elkanddeerhunter1

I had the June 8th through 17th hunt. Game and Fish mentioned in the hunter meeting the night before the hunt started that the planned culling in the GCNP was going to start towards the end of July.

StickFlicker, I thought about using my bow, but ended up using my tried and true 30.06 that my dad gave me when I was 14.

Thanks! If your nephew is Jared he's a fine young man! I appreciated his help getting my bison back to camp. The meat is excellent by the way.

Here's the story: After 25 years of applying and 30 bonus points later, I finally drew a House Rock Herd bull bison tag for the June 8-17, 2018 hunt. I scouted a total of six days. The first three days was during the first hunt so I spent my time helping put out salt blocks, clearing fallen trees out of roads, clearing debris out of water catchments, putting up blinds, and checking trail cams on salts where no one was hunting. I learned a ton of valuable information from Russ Jacoby. The last three scouting days was between hunts so I used that time to check salt and water locations I learned from Russ, Game and Fish, and a couple of previous hunters. This helped me determine where I wanted to be on opening day. Opening day I sat a water tank with salt blocks. I saw a lot of deer, a few bucks that will be pretty nice after they’re done growing out, a few gobblers, and a lot of other animals. I sat a total of 15 hours but was constantly entertained by the wildlife that visited the tank and salt. The second day started off like the first, lots of deer, a gobbler, and other wildlife visiting my location. At 11:30a, I noticed a lot of dust just beyond the berm/dam of the tank I was sitting. It was kind of windy so I didn’t pay too much attention to it. I was in the process of digging lunch out of my pack when I realized the dust was still kicking up and I was now looking at the brown hump of a bison. There were a total of four bulls that were playing in the dirt wallow just beyond the berm/dam. The largest of the four decided to start heading to salt. He was very cautious and hung up approximately 30 yards from the salt. He wouldn’t commit to coming in and turned to go back to his buddies. He was now broadside at 90 yards when I decided to take a shot. He fell behind the berm/dam and I wasn’t sure if he was completely down for good. So, I got out of my blind and snuck over to the berm/dam. When I peered over my bull was down for good and the other three bulls were still playing in the dirt wallow. I decided before the hunt started that I was going to participate in the hunter co-op that is set up by Russ Jacoby and his team. I had a co-op radio with me so I called another hunter that I knew was ½ mile away sitting on another salt. I told him that I had shot a bull and that three other bulls were still at my location. Approximately 30 minutes later he made it over and was able to put another bull down. By the end of the hunt nine of the 12 hunters had tagged bison. Even though I wanted to do the hunt myself, I had a lot of help along the way. I would like to thank Russ, Jacob, Laura, Jared, Jake, Curt, my wife Lori, my brother Tim, and son Hunter.

As of today June 16th, I know of seven hunters that have tagged out. I got mine on the 2nd day of the hunt. All of the bulls are nice ones with one being a real giant!

Thanks azhunter85, it only took 30 bonus points to finally get a tag! I know a few people were hesitant about putting in but I decided to anyway not knowing what the future holds for the bison hunts on the Kaibab. I don't mind sitting either, so we will see what happens. The new strategies that were mentioned in the Grand Canyon Bison Herd Reduction Assessment haven't started happening yet. Congressman Gosar pushed a bill through last year that the National Park Service needs to work with the AZGFD to iron out the plans for culling and transplanting part of the herd. As far as I know, they are still finalizing the details.

Congratulations on a great bull! I have the 2nd hunt so hopefully I'll have some luck.

My credit card was hit for five deer tags (me, wife, and three sons on separate applications). Now the wait begins to find out where and when!

July 24th at 9:45am

March 29th at 10:37am

October 34A whitetail for me!

Tuesday, July 19th 2:00pm

119-7/8

I will say 3600 give or take a few!

I have a muzzleloader tag in unit 8 for antelope. It only took 16 years to get it. It will be my first time hunting with a muzzleloader too! Good luck on your elk hunt!