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My niece had her 3rd and final youth cow hunt this weekend. We started off with a great honey hole tip from my buddy but unfortunately was an off-morning for the local heard...no elk. Beautiful spot with a beautiful sunrise view so definitely a successful morning regardless. Evening hunt we decided to drive and glass our way into a good area where we always see elk. on the way in we spotted a lone cow across a canyon and set up. 520yds facing west with the sun DIRECTLY behind the ridge. Horrible look. we moved down the road a bit and gained about 70 yds for a 450yd set up. Still bad sun but doable. We sat on it for about 45 min waiting for the sun to go behind the peak. 5 min before the sun dipped the elk decided to move. Neice said she was good and had a clean shot and took it. This young lady is ice cold. Zero nerves. Number 3 down after less than 20yd. 260ai built by axis works with massive input and help from Lance. Thanks again my friend. She loves it! aand a HUGE thanks to my little buddy mattman for being a human mule and savi g this old mans life. blue haired assassin has yet to miss when shooting at elk. 2020 480yds 2022 530 yds 2024 450 yds

At 75, I still have the drive and desire to hunt, but none of my friends want to go any more. Add to that the length of time to draw a decent tag, and I rarely get to go any more. I have no desire any more to go on a mediocre hunt that has 6-700 tags and hunters on every ridge. I still enjoy archery javi because I can go alone and pack one out by myself. I guess I’m spoiled by hunting Az since the early 70’s. A lot has changed!

After a couple missed opportunities Friday and Saturday, a buddy’s son spotted this guy bedded at 288 yards. My son decided it was the deer for him and the rest is history. Fantastic hunt and experience. Couldn’t be prouder

The how do you camp thread made me start to think about other related things. As I get older, I still have the heart and desire to get out there in the woods and hunt, camp or fish but I find myself going less and less even though I have more time now than I ever have. Talking with other people around my age we have decided the getting packed up to go, setting up camp, tearing down and then putting everything away at home is to too much of a pain. It seems it's too easy to just stay at home and not go. Anyone else feel like this or am I just being a Big ol' Wus?

Went yesterday. Dad and I was the only ones on the lake . One truck came in just before dark. A native family that my Dad new. Beautiful day. Really overgrown now. Dang good fishing. Caught both Bass and Crappie. Soooo peaceful. Who EVER has a entire lake to themselves all day. 👍😁

Selling a Winchester Model 70 Featherweight in 30-06. The serial number is 528xxx which makes it a 1960 production year. It has Leupold scope bases, and it's in good condition. It's not a collector grade rifle, but it is a nice piece of American history. The recoil pad looks like it's been changed. Asking $1,200 OBO or trade for Stainless bolt action rifles or stainless Thompson Center Encore. Located in Chandler.

God continues to bless me, and today was no different! Unit 34a was scheduled to close today at sundown, so I headed down for the final day in hopes of killing a big ole bruin, but just happy to be outdoors! I had never killed a bear with a rifle (3 with bow and one with handgun) so I decided to take the old 30/30 lever action out for a try. This big ole bruin walked out right before sunset and presented himself at 42 yds. 1 shot from the old lever action and he tumbled into the gulch below, but he wasn't done as he reared up and began to come straight for my tree stand! 2 quick shots put a end to that and then the work begun! this bear stood nearly 4ft high as he walked in, a monster of a bear ( maybe some Mexican Griz DNA in him). I was a little nervous as I walked up to him, because he was so big! The pack out sucked! I hurt everywhere now! We green scored the skull at 20.5" tonight! Amazing day for a last day of the hunt! I think I'm done bear hunting! Too old for this stuff! lol. Truly Blessed!

I’ve got two Brinkman smokers, one charcoal chunks/wood, one electric with wood chips. Free to good home or not so good home. All or nothing package .

Let me delete some messages and I’ll reach out. Thx

You can sleep when you’re dead keep grinding lol… It definitely gets harder but it’s still fun and the hunt is temporary so you can rest up and go fishing

You’re really close. I’m at 107th and williams

I like the quote,” Dont let the Old Man In” I’m early 60’s but have a POS back and neck due to degenerative disc disease. I like to think I’m 29, but my body reminds me otherwise. I just keep grinding… you rest, you rust!

He means I have a tendency to pick up some free stuff when I know people who need it. But I'm given too much credit.

Don’t worry, Russ will be by soon 😂

It's starting to slow down but we've been having fun. Buddy got a couple cool snaps in today.

Heading back up north anytime soon?

You’re being a big ol wus, John! That being said, parts of me(back, neck) don’t recover like they used to. I just road tripped it up to unit 8 yesterday to figure out where to camp for next weeks elk hunt, and put 50 + miles in on the Ranger checking tanks and then drove home same day. My back felt like it was full of ground glass this morning. And I’ve got to get my trailer and gear ready to go this weekend. You better get some motivation after you talked me into changing units to camp with you and your crew for pig….

What an interesting thread. I had to chuckle a little as I can relate to pretty much every response so far. I went on a non-hunting related trip to Colorado earlier this year and after we returned from a week of camping/trail riding all I could think of was all the planning and then all the work of putting everything away was...hey why don't we just go on a cruise next time so I can just show up with a suit case. Yes...it is hard to not "let the old man in" LOL. I still enjoy going out every time I do manage to get out.

Kids sports and work constantly dangling that OT 🥕. We still get out 5+ times a year but more would always be better.

The old fashioned way?

I used to have a pop up trailer but when I got a side by side I had to choose one to pull. So I sold the pop up and bought a 12X12 Alaknak and the XL cots. I probably sleep better hunting than I do at home.

I have health issues that started with covid and snowballed into a bunch of other issues. To add to the fun I was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, what they think is from a lifetime of agricultural chemical exposure. I have missed out on a lot of hunting for the last 2 years but I am not going to let it stop me anymore. I have hunted solo most of my life and will likely continue to do so. It's harder to get ready to go but I have come to accept I'm not 20 anymore. It keeps me motivated to work out and stay in shape. Even at that it's still a pain in the arse to get ready.