azelkhunter69

They're running late. My CC got hit at 7:08am for elk

My father finally drew a bull tag with a firearm instead of archery, but just lost a 7 month battle with cancer. 6A muzzleloader tag in November. He/we were really looking forward to it because he wasn't much of an archer but kept trying, he just loved the elk woods in September. He never did kill a bull. Before he passed, he told me to donate his tag to Hunts for Heroes. Can someone tell me who "Tom" is and how I can get ahold of him please? This just happened 3 weeks ago, so all I have done is briefly look on the website. I know there are some forms to fill out and it looks like one of them needs to be notarized. Not sure if this is something I can get done or if I need to have my mother do it. We both will be out of state on and off for about the next 3 weeks, so there isn't really anything I can do before then. Thanks.

http://www.coueswhitetail.com/forums/topic/78603-243-for-elk/

another one with low post count and no profile pic. And there's one of the other top 3. Another one with a high post count that feels the need to comment on every thread. Sometimes it's just better to keep quiet if you are just going to add negativity to a conversation. I don't want to engage and go tit for tat with you two because knowing the way you are, it would never end. I just find it humorous that 777 has such a high opinion of himself that he thinks nobody could have a poor opinion of him, other than the outfitter he stole from. I'm just a normal, good guy that loves to hunt. Have a nice day boys.

You know they don't have to give any sort of discount on anything right? Okay so you quoted me you want to go back and read my first sentence please thank you hoghntr, you have to remember who you are dealing with. One of the top 3 most negative people in this forum. I don't say much, but this guy has been working my nerves for a while now. How an admitted thief and liar got a job working for an outfitter is beyond me.

This is an age old question. Pretty much comes up every year. As others have already said, and proven, the .243 Win. is more than big enough. Some guys are always going to stick to the "bigger is better" motto, especially the guys that like to get beat up by the .300+ magnums. Personally, I don't like to get punished, or flinch. The .243 has been the starter rifle in my house as well. One of my sons also shot a cow with a .257 Roberts with a 100 gr. Sierra. Shot her in the neck and she dropped where she stood. Elk really aren't that hard to kill if you hit them in the right spot. And they have a BIG kill zone compared to most of the other animals we hunt. I also agree the Creedmoor is a good choice. I won one in an AES raffle and am currently working up a load of 120 gr. Ballistic Tips for my wife to use as a deer/antelope gun. Wouldn't hesitate to use them on elk either, although I would probably opt for the Partition if that was the case. Good luck to the kids, and post pics of the kids holding that .243 over another downed elk. Enjoy. Nothing better than sharing the experience of a kid being successful.

I don't think anyone has really said anything, but Game and Fish really seemed to have it together for this draw. They seem to be figuring it out. Everything happened pretty quick. I for one am pleased with the progress they have made....and that my dad and I are hunting bulls this Fall.

for the last deer draw, they posted results 6 business days after they hit CC's. Hit cards on Friday July 7th and posted results on Monday the 17th.

I have seen this picture before but this is the first time I noticed you shot him in the head. LOL How did that happen?

Thought I had a lot of points for antelope...sitting at 17....but I see so many guys ahead of me with 24+, I am seriously thinking about saying screw it and putting in for an archery tag. I am kind of stuck in the middle. Waited this long for a rifle tag but potentially so many years to go. Always said I would hunt once with a rifle and then put in for archery, but dang, it could still be a long time waiting for the rifle tag. Point creep is getting worse every year.

Just started boys. Chase just alerted me. Elk tag. Oh crap...just realized I got hit for 2 elk tags. My dad and myself.

UPDATED.....Let me start by saying that for a few reasons I have been building points for deer for several years. I spend most of my vacation chasing elk, whether it be my hunt(not usually) or my wife's, kid's, or my parent's. So, I find myself sitting on 10 pts. I was going to use them on a Strip archery hunt for myself. But, over the past 6 months I got to thinking about my dad's age and what little time I have left to hunt with him...he will be 78 in September. He has been my hunting partner for most of my life and I don't look forward to the not to distant future when he will no longer want to go, be able to go, or inevitably not be here to go. He and I have never been to the Kaibab and I for one believe that we should all go at least once in our lives. So, I have decided that I will use my points to potentially get us a tag there this Fall. An avg. of 6 pts gets us in the bonus round for either hunt so we should have a really good chance. Neither one of us drew elk tags so I think it is a good time to do it. Also, he has a Kimber rifle that he is very fond of and recently told me that he has never killed anything with it and he would really like to. So, I am looking for advice, opinions, scouting tips, hunting tips, camp spot tips, etc...anything really. Which hunt and why? We have an old canvas wall tent with a wood burner that my dad has been using for probably close to 50 years. It's seen a lot. Firewood availability? Might seem like some stupid questions but as I said, I have never been there. My guess is I will spend 3 to 4 longish weekends this Summer and Fall scouting there when/if we get tags. Might be more, I really don't know but my 1st instinct says that is about right. PS, anybody that wants to give me crap for "e-scouting" can suck it. Personally, I look at this site as just another tool, no different than Google Earth, maps, AZGFD, friends, etc. Also, I know there are many great people on this site that are more than willing to provide some helpful info. I have done the same for some others. That is one of the best parts of this site and what keeps me as a member. Any info I receive will stop with me and my family. Thanks guys. EDIT. My dad was sick leading up to this hunt and being a stubborn old timer, wouldn't go to the Dr. Made him go before the hunt and Dr. told him to come back after to get an XRAY on his lungs. Turns out he has lung cancer. Got biopsy and it has spread to his lymph nodes and possibly his liver. This may have been the last hunt we ever go on. The hunt was not what we hoped for, but I am glad I got to spend 10 days in the woods with my dad, best friend and hunting partner. Enjoy every minute with your family. You never know when it will end. As a kid growing up in NY, I have been lucky to spend many years here in AZ hunting animals my dad and I only dreamed of. Love you dad. Hoping for one more hunt.

