teej89

I'm considering moving to AZ, it's been a big conflict between the fiance and I because I want Boise Idaho and she wants the beach in Cali. We decided on AZ because of the weather and I can hunt still. Anywho, if i'm not searching for massive bulls is it possible to hunt archery/muzzleloader/rifle elk each year? Is it possible a bull tag each year? I saw the OTC/non-permit tags but the success looks very bleak for those, so I'm specifically talking drawing a tag each year. I wouldn't care not accumulating points either if I could hunt every year. We hunt wyoming, colorado and soon montana but I'd love to be able to drive a couple hours on a friday and elk hunt the weekend. Thanks guys! T.J.

thanks for the perception MT_Sourdough! Before I met my fiance I applied to a job in missoula, they never called me back until a year into our relationship andi ended up getting the job.... she wouldn't do missoula tho, I was so close to living the dream in MT lol If you get the opportunity to make it down this winter and want to give it a shot, you're welcome to come and hunt javi's with my daughter and I. I can't guarantee you'll tag one, I'm just a working guy that hunts on the weekends. But there's usually plenty of leftover tags for the unit we hunt and the weather will be much nicer than Ohio in January. That much I can guarantee! I've got enough extra backpacking gear I could set you up for a 3 day haul. We'll hunt Friday afternoon til Sunday afternoon. shoot thanks man I appreciate it! We're looking at coming down in january but I don't think I'll be able to do much hunting with her being there. Maybe I can take a rain check for another time? I really appreciate the offer that's generous of you!

thanks for all the replies guys! Sorry i was away all weekend and couldn't respond but I like the idea of hunting elk in other states like UT, CO and NM on a yearly basis while taking advantage of the OTC deer and other licenses and saving up for an elk hunt in AZ every so often instead of every year.

we were looking around phoenix, we both aren't a fan of cities so we feel like we'd be in the city traffic/life that we hate. We both grew up in small towns, me a lot smaller than her but we're trying to find towns where it'll feel more like small town living. We're flying over there in january to check out areas near phoenix and the prescott area. I also don't know if I/my lab could do the summer heat lol

My plan was to not even apply for early bull and just apply for the late hunts. Right now I'm not terribly ecstatic about drawing the dream hunt, I'd rather hunt every year. Maybe down the road I'll apply for the early rifle hunts but I'm new-ish to elk hunting so for now I just want to hunt any elk.

That was my thought too, I can drive up to UT and hunt the spike/cow OTC units. Or head up around Durango and hunt. I'm on gohunt.com and the 2015 AZ draw information page and it looks like 22 and 6a has a lot of late season rifle tags, which isn't a far distance form me, we're looking to live in Prescott.

east Mesa? http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/fire-chief-caught-lamb hahahaha!!!

Hey guys, So my gf (at the time) and I thought we were moving to Phoenix AZ in january however... i screwed the pooch on that one and had this great idea of proposing, now our move has shifted to after our wedding that's in September(I explained this was during the elk rut, didn't get a good response, almost worse than when I mumbled the words bridezilla on the way home after looking at venues). However, recently we've determined that we're tired of living in a big city but she wants warm weather 365 and we were reconsidering Phoenix because of it's size. We're both from small towns and we think we'd like to move to a smaller town in AZ but be within 1.5-2hrs of phoenix and also the weather to be warm. When I say small town I mean a population of 2k but she means like 40-75k. So we're looking for places with 40-75k but also warm weather all year round. Thanks!

We chatted last night and looked up housing and average temperatures and pictures of different places and we're thinking the prescott valley area (prescott, prescott valley, chino...) as long as we can find decent jobs there. We also chatted that we agree it's not about the money but being happy where we live, living in a city will give us the best wages but if we're miserable because we're constantly cooped up or if we move outside the city and commute in we'll be miserable too. I have a 20min commute right now(8min not in rush hour) and I get extremely annoyed when there's traffic and i'm doing 10MPH the whole way home. We also agreed it'd be better to have 3 months of semi cold weather where we can still be outside compared to 3 months of terribly hot weather where, from what it sounds like, is going to be intolerable to be outside hiking or running, etc.... thanks for your input guys!

I really like the prescott area and oro valley looks promising. I think I'll really enjoy prescott as long as I can convince her as well. Probably best she sees it in january to see what the temps are like and if she hates it and loves phoenix I think we'll come back in july and do the same see what phoenix is like and then see what prescott is like.

I'm a structural engineer, also considering moving out of the office and into the field working for a GC. Our plan is over my birthday this january to fly to phoenix and we were going to pick a couple towns we like and check them all out. I really want to see what the weather is like in the northern towns, I have a feeling I'm not gonig to be a fan of the 100+ temps in the summer, i know my lab will hate it less we have a pool for him.

I was looking at prescott, it looked really promising but then I looked up the temps and she essentially wants to be able to be outside in shorts and a tee all year round. What climate do you live in now? You won't be outside in Phx in the summer, you'll be inside in the A/C. I live in Tucson and grew up in northern AZ. I'd take a northern AZ winter over a southern AZ summer! we're in ohio and she hates snow/cold weather. I mean if you have a pool are the summers still miserable? We also were thinking we could just take off hiking and camping up north on the weekends in the summers to get away from the heat.

shoot for real? She loves to swim and so does my lab, they swim together lol so her thing is she wants to be able to swim outside every day of the year.

