Alpinebullwinkle

Did your buddy find his arrow with blood on it?

I'll keep my eye out for you Jeff. Sorry to hear about the theft. Probably will be pawned for drug money I would expect so you might check pawn shops.

Sceery call has worked real well for me especially in the remote places bears are not used to seeing humans

Beautiful bull elk! and with a bow you say.....can't wait to hear the Paul Harvey story.

Just an awesome buck......even without the fantastic webbing he is awesome. The mule deer genes in that area are also exceptional. Must be something in the water!

That weird bull reminds me of Al King....the prize fighter boxing organizer!

Some units in the mountains have such a significant amount of lakes, streams, ponds, seeps and intermittent/seasonal flows that a rule such as being discussed would significantly reduce the "legal real estate" for hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts with cameras. Add in the facts Arizona has significant wilderness (roadless) areas and also that many of us "geezers" have a shorter tether......the potential regulatory impact is concerning. I avoid tanks all together due to comments previously made which reduces some, but not all frustrations. Even though I maintain numerous trail cameras for exercise, viewing pleasure, and hunting........ I do endorse banning real time cellular cameras for hunting which seems like unethical cheating to me.

No camping within 1/4 mile of a water hole is just one example of a law that has probably been in the books forever yet I have never seen it enforced.

I've had numerous bulls answer the squeak in my old Ford truck front door when I get away from where they are accustomed to them hearing us frauds!

OK same as last year.......... lets see who has viewed the first rub of 2017. I haven't been able to get out for a few weeks but my personal record for first rub as I recall was August 4 a few years ago. Any rubs seen yet or bulls with velvet dangling?

Lots of skeeters=good horn quality!!!

I can share with you my coues experience with wildfire impact. Prior to the Wallow Fire I had some awesome coues deer locations to hunt. Since the Wallow Fire they all have been impacted and the coues deer have migrated away from the burn areas. I presume that these burned areas just don't provide enough cover for coues bucks to feel secure post fire. Would be interesting to know if others have noticed the same changes???

The bulls love to make adjustments on my trail cameras. They seem to disagree with how I place them. One bull has even managed to open up my camera and leave his horn marks on the inside of the camera!! That is one bold bull that must pay the price!

It is hilarious to watch a bull come up to a cow decoy and say "my you are looking thin this year Mabel". As far as the cow calls my best advice is to act like the typical woman and play hard to get. In other words cow call no more than 20% of the time you hear the real calls. Less calling and playing hard to get has been a key to success for us.

Spring rains this year were above average and very timely in Alpine IMHO compared to former years. That is the key reason for my optimism on this year's horn quality. Bulls should start moving this week so we'll soon see what we shall see!

Antler growth/quality is a topic I have monitored for many years. Seems that the final outcome after the hunts always surprise and often do not align with my own prediction. All these previous comments are very interesting to read and I must say that I am most aligned with the comments that idgaf made in his post. Intermittent (timely) spring rains might have the greatest impact on horn variability IMHO. Last year we had a seven week dry period with no precipitation in the spring but as I recall the horn quality turned out to be at least average or slightly above. This year we had one of the best springs I can recall for timely precipitation in the March-June period. So based on that I am expecting above average horn quality this year. The monsoons this year do seem slightly down though but I don't expect any negative affects from the lower rainfall since July. Alpine looks in fantastically green shape at the moment. But to argue against myself I can remember many years in the past when horn quality did not meet expectations. Will be interesting to see what all the hunters conclude after this years hunts. I will say that due to visibility and other impacts from the wallow fire a greater % of the monster bulls have already been harvested in the previous years since the fire, which might be the more significant impact on what we end up seeing this year.

Caution on using "barrel horses" in unit 27. I can tell you 16 years ago I was showing a pal in rough terrain of 27 where he could harvest a good bull in the late hunt. We were riding his "desert horses" in rough country and during a rain one of his horses I was riding slid down a steep incline and came to rest on top of me. Took my pal a few minutes to get the horse off of me. Thought I broke my hip but luckily no hip replacements needed so far. My pal unfortunately ended up in the hospital that night with a stress attack from the incident. Bottom line you need good horses used to the mountains and to be an experienced rider to safely navigate Unit 27.

We've seen very minimal trail enhancements from the USFS unfortunately. From my experience most of the mulies move off the rim by the first week in November. If I had horses like you I would hunt 1000 foot below the rim in either direction from Hannigans.

I also remember the $5 calls......only it turned into $25 for my family to get the info as quick as possible!

Is that a panda bear? Interesting location.

Unfortunately I remember when we could only apply for elk every three years after being drawn. Doesn't sound so bad now that we have to wait so long for the next elk hunting priviledge in the draw!

My son from Phoenix has the Unit 27 muzzleloader bull hunt in September. His gun is a 54 caliper Knight. He cannot find any black powder "pellets" in Phoenix, just loose powder. Anyone have a recommendation where he should look for the 54 cal black powder "pellets" ???

Just curious about what features on these horns make you think there is a possibility that they come from a coues deer?

Definitely mule deer.

Will get back to you Red as soon as I can discuss with my son in Phoenix. Thanks for your kind and quick response.