Thanks guys. My brother-in-law tried to make me feel a little better and also make me realize how good I have had it over the years. He didn't have that type of relationship with his dad and wished he did. I have been blessed to have had many many years hunting with my dad and also other things we did together throughout the years. I know I've had it better than some, but it is still hard. We never want our parents to die. But we all do at some point. We will make the best of what time we have left.

My dad was sick leading up to this hunt and being a stubborn old timer, wouldn't go to the Dr. Made him go before the hunt and Dr. told him to come back after to get an XRAY on his lungs. Turns out he has lung cancer. Got biopsy and it has spread to his lymph nodes and possibly his liver. This may have been the last hunt we ever go on. The hunt was not what we hoped for, but I am glad I got to spend 10 days in the woods with my dad, best friend and hunting partner. Enjoy every minute with your family. You never know when it will end. As a kid growing up in NY, I have been lucky to spend many years here in AZ hunting animals my dad and I only dreamed of. Love you dad. Hoping for one more hunt.

Congrats Erik. That's awesome. You guys camp by the corral? Cherish it. We found out in November dad has lung cancer. It's very possible that we have gone on our last hunt. Would give anything for one more.

My buddy at work shot his cow Monday morning. Hiked around and checked water tanks, etc the 1st couple days and then figured out a spot he wanted to hunt. Sitting in his camp on his tailgate drinking coffee waiting for it to get light and just as it starts to, he grabs his binoculars and starts glassing. Sees three cows walking towards a canyon, grabs his rifle, lays down and boom. Less than 300 yards from his camp. Just as papajohn said, he was able to drive right up to it.

A guy at work got this hunt. He is going up Saturday. The ranchers want them killed. He contacted one rancher and the guy went so far as to send him a map of the ranch with 3 different areas marked "Elk". We'll see how it works out.

Well, unfortunately my dad and I struck out. We got home yesterday, my dad just couldn't take it anymore. We were first timers up there and inexperience really played a role. It didn't help that I found out my dad had basically been sick for about a month leading up to the hunt and wouldn't go to the Dr. I made him go the day before we left. Honestly, he was in no shape to hunt and in hindsight, we should have donated our tags. After speaking to many many people during the hunt, this was a very strange year. I guess because of the extreme dry conditions, early snow and cold snap, and the prescribed burns, the deer went lower early. We just didn't have the experience to know how many deer we should be seeing or where to go after that. I did head lower for the last 2 or 3 days we were there but it just wasn't enough time for me to learn a new area and get on some bucks. Our hunt really had some ups and downs, scary moments, etc. I went to the burn the first morning like I planned but all the bucks I was watching prior to the hunt were gone...poof. I also didn't experience the "war zone" that I had heard about the burn the 1st couple days. Alarm bells should have been going off in my head. I checked out several different areas where I had seen bucks scouting. Put 10 miles on my boots Friday and no bucks. 2nd day, my dad didn't even want to hunt so I asked him if he was up for some road hunting. Not a tactic we use, but since he is 79 and sick, it was all he could handle. Right off the bat we saw a decent buck and some does but not being professional road hunters, we had not perfected our technique. He couldn't get out of the truck fast enough. 2nd afternoon is where it got scary. My dad doesn't really hunt afternoons anymore so I went out by myself. I got back to camp just before dark and he wasn't there. Strange, he is ALWAYS back to camp before me. He went for a "little walk behind camp". I drank a beer, expecting him to be back any second. The sun set and I really started to get worried. I looked around and his gun was gone, he didn't have a warm coat or a light, only had 3 bullets and the worst part, I found his GPS in my truck. You have to understand, my dad is old school, he used to hunt deer in the Adirondack Mountains in NY with nothing more than a compass and his sense of direction. They didn't have GPS's back then. Apparently, he thought he was going to take a little stroll on the logging road around camp for a little bit. No problem right? After my scouting trips up there, I had been telling him how easy it is to get turned around. Anyway, it gets dark and cold and I am freaking out. I figured he had a heart attack or got lost. Neither was good. As time ticked by, I tried to keep it together and keep my head. Decided I need to force myself to eat. I really didn't want to because I was sick to my stomach, but knew I needed to. I took a page out of my dad's book and put the lantern on top of my truck so it could be seen for a ways(we were not camped right on the road). I said a little prayer every time a truck would pass, but no luck. Well, over an hour had passed and I was freaking out. I was about to eat a little something and I heard a truck coming. I grabbed my headlamp, headed down toward the road and said another prayer. The truck slowed and then pulled in. I said to the guy, "Please tell me you have my dad in there." He said, "What if I was to tell you I have your dad in here?" Thank God!!! Nightmare over. It was 7:05pm. I had been going nuts for an hour and 20 minutes. Scariest thing I have gone through in my life. Turns out, they had picked him up at 4:45pm about a mile and a half away on a road that went nowhere in one direction and the opposite direction from our camp the other way. It would have been a long night. They drove him up and down the 429 road trying to find our camp for a long time. They finally saw the lantern on top of my truck. I can't tell you how relieved my dad and I were that he made it back safe. I won't bore you with breaking down every detail of the rest of the hunt. I will say, we did pass up a few small bucks in the first 4 days. We really regretted that. I talked to several people and they all said the same thing. This was a REALLY weird year, the deer went low early and big bucks were very hard to come by. Halfway through the hunt I heard that only 6 big bucks had been checked in. A couple of those were killed down around Sowats. Maybe the guys that stuck it out the last 3 days will get some big bucks. This hunt amounted to a very disappointing learning experience. It wasn't the first and I am sure it won't be the last. On the bright side, I learned a lot for future hunts, saw some pretty country, we did have chances to kill bucks, my dad saw a lion, met some nice people and I got to spend 10 days in the woods with my dad. I am not sure how many more times that will happen. After sleeping on it, I feel a lot better about the whole thing. Oh, and to ease my pain a little, I get to go pick up a new rifle. The night before I left, I got a call from the AZ Elk Society informing me I had won a new Weatherby Vanguard Synthetic in 6.5 Creedmoor in their raffle. I want to say thanks to the people that threw out little bits of info here and there. Sorry for the long read on an unsuccessful hunt but I thought some of you that followed this saga for the last year and a half might want to know how it turned out. We'll get 'em next time. At least we stayed warm.

