went in to this hunt wanting anything 5x or better, as I am not a dedicated archer and the idea of tagging a 5x5 or better on our own sounded plenty fulfilling to me. After assessing that his bull met my reasonable standards I ranged him at 56 yards. As soon as I snapped on to the string, he took a step and exposed his vitals. One Slick Trick Magnum to the top 1/3 of his lungs and he was dead in 75 yards. A quick look at the phone and he was shot and dead at 7:13 Am on 9/14. 56 yards: my sons football number 7:13, my birthday 9/14: my moms birthday. The hunt was fantastic and one of my best times in the woods ever. Fourteen days in the woods is a long time, even in a comfortable trailer! elkhunt1.jfif elkhunt2.jfif elkhunt3.jfif elkhunt4.jfif elkhunt5.jfif elkhunt6.jfif

They have a great warranty. 😊

SPF to Shawn

Likin' the middle pad

We found this buck 2 months from opening day, then we found him a month later in the same spot. Night before the hunt he was back. Opening morning we had a little trouble finding him, coyotes were chasing the herd all around, one lone doe seemed to be following us, then she started running and 23 ears and 1 set of horns appeared over a knoll- dropped then crawled about 50 yds, an old ant hill provided a shooting lane without grass in the way. Shot was at 7:01 am - hunt over. I don't now much about antelope - I am very fortunate to have good friends help me - The hot scouting trips and helping the day of the hunt. Also appreciate all the help CWT members shared and offered! Great time- need some draw luck to have another tag in AZ- can't wait for Wyoming / Utah and New Mexico someday.

Had a Great hunt! 2 weeks ago my dad got a call from azgfd saying someone turned in a tag and he was next in line. They called on a Friday evening and said he needed to let them know Monday morning. We drove up to the unit and started a frantic search to see what we could turn up. We found several decent bucks so he opted to take the tag. The fallowing weekend we found this buck. He spent all this last week patterning this buck in the mornings and evenings. Opening morning dgaf Cwt and I were glassing while my dad was in there normal path, however the buck didn’t fallow the script and did something completely different than normal. My dad did stalk in however he chose not to take a walking shot do to range. That evening Dgaf Cwt and I were joined by my 4 year old Quinley. We spotted the buck and after some crazy rut activity from the buck chasing does and gathering more, we were able to guide him into position. He took the 170 yard shot and hit him right in the pump house! This buck has some crazy mass all the way up! Such a fun experience thanks Dgaf Cwt for your help.

I drew my first AZ antelope tag this year with 17 points (15 pts + HS +loyalty). I still feel very fortunate to have drawn with 17 and personally know of others who didn’t with more. I started preparing immediately. I spoke with some of last years tag holders, AZGFD officials, guide friends and internet searched all I could. I purchased maps, OnX hunt chip and the premium membership and drove the unit marking areas. I became a member of the Arizona Antelope foundation and attended their online webinar. I even sweet talked the wife into some new NL 12x42’s. I was all in, putting everything I could into this hunt. Who knows if/when I could draw again. I spent over 33 days scouting and put 6,500+ miles on my truck, not to mention 2 new sets of tires. I’ve hunted Wyoming a few times for antelope and have looked over plenty, but judging them is still tough for me, especially from a distance. Anyhow, I made a list of the best bucks I saw and named a few. Some of them I had patterned well and saw them often, some I only saw 2-3 times. My biggest hurdle would be finding one on public land during the hunt. I arrived on Tuesday before the Friday opener and camped on a piece of BLM 6 miles from Holbrook. Not wanting to mess up any archery hunters I glassed from camp, the highway and once from Denny’s when it was raining, Hee Hee. I did manage to find one of my top 5 bucks on Wednesday but never saw him again. Thursday afternoon I spoke to an archery hunter headed home. After talking and looking at a few pictures I found out the best 2 bucks were taken during the archery hunt. Opening day- I’m in my target area but only see some small goat bucks and a few muley bucks. I head to another area for the afternoon hunt and spot a tall and wide but thin buck I had on my list. I watched him until dark and headed back to camp. I had several friends come up Friday night to lend a hand glassing or to deplete my supplies. We had a quick dinner, a few spirits and went to bed. Saturday- Two buddies and I are looking for the buck from the night before. We see a small buck chasing two does. We move to a little knoll an spot him glowing in the morning sunlight almost a mile away. I check with OnX and we are both on state land. We watch him feeding for a few minutes until he beds. I make a plan and we go over some signals. I head off west with the sun at my back and the wind in my face. I’m at a brisk walk while below a small rise trying to make up time. I stop occasionally to look at my buddies for instruction and to look at OnX for location. Before the last knoll I turn for last direction. They indicate the buck is walking towards me. I creep up towards the top of the knoll, lay down and start crawling forward to a bush. After a minute or so I see the buck through the brush feeding towards me at around 600 yards. I decide to crawl another 30 yards to a rock outcropping for a better shooting platform. After reaching it, I see the antelope feeding to me around 500 yards. I get set up to shoot, ranging several trees and bushes along his path direction. He should walk within 300 yards or closer. Naturally, at 445yards he beds down looking in my direction. I decide I will wait until he stands back up. I check my ballistic calculator and decide on 34” of hold over. After 15 antagonizing minutes and several trains horns later I feel the wind start changing direction. I afraid he may not stand but instead bolt from his bed. I decide to set up on the gun, blow a call and hope for the best. With a great rest I blow the call and watch him stand up broadside facing to my right. I find my hold over, settle in and the recoil surprises me. As I’m cycling the bolt I hear the impact and watch the goat run from left to right FAST !!! I watch him pile up in a cloud of dust and rocks. He must have slid 12’ or more and broke off a prong that we never found. I collected my brass and walked back to the top of the knoll. I flagged my buddies, sat down in the shade of a juniper and started shaking. I dug out my tag and some water from my Fanny pack and texted my wife and kids. Soon my buddies arrived. We hugged, high five and shook hands. I tagged my buck and took some pictures then we headed back to camp. We skinned/processed the buck and got the meat cooled. Soon we started celebrating and with Holbrook being so close, everyone got dilly bars from DQ.