HUNTMUP

Prayers sent for a speedy recovery!!!

That was a great story! As a recent participant in a story much like yours, I know what the feeling is like. A HUGE congratulations to both of you!!!!

Thought you might like to see my sons success pictures from his hunts this year. The pig hunt took place in 18B (juniors hunt) just north of the Bagdad mine complex. We glassed up the pigs at about 900 yards and stalked in to within 50 yards. We could not relocate them so we decided to try and varmint call to see if they were still in the area. Well sure enough the pigs had moved about 200 yards in the opposite direction we thought they were. There were only two and one was a big old boar pig, Brock put him down in his tracks at 35 yards with a .223 AR-15. The deer hunt was a little tougher, Brock did not draw any of the hunts that he put in for in the general drawing so we picked him up a left over permit for the November 27 - Dec 3rd hunt. We got into the unit early on opening day and proceeded to my favorite glassing spot. I was a little surprised when we got there due to two other hunters already hunting the hill I was going to glass. We moved to a back up area and there were hunters there as well. Needless to say there were hunters everywhere. We set up in a likely spot and decided that glassing somewhere was better than driving around all day. After glassing for about an hour or so I spotted a nice 80 - 85" buck about 3/4 of a mile away in a basin off of the main mountain range. We tried to stalk the buck but like a lot of Coues deer do, he was nowhere to be found when we got into a closer position to glass the bowl so we decided to head back to camp and grab a quick lunch. I had two friends come down to help Brock glass on his hunt and one of them went to another part of the unit to see if he could glass up a buck for him to shoot. He ended up bedding two bucks in a small canyon so after grabbing lunch we hauled butt back to the location he left them at. Once there we could not relocate the bucks so we glassed the canyon until late afternoon. During the last moments of shooting light, I relocated to glass a small finger drainage heading out onto the flats and as luck would have it, I found the smaller buck (2 point) on a ocotillo ridge below me. We quickly got Brock set up to take a shot before it got too dark to shoot. It was a tough shot, downhill at exactly 247 yards in thick ocotillo's. The wind was blowing about 15 miles an hour and we were perched precariously on the edge of the canyon shooting down hill at approximately a 60 degree angle. Brock was having a tough time getting steady on the deer and was trying to squeeze off the shot as myself and two buddies watched through our binoculars. I told Brock to just try to do the best he could and guided him on shot placement as the deer was quartering to him. Boom, the gun goes off and the deer was obviously hit in the near side shoulder as he dumped off the back side of the canyon out of site. While we are preparing ourselves to dive off into this canyon right at dark we discussed what we had witnessed at the shot. The shot looked great, middle of the chest at the front of the shoulder. Based on the angle of the deer at the shot it was a sure sign he would not have gotten too far before expiring. Brock and I bailed off into the canyon with one of my buddies and when we finally got to the spot the shot was taken we had to get the head lamps out to track the deer. At first we found very little blood and what we did see was dark red and very sparse. I began to second guess what I had observed at the shot and began to worry about a hit in the leg. I kept my thoughts to myself as this was my sons first shot at a deer and I did not want to kill the excitement until I was certain of the hit. We followed the trail for about 40 yards and guess what was laying in the yellow grass? The buck. Turns out the shot was exactly where we thought it was and ended up taking out the lungs and the top of the heart. Due to the darkness we decided to take pictures the next day back at camp. I wanted to make sure we had a few good pictures to keep as it is my sons first deer. I was a little concerned about the meat spoiling so I filled the chest cavity with bags of ice and then bungee corded the cavity shut to help keep it cool. Early the next morning we took some pictures and then skinned and boned out the meat for the ride back home. Funny thing about the wound was the bullet entered the near side shoulder right above where the shoulder blade attached to the lower leg and exited exactly four inches parallel to the entrance hole on the same side of the deer. The bullet did not penetrate through the opposite side of the deer. I am still a little confused as the gun he was using is a .257 Weatherby shooting 115 grain ballistic tip ammo. It was enough to make me rethink my bullet choices for the next hunt. Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the pictures. I hope everyone has a happy holiday and great success on your future hunts.

Congratulations!! Way to stick with it and get it done!

