MULEPACKHUNTER

Yes, at the end of the trip you fill up and oil up and they charge for that then. Price is high on both so be ready. Also if you run up lake like we did you'll have to get fuel up there too. Also make sure you have a 2nd mate you trust, big boat and it's not easy in the slips and dual docks if your not used to it. 2 motors drive independent and it's a big sail in the wind.

Ya I got emails from 3 different addresses with the same message.

Ya my cousin had a share boat up there for years, if you have the cash very nice set up.

Sweet man love the smoker pic. Congrats

The more I thought about it and looked at my tires after this trip I decided I'm going with the toyo at 2 again. They still look good and I beat them to death this year. That's also towing heavy a lot and major off-road miles. So AT2 vote for me. Also thanks to all they guys that voted for them in my tire thread.

Used to be owned by airmark I think, I used to guide groups years ago when I was fishing. I would book and pay everything including food and folks would just show up and pay me. Really fun trips with family too. I used to go in October when the rates drop for winter season, otherwise it was really pricy. I still get past clients emails to see if I still put those on. Let us know what you find.

Ya what's not in that picture is several other piles and scratch marks in the same spot . Pretty sure this cat is sticking around this area somewhat. Just because I didn't want to shoot him doesn't mean "someone " isn't up there now with dogs. Haha

Thanks buddy, so you guys know this dude was shooting pm,s my way every day checking on in on us and throwing us info. I learned some new info and had someone to bounce questions off of.

So Tuesday afternoon me and pops said goodbye to my boy and had a nice hot shower to regroup. I had a new spot planned neither of us had seen. We drove a few miles from camp and made the hike in finding good water and a few blinds already built. After puffing smoke to check the wind for 15 minutes and talking we decided together we should make our own blind 100 yards off the water up in the trees. Settling in the wind was really being a turd and i was getting frustrated and praying for a break, after 3 hours the light is fading and I'm switching from hunt mode to dinner mode. Just then I see movement in the trees across from us. I'm in disbelief, Pops can't seem to locate the elk but I have the 12s on them and a cow is in the lead. They swing in perfect for our bad wind and after 10 minutes they pop over the burm of the tank. Pops finally sees them and gets set. He tells me it's a bull and I'm like ???? No it's a cow get set !!!! He looks agin and says oh !!! Ya it's a cow should I shoot !!! Heck yea get on her , I say. I watch him settle in with my fingers in my ears and she turns broadside at 109 yards. Boom, she goes running and pops looks at me says , I missed !! Sorry son, I'm like how the heck did you miss ??? He looks at me and says , well she ran off. I'm like ok , how did you feel on the shot? Were you steady? Calm? Did you settle in where we discussed? Pops says ya I was right on her and squeezed? I'm was so relieved I hugged him and patted his shoulder and said I think your good, they don't always just drop like on tv!!! Haha We head over for a look and find blood, follow tracks off and blood stops dead, searching in the dark we start to get seriously bummed until I make a wide sweep with the big light and bam, 50 yards from the shot may dads first ever elk on his first ever elk hunt. It's all I dreamed of since we started putting in, my boy has plenty of time to find his elk but I wanted dad to get his shot before he couldn't get around. I also wanted him to be there with me and see why I hunt, thank you for reading and thank you to the world for this time with my dad and my son, dad still can't find the words. I have too many words. I can't wait to cook the first meal for pops with his own elk. Cheers and God bless.

I'll be honest I had a tag in my pack and the rifle on him and had zero desire to shoot. My first thought was we were in a blind for my dad and son for elk and my second thought was I just want to watch. Hard to explain but it was simple at the moment.

After working hard from Thursday night til Tuesday morning my son had to get back to work so that left me and pops for the last few days. Here is pops ready to go Tuesday night. And here is a pic from a few hours later. Dad didn't want any photos after the shot and I didn't ask why, we just went to work and loaded the packs. We were less than a mile from the truck but downhill and in the dark. Pops did amazing at age 72 carrying his pack, his gear, my chair, his gun, and tossed a front quarter over his shoulder. I had more than I should have in my first load and we both were wrecked when we hit the truck. I left pops with the heater on and went back for a front and rear quarter. From the perfect double lung shot to meat in the coolers it was 2.5 hours. Not bad for new guys. It was a tuff hunt all around but we stuck with it and didn't stop. My son didn't get to see a cow elk but did see turkey, mountain lion, several bull elk, one big 6x7 350 plus bull, about 100 deer, and he laughed himself to sleep 2 nights at my dads antics. We started in the dark and finished in the dark every day and talked in the tent until midnight every night. Before he returned to work he was asking when the next hunt was.

Dinner night 1, chicken Parmesan with home made sauce and pasta Next night was home made chili with home made cornbread Easy cooking night for number 3, home made sour Krout with Hebrew national 1/4 pounders and some chips

Going to toss some pics up then I'll tell the story. First the crew from right to left, myself , pops, and my son. Next up is the gun I rebuilt for my son, Mauser 98 in 30-06 bedded, floated, stock refinished, custom self machined 20 Moa base rail, leupold classic scope new. A lion turd And then a lion in my sons scope Now what my boy does for fun in the blind, (zoom in)

Congrats great first one

Man so sorry she's going through that. Keep us posted were with you guys.

Ground out an 8 miler Monday, had a lot of funny pains in the legs I had to push through but everything smoothed out by the end. Hard to tell sometimes between injury pain and fatigue pain. Back to the tanks in the am before heading north

Some really great stuff in unit 29 chirachaua mtns. Turkey creek camp has trails right out of it that can lead to creeks for overnighter. Sycamore wilderness can have the same deal if we get some rain. Lots of trails coming out of Sedona area going in there but it's dry right now. Beaver creek area is a little short on hiking miles but might work , I don't know if there's water but I plan on getting to the Sierra ancha wilderness area some day, I hear it's amazing

Sent

Great ram man saw the pics in Jay's Instagram, very cool deal.

Cool man been on that hunt several times, usually great cow hunt but last year was tuff on my hunter. We had snow and could only find deer. Haha

Oh ya buddy 3 Dutch ovens and 2 page grocery list. Haha We will be in unit 6b, I will possibly have the mules in camp if anyone needs help try and hit me on here, if I have service I might be able to do some packing.

Alamo lake

That's a good year there congrats.

Ya very good idea I did not have those, I have a box of bungies ready but left them home.

So first trip with the new tent and I learned a few things that might help someone else out. First pic is the original build with my own tarp and porch. This was great until the wind picked up and then it was a sail. So revision b is the second pic. So I did away with the one piece porch and ran the tarp over the front to keep the wind from getting under it. I also pitched the side tent tie downs much steeper than original so the tarp would run down keeping the wind out from under it better. Worked great no more issues. I plan to center it up better and have it tuck over the front and rear for next week. The second big deal learned was the stove, we had a really bad night on night 3 with smoke really bad in the tent. What happened was I made a really nice spark arrestor but it clogged up and messed with the flow of the stove pipe causing the smoke to come out any other crack in the stove when it was burning new wood tossed in. I ditched the arrestor and it ran perfect after that. The stove I built has the baffle design so there's no real need for the arrestor any way, I was just trying to be sure nothing hurt the tent or tarp. Glad we had these items on this trip and are now ready for dads first elk tag at age 72, tent is super comfy and warm and dialed in for him to have a good time.