HEADACHE

We got a hit today! ! ! Not kidding! Just need to figure out if its mine or dads first tag ever!

I am not concerned, every single time I've been drawn it was a drought year, and I had the best time ever in the field.... bugles, rutting, slinging arrows..... there truly is nothing better!

I'm a big fan of the primos hyperlip single, its soft and sweet. I also use a coyote call for elk.... it sounds original, and I know how to use it. Confidence and years and years of using your ears will make you a good caller, not the call itself in most cases. My humble 2 cents worth.

My heart can't take this kind of stress..... I'm guessing cards will start getting hit March 25 results online April 3rd

thanks so much for all of your time and effort.

great bull! congrats!

I am sooo jealous of you right now.... Congrats brother!

That was great! Thanks for sharing!

delete please. Thank you.

Amazing!

Is this the new style with 3 straps across the back, or the classic style with 2 straps on the back?

Just got camper all set up. Camped just off 200F rd. If any of you guys are up here stop in and give a howdy. White camper CWT sticker on back. Driving a grey F150 crewcab big CWT sticker on tailgate. Brought my dad along to teach him the ropes and make some hunting memories. Good luck boys.

I just shot a buck in full velvet last Monday, he had tiny squirrel sized peanuts. G&F officers that checked him in at the Jacob Lake station said they had one just like that a few years ago and it was hermaphrodite (both boy & girl parts) So I think that your velvet buck probably just has some gender issues or lack of testosterone issues, that's all, nothing else. I'd still whack em! my humble $.02 cents worth

Awesome! Great luck to you!

http://www.customvinyldecals.com/ http://doityourselflettering.com/ http://www.vinyldisorder.com/

Thanks! (I DO practice open sights out a long ways) I think I was dead on height wise, but the bullet deflected back a bit through the tree limb, It hit him rearward, still knocked him straight down. Don't underestimate those old cowboy guns! ha ha! Using my old Marlin really made the hunt special to me, that and having Dad along. Good times indeed.

Can't believe I forgot to update this!!!! We ended up seeing well over a hundred deer every single day. Just nothing to shoot at! we saw little tiny bucks with their mommies, and a few little 3x3's, nothing worthy of this tag though. Last time I got this tag I shot a 171" 3x4, he was a good buck. This year.... I almost shot a 2x2 last night just because we needed to get home and weren't seeing anything! We searched high and low, pulled out the plugs on every trick I knew. Dad ended up learning a lot about deer hunting, and a lot about what NOT to do ha ha ha ha. (overlooking the Grand Canyon from a place called Dog Point) Last morning was windy as heck! Deer all holed up in deep spots out of the wind.... didn't see anything but does again all morning. Dad actually spotted this deer after dropping me off in a canyon to hike. I hiked about an hour or two and he called me on the radio saying he had seen this buck along side a dirt road! I had him come find pick me up and he took me to the spot where he had seen this buck. I hopped out and started climbing... immediately saw some does bedded in a small hollow. They pinned me down for about 10 minutes... but no buck. After they spooked off I continued climbing the mountain until I spotted deer feeding out of this thicket. I knew the buck had to be there.... finally he popped out for a split second and I had no shot. They were all feeding over the absolute top of the mountain and I had about 15 seconds to make it happen... he was standing behind a small pine tree and his vitals were covered up pretty good.... I knew it was now or never, I risked the shot. Steadied my ol 35 against a tree and dropped the hammer. I had guessed the range about 300... uphill pretty severe, so I shot for about 250. Ended up either deflecting back, or just hitting him back. He spun around and I lost him in my sight. I sprinted as best I could up the few hundred yards to where I had seen him when I shot. Found blood and two big tufts of hair! Sweet! I found his tracks and spinouts going straight downhill.... BAM! found him laying about 60 yards straight downhill from me. So excited! Got dad on the radio and he came up as close as he could with the truck. Good thing he's a tough old goat, we gutted it and dragged it about 200 yards to the truck. Skinned him out and packed up and headed home. Had a great time, shared a hunt with my pops, saw some of God's most beautiful country, and shot a nice enough deer with my Marlin. Great way to end the hunt. Thanks for listening.

We've seen over 200 does in 2 days, a few small forky bucks and 1 crazy 3x3. Tonight at dark we finally saw 2 decent bucks... Couldn't make play on them. Hope our luck changes tomorrow.

Yes I have a couple bars in 3g!

I believe it's an epoxy coating.

***EDIT*** ***** MOVED TO EBAY ***** Swamp Rat Ratmandu (Busse Kin) Would sell for $200 paypal net to me. or cash or USPS M.O. Brand new AZ Welke kydex sheath. Muddy Brown Blade with Black Canvas grip Thanks guys. I pulled pictures to save on my photobucket bandwidth.

