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Spending the last few evenings processing my bull has been a lot of work , but something I always look forward to . Teaching my son to take pride in your blessings , along with teaching him skills that I hope he will carry on to his son. Having my father there this time to see me pass on the passion of hunting and the outdoors the way he instilled them in me is something I will hold tight for the rest of my life. This has been my favorite part of this hunt.

I was able to take this absolute behemoth of a bear this morning. I typically hunt the spring but due to the shortened season, late winter moisture and cool temps, I was not able to turn a bear up. I had hesitations about hunting higher elevations in the oaks due the great crop of prickly pear not far away at lower elevation. Well I'm glad I stuck with my original plan.

We were excited to see that my son drew a junior deer hunt again but this time in an area we never been in. We put in some crazy hours scouting google maps and onX maps just to find an area that looks interesting. I hit up some friends that hunted the area before and they gave great advice. We did scout trips and seen 10+ bucks a day and was feeling great before the hunt. Thursday I parked right outside Colby’s school and when his bell rang, he came running out, jumped in the truck and I think I peeled out a little bit. We got to camp, my pops had things already set up and we ate dinner and were ready to roll in the morning. My son decided to go to bed at 7:30 pm which was a new thing. Opening morning was the exact opposite of scouting, basically saw a coati, 4 mule deer does, 2 small coues bucks and 5 coues does. At 10am we decided to move to glass bedding areas. Glassed for a bit and my pops and I told Colby that we have to glass at 11am, we cannot go back to camp for lunch. We told him that’s when bucks change their beds. Sure enough at 11:12 I saw a buck moving from one bed to another. Colby asked if it was bigger than his buck from last year (that’s his only goal, to get something bigger than his last buck)I said yes and he said game on. We waited til the buck bedded down again and made our move. Colby is real confident under 300 yards so we snuck in to 267 yards and the only place we could find a lane to shoot in was out in the open field. No shade, just dirt and sun and no wind. We waited 3 hours and 12 minutes and when the buck was ready he stood up, the buck was quartering towards us and Colby put a bullet behind his shoulder and the bullet went all the way to his opposite side rump. The buck hunched up, went a few steps and rolled down the mountain. Turns out that this buck is real old, can’t imagine how many lions, bears and hunters he evaded the last 9-10 years. Had some giant hooves and teeth were won down pretty good. We hung around the area for a few more days glassing, saw plenty of bucks but nothing in this caliber and headed back home today.

Selling this for a friend that does not shoot it anymore. Blueing is in great shape, comes with three magazines and is currently in an old S&W box. Pistol shoots great and comes with two holsters. Asking $1200.00

I tried to upload pics this morning, but I didn't have enough service. We cleaned the fan up when we got home a little bit ago.

Today will be a grateful chore of deboning my first elk, & done with a bow. Lots of time spent prepping for this hunt: Road knowledge, locating concentrated areas of bugles at wee hours of AM, water holes, benches, & how bulls use the line of No Return (Rez border) to evade pursuit. This was a TUFF hunt; mostly due to my learning curve, but locals tell me this was the slowest they have seen in yrs. Seemed like all 125 tag holders brought 5 buddies in the forest, so many dudes buzzing around and sitting water! It was hot, smokey, high winds, & no cows to be seen/heard. I only saw 1 bull killed in the back of a truck. No real rutting activity until day 12!?! Bulls actively bugles from day 1 & called back to challenge bugles… but no interest in cow calls. I don’t call often. I actually don’t like to call until the last 150yrd—for any game. It was obvious when other hunters were near due to cow calls & the over frequency of use. I had my share of “could have been done”, like the 6x6 on Day 2 (narrow shooting lane and killed a tree at 63yrd). My caller granted me 8 days, then returned to the real world. I kept grinding. Hunt sun up to sun down. Trying different areas, different times of AM, different approaches. Even though bugles occurred every day, some days went by without seeing a bull. Then, things changed on day 12. Responsive bulls, yet still no cows (I guess I never found them). Bulls engaging to challenge calls & kept around with soft cow calls. I had activity all day long. I bumped a bull 5:30pm when pursuing his bugle. It ran 73yrd up hill. A scraggly tree 8’ in front of me partially broke up my figure. Quickly counted left side: G4, G5, G6=thinking this was a 6x6. Face to face we stared for “eternity”. He barked several times. Calmed him with meek cow calls. His caution factor overrode desire to breed and he slowly turned to walk away. Ranged at 83yrd, pulled back, broadside, WHACK, punched him with 100gr G5 Montec. Then heard a crash, but not sure of what was really happening due to topo incline changes. Found blood at impact site. Found bull 30yrd away, face down into a rotting tree on a steep slope. Ecstatic rush of achievement! Antlers were actually 5x6 with an earlier broken right G1, but I didn’t care! It was a late night. Had an awesome friend drive up to help pack out. While not a monster, he will be just fine as a memory to the hunt’s high/lows resting over the cabin’s fireplace. Took him to Authentic Taxidermy/Troy Smith yesterday; it was a haul & I passed several taxidermist en route, but Troy did great work on my pronghorn. History has shown me—go with the proven & you won’t regret it. Troy asked if I wanted G1 tine fixed… “Nope, keep him just as I found him”.🏹

