idgaf

the broadhead hit everything. Jugular, wind pipe, both lungs, aorta, liver and stomach. clover leaf entrance

Thanks for all the props. I have been very fortunate to have taken 3 pope and young caliber deer since 2010 and 1 very mature buck with a rifle in that time. One of these days I will buy some good beer a few steaks and have an official scorer come over for dinner. I was asked on my hunting style today and it's simple use your senses, hunt all day, move where and when you will not be seen or heard and have confidence to the end that it will work. My taxidermist told me today that this buck was eight or nine years old. I forgot to mention that the day ended at my 92 year old grandmothers house with her making Chile con carne, beans and rice for dinner. My favorite picture

saw a 160 class buck in 24a with five does Monday evening and two batches of does with no bucks.

I was in unit one the last couple of days,right next to AZ 27. The temp was 9 with a twenty mph wind, good luck.

Some friends say they have seen elk behind the hospital in Globe

little guys are going a little crazy, up high.

The Previous dealer was not very good, imo.

I am in Phoenix at least once a week. Which one is closer to 16th street and i-10

Saw this guy yesterday. No does but a swollen neck, sorry not a coues.

I'm still archery elk hunting.

I'm sure you would much rather be in a peach or lime green brides maid dress talking to people you hardly know than out hunting. Sorry couldn't resist hehe

desire. i have forgotten everything else at one point or another, including my bow.

best write up i have read. great job.

wife has 3b. first scouting trip was this morning. saw at least fifty elk and was less than twenty minutes from my house

ask yourself one question "Will you regret it if your tag goes unfilled?"

So you are complaining??? Still not sure how I managed not to get drawn for 4A/4B with 3 bonus points. That's some bad luck. yes, i know some of my expectations are not realistic but i expect to win. I am the type when i buy a lottery ticket i am surprised when i do not win. Sounds like you burnt up all your luck on goat tags. That's not true, i've had a few bull tags too Hopefully, I get some of my mojo back I have not had a goat tag since 2010.

i will be there. i will start scouting this weekend until the start of the season. if you see a jeep cj5 then you will be close to a good area.

So you are complaining??? Still not sure how I managed not to get drawn for 4A/4B with 3 bonus points. That's some bad luck. yes, i know some of my expectations are not realistic but i expect to win. I am the type when i buy a lottery ticket i am surprised when i do not win.

Due to the (un)luck of the draw of the draw my brother and I had left over tags for the first hunt in 36a while his son and my other brother had tags for the first hunt in 36c. We decided to all camp together in 36c and we would commute to are hunting areas in 36a. After the long trip from our perch on top of the mountain we get to camp at 930 the night before the season and the bravado starts immediately when we are together. We were in all likelihood the only camp with an arm wrestling table. We start the morning with coffee, directions to my nephew and brother on where to hunt and a ninety minute commute so we can get hunting. As usual we are late and have to improvise a spot. My hunting partner spots a few deer within twenty minutes of getting to our glassing spot. We go to get a closer look and on our sneak in we run into this guy and I had to stop for a few minutes to get this picture. After the stop to satisfy my nerdism we get to the deer and do not see any antlers no matter how hard I try. I can tell my brother's thoughts are with his son and honestly so were mind. Just after we get to the deer the heat and bugs begin there assault. We travel around the mountain and start glassing when a couple of Apache helicopters hone in on an area a mile or so from our location. For some reason I felt the safest I ever have this close to the border. We hunt the rest of the evening and seeing few deer and some rather extravagant road hunting setups that I will not post pictures of. We get back to camp and my brother missed a shot at a large three point and for some foggy reasons he took the shot instead of our nephew. Instantly, we gave him the nick name "Shot Hog". We eat dinner have a couple of cocktails and sleep finds us very fast even though it feels very brief. We go through our morning rituals leave earlier and get to the spots that we want at dawn. I can tell my brothers mind was across the highway. There is something special about the Baboquiveres The heat finds us faster then it did the day before and the deer are even harder to find than the day before. You Tucsonians are a tough group. I was melting thinking about hunting in my underwear when a fellow hunter walks by at a near jog wearing a jacket. Our minds were not into the hunt like they should have been so I spend midmorning taking pictures of butterflies and making coffee on the hillside when we both agree if Mikey has not killed a buck we would glass for him in the morning. We get back to camp early and can not wait to hunt the next morning our last with my nephew and the Shot Hog who took another opportunity from the kid has yet to shoot a deer. no shots were fired but still. All four of us head out to my goto spot. The walk is long and very hot in the pre-dawn light. We get to our first glassing spot at sunrise and work our way around the mountain. nothing. My nephew takes the lead when we get to the exact spot I thought we would see a buck and Mikey immediately sees a buck. He is positioning for a shot when Shot hog ask if its a buck within a few seconds I hear a shot from an area I was not expecting... MISS! My nephew takes a shot, the buck's tail drops, he takes one step and runs/rolls down the hill. Shot Hog and Mikey go to the buck while Mikey's dad and I stay on the hill to keep an eye on Mikey's prize. When you do anything these days you have to take a selfie and my nephews first buck is no exception. Dad and son Did I mention the bugs Shot Hog and my other brother go to find another buck while me and my nephew prep the buck for transport. He did the majority himself. The walk back was sweet and I enjoyed every minute, except I had the heavier pack then my young counterpart.

no turkey. no buffalo. i have had one spring turkey tag in fifteen years. I have had four antelope tags in that time.