Bump for offers.

Ha that's awesome! He told me about that. He can shoot it pretty well! John is a great guy for sure, he leads our mens bible study and I have never learned more. here's another story from our hunt.... I got my truck stuck in the mud up there on his hunt, he was using my shovel and it snapped in two.... this morning He sends me a text that he left something in my truck at work.... a brand new shovel! ha ha ha! Great guy for sure. I'm still reliving every moment of that early morning where we slayed the beast! Awesome time. and yes, God is Gooooood!

(if you don't understand the title.... its lyrics to an Iron Maiden song, I just thought it was funny) So unfortunately I did not draw an archery elk tag again this year in my lovely state of AZ. It sure pains me to have to type that... And one of my dear friends did... his second year in a row ha ha. Anyhow, whenever this happens I get to play guide. It's Not nearly as fun and exciting as when the tag is in my pocket, but still it is always better to be out in the field during the elk rut than pretty much anything else. I love calling elk, and they are hard to trick that's for sure. I've called many bulls in before, but my friends have always either passed, or missed the shot! We Never could really put it all together. We had scouted a great awesome place last year where we had bulls rutting and screaming all around us every day of the hunt, My buddy John shot a small bull in there last year. After many great opportunities and many lost arrows ha ha ha! This year we went in there to that same great spot.... and not a peep! no bugles, no elk sign, nada! nothing zip zilch! we got a lot of rain in there the past few weeks and my guess is that it really moved them around.. (actually my working theory is that there are too many mosquito's and they've moved out of the swarms) So..... We ended up hunting a little different spot on the other side of the unit last night, got into a few bulls that actually were talking and so we made a plan for them this morning. Alarm goes off at 3:30 this morning, but I was already awake.... couldn't sleep at all last night. I said a little prayer that we might have some success this morning. Grabbed a red bull and a brownie real quick... Drove on up to get John who was camped up there, and we get to our spot, there were a couple bugles right before light, but no really "rutting" activity. We kept closing the distance on what sounded like a good bull.... hiked in about a mile after him, and started up this steep ridge. Finally we got pinned down by a cow, we kneeled behind 2 pine trees.... but she caught us and finally blew off... we thought we were done. But then I saw the bull standing on top of the ridge looking in our direction. I gave him a few estrus mews and he seemed pretty interested...but he wouldn't come down to us.... then He started walking away..... I gave a small bugle followed by a couple estrus calls. That did it! . . . . . he turned and came straight down to us! Just like they are supposed to do! Man what excitement.!!! I clicked him at 44 yards and told John to shoot him, the bull was held up looking for that bull and cow and surely wasn't seeing anything. I knew he was going to bolt in a few seconds. "Shoot him" I whispered, "44 yards!" John was 2 trees away and could only see his antlers.... no shooting lane. Seconds after, the bull jolted off to our right, I cow called at him again and stopped him. "64 yards" I said..... "can you shoot him?" John replied "no." The bull began walking again I gave him a chuckle on the `ol Primos pack-bugle.... he stopped again broadside at 60 yards. I was moving my head from the left side of the pine tree to the right side when John let the string go. I saw the bull tuck up and knew he had been hit! I about jumped out of my skin! I watched the bull go about 50 yards and then out of sight. I told John to freeze and try to spot where he had shot. I heard tree limbs crashing, but I knew better than to start dancing yet! We silently walked up to where the bull was standing when he shot at him.... big dig out tracks where he lunged. We quickly found blood! He HAD been hit! John is not really a novice hunter, but he's not really a seasoned slayer with his bow yet, so I didn't know what to expect. Super excited to see blood! We searched for an arrow...... nowhere. I assumed it may still be stuck in the bull. We walked a few yards down the huge tracks in the wet pine needles on the slope and I found ,.... this sort of thing: I hoped he wouldn't be far ! We crept downhill following blood blowing out one side only, (now I was certain the arrow was still in him) and huge prints digging into the earth another 50 yards and I spotted the bull piled up! Whoohooo!!! I screamed! I think I was more excited than John was! Arrow had gone in a bit back, but luck played its part as it severed two huge arteries... the bull didn't make it 80 yards in totality. The biggest bull John has ever shot, and the very first bull I ever called in to be killed! anyhow....... Here is Johns bull: and here's a shot of me with the first bull I've ever called in to be killed! We were able to get a truck to within 40 yards of him, gutted him and dragged him downhill in the wet slippery pine needles right into the truck! Skinned him right quick and got him to the processor within 2 hours of hearing his last bugle... gonna be some good eating here pretty soon! God answers prayers, even the small ones! Thanks for listening!

Nothing is as special as your first bull. Congrats, and good luck on many more to come.