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Old buck. Teeth were worn down almost to the gums. Patience paid off. Past on 5 other bucks before he came to the scrape I was sitting on. Not my best buck to dated but I thought you might enjoy seeing him.

Drew an early rifle tag this year! Had written and tried to post but it kept fighting me trying to post pics. My first rifle kill. Only my 2nd elk tag. My brother in law Scott and my wife came up to help me. Went to a spot we know on opening day. Bulls beat us there. We tried to follow but they can cover a lot of ground when just walking. Hit another spot on the backside of the hill. Heard some bugles going away and getting distant. Back to camp for lunch and then took a drive to check out some canyons and possibly glass some. No luck glassing up any bulls. Decided to just chase bugles. That afternoon we went to a spot hoping to hear some bugles. None heard. Got lost on the way back to the truck. I had forgotten my gps in the truck and google map sucks butt. Sent a pin to a buddy and he was trying to help out. Then a couple dudes out getting wood stopped. “You see a white F250?” They laugh and said yes. Gave us a beer and a ride! They were young dudes, I was thankful for the ride and being handed a beer that wasn’t bud light 🙃 Back to camp in bed around 11:30. Saturday woke up a bit late. Bulls were on the mountain already. Bugle up a different bull. They moved thru a draw below about 137yds. Nice 6x6. We passed and moved on. Been windy both days. My wife felt ill with altitude like sickness. She tried to stick it out but had to run her home Saturday evening. In bed after 11 again. Scott said some chick was coming up Thought he was kidding. Got to camp and there was a Nissan Sentra!!?? How the heck she drove in there without tearing off and oil pan or something?! I get up a bit late don’t wake Scott. Coffee, heat up the burritos and boogie. Back to where we seen the 6x6 because I lost my cow elk call. Took 15 minutes and finally found it. Walk down in the draw a bit and sit to listen for bugles. Blow my bugler(Phelps easy metal bugler awesome call for people that can’t use mouth reeds), a cow comes from my left moving down towards the draw we spotted them in before. A couple minutes later another. A few minutes and another. Then nothing. I decided to move down around a little finger where they came from. Catch a glimpse of elk color in the shadows to my left. Like under 60 yds but can’t see antlers. 15 minute stand off. Even through the scope I still can’t see. He’s feeding and I move to my left. He turns but still can’t see antlers. A minute goes by and he puts it in overdrive and I see a giant bull running away…gone. Sickening! Hit up another spot where I killed my first bull Walking in I heard a bugle but sounds far. I quickly move towards it. Slow down and scan the forest. Spot a cow, then a few more at like 40 yds. It’s really windy. He bugles then beds down. 6x6 with a broken #2 on the right side. I back out and head to camp. No more encounters that day. A cold front was supposed to hit on Monday with a high of 62 deg. And moderate winds. I had rented a room for a couple days for my wife and I. Left Scott with his skank after dinner and said I’ll see ya in the morning. She was supposed to be leaving in early am. Showed up to camp she was leaving. Scott had coffee ready and we headed out. With the full moon the elk were up on the mountain early every morning. Today there are a few bulls bugling we drive to a spot to cut them off. Hiking up the mountain we bump a heard and they spook. Make a big loop following. The bugles were strong this morning! Back to the truck as the bugles are really faint. Drive a couple miles to the west. Head into the hills chasing bugles. After a mile or so we get into some. Wind is swirling changing directions. I thought for sure they would bust but the kept doing there thing. We flanked them seeing several small bulls and a herd bull. Never get a great look at him. It seemed as a few small herds joined because there were a lot of elk running around! We flanked them for a long time bumping them occasionally but not spooking them. They bed down 40-50 yds from us. We sit and wait. Herd bull bugling like crazy from his bed. Across the draw up on a ridge another bull starts screaming! Bugling and chuckling! He sounds big! The other bull is bugling back but gets up and takes his herd with him. We follow. We get to the road and the elk were way in front of us. Still bugling! I am getting discouraged and not thinking we can catch up. I am sore, tired and everything hurts! I tell Scott we’re not catching them, we blew it. He ignores me and pushes on! I follow begrudgingly. Bump a muley doe. Spot a spike! A little boost for my mind. We get to a little hill with a good saddle and the bull we followed was just over the hill still bugling! It’s just after noon. We been on them since 9 or so. Scott says shooter bull! I see 2 bulls! I look at one bull and don’t think it is. “Dude that’s a shooter all day!” The other bull was shreading a tree and started walking towards the other bull! I thought they were going to fight, but he slowly walks by him. I look through the scope and see how long he is with an extra on the left side! I had forgotten my shooting sticks in the truck rushing to go after the bugles! He stopped broadside! I was afraid to move! Thinking I will blow it! I decided to shoot offhand! Put the gun to my shoulder, put the cross hairs on his shoulder. Take up the slack on my trigger, let out a long breath and boom! He flinches, but starts slowly walking. Scott says “you hit ‘em”. I put the cross hairs again on his shoulder. Heart rate is out of control! Rush the shot and hit his stomach! Rack another quickly as he is still walking slowly! This time tried not to rush, good breath squeezed and boom he was down! Having doubts he was as big as I thought! Gave him a couple minutes and walked over to him. I could not believe he was as big as he was! It was like a dream! Somewhere along our expedition I took my game bags out of my pack for god only knows why??!! Quarter him up andwe pack out 2 quarters and the head. Haul but back to camp grab extra bags and pillowcases lol. Found a closer road and the last part wasn’t too bad. Really surpassed my expectations! I was not really hunting a number but wanted a mature bull. 372 1/8 Sorry for sideways pics james