I was looking at prescott, it looked really promising but then I looked up the temps and she essentially wants to be able to be outside in shorts and a tee all year round.

hahaha! Yeah but she loves elk meat so I'm in the clear

I think one guy said last year his unit had 70-some apps and this year there were 470 apps....

For sure. We drew buck antelope tags and were planning on picking up some leftover doe tags in one of the adjacent units. Both units had tons of leftovers last year and none this year! someone had a theory on another forum that I feel makes sense, this may be butchered... since the deadline was pushed back to may 31, by then most people already heard about their other draw results and say they didn't draw anything they'd want to put in for shoe-in hunt where you could easily draw and high success, therefore, wyoming antelope. I did the same lol didn't draw my NM tag and had a week of vaca to kill so decided to go with an antelope hunt.

I have deer but no elk or antelope yet

I've never done it, I always used hang ons in that situation... if you do tho be very careful getting into it. Climbers use the weight of the person on it to dig into the tree that stabilizes the platform... so with no weight on it and trying to step onto the platform any lateral movement on that platform could make it spin around the tree and have you doing an aerial split into a free fall. Long story short set your climbing sticks higher than the platfrom and step down onto it, AND use a harness.

Where do you see the leftovers list? We drew our buck tags but I was trying to find the doe antelope and doe deer leftover list to pick up additional tags in case we get lucky early with our antelope buck tags. Edit: a very simple google search solved this mystery... lol

lol this is great! Just bought it for my dad, he's gonna love it

Unfortunately she doesn't dabble into hunting, she won't even let me killing milipedes or spiders in the apartment her quote is "it's not their fault they're scary and that's *insert a human name* btw" What kind of pup are you getting/training it for? If it's for retrieving, if you need any puppy starter videos I have a couple good ones and a digital copy for advanced retriever training with Lardy. I'm hoping I can find some retriever clubs in the area to join up with them. Bummer she doesn't hunt! Hopefully she's at least cool with you heading out. Always feel bad for the dudes I meet at work whose wives/gf's get pissed when they go out and hunt. I am looking to get a German Shorthaired Pointer. Looking at various breeders that are expecting a litter in the next couple months, so 8 weeks after that I will have my little buddy. Hoping around mid-September. The pup will mainly be for Quail, Dove, Pheasant, Waterfowl and Chukar here in Arizona. Will also take him up to WY with me for Grouse and Waterfowl as well. Planning to teach him how to point, flush and retrieve. Basically expecting it do everything How did you like the Lardy videos? I am debating between Mike Lardy and Evan Graham. You should have no problem finding a club here for your retriever. I am planning on joining one as well with my GSP once I get it. Main focus will be on getting him out in the field though. Have you started learning all the hunting units and species yet? If you would like, I have something I put together I can email you. It basically overlays the areas where species live in the state on top of a Game Unit Map. PM me your email if you'd like, I'll shoot it over. I would also recommend looking into Flatline Maps. Best maps I have ever used. We're both pretty big into fitness and she just ate venison for the first time when we started dating and she's hooked, she loves the taste and the fact that it's as natural of meat as you'll get. With that being said... she said she wants me to get enough game for us to be sustained on it all year round, I didn't argue with that lol so she has no problem that in a 4 week span this fall I'll be in Wyoming for 8 days and Colorado for 9. As far as lardy goes... I'm kind of biased due to that's what everyone bases their program off of at my club and the pro I sent my pup to, that's his program as well. The flow chart once you get into TRT is black and white, super easy to follow, and me being an engineer, I don't need gray or I'll overthink it lol I started Boomer off on Hillman thru 16 or 20 weeks and then I transitioned into Lardy. But I have the Hillman tapes, jackie merten (sound beginnings to retriever training, it was okay tho), and a digital of lardy TRT if you're ever interested.

Hey guys! First timer over here, currently living in Ohio but moving to Phoenix in january. It's been a dream of the GF and mine to live out west, I wanted MT she wanted CA but would consider AZ, so once I educated myself on the hunting in AZ I was sold. Also is nice that there's CO, UT, and NM close by I've only been out hunting in the west twice, nebraska when I was 12 and got an antelope buck w/ my bow then last year in WY and killed a 6x5 bull with my bow and my dad got a 5x4 the day before, it was a trip to remember. Ever since then we've become addicted to the hunting style, so much that since he's retired now and I have 4 weeks of vacation we have a rifle antelope hunt in WY in October then 3 weeks later we're turning around and headed to CO for 3rd season rifle elk in November. Anywho coues deer has been a dream of my dad's to start hunting so when I told him AZ he went bananas saying I better get a 3 bedroom cuz he's going to be a resident Dec-Feb. We're both avid archery hunters so we're more than excited about the OTC tags in AZ. We realize the success rates are slim but it's not always about the kill, it's the arguments and beating each other up after our mistakes that make the hunt loL! Excited to join and hope I can learn a lot reading thru these thread and most likely will have some great blooper stories coming in as total newbies to western deer hunting. Thanks! T.J.

Unfortunately she doesn't dabble into hunting, she won't even let me killing milipedes or spiders in the apartment her quote is "it's not their fault they're scary and that's *insert a human name* btw" What kind of pup are you getting/training it for? If it's for retrieving, if you need any puppy starter videos I have a couple good ones and a digital copy for advanced retriever training with Lardy. I'm hoping I can find some retriever clubs in the area to join up with them.

i love gohunt b/c of the interactive map and all the filters... i talked to them about adding another filter where I could look at units w/ say minimum 50% public land. Apparently they're on it already and are trying to work it in.