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For 2022, I drew an early November tag for a southern AZ unit as my fifth choice. I’ve hunted this unit several times previously with tags I’ve picked up on the leftover draw, so I know of a couple areas that hold bucks, but numbers are usually low and good bucks are few and far between. Nevertheless, I was happy for the opportunity and excited to have a week off of work to do some glassing and, hopefully, find some bucks. Day one was pretty slow, hiking about a mile in and only seeing a few does and a small fork. Interestingly, this small buck was noticeable bigger than the two deer he was with. At first, I thought it was a doe with two fawns until I made out the antlers. I assume the fawns mother was killed (saw some lion sign in the area) and the fawns hooked up with the small buck. Day two started off slow, only seeing one doe before kicking up four deer out of the bottom of an area we had been glassing all morning. Should have climbed a little higher, so we could see the bottom of the hill we were on. The first two were small bucks, but I couldn’t ID the last two. That afternoon, we decided to try out a new area that I had wanted to check out for years. For the first couple of hours, we only found one doe and fawn, but just before dark, we found 3 bucks. One looked like a pretty good 3 point, with a smaller 3 and a fork horn. The bucks were too far for a shot and with light fading fast, we decided to wait until morning to go after them. Sunday morning started off with a half mile hike to get in to position to try to find the bucks from the previous night. It only took a few minutes to locate the deer, but they were still about 900 yds away. After crossing a small drainage, I was able to cut the distance to 600yds, but could not immediately relocate the bucks. I slowed down my glassing and started picking apart the likely bedding areas. I was confident they were still there because I had a good wind and felt I would have seen the deer if they had moved off of the hillside. After about 30 minutes, I was able to find a buck bedded behind a yucca cactus. I ranged him at 468 yds and decided to take the shot. The 140 gr Accubond from my 26 Nosler X-Bolt found it’s mark and the buck never stood up. It was a long, difficult pack out and we didn’t get back to the truck until after dark. We returned to camp to find it had been ransacked by a bear. It destroyed my brother-in-laws truck tent and got in to most of our coolers and food boxes. The bear returned that night and left a pretty good paw print on my truck window, but I never got to see it. FYI, bears prefer teriyaki beef jerky over regular, apples over bananas and Coke Zero over Diet Pepsi.

Already posted my buck but wanted to post up some pics of a hunters first deer kill. was able to glass up 3 bucks bedded and managed to move into 352 yards. Since this was his first chance at a deer I told him to pick the deer and when it gets up we will count down and shoot. His deer was bedded in the open, one was very small and the one I shot was in thick brush with only the head showing through an opening My deer was bedded but I could make a easy, clean head shot so I was not worried (looking forward to the haters on the shot), well his buck finally got up turned broad side and the rest is history. 1,2…..bang 2 dead deer.

We don't want any more broken skull plates.

Was an awesome hunt and awesome memories with my dad and my daughter

Well both of my kids harvested their first elk last week. We were in screaming elk everyday. My daughter shot her elk opening day and my son on the forth day. Want to give some thanks to a family member and a good buddy for directing me to a few spots. Sorry for the sideways pic.

Not seeing it, just asking.

I am an insurance agent and would love to see what I can do for you. We help thousands of households all over Arizona. I'm a hunter and outdoorsman just like everyone on here and would love to try and help. You can call my office at 623-266-0777 and ask for Cache. I'd be happy to help!

I agree, I would find another caliber with a milder recoil, with a brake, with a recoil pad and use reduced recoil loads. Recoil fear is real and will take time to get over.

Need walls at our Southern AND Western borders 😔

Not even bears like coors light lol

Turkeys will either love decoys or hate them. I have had decoys ruin several hunts when it sends them running in the opposite direction. I am a caller and like calling turkeys and having them come looking for me and don’t use decoys much. Out of around 50 turkeys I have harvested 5 or less have been with decoys. The main situation I find myself using them is if I am hunting a real open area with lots of large meadows where you can see for hundreds of yards, or if I am out of state restricted to only a small section of private land. Pricing on decoys is just like everything else and is out of control $$$. I you really think you want one or two in my opinion the best ones are 1. DSD (Dave Smith Decoys) 2. Deception decoys 3. Avain-x decoys.

It starts on Saturday Jeff. I have been scouting a couple of times and have found a couple of bucks. So fingers crossed I can find them during the hunt.

If you struggle with patience, Maybe it's better to have a friend tag along and be another voice if things get crazy. I can get to excited at times and just another person reminding me the deer have no idea we are there and to slow down or whatever the situation calls for can be helpful to everyone. If you haven't yet, explain that you struggle in that area and that it's not on purpose. Good to show kids that us parents make mistakes but own up to and work on them.

My son was able to harvest this pretty buck here in NM this this past weekend.

No. The hunt got pushed back to 2023. Biden and Ukraine jacked everything up. Standard plane tickets to South Africa normally run around 1k and in the spring they shot upwards of 4k. No one in our group was willing to pay that and the outfitter didn't have anymore openings this year so we pushed the hunt till next year to see if things settle down.

Madabula safaris. We hunted Rooiport, a big concession owned by DeBeers. Highly recommend them.

Thank u

My daughter uses the death grip it works great only problem is its on the heavy side

Not to mention we are talking 10 year Olds in their first big game hunt. I'm more concerned with a clean shot than showing his level of marksmanship by shooting from an advanced, non-supported position. Hes not Hatchcock.

Print the app out from the web site

Bipod imo is unnecessary weight (especially this year). I use a triclawps on the front of the gun and a primos trigger stick on the back end. Take a beanie and put it in the y of the trigger stick and use the little strap on the handle to cinch it down in place. Then you can slide it back and forth on the butt stock to raise and lower it. I'll set it up like that for the kid with the cross hairs underneath the buck so when they press down on the stock with there cheek it anchors the back end in place and it will raise the cross hairs right where he will need it. Very simple but very effective and next best thing to shooting prone but not having to worry about grass being in your way on a prone shot. My youngest drilled his first buck at 200 yards this way

Man I couldn't disagree with you more on the bipod. I still have a bipod on my rifle at all times.

We have used the Bog Pod Deathgrip with a lot of success. For kids it's about having fun and reducing stress. Let them enjoy the hunt, let them shoot what they want. Set the gun up in the vice and line it up on the deer. The kid can make small adjustments if at all needed. Lots of time behind a 22 will help. No matter how much training and shooting they do, they will struggle. Take it easy and dont be hard on them. The first hunt is the time to get them hooked. If you make it miserable they will not want to keep going. There is nothing like shooting your first deer. These kids hunts are some of my favorites.

I would get a good wood stove and not look back. Nothing sucks the fun of hunting and camping out of me like sleeping cold, and I used to do it a lot growing up from improper equipment. I helped on a late 3a3c elk hunt one year and bought a big buddy heater for that hunt. It took some chill off but I was still miserably cold. After I bought my alaknak I started researching quality wood burning stoves and settled on a wilderness 4. Weighs 84 lbs but will burn all night and I can get the tent well over 90° even with a blizzard outside.

Nice touch with the antler pic. GLWS.