Leaderboard

Ya Well we went down south finally and got him a coues deer ..... I haven't done a write up in a while but I decided to this time. Well with all of my son's obligations this year for school and sports we were having a hard time figuring out what days, if any we were going to be able to hunt. We planned out to hunt Saturday and Sunday only at first, he is a senior this year but had college classes he couldn't miss on Friday. He also had a cross country event Friday evening that he could not miss, he is the team captain. Right before we left, he got permission from his college teacher that he could actually miss a couple days and he would let Curtis make it up. Day 1 We got there Saturday morning and went straight to hunting, we didn't even set up camp yet.... we found plenty of doe in the area we wanted to start focusing on. Same in the evening. Day 2 We moved to our second area the next day and we saw a bunch more doe until last light. We saw two deer top over the ridge towards us. It was so dark I barely put horns on one of them. Day 3 So ... the next morning rolled around and nothing but does in the morning again. Mid-day my boy said dad I need to get a workout in since I am missing two practices( he runs at the state meet this Saturday) ..so we go back to camp and he goes for a 5 mile run up and down the road by camp ( I kept thinking it would be funny if border patrol was watching him run back and forth and to be able to hear them talk about him). Yes he is crazy and dedicated to his sports and everything he does. We get back out that evening and were able to relocate the same two deer. They were both bucks almost identical in size, No difference that I could tell... Curtis looks him over and says he likes the one on the left. I get him ranged while he gets prone on my pack and gets set up and comfortable. He is able to get on him in the scope and said he is ready. He sent a shoot once the buck stopped to graze. Then dropped the buck right there. We still had a little bit of light to get to him, which was of course at the very top of the mountain. We got to him before dark, but had to do all of the work in the dark and hike out and down in the dark. My son said the buck met his expectations for the time restraints we had on this trip. We are pleased and glad we were able to get him his first coues deer. Sorry for brags, but I'm so proud of the young man he is becoming and the memories we have able to make together. Thanks to everyone over the years and the support from everyone along the way.

My wife and I got tags together this year for the same hunt for the first time. We were real excited for this hunt, more than usual. Opening day I spotted her buck 2100 yards out and figured he was a mid 80’s buck. We kept an eye on him every 5 minutes to see where he beds down. While keeping tabs on him we saw 10 other bucks but nothing worth chasing after. Once her buck bedded down under a tree, we marked the spot and started the stalk. We snuck into 330 yards and the rest is history. The buck had a bigger body than we thought and scored right at 90. We had a long pack-out back to the ranger and feeling the aches and soreness today. Over the next few days we looked over 30 bucks or so. I was looking for a 4+ year old buck (secretly trying to beat my wifes buck!) I didn’t have any luck. Monday morning came and I spotted a big 2x2 buck that we have seen maybe 8 times and never gave chase to him. He bedded down during grey light and the wife and I took off. We snuck into 380 yards and waited about an hour for him to stand up and the hunt was done. My buddy Christian showed up to help out with the morning Monday hunt, he carried out some weight which was nice! Thanks amigo! Overall deer movement was phenomenal even with the full moon. The freezer is full with our bucks and my sons junior buck. We’ll definitely put in together again next year.

Shoulda been

Bumping this up as a memory..... my boys very first deer .... 7 years ago ...

Man, sorry to hear of the loss of your son. Truely, truely, truely a parents worst nightmare.

I was surprised by the movement. Deer movement from sun up, and still seeing them up and feeding at 11-11:40, mostly does but did put eyes on a 90" on opening morning.