I have a nice pair of 10x42 EL's just got back from Swarovski freshly cleand up was gonna give them to my son but he wants a pair of 12s or 15s so $1500 gets them.

SOLD>>>>>>>>> For sale outdoorsmans medium height tripod in great condition. Only a few superficial scratches but still functions perfectly. The Outdoorsmans Medium Tripod was the first tripod designed by the Outdoorsmans. When compressed it measures 18.5", fully extended it reaches 44". Asking 300 plus shipping.

Yes, definitely doing a bear rug. It had great fur and amazing color. Not really black but a very dark chocolate.

The poor deer

Priceless.

We found this guy today. Would you shoot? I think I wouldn't.

Boned him out then Boned him out? Wait, wha?

In 1991 I was hunting in New River with two friends on the Halloween Mule Deer hunt. We hunted the first few days and they left on Sunday. Monday morning it got really windy and I out on the flats not far from a trik tank hunched down eating a candy bar when a couple of yards away I saw two bucks high tailing it away. I spit out that half chewed candy bar (Snickers) and hauled but toward the Mesa knowing they would drop down in the draw below it then head uphill in typical Mule Deer fashion. Well I made it a couple of hundred yards and saw them running across the the face of the hill about 50 yards from the top of Table Mesa. I pulled up and put the crosshairs on the front of his shoulder and let it fly. My first shot hit the lead buck just behind the shoulder at about 300 yards. He ran maybe 30 yards and turned headed up to the top of the hill but it bluffed out. When he stopped and turned around facing me I put the crosshairs on his chest and squeezed on off. When the bullet hit he jumped forward and disappeared. It took me an hour to climb up to him. The second shot went into his chest, took off the tip of his Johnson and broke the right femur. I took the skull cap and boned him out. I sat there and took off my boots and laid out my socks so they would dry out then hiked the 1/2 mile non-stop back to the truck. I was 39 at the time and in top shape. Savage 110, Tasco "World Class Scope with "Coated Optics" and Barnes 120gr X Bullet handloads at about 3400fps. It seems everytime I kill something I'm solo.

I had fun this season. Although I never let an arrow loose on an elk, there were opportunities that just didn't pan out. Day 3 was perhaps the closest I came to cutting loose, but never got a clear shot. Letting this bull go on day 5 wasn't easy, but I wanted a much bigger amimal having taken larger ones. If it had been day 10 or later, probably different outcome... Bugling also wasn't near as prevalent as we'd hoped for either. There were days where it was also completely silent. The bull on day 3 was significantly larger btw too. Oh well, it was, as I said, a lot of fun!

I don’t know but for me “success” means different things for each hunt. When you tag out on an animal you’re happy with, of course that’s success. But I’ve also gone on “unsuccessful” hunts where no freezer was filled that I would consider a success due to the memories made with family, learning new areas in a unit, and getting to learn more about how the animals behave at different times of the day or different times of year

Beautiful Griswold!

Thank you brotha! I’ll be putting my boy in for a youth hunt next year. Hopefully we are as successful as you and your tribe.

filtered-8A9852EC-EE26-4B4F-B340-FFBB8A530C00.mov Got word from my son a little while ago that Mikey brought out his dogs and the dogs were able to stay on the trail for about a mile past last blood but eventually lost trail. Was a long shot. Amazing how people on this site are always willing to help each other. I guess 1 good thing my son said he found out he’s way out of shape trying to keep up with the dogs.

My 11yr old son harvested a nice tom turkey yesterday. This was his first turkey and first big game harvest. When he dumped it, it death flopped into the water tank we were sitting and got muddy. It wasn't pretty for pictures, but it was a nice bird. He was super excited and so was his little brother, and of course I was probably more excited then both of them for him!

Are utilities close?

G4

You are selling good stuff. Just build more out of it, then you dont need to sell it! GLWS, If I didnt have a ton of extras, Id buy the handguards.