nateNAU

Madabula safaris. We hunted Rooiport, a big concession owned by DeBeers. Highly recommend them.

I'm actually glad g&f makes it a pain. If it was easy, everyone would do it and I would never get leftovers.

Correct. Tags per type can not exceed the bag limit. So for Javi you can have 2 draw hunt number tags and 2 OTC tags. For elk you can have 1 draw hunt number tag and 1 OTC tag.

I would get a good wood stove and not look back. Nothing sucks the fun of hunting and camping out of me like sleeping cold, and I used to do it a lot growing up from improper equipment. I helped on a late 3a3c elk hunt one year and bought a big buddy heater for that hunt. It took some chill off but I was still miserably cold. After I bought my alaknak I started researching quality wood burning stoves and settled on a wilderness 4. Weighs 84 lbs but will burn all night and I can get the tent well over 90° even with a blizzard outside.

After striking out last year, I put in for and drew Wyoming again. This year I gave myself 5 days to hunt and arriving 2 days early to scout. The hunt again aligned with my son's fall break and he accompanied me on the hunt. I learned last year that you need to know where you want to be at sunup opening day and that anything easy access will have a ton of hunters. I found a spot on the map that was a peninsula of public land of about 2 square miles but required a brutal 3-4 mile hike to reach. I was worried about my son being able to do that hike, let alone day after day. Well on the first day of scouting we hiked in there an hour and a half before the sun rose and got there right at first light. Right off the bat we started seeing antelope. Within half an hour we saw about 50 in 5 different groups spread out across the public land. I knew this was where we wanted to be. No need to scout more so we spent the rest of the day and the next fishing. We hiked into that area Saturday, Sunday and finally connected on this buck on Monday, having this tough to reach spot all to ourselves. We had plenty of antelope at about 400-600 yards but I was shooting a pistol and my max range was 300 that I was comfortable with. I glassed him up bedded and snuck into 324 yards. I built up the dirt so my pistol was rock solid, aimed right where I wanted it. 1 shot and he never got up. About 34 miles total hiking in the trip. One of the hardest pack outs I've done but my son wanted to help so he carried the skull out. When we arrived back at the truck there was another group parked by us loading up a buck they killed. They asked asked how old my son was and said they watched us from a high ridge for most of our pack out and wanted to treat him to ice cream in town, to which we obliged . They said none of them wanted to hike that far and a 6 year old showed them up. Another great hunting trip with my son by my side.

It is a contender g2 in a wildcat cartridge that is a 405 Winchester necked down to 7mm. I'm getting a little over 2700 fps with a 140 gr Barnes ttsx bullet. Thank you. Actually seeing some of your posts on wyoming encouraged me to apply in the first place. Thank you! I love this picture! It is definitely going up on the wall. Thank everyone else for your kind words. I am super proud of my son and am enjoying every minute I get to spend with him. I have spent a lot of time strategizing how to incorporate my passion for the outdoors into his life. I have so many friends and family that have been burnt out by an over zealous dad trying to push them to hard or fast and I have dreaded that happening to him. To anyone thinking about doing Wyoming for antelope, I suggest you do it. It is a great learning experience before you draw an az tag.

I hunted 10 a lot back in the day for deer. Always up around cataract canyon north of the Redlands ranch. Never went a deer season without running into a big bull up there.

Went out with the kids and father in law to Whitehorse today. My son caught a bluegill and we had it on a stringer in the water. We looked over at it after a bit and saw this snake had pulled it up out of the water and was trying to eat it. I would say it's eyes were bigger than it's stomach, or should I say mouth.

Being born and raised in Flagstaff I have never really had the Arizonan experience of dealing with rattle snakes. I have seen 3 in my life and only one was up here 20 years ago. I have probably hiked a thousand miles shed hunting since then, even in the summer and never seen another one. We have a ton of bull snakes up here and I think that is why you hardly ever see a rattler. I did get an Arizona black while setting up a blind for bear a year or 2 ago down by Prescott. When I shot it was jet black and slowly after it died the diamonds started to show up. I guess the have a similar color change ability as chameleons. If anyone has a good method/tanning suggestion, I still have the skin in the freezer and would like to put it up.

I got a buck tag up around buffalo. No doe tags this year

Sorry if the video doesn't work. I was of a smoke-nado. Saw at least 3 this afternoon.

So we barley made it though the tunnel fire and this one comes right on it's heals. We were evacuated about noon today. We are lucky my parents live about 3 miles away so we have a place to stay but a lot are no so lucky. The tunnel fire got about 25 homes I think and this has the potential to do the same PXL_20220612_211649374_TS.mp4

I was able to connect on this bear this morning with my 6 year old son in tow. Gun was a Smith and Wesson 29 classic hunter.

Out of the tank was no problem. There was water up to the top. Getting it up in the truck was another question. It was about all I could do to not have a hernia. I would guess about 150lbs. Any heavier and I don't think I could do it without cutting it up first. I did my check at game and fish on Tuesday. I guessed it at 3-4 years old.The g&f guy thought a little older looking at the teeth.

