SwampMafia

0710FFD0-3B3B-4095-B247-C70E4D567794.MOV Saw these guys headed back for the RZR after by buddy shot one in 3a3c last year. Biggest bulls I have seen on hoof. What do you think they score? The one looks about 370+ to us. The other has some wicked fronts. Anyone with a 3c tag is in for a treat. I wasn’t trying to be quiet or anything. Was very out of breathe just trying to run back and get the gutting tools. Sorry for the shakey video too.

Ehh he shot a little rag horn. Not the best shooter in the world…. Let’s just say he was down to his last few arrows after shooting at some good bulls over the course of the hunt.

Should she have put in for a crappy hunt so she has a bad experience? I’d say that’s a pretty sweet first tag

My freaken mom drew 3a3c early rifle bull with only 8 points…. she hasn’t hunted a day in her life

When I pull my unit 1 early rifle tag with 2 points.. who’s comin with?! 😜

Brother and I pulled 2 5bs early archery tags. We’ve killed 2 bulls in there over the years on the late hunt. I want to keep a thread posted on how we do throughout both weeks. Hoping for some success! Hunting hutch mountain area and turkey mountain general areas in spots we’ve used for years. Rutting should be amazing this year and I’ve already located a few good groups of elk. Last minute advice before the hunt? If anyone has any other places to check out as a backup drop me a pm and I’d appreciate it. Looking forward to a fun hunt which has been 7 years in the making!

How do you even hunt the late archery tag? Crunchy grass/ice, no bugleS, nasty country... Do you just sit water all day?

My dad shot a bull last night. Rut has been absolutely insane in 5bs. The bull was quartering slightly towards him and he placed a shot that I didn’t think could be any more perfect. Low Center of mass right behind the shoulder. I knew it was a dead elk the moment it hit. We watched him run off with the herd, heard a crash, and waited 45 minutes. We got up, walked to where he was shot, found immediate blood.... not a lot of it, and that was all we found. We had 4 guys looking all last night and this morning scouring miles and not one drop of blood last where he was shot.... and no sign of him. I am absolutely blown away.... so what happened??? Montec G5 broad head and arrow went 3/4 the way in. An update on myself.... I bugled this morning and the herd bull came flying over the hill grunting at me. He ran within 5 feet of me Right at me and I actually yelled at him to stop because I was terrified😂. He backed up 20 yards broadside and I squeezed off a shot that unfortunately was deflected by the twigs I was hiding behind. Crazy times.

And just to be clear, out archery hunt doesn’t end till the first of October in this unit. But I will definitely report it

Update: we found him this morning. We are going to sound like idiots... but we drive to our hunting spot, park.... something really smelled and we looked to the right and we were parked 2 feet from him. Maggots everywhere.... we cut the horns off, punched his tag, and I went after another one. His shot ended up being perfect and even broadside I wouldn’t wish for a more perfect shot... it just didn’t bleed well.... he didn’t make it more than 200 yards, however the trick was he circled back away from where we last saw him. Ended up in a ditch on the side of the road. No elk deserves to rot like that... maybe Hillary Clinton.. but not an elk. We had looked long and hard but unfortunately we came up empty last time looking for him. A definite blessing to have found him today, but sad about the meat

Has anything monstrous ever been taken from 3b?? Seems like with low tags and good land like that, it would have a better reputation. Nobody really talks about it seems like.

How was the tracking and blood trail?

The rut in 5bs has been insanely good. Comparable to 2018 3c

Where did you hit him?

My uncle wounded his bull last year with a G5 right in front of me. Never recovered that one either. Would a broad head really make that much of a difference? Montec G5 seems pretty standard classic fixed. Anyone got a recommendation??

You would think we would have more than just a few initial drops right??

That makes a lot of sense. Any thought as to why there was zero blood to follow after the spot where he was shot??

The arrow didn’t pass through. It stuck 3/4 the way into the bull. The blood was dark red in a 1 foot radius right where he was. No blood after that and we watched him run off. No blood the entire trail we followed him.

What part of the state or what unit where you in?

This is about the class of bulls I’ve been seeing. Nothing wrong with them in my eyes. I just want a good rut which is why I chose the late date hunt here in 5bs vs other archery tags. I like the meat, horns are cool, but rutting is amazing

Thanks you much! Will be needed

Joys of applying for only 1 choice.... I got 5bs early archery bull!!! And this is the first time in 9 years I can brag about being drawn!!!🙏🏻 Last bull I killed in Arizona was in 5bs on a late rifle hunt so I am pumped to hunt them in the rut.... especially with the late September archery dates 🤙🏼

I just recently got back from Alaska 3 days ago, and figured I give the report. We fished for 7 days out of Soldotna Alaska, staying in a house with a 100 yard private stretch of water on the kenai river!!!!! The run was late which worked to our advantage coming late-mid July. We had an average sockeye run of 40-50 thousand per day, which called for exceptional fishing!!! We limited out on sockeye almost every single day aside from the days we fished for kings and halibut. The halibut fishing was exceptional as well! We fished with captain John of naughty lady charters. Aside from the 10 foot swells, we had a great time, limiting out between our group of 15. Now here is where the trip got magical, we booked 3 days of king salmon fishing on the kenai river. Day 1, we get out there and within 30 minutes we had a bite! My father grabbed the rod and set the hook! The rod bowed over and the fight was on! My dad fought like a trooper for 30 minutes, trampling around the boat trying to keep up with this fish! When this fish finally surfaced, my jaw dropped! This prehistoric, hook jawed, monster glided across the top of the water. The guide could not believe it, and his only words of shock were "you got something special". We netted this thing and immediately after discussion with the guide, decided to release the beast to pass on its genetics. We already had a lot of salmon meat anyways. We taped the fish out at 57 inches nose to tail, and a girth of about 34 inches!!! For those of you that don't know, that is 2 inches shy of the world record!!!!!!😳 And about 10 pounds shy!!! Our weight estimate was about 85 pounds, which has been unheard of for the past decade in the kenai!!! The guide told us that had we kept that fish, we would have made multiple magazines and newspapers, it was a bitter sweet sight to see that monster swim off!!! We only got a few pictures and they don't do much justice!! I am still without words over this fish!!! Here are a few smaller kings we caught throughout the week ranging from 30-50 pounds. And finally the bitter sweet, beautiful drive back to ancorage! Hope you enjoy, I sure did!!!!

What part of the lake did they fish? I was out Friday night as well. Been trying to go out every other week. Can't seem to get dialed in on the big boys. Only 10-15 pounders lately. Heading back out to Bart on Tuesday. Carp or bluegill?