I like the close quarters stuff. Sneak into their bedding area and shoot them in thick cover. You will never forget the sound of a stampede.

a few more January rattler

Good Luck, I hope you kill a monster!! Once you start backpack hunting that is all you can think about and nothing else will do. The Horned Toad picture will be in the inaugural AZ Outdoors Magazine as one of the contest winners.

We got the idea for this a couple of months ago when my brother commented I want to hunt where nobody else is. I said we have two options one is out walking everybody else or going where no one else is willing to. Unfortunately, we chose the latter and decided on where and when. The black river below wild cat crossing and the southern most part of unit 1. Opening weekend I used for practice and exercise seeing few deer and climbing hills over and over to get in a some kind of shape other than oval. A few of the highlights The most photographed horned toad for the month of August Cute and fuzzy bunny (I man enough to say it) We leave Thursday after he gets up from Tucson and I finish off 10-15 emails and reports and see several deer on the way a good sign so I thought.We put are packs on mine is at 70lbs and my brother is at 85. I think we over did it just a bit. Our first view of the river. We will be hunting the upper right portion in the morning. The walk down with full packs, a steep grade, and wet soil was treacherous. We both would slide down and have no way of slowing our descent. When it was him I would laugh. like right here The hunting our first morning was non-existent, not a deer or a mammal for that matter, so we tried fishing mid-day and our first river crossing. For the record I do not think there is a fish or a crawdad from wild cat crossing to the rez fence we tried. There is hope before we left I saw a minnow. Scenery was as great as anywhere in AZ. First river crossing (PG-13 for mild nudity) We climb up the other side and after not seeing a deer track we decide to switch gears and start calling within moments we have seven turkey vultures swooping down on us, after thirty minutes still no mammals. At the top, its like walking in heaven compared to the climb up. We see our first mammal a group of wild cows. Sometimes you go so far you hit the other side and we ran into a hunter in blind over salt. They came in through the Rez side. We immediately left the top and took the next crevice down following a spring to a waterfall and no easy way down. Look at the trees and the angle they grow We make it down and back to camp by eight o clock. eat dinner and are asleep by eight thirty. The next morning we go up stream and see our first big game animals a doe and a three point coues. No shot opportunity. We find the perfect elevated stand and stay there for the morning. Then some beard dragging gobblers showed up. No shot opportunities. The view from our stand. We get down from our stand and explore a little farther up stream. When we find this. The eyes were not even glazed over yet. The USFS federally mandated feral dogs at work. At this point I decide we cant compete and decide to pack up camp. No regrets and I would do it again in second once I can feel my legs again, but we were not done with hunting bug still with us and a couple more days to hunt we go to another place and find these guys After a great stock and unseen branch during the shot a stampede occurred. I got to watch everything from my mountain perch about 150 yards away. I made fun of him to the point he was going to beat me up and leave me. The next day I hunted solo only seeing this little girl (my first elk in five days) for the first eight hours of the day. Late mid day I see this covey of turkeys and went into the high brush and I could not get them to flush. I thought this has been a great five days but I have lost my touch at finding big deer. Just then I see a small three and a couple of other juveniles. I snapped one picture thinking I have taken enough little deer pics. Then that little voice in my head yells at me to get my bow ready and I see him. Easily the widest deer I have seen ever with big deep forks and only 45 yards away he scampers to 65. I range him pick my pin and shoot hitting an unseen branch sending my arrow into the abyss. Deer are going everywhere and I knew I had to try to catch up. By some twist of fate I do and range him once again with no branches and a perfect broadside shot. I envision in a millisecond my range at home an knew I would get this deer. I relax pick my pin and either flinch because of nerves or fatigue ever so slightly and watch my arrow miss underneath him by inches. He stands there and walks off. I grab my arrow and run after him, bumping him twice and finally catching up to him at 85 yards. I knew I could get 40 yards off easily and have a chip shot. After five steps I get careless and not watch my step breaking a piece of fallen tree bark and sending deer every where. The wind sucking sound you here to the north east is just me choking. Find the antler his backs were better than front. Thanks for reading my longwindedness. When I stopped I was three miles from my truck at dark with no flashlight, covered in sweat, no gps, and I would not have changed a thing.