We have finally settled back in at home so it time for a write up about our hunt. I have had a burning itch for a bear the last few years. I was talking to a good friend who is a guide and he pointed me in the right direction of a generally good area and a particular tank. I ran a cam there for a few years and made a few day trips to hunt it. I had many close calls, but no luck. Twice I had sows with cubs come in and more than a few times I had missed a legal bear by a day after I checked my trail cams. I knew from past years trail cam photos that this time of year a bear hits the tank at least every other day. My son finished kindergarten last Thursday, and didn't start his summer camps till after memorial day. I figured if I took Friday off and hunted with him for 4 days in a row we should have a very decent chance at a bear. I loaded the truck up Thursday morning, and when he got out of his last day of school we hit the road. We finally got to our camping spot around 10:00 and set up camp. Where the tank is, is about 5 rough miles from where we camped. Our camping location is where we javi hunt and has cell service. Gives mom peace of mind to check in at night. Friday morning we loaded the truck and headed up the mountain. We put up our pop-up blind and spent time brushing it in. Within about 2 minutes of finishing and settling in we had a young Jake turkey come in and give us a good show. When he left the tank he walked within about 3 yards of our blind. At the 15 minute mark we had a big coatamundi come in. Already I'm getting excited. I've sat this tank probably 100 hours over the past few years and in the spring/summer hardly anything comes in. It just seemed like a good day for animal movement. At the 30 minute mark I set my kid up on his i-pad and I pull out my book, getting ready for the long haul of sitting 15 hours a day for 4 days. While I am reading, I I pull my head up and scan every paragraph. This area is tight with some topography and the vegitation really shot up the past few weeks, so there are a lot of approaches a bear could take that you would see till they are right up at the tank. At the 45 min mark I pull my head up at see this bear already at the tank! I get my son's attention and he stands right over my shoulder. I told he we are going to watch and make sure there are no cubs with it. After a few minutes of watching and paying attention to see if the bear is looking around like it's looking for cubs to fallow I decide this is a solo bear. I tell him to plug his ear and get ready for a shot. The bear is a pretty, fluffy, stereotypical black bear. It is standing up on the rim of the tank drinking, slightly quartering towards up. I aim for the shoulder at 50 yards and squeeze. The bear goes stiff, and drops right in the tank. After I collect myself, we make our way to the tank. The bear sank right to the bottom and the water has no visibility in it. It took a while to finally noodle around a find it and pull in up. Not a monster, but a decent pretty sow. We tag it, head back to camp and take some pics and start cutting it up. I was expecting a long, gruelling weekend trying to keep a 6 year old happy and we were all done and finished in an hour and a half. I told my son that it can go in his room and let him pic out the taxidermy because he is always a good sport and always willing to go on any hunt with me. He decided on a bear rug which will go great in his room. Logistically, shooting a bear on memorial day weekend is not the best as I couldn't check in my bear, contact a taxidermist or a meat processor. We decided to process the bear ourselves and did breakfast sausage, brats, jerky, roasts and cured hams. So far the breakfast sausage and jerky has been awesome!

Awesome!

Real spotty service out here. Will do a better write up tomorrow

Took the kids, wife and father-in-law out fishing Saturday. We decided to go to Whitehorse, a lake I haven't fished in over 10 years. I didn't know what to expect so I brought rigs for catfish, trout, crappie. Well the large mouth bass were sure hungry. We caught about 5 in the 11" range and I caught this nice 16"er that was almost 3 lbs. These were my first largemouth I've ever caught. On Sunday I took my son out shed hunting here around Flagstaff and we did turn up 1 muley shed. Overall a good weekend outdoors.

Good luck! Make sure to post about your trip. As to your question about when spring bears water, it can be literally any time of the day.

We don't have any clear water up here in any of the lakes. It's amazing a fish could even find a lure.

I went out this past Saturday bear hunting to one of my spots around Prescott. I sat a tank from sunrise to sunset. Only had one coatamundi walk past all day. With almost 5 years of trail cam info I know this tank is a producer. I have had a personal vendetta for a boar we have named scar. A jet black, black muzzled boar who is just a slob, with scars all over his face. 2020 and 2021 I have had sows and cubs come in, but no legal bear. This year without being able to use trail cams, I've had to rely on past data as to when the bears hit the tank. I don't know if scar is still alive but I would really like to wrap my tag around him. The second to last pic is a sow with scar walking in. She gets the f out of Dodge when she sees him. I am taking my 6 year old boy out in about 3 weeks for a 3 or 4 day hunt at this tank. Hopefully we can tag out.

For bear there is the holy Trinity. 1. Consistent water.- a water source that is not seasonal and always! Has water! 2. Main food source. Acorns,prickly pear, and to a lesser extent juniper berries. 3. Thick,thick cover.- deep dark canyons and such. If you find a spot with all three you will not only find a bear, you will find many. I live in 7e and that perfect trifecta is lacking. Bears are highly travelsome and almost impossible to pattern. I travel father south to bear hunt.

I don't think there is really better spot than others. I've done well at one end of the lake to the other. I prefer to fish the narrows. In my mind that choke point is good, even if the fish are deep because you can cast almost to the middle.

Ya. I think it was a funny story. It's a friend of a friend so take that what it's worth but the guy had a deer tag in hand but stopped to cut firewood. As he was using a chain saw, the deer walked out across a field and he walked back to his truck, grabbed his rifle and shot it. You never see good bucks in 5bn outside of the rut. I spend a ton of time in that unit and when I run a trapline in dec and Jan is the only time the monsters come out. Within 100 miles of Flagstaff, 5bn is the only unit in my opinion that you could have a solid chance at a 200" deer.