Levi, Scooch and I set out for a mixed bag. Predators, ducks, quail were what we were after. On our second stand, I saw a coyote making its way down the draw on my sons side. He was set up with a standing tripod and my Marlin 60 in 22. I told him it was coming and to get ready. About a minute later, the coyote goes up the other side on a little hill, out of his view so I put it on his neck and send a 50 Ballistic Tip from my AR through him. Driving out we jumped a covey of Gambles and I dropped one, but we never recovered it. A few ponds later we had 4 ducks. A hen and drake buffelhead, a hen ringneck and a hen gadwall. Four ducks, four beautiful retrievals by my 18 month old Airedale... She's really getting the hang of this bird retrieval, as well as swimming for ducks! She's an absolute menace on dove, especially considering this was her first season and she's never had any formal training for that.

Hes got his first Arizona tag here in a few weeks. Youth 36b Javelina.

Haven't been used in years but still fairly good glass and getting hard to find. 10x40's with soft case. Flagstaff. SOLD

Opening day took us a while to find some pigs. We spent most of the morning looking over deer, the muleys were rutting while the coues were not. The first two herds we spotted were no where to be found when we got to where we last saw them. We regrouped after the two failed stalks and hit the spotter for long range glassing. It didn't take long til we spotted a third herd. The third herd stayed around long enough for my 72 year old pops to get within range. His shot was 27 yards and the sow didn't go too far.

Great bull. Congrats. I have never had skank in elk camp before, any camp for that matter. I will have to try that.

Great bull and keep trying to post the story with more pics!

Congratulations on another great pig hunt with your family.... !

Nice Job!! I love archery pig.

It was a good year for me. The company I work for was sold to a bigger corporate type, and the benefits are much better with a pay raise. Drew an early rifle elk tag and smoked a monster. I tried posting a story with pics, but it keeps fighting me. James

Nice job! You guys are like clockwork with pigs!

Solid dude, congrats

I have a hero 7 silver with lots of mounts. I can sell it to you for 200 if you'd like. Used it once for horseback riding and haven't touched it since

I got a late start to hunting. I moved to AZ from Sarasota in 2003. I've fished AZ quite a bit but only started to hunt in 2019. The main reason I decided to start was I wanted my two son's to practice some of the numerous skills and traits that hunting teaches like patience, persistence and discipline. And to have them spend as much time outside enjoying nature as possible. I did draw an early antler-less tag in a good unit my first year applying and I was successful on that hunt. And even though I did my pre-scouting and camped in the unit before hand that season, I basically shot a fish in a barrel, on morning three. I've been applying for a late, antler-less hunt closer to home the past two years and drew tags. Both of those hunts ended with my tags still in hand but I learned tons about the unit and elk scouting and hunting in general. Now, it seems to me like maybe old dad's the one out there learning some of the lessons I wanted my son's to practice while hunting and scouting. Because after two years, a lot of patience, persistence, discipline and disappointment, I think I may have a good grasp of this unit and antler-less elk hunting. Because after scouting, camping and spending countless hours on OnX I came up with a good plan A, B and C and was finally able to fill the freezer with elk meat this season, on opening morning! I'm looking forward to many more years of spending time out in nature with my boys and coming home with tasty, healthy food.

