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Welp, 800 miles - FINALLY DONE! Due to super busy schedules across 4 hikers PLUS mother nature (The fires up on the north Kiabab torpedoed our planned finish last summer....), it took us much longer than anticipated, but last weekend my partners and I finally finished the AZT. Like many of you, I'm a native and love AZ. Doing this hike gave me an opportunity to see (and walk through) parts of the state that I had never seen. Many of them I am sure I will never see again! The real ball busters were Miller Peak, Superstition Wilderness (We did Roger's Trough to Roosevelt in one day. Ugh!), Rincons - Mica Mountain, the Mazatals, and of course the Rim to Rim. Many of the other sections were hard, but those 5 stood out. We of course hiked lots of easy stuff, too. Mexico Utah

I've benefitted from helpful info on this forum and wanted to try to give back. There was another thread where people were asking about changes in the 2026 Fall regs versus 2025. I decided to put together an analysis that looks at the changes. I tried to be pretty thorough, but please let me know if I need to make any corrections. **Deer** Deer saw a lot of changes between 2025 and 2026. Bottom line: Expect tighter draw odds in 2026. Across 208 continuing hunt opportunities, 96 saw permit cuts (totaling −3,265 permits) while only 18 saw increases (+560 permits). Coues: The late-October general season in units 34–36 took broad cuts, and the overall Coues deer permit pool is down over 1,800 tags (−10.6%). Muley: Also down, especially in units 22, 23, 28, and 30A. Unit 8 and Units 7 & 9 are the bright spots. Units 12A/12B saw modest gains. Unit 8 mule deer is the standout gainer (+100 permits). Units 12A/12B and the north-central units (1, 4A/4B) also saw modest permit increases. Units 7 & 9, already the largest single general deer opportunity in the state, went up slightly to 1,200. 2025 vs 2026 Permits by Permit Type (Deer) Deer Units with the Biggest Permit Cuts **Turkey** Tighter across most units except Unit 12A, which gained 100 tags. Turkey Limited Weapon in 2025 had 3,650 turkey permits versus 3,275 in 2026 (-375 permits). **Bighorn sheep** Canyon Lake will undergo a major drawdown starting September 16, 2026, for approximately 16 weeks. A majority of the huntable area in Desert Hunt Area in Unit 22 and for Unit 24B North for desert bighorn sheep will be restricted until the maintenance is completed. Net +4 permits overall. The real structural change is the early/late season split added in units 40B Tinajas Altas, 41 East, and 44B South — more timing windows but lower per-window permit counts. Unit 37A went from 1 permit (east of I-10) to 3 permits (north of I-10). "East of I-10" is the same thing as "North of I-10" and I'm not sure why G&F changed the terminology. South of I-10 (or West of I-10 in 2025 terms) stayed flat at 6 permits. Unit 41 East consolidated permits from 5 permits, one hunt in 2025 to 5 permits across two hunts in 2026. Unit 44B had a similiar consolidation. Unit 15D took a cut from 5 permits to 3 permits. **Javelina** Minor cuts, no dramatic changes. **Bison** Minor cuts, no dramatic changes. **Sandhill Crane** Unchanged at 1,020 permits total. The January window was consolidated from 4 windows (30 permits each) to 3 windows (40 permits each) — same total tags, one fewer draw opportunity.

Birria tacos and fixings....

Pizza again.

This is a 79 long bed has a vortec 350 with 350 automatic transmission has new radiator,breaks, dual exhaust,gearbox,fan clutch ,and tires runs good $5900

Just finished up a batch of homemade bacon. After cooling will slice and portion.

3a/3c was my go-to Unit for years. We'd put in for Cow tags and would get drawn three years in a row, then one year we wouldn't, then we'd get drawn two years in a row, etc. Opening day one of us would tag out on a Friday, the other on Saturday, and by Sunday we were headed back down the hill with coolers full of meat. Saw dozens of Elk all weekend. Five years passed before I got drawn for a Cow tag again last November. We spent 4 days in 3c glassing, covering ground, hiking, still hunting the thick stuff, etc. We didn't see ONE Cow, nor ONE Bull the entire time. What we did see is a HUNDRED feral horses, horse shoot everywhere, and Wolves howling frequently. That ecosystem is completely upside down right now. Sad.

Last Sunday I started up my truck to see the battery light flickering. Opened the hood to see the alternator broken free from the bracket which caused one of the bolts to shear off at the bracket. I put Kroil on what was left 2X a day all week and Hunter came out today and removed the stud. It took him longer to take out his tools and get setup than it did to drill and remove the stud. Turned out he used to work for the guy I bought the alternator from. The alternator housing had cracked as Hunter pointed it out to me. I was fortunate that it happened at home and not in the middle of nowhere or on a hunt deep in Sonora. I''ll install a new alternator from Tucson Alternator with a new belt in the morning. The 10mm bolt that sheared off wasn't something that Ford stocked. Special order @ $55 each in a package of 4. Copperstate Bolt doesn't carry automotive bolts. Went down the stree to McFadden Daniels and got a hardened one for $3.

Go spend some time in 3c, you will see hundreds in a day

Long overdue. Get em gone! https://www.azfamily.com/2026/04/25/heber-wild-horses-face-removal-forest-service-disputes-protected-status/

the horses are all from the apache reservation to the south, or descendants of those horses

I have 28 pts for sheep? Does it help to increase the donation amount to draw a tag? How many zeros to get hand selected? My friends wife drew last year with 4 pts,he wouldnt tell me how much he donated?

WIN THIS BEAUTFUL DEAD HEAD GUESSING THE 3 QUESTIONS. 1. What GMU? 2. What river road? 3.What optics were being used? Good Luck

3 OUT 3 Buff-it Ranch!!!!!!! Yippie Ki Yae!!!!! WINNER WINNER Mullie Dead Head Dinner

My Martini 218 Bee. Also have a Ruger #1 and Marlin 1894CL. Classic little cartridge.

A lot of 170-class bucks get killed on the Kaibab late hunts. That's the truth.

There are quite a few option. It's a standard bolt face. So you can do .308, 6.5 creedmoor, 6 creedmoor, 7mm-08 and a handful of others You can also swap out the bolt face and get different magazines to run others it would just need to be a short action cartridge.

It’s funny you say that, my dad had a hankering to get a “long range rifle”. I told him whatever you do don’t buy a Christensen, and if you’re gonna buy one, for the love of god don’t buy a used one. About a month later he calls and said he bought a used Christensen. It didn’t shoot worth a crap. He sold it for a $300 loss and I built him a rifle out of some odds and ends parts that’s the best shooting rifle I’ve ever seen for about $600 more then he paid for the Christensen

Went heavy on legs today (RIP me tomorrow). Leg day requires lean protein.

I wouldn’t know about vortex, I would never touch anything vortex lol 😂

Buddy, pick up the regs. There’s more than 1

So, what’s a Medicare hunter? Us older guys? Lol

This is so much better than all of the Classifieds BUT still not as good as hunting stories/pictures. I don't have anything to add carry on!

Wild turkey sandwiches!