Holy cow, NICE buck. Just goes to prove that even a left over tag can produce if you put in the hard work and hunt smart like Courtney did. Outstanding!!

Congratulations!! What an awesome day that must have been! Love the smiles

Small side, Big side, Left side, Right side......... I would like a few more "Sides". Awesome, awesome buck!!! Would love more pics and a story. Congratulations on truly a monster muley!!

Congratulations!! Judging by the look on your face you are doomed to try and repeat that moment every year for eternity!! Great job!!!

Thank you all for the kind words and congratulations given. You remember how important your first deer was and once again the members of this website have proven what a truly great group of individuals each and everyone of you are! Bill

If you do not mind sharing, who is the rifle manufacturer that is chambering the 6.5-284??

To be on the safe side I would recommend waiting until January to sling the arrows.

Wow... It has been a long time since I have seen this type of B.S. on this site. You used the phrase "Good ol' Boys" network and I guess you could call it that if you are on the outside looking in as you apparently are. This 'Good Ol' Boys" network is a group of people who share the same passion in life and conduct ourselves ethically when posting by keeping respect at the top of our morals list. Funny how you show up just to bash the Mullins team when you heard the news. I wonder how the headlines and posts would have read if you would have been directly involved in the harvest of the bull??? Can anyone tell me if a membership can be revoked? I say lets take a vote! Congratulations Jim on getting it done once again! Do not let anyone steal your thunder, you guys work hard and truly deserve all that you earn. A big congratulations to the hunter as well!! PS. Thanks for cheating "Biscuits" out of the harvest!!

They lost my sons application as well. Same response you were given, sorry we didn't get an application from you. That is B.S. I would like to know if they found the missing mail bag with our applications in it yet!!

Thank you Amanda for posting the results.

Does anyone know when or where they are posting the raffle results?

Well, I was having a good day... Very kind words about your friend, I am sorry for your loss and my prayers go out to you and your family. But it is nice to know that there are people like you that appreciate great friendships. I hope that my friends say the same kind words about me when it is my time.

Very nice Thanks for sharing.

My son Brock is going on his first deer hunt this year and I was going to ask if anyone on here has any deer experience on this unit. I have been archery pig hunting in there for years but the area I hunt in does not seem to contain alot of deer in it. We have scouted Goodwin Mesa and the Aquarius Mountains and have seen a few deer but was wondering if anybody on here has found out a way to access the Mohon Mountains? Thank you for your input! Bill

CONGRATULTIONS to BROCK!!! That is too much of a coincidence though.. My sons name is Brock , he has had a broken arm and if I showed you a picture you would swear they were brothers. Anyway Congratulations again Brock for a fine trophy and I hope your arm recovers quickly. Bill Green

A replica collar would be a good idea, as the real collar rubbed all the hair off of his neck!! My buddy had to buy a new cape to get it mounted. He plans on putting the ear tag back in though. Thanks again for all the replies, it sure is nice to laugh every now and then especially the pet antelope line heck, I told him the only way he ended up with a goat was due to our GPS collar recieving device we borrowed!! Now if I can just get my own tag, 16 B.P. and counting

Hello all, I hope everyones hunts so far have gone well! I sure have seen some very nice and well deserved animals already taken this year! Attached is a photo of my buddies antelope that we took this last weekend. An intersting addition to his goat was that he was wearing a Game and Fish tracking colar and also sported an ear tag. Not the biggest goat we seen however the uniqueness of this animal was hard to pass up. Hope you enjoy the photos and good luck to all on your hunts this year! Be safe! Never have posted a picture before so I hope it works..

HaHaHa that was funny!! I wish I would have thought of that! Hey Lookin4amonster, Did Arnie have an ear tag???

Thanks guys for the comments. Yes, that was the first thing we did after getting him on ice. We took the collar to the Flagstaff branch and turned it in. They were very nice and congratulated us on taking the goat. I think it was the first time in a long time I left a Game and Fish office feeling pretty good about the experience. Oh and IHunt2Live, Love the Avatar! Mearns in southern Arizona over a great GSP is for sure one of my most cherished times!!

Love the avatar Welcome to the site and good luck on your hunts!!

Very nice bull! thanks for sharing