Pine Donkey

Congratulations on a great last day Buck.

MC you are getting way too much entertainment out of this. You worry me!

Nice top end on your bull. Congrats

Great family hunt success!

What a beast!

Great elk! Either that elk is huge, or Jodi is small. Very nice job setting up the photo.

About 20 years ago while hunting 6A, I was tucked into a nature type blind against a large dead fall. It was on a well used trail and offered several shooting lanes, although there was no way to see behind me. As a young hunter, I was sure every noise was an elk, and I was going to quickly fill my cow tag. A couple hours after first light I could hear one walking down to me and I was sure it would offer a good shot as it walked past my hiding spot. After a couple minutes it was very close when it stopped. I waited and listened...what was that? Was that noise...water running, surely an elk would urinate more than that...what could it be. I stood up, camoed out, arrow nocked, and witnessed the startled hunter, 3 yards behind me, pee all over himself as he tried to cut it off mid stream. After a short laugh and discussion, we decided there were no elk on that trail and went our seperate ways.

East side is easier on the North end, but the South end, Mine Canyon, is pretty easy. Where ever you decide, be sure to get a lion tag. They are thick in there.

Nice job on that wide bull.

Bull 1...Fence 0

Great Bull, and welcome to CWT.

This year I drew my first antelope tag after 16 years. I have no experience hunting goats, but have been putting in as much time as possible. I have watched the Size Matters video, and have been practicing as much as possible, yet I am not confident in my field judging. Below are a couple goats from this past weekend. We found a couple others who may be bigger, but got stuck in the mud trying to get close enough for a photo stalk. I am guessing the one in the first 3 pictures at about mid 70's, and the one in the second 3 pictures in the low 70's. Any help in education me about goats is very appreciated. Goat 1 Goat 2 Thanks for your help

Just help her have a hunt to remember. If she likes it, it's a grat bull.

Increadi...bull

Not to worry Dave, now that you have the yard work done, we will be at the cabin again on the 8th for Cody's youth elk hunt. You and Josh should come up. The fishing should be better then also.

After 16 years, my number finally came up and I drew a Unit 1 antelope tag. I made the trip from Southern Az four times to scout for my buck. Along the way, I met some wonderful and helpful people. Mark (MJE1) and my son Garrett went along on all the scouting trips. Mathewp45 had made a post that referred to his Unit 1 archery tag, so I contacted him and we traded scouting notes. We met a new friend named John while glassing from a hilltop on one of the trips. John was scouting for a friends archery elk hunt, and had was willing to help on my hunt. On that same hill, a couple weeks later, we met Jeff (Eagarcoues). Jeff has a wealth of knowledge about the area and was very willing to share. He scouted during the week prior to opening day and called me with information on each mature buck he had found. After all the scouting, we found out that Mark would not be able to make the hunt as his wife had to have surgery. Garrett would also miss opening day due to a varsity football game on Friday night. John offered to help me out, and Cody, one of Garrett's friends was willing to miss a day of school for hunting. I posted pictures of several bucks we found while scouting, and many members provided input on sizing them up. This site sure has a lot of knowledgeble people who are willing to help people out. On August 29th, Mark, Garrett and I found "the one". He had good mass, fair heigth, and good cutters. He was also in an area that I did not think would get too much hunting pressure. We had spotted a bigger buck west of the Springerville airport, but I have always heard horror stories of the free-for-all that takes place in that area on opening morning, so we decided to stay away from that area. Here are a couple pictures of him on the 29th: Pre-dawn on opening morning found John, Cody, and myself on a remote ridge above the area we had seen him in 4 days earlier. Before light, we could hear a quad driving away from the ridge, and could even hear his spotter talking to him from the same ridge we were on. It was a little disappointing, but thats life on public land. As light washed across the land, we began to find goats everywhere. By the time it was fully light, we had spotted about 45 goats including 8 bucks. We sized up each of the bucks that were in the open, but could not find the one we were looking for. John kept glassing back to a group that was hanging in some thick cedars. We figured there was a buck in the group, but they would not give us a clear look. Finally, about 9:00 John said they were moving and would cross an opening. He had his 80 power Sworovski scope ready and when the buck stepped out he said, "Robert, you need to take a look at this one". At 1.5 miles we were not able to tell if it was the buck we wanted, but knew I needed to take a closer look. After walking for quite a while, Cody let me know that there was another buck infront of me; one we had not seen. Just a few steps later, the buck busted me as I carelessly walked through an opening. As he stared at me from 150 yards away, I droped to the ground and set up the bipod. He must have thought I was trying to steal his ladies because he came at me on a dead run, stopping 40 yards to my left. He had good heigth, but weak mass and cutters so I decided to pass him. As he looked at me, pawing the ground, snorting and blowing I wished Matt could have been blessed with this opportunity the week before on his archery hunt. Moving much more cautiously now, I headed for the bigger buck. After about 200 yards, I heard the quad coming up a lower road, then there were antelope running everywhere. I saw the buck streaking through the trees so I let out a quick whistle. He stopped and looked my way at 170 yards. I was already set up on the bipod and sizing him up through the scope. His heigth was OK, his mass was pretty good, and he had good cutters. While deciding if I was ready to end my hunt, he turned and walked straight away from me. This allowed me to see the beautiful heart shape of his horns. I remembered all the CWT members who told me to stop worrying about score and just find a buck that I like. This was that buck. He looked back at me, quartering away. One shot from Garrett's new custom .270 and I had my goat. Although I chose this goat because I liked the way he looked, I did put a tape on him once we finished caping him out. My unofficial measurement is 76 6/8. I would like to thank everybody who helped me prepare for this hunt, especially Garrett, Mark, Cody and John.

Thats a great goat, congrats to your dad!

Great mount. Are you going to be able to choose flooring to match or did you negotiate away color selection also?

Once these thieves are caught, I hope the entire story is plastered all over the internet!

That's cool. Nice way to begin your archery career.

Great 1st bull. That was sure a short hunt

Nice elk Nicole. Thanks for the story and photos.

Tommy, Dry Valley is about 2 miles West of 191at the Auger Canyon turn off. There is a private lake along the county road that become Forest Road 88.

Very nice, hopefully you won't have to wait another 30 years for another tag.

Very nice