Lacey was able to harvest her first deer with the gun she won in the youth raffle. Day 1 - glassed up some does, but noticed that all deer were heading to water around 9am. Day 2 - glassed until around 830am, then headed to a water tank and sat in a blind that we had built the previous afternoon. About 930am, two bucks came in and she was able to drop this one with one shot at 100 yards. It went about 15 feet and expired. Her little sister opted to use the raffle rifle on the remainder of the hunt as she could shoot it better than her own. She had a shot opportunity on the last day at a spike but didn't connect. The girls and I had taken the gun out to practice prior to the hunt and were able to shoot a 1/2" group with the Hornady Precision Hunter ammo. The adjustable stock and muzzle break were a perfect combo. Thanks Crazymonkey, for putting this together and to all that contributed.

I've seen a few whitetail on the edges of sheep country in recent years. Always trying to hunt outside the box, I decided go in with intent to fill my '23 archery tag or get my butt handed to me and let go of the idea the terrain is worth hunting. Yesterday, I didn't even get to glass the more predictable deer country as a small 3x3 coues was spotted in the gentliest terrain on the sheepy side of the mountain. He bedded down at 730am right in the open. I decided to get aggressive under the cover of rain. I turned 1000 yards into 66 yards in 30 minutes and picked the perfect rock outcropping to pop out around. 20231222_082625.mp4 The rain had scent locked down and while I was comfortable to not be busted immediately, 60 yards is my coues limit and my gut told me this deer was not going to get up and feed towards me and the rock ledges. Turning 66 into 60 without cover took an hour and a ton of patience and frozen moments as he would snap his head in my direction. Finally, at 61 yards, he got up and as he shook off a gallon of water, I drew and released an arrow that went lower than I'd of liked. The soaking wet drop away felt significantly slowed my arrow prior to release. Thank goodness for the Lumenocks helping me understand this quickly and when he stopped at 100 yards to understand what hit him, I put my slider on 130 and put him down hard. I ran up and put another one in him as quickly as possible. Not the greatest part of the story but one of my favorite things about this forum is reading lessons learned. With everything soaking wet, this will go down as one of my heaviest pack outs of all time, in sheep country!

Since most of us are on our phones, both at home and in the field, they really need to optimize that page for mobile devices. Should be able to access the link and see everything pertaining to a specific unit without having to scroll left/right.

Been chasing deer in Arizona with my bow for more than half my life, never been able to connect until yesterday. My first coues in nearly 10 years. Very grateful to share the experience with my parents, couldn’t have gone any better - 48 yard shot, buck expired in sight. Already looking forward to doing it again January 1st!

I did manage to fill my tag on the 5th day right before i had to head home. i found several bucks opening day, missed one at 450 yards and didn't see another buck for 2 days, then i stumbled upon one walking back to my RZR and missed him at probably 50 yards off hand, that was a surprise as i expected him to drop when i pulled the trigger but no he looked around for a second and ran off, all i could do was laugh. The last day i set out for the same mountainside that i had missed the first buck on, this time i was packing a different rifle since i had missed twice with the other one, around 11:00 AM a small buck with a doe walked out onto the hillside, one shot from my new 6.5 PRC and i had filled my first Coues tag, i didn't get back to camp until almost dark as i was a ways in there but a super fun solo hunt for sure.

ARCA rail is best in my opinion. Easier to transition from Binos to rifle.

I have a Triclawps and love it. You're welcome to borrow it and test it out before you buy if you want. You've always been good to me. My daughter's at UofA, but will be here this week for a few days. I can send it down with her if you want.

Triclswps. Az designed and made in USA. There's one for sale in the classifieds right now for $75.

Stretched out on my cot in 36C looking up at the stars and moon at this very moment. Freaking beautiful evening out here. Been here since Tuesday. As always, BP is running around but I haven’t spotted any crossers yet. Good luck to all of the early hunters! 👊🏼