bigbuckclub

Badass man! I hope I'm hunting at 80!

Cub is a cool color. Nice pic!

As far as I can tell, only 2018 and 2019 age results are available online.

For those of you interested in ages for bears last year, results are up. https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/azgfd-portal-wordpress-pantheon/wp-content/uploads/archive/2019-AZ-Bear-Harvest-Age-Results.pdf My boar came in at 12 years old.

azgfd.com --> Hunting --> Game Species --> Black Bear --> Black Bear Hunting Information --> Scroll down to Age Results section and PDF is linked there. Kind of buried in the website, but it's there.

Last August was my first time sitting early archery and it can be miserable. Just prepare yourself. Good advice in this thread. Can't wait to be miserable again this year! Woooo!

Frankly, anywhere in 33 will hold coues. They are hard to find, so don't be afraid to glass and re-glass the same areas multiple times. You'll be surprised how deer seem to pop outta nowhere.

Personally, I would want my 15's. These deer are small and hard to find. They don't call them the grey ghost for nothing.

I grew up hunting the border units and some of the units further north. If I was going out on a solo backpack hunt for coues, I wouldn't hunt the border units. For me it's just a peace of mind thing especially if I was by myself. One of the areas we hunted regularly is now getting hammered by drug traffic. You would probably see some of this:

It's incredible how they just disappear and reappear. Congrats on a nice buck!

Awesome buck! Congrats.

A buddy and I decided to go out last Friday to look for bears. The wind made glassing tough... as I'm sure it was for a lot of deer hunters out this past weekend. As luck would have it, we glassed up a nice looking bear feeding away. We worked our way into position a couple of times in the morning, but couldn't get a clear shot. He would casually feed over a small ridge or into some thick cover and we'd re-position. I also wanted to cut the distance a bit more than usual considering the wind. I worked my way into a better position and found him feeding again right around noon. Worked a little closer and had a great rest at 223 yards. I couldn't be happier with this bear... he has battle scars and a big blocky head with character and a beautiful jet black coat.

Thanks everyone!

Keep trying different areas. I think you answered your question in your post... go where you think less people tend to go and you should have better odds of finding mature deer. 33 is big and there are deer everywhere in that unit. Good luck.

Thanks guys! I know he'll probably shrink some, but we gave him a rough measure and have him at: Width: 7 4/16" Length: 12 12/16" Total: 20 0/16" Length (nose to tail): 6'4" Age (game and fish estimate): 14-15 years old. To me he is an AZ bear of a lifetime. An old bruiser who definitely mixed it up for years. He was around 4000-4500 feet elevation and feeding on the juniper berries all morning.

Post pics

Love those unique bucks.

Awesome video. I too have noticed that cameras in the same spot will often miss the same game... where one captures a photo and one doesn't. Interesting stuff! Looking forward to the next one.

I wouldn't count on the black bear season being open in Nov. Unit 33 usually reaches the sow limit and closes quickly. Just an FYI.

Those two things aren't mutually exclusive.... and there are many, many hunters - myself included - that have killed big, mature coues bucks via spot and stalk.

I simply brought it up because people mentioned how hard (specifically) self made 1%ers work... he's not self made. Good for him for keeping the business successful. There are plenty of situations where large companies fail when the next generation takes over. Re-read my post... I didn't say anything negative... just laid out some facts. My opinion though: being handed the keys to a profitable and well established industry giant isn't that impressive. Sam Walton is impressive... his kids are successful, good for them... not as impressive. Buffett, Bezos, Ellison, Gates, etc. had to work significantly harder and take on much more risk than the Koch Bros, the Mars family, and the Waltons who all inherited industry giants, just like Mike Gallo. For the record, I'd spend that money the exact same way and I have no problem with the governor's tag or raffle tags. I think it's awesome to see the world class animals they harvest. There is a giant difference between founding a company and inheriting one. There is so much more risk and significantly more challenges to founding a business compared to inheriting one. It's not even close. Keeping a business profitable is easier than building one from scratch. This is not an attack on anyone's character and I'm sure Mike Gallo is a good person and I hope he keeps spending money for hunting and conservation like he has been.

Not that it matters all that much but because it was discussed so much in this thread... Mike Gallo is from the family that owns E&J Gallo Winery. He didn't build the business and from what I can tell didn't become CEO until some time this century. He's actually a grandson of the founders from what I can gather. Just wanted to point out that he didn't build the business, he inherited it. A little bit easier than being self-made... although that doesn't necessarily mean he's an idiot either.

This is the biggest advantage of the early hunts.

Going to be a dandy.

Tons of places all over the unit that hold deer. It's a big unit so pick an area (I'd read the AZ Game and Fish description of the unit) and hunt that area your entire hunt. There are 4 hunts plus archery OTC hunts before yours, so it may be a little tougher to find deer than normal. Good luck, bring good optics, glass hard, and be patient. Coues are quite the challenge.