I came back from 12AW Friday. My 79 year old dad just couldn't take it anymore. We passed up a few small bucks early, that was a mistake. Unfortunately, we were first timers up there and learned too late that the deer had gone lower early. All the old timers said it was a really weird year, just not normal. It hadn't rained for like a month and a half and a lot of the tanks were dry. Talked to the Game and Fish guys at the check station halfway through the hunt and there had only been 6 big bucks killed by then. Most people were gone by then, just the hardcore hunters left for the rest of the hunt. One guy told me Mossback had killed a big buck sitting water in Sowats.

Went up Thursday for my son's junior hunt. Sat a tank that was getting hammered and he shot his first deer 1 minute after sunrise. He was very excited to say the least. Went out Saturday morning before we left and glassed up 7 bucks. I've seen some good ones so far. Just hope to find a couple next week.

Update.......Well, my dad and I drew 12AW early this year. Went up in September for 4 days. Saw lots of bucks. 6 - 8 really nice ones. Some big, some just with great character. Bought my first spotter and glassed mornings and evenings. Saw quite a few bucks with extras/cheaters/kickers, whatever your favorite phrase is. Definitely feel the bucks were bigger than last year overall. I'll be up there this week with my son for the junior hunt. I'll be able to do some more scouting then. Then, my dad and I will head up the Wednesday before our hunt to get camp squared away and scout some more. Getting close. We are all looking forward to it. My dad had his 79th bday a month ago and he is still up to the task. He still walks about 3.5 miles on a dirt road in the mountains almost everyday. Anybody want to recommend a taxidermist just in case we are fortunate of tagging something we feel is worthy of getting mounted? Thanks. I'll let you know how it turns out in a few weeks. Oh by the way, there was quite a bit of point creep this year. We had an average of 7 points(which was guaranteed the last 2 years) and we got lucky enough to get the last 2 tags in the bonus round...tags 99 and 100.

His 2nds are insane.

Well done sir. Especially on your first elk hunt. No offense to you, but I just have to say that people need to stop apologizing every time they post about shooting anything that isn't 350" or bigger. Kill ANY animal with a bow and it is an accomplishment. Besides, I would rather get drawn, get to go hunting with family, and kill 5 raghorns than wait 10-15 years for a tag and kill one big bull. But that's me. I just love to hunt. Don't get me wrong, I want to kill big animals just as much as the next guy. But having the opportunity to get out, hunt and fill the freezer for the family is much more important to me.

Happened all the time in NY. I lived there for 30 years. So many deer and so many yahoos. If the deer didn't go right down they just kept hunting. I used to intentionally go looking for blood trails in the middle of the day when there was snow on. Killed a lot of wounded deer back there.

Amazing story, hunt, bulls, location, etc. You guys are lucky to have access to all the things, and people, that made that hunt possible. I am truly jealous. Congrats to both of you. My wife and I loved the pic of the two little ones "glassing".