Heat

Nice!

Congratulations guys! Great buck.

Congrats!

Big Congratulations! Your family got a little taste of the magic that the Kaibab can be. PS I think I went to high school and jr high with you/and or your sister. My name is Nick Heatwole, Cibola High School Class of 1992

Save your pesos and go fishing in Mexico!

Pretty sure the first line on that photo is the 3 year complex so that ram is 8 and change.

Way cool Mike!

Way to go guys! Great bucks!

Congrats to your son and good luck on your upcoming hunt!

Holy Smokes! Thanks for sharing!

Yep Rokslide and Kifaru forums often has great deals on packs. I have a Kifaru Duplex Frame and a Late Season and both kick butt. Late Season is my go to pack for hunting that can easily pack out a boned out deer in one trip or a couple of elk quarters. Just packed the fronts from my recent bull in that thing. Tight but doable. Duplex frame is for awkward heavy loads. Packed my stand and sticks no problem. Felt like nothing was even back there. I highly recommend their stuff!

I have no experience with that brand but I do shoot a 3 blade COC style head from Magnus called the Snuffer SS which is similar to the VPA 3 blade. Get them sharp and stick em in the right spot and you should be very happy with the results.

Slow pick for bottom fish in shallow water that time of year last time I went. Still had a good time but you should wait until July or August when the water and the fishing really heats up. Good Luck! I also prefer Point Loma Sportfishing. Seaforth also has some great boats and captains for open parties.

Thanks to the Arizona Elk Society and especially you Tom for all you do for our Veterans!

Nice Job!

Congrats! I think we saw those deer and you guys Saturday.

Most compound bows especially the flagship bows from the major companies today seem to have brace heights 6.5 inches or less from what I gather. What changed that lets the average archer shoot bows like this well? What am I missing? Maybe I'm getting old, but I remember 7-7.5 being more common. I've been thinking about buying a newer compound bow since mine is over 10 years old and there have been some major technology advancements since then. Looking for a more forgiving bow if there is such a thing anymore. My draw length is about 27.5 inches and I probably would choose a 60# bow and max it out. Not too long or too short for ATA, something around 32 or 33 is probably the sweet spot for me. What should I be looking at? Not a beginner or newbie, just have been bit by the traditional archery bug recently and have not kept up with the compound stuff!

https://register-ed.com/events/view/102033

https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https://azdeer.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/MAP-2017-YOUTH-CAMP.pdf&hl=en

Not easy to see on this pic but you can usually distinguish a 3 year complex and a 4th year ring, which is often one of the darkest. Somewhere on the 4th to 5th year rings the horns start to show the cracks and chips from competing in the pecking order. This ram has broomed off the lamb tips and is pushing rings at least a couple past the 4 year ring. I also would guess he is at least 7 or 8 years old and a nice ram to harvest. When judging for score I like a pic as straight up from the front as possible and one from the side to help guess length and age. If you have those please share them here.

We will be driving a red lifted expedition with company logos on the back and a charcoal grey f250. If you see us stop and say hello. Good luck. We will keep an eye out for you. We will be driving a Chevy Silverado Z71, extracab, silver/beige with ELKRAZY plate. Wall tent camp. If you see us wave us down or stop by!

Thanks be to God, I was blessed to kill my second archery bull elk at 10:00 AM on Wednesday September 20, 2017. 30 yard shot, double lung penetrating both sides. Watched him die within sight. He only made it maybe 75 yards tops. What a thrill and an incredible blessing! He is a perfect 6 point on one side and a freak on the other with a sword and a club dropper. He won't score very well but he is very unique and I didn't hesitate for a second to shoot him! I left Yuma on Friday morning, knowing I was going to miss the morning hunt. I was committed for the full season so one morning was not going to make or break my hunt but the anxiety of missing opening morning was brutal! Met up with my cousin in Surprise and continued on our journey to 7 West. Had camp set up and we were ready to head out for the evening hunt. Not much action at all but did see a black bear hauling butt up the hill. Jumped him at 30 yards. Started hearing bugles from camp Friday night so we were really excited for the morning hunt. Saturday morning is what elk hunting dreams are made of! We heard bugles from all around camp so we decided which one to chase while drinking our morning coffee and having some breakfast. We got into them right away calling in a satellite 5x5. He came in under a hundred yards but just not close enough. Calling brought him in but he didn't see what he was looking for so he got impatient and left. Kept following the better bugle up the canyon until we spotted him up on the opposite ridge with his herd. Nice 6x6. Made a plan and got across the canyon. Got in close to a few cows, probably about 55 or 60 yards. Knew the bull might come collect these cows so prepared for a shot. Sure enough the last cow started making her way towards the others. Soon enough he came screaming after them towards me. Heard him glunking so figured I was close enough. Wrong, I misjudged the yardage and ended up getting TWO shots at him but missed bad low. He was at least 15 yards further than I thought. Nice Start! The next few days were much like the first but no shots. Got close to the elk almost every outing, just not picking the right ridgeline or getting winded when we were in close, typical elk stuff when you are hunting with a bow. The one part of the story I don't want to leave out is who I was hunting with when I killed my bull. Tim and Jeff from Wicked Horn Outfitters were guiding a Wounded Vet who received a donated tag in my unit. Fellow Coueswhitetailer LV2HNT (Tom Wagner) who organizes these Hunts for Heros through Arizona Elk Society told me to call them before the season just to talk elk since I had never hunted the unit. Nice chat but didn't think much of it. On Monday afternoon Tim invited me to come hunt with them Tuesday PM, since they tagged out but had more hunters coming in the second week and didn't want to go home or sit in camp. I am not too proud to accept free assistance from a pro, so I took full advantage! Went out with them on Tuesday afternoon and knocked up a number of times and even drew back at a nice 300 class 6x6 that was quartering to at 49 yards. Just not a good shot. Had a FUN evening in the woods again and was eagerly anticipating the next day. Wednesday morning started quite slow but Tim was confident the herd was in the area and would start bugling when they headed for bed. We did a decoy set up on a herd bull trying to entice him over with calls. Out of nowhere we hear a bugle behind us and turn to see a satellite bull that snuck in. He kept coming in, about stepping on Jeff holding the decoy. Slightly spooking back about 50 yards, they kept up the calling and he stopped. Now he started coming in towards us but now from the other side. I had to readjust my position while in sight and basically had my back to him as he was approaching. He eventually got to about 15 feet where I drew my bow. Again he caught movement and split but again they were able to keep his attention with calls. Stops again in the only lane so I swung around just as Tim whispers "30", I got him in my sight and let it fly! Whack! I told Tim "I think I got him!" He said "you got him, he just crashed" Wow what a thrill! When it was all said and done I bought them dinner that night and agreed to let them use my pics on their website but that's it. I am so grateful for their generosity to help me! These guys are hardcore elk hunters and they have their craft down! I highly recommend them to anybody looking for help in Arizona.

If you're up on the west side of town, you can stop by my place in Avondale if you want. I have everything needed. I may take you up on that someday!

Need to spend some time somewhere in the Valley. Unfortunately that doesn't exist here in Yuma. There are some guys that know whats up at the outdoor range but nowhere to work and tune on the bow.

Ya that's the problem. Can't get it to paper tune to save my life but it will still shoot decent groups. I eventually quit worrying about what it looked like through paper and just hunted.