My boy and I were so excited when we found out he had got drawn for the late jr Kaibab hunt. That's all he could talk about. So then I had to decide what he was gonna shoot. I ended up picking up a ruger american predator in 6.5 Creedmoor. I put a nikon 3.5x14x50 on it. After we went out shooting once we decide it was going to need a muzzle brake. After the easy installation, because the predator model comes threaded already, we went back out shooting and he loved it. Had him shooting out to 200 yards, which he though was cool and so far. Then we started the long drive up there on Thursday, this is my first time going to 12aw , and I thought this would be a great first tag for my ten year old boys first hunt. We got camp set up Thursday night and both us couldn't sleep because we were too excited. Opening morning was actually really slow and we didn't see very many deer. The only two we saw were in the bed of another successful hunters truck. We woke up the next morning and headed out to some more areas that were burned and we were able to glass. Then we started seeing deer acrossed the deep canyons. They Were About 150 To 200 yards acrossed. I found a doe for him to shoot and he got on the shooting sticks and said I don't see her dad, so I looked down at his level and poor kid couldn't see over the pine tree branch and that was our only shooting lane we had at the time. We tried to reposition but she busted us. We located a few more doe but couldn't get the shot set up before they went through the shooting lanes as well. We hiked back to the truck and went back to camp to eat and my boy really wanted to shoot his bow. After he shot his bow and we ate, we went to another canyon to hunt. We ended up getting on a couple of groups of deer and yet again these deer were super spooked from the prior hunts and on the move. A group finally stopped to feed at last light and was at 300 yards acrossed the deep steep canyon. I got my boy set up and told were to aim and to make sure it didn't have antlers. He told me to zoom the scope in cause he found them now. I zoomed the power to a little over 12 and he said that was good. I told him to check again for antlers and he said it didnt have any, so I told him to squeeze when he was ready. After the blast for the brake scared the crap out of me I saw one deer tear out of there and straight down the canyon, like it was hit and the others just kinda bounced around. It got dark quick and after starting down the canyon, I decided it was best and safer to wait until morning since the oak saplings were so thick over there it would be a very difficult job to locate his deer tonight and it was going to be in the low 20's at night anyways. We woke up in the morning after yet another difficult night of sleep. We drove to the other side of the canyon. I had the shot pinned on my gps. We found the shot location and started to look for blood. I found one drop and let my boy at it to see what he could do on his own. This is one of the things I was most proud of too, was how well of a tracking job he did all on his own, with next to no help from me except for the beginning. After a about a 50 yard track through very thick oak saplings the blood just started pouring out thick. So I looked around and spotted his downed deer. It rolled down to a group of oaks and stopped. While he was on the trail I walked past his deer so I could record him finding it. He said dad there's alot of blood here and two steps later, ..... hah my deer , my doe ! He was so happy to find it and I was so proud as well. After a 303 yard shot and a awesome track job we started the fun stuff. As much as I wanted to do the gutless method I wanted to teach him how to gut it , so we did that then I carried him out whole, a half mile back to the truck. We jumped a couple of nice bucks on the way out too. He ended up shooting an antlers less buck. When we got back to camp we skinned it and quartered it up , packed up camp and started the drive home. I couldn't of been prouder seeing how happy he was at the g&f check in station as well as the whole drive home with his big Ole smile until he fell alseep. This is by far my favorite hunt to date and can't wait to do it again. We had a blast. Pictures to come soon......sorry.

My condolences on the loss of your Son, Sir.

I mean, that buck was 100% Whitetail so I understand if you're wanting to double-check and make sure you're Hunter education is still valid and that they didn't revoke it after that post!

Check out this item on OfferUp. https://offerup.co/RHn48SeXnEb

You didn't really expect an AZ team to bring it home, did you? They were always gonna chit the the bed.

Because thats the Spring hunts with the dates listed. Spring hunts generally end in May, a few had gone into June. We are in the fall, need to go buy the fall hunts. Have you looked at the harvest reporting data link??? This is what you should be looking at. In the Tab it seperates the spring vs fall, also has archery deer and lion. https://harvest-tracking.azgfd.gov/harvest-tracking-2/

Only a casual would say an 84 win team that made it to the World Series shoot the bed.

Congrats again man!

I've explored segments of that trail before, and I'm planning to tackle sections 1-5 in the upcoming month of March.

Seen tons of bucks all day long on my sons hunt. he ended up taking a 3x3 with eyeguards at 480 yds Monday evening. Buck movement was crazy for us.

Same for us .. still up until about 9 am. The moon was really bright... but my boy shot his buck a little before 5 pm.

I helped a couple guys on this hunt. The buck we were after on Friday bedded with his buddies at 720 and killed him about an hour later when he stood up. Went out Saturday and Sunday with another friend who didn’t kill but not because he didn’t have the opportunity, just being picky. I was shocked how active they were especially on Sunday with the full moon

There have only been a couple bucks posted so far. Not nearly what I expected so far. I was down south with my daughter and it was tough with the moon. But they were still moving and up until about 9:30 where we were. But we only saw smaller bucks and nothing that she wanted to shoot that was in range.

Thanks for working with my brother on this John, he is going to call/text you to make it all happen. Have an awesome day...

Thanks! First animal I've ever actually harvested. Cow Tag was in Unit 1. First day there wasn't a lot of action. Woke up in the woods to it being a balmy 8 degrees 😂. Met a few local coyote hunters and got some decent tips, so decided to move camp. Day 2 we glassed mostly pronghorn and a ram in the morning. Noon came around and got hit with a wind advisory for the rest of the day. We had gusts up to 50 mph, so not very advantageous for glassing. Saw a few dozen Elk about 800 yards from camp and said "F It", and decided to make a play to hopefully somewhat salvage the day. I got onto a small of herd of about 6-8 Cows with a Bull. 1 Cow was hanging back from the group and busted me (first time I'd heard an Elk bark) about 140 yards away behind a large tree. Final day out, my buddy glassed another herd in a different set of woods from camp. Decided to mosey on into the woods and see what we could make happen. I shot this one at about 163 yards. After being skunked for 3 years, I was ecstatic to be able to punch this tag.

I have been on parts of that trail. I am doing sections 1-5 next March.

Hey everyone, Thought I'd share a recent video that we just finished up to help us get through the rest of July and first part of August until the archery hunt. I hope you enjoy!

226 and 227, west side early kaibab.

? Just brings up offerup. Was it something non-edifying or was it worth knowing?