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No...21 never has leftover, gun or archery

Ok so here's the deal, for the past 3 years my FIL has gone with my javelina archery hunting just to give me company since he can't hunt archery, this year he wants to hunt gun season but we still want to get me a archery tag, so here's the scenario I want to get an archery tag for my favorite unit, he will accompany I still want to get a second stink pig, with him in his gun unit That requires me to get a leftover tag in same unit as his gun draw tag Logistics problems: Coordinating which units he can draw for AND I can get a leftover in ( if this makes sense) We enjoy desert style hunting, so not to cold, definitely no snow Preferably nothing over 1-1.5 hour drive from Glendale Phoenix area He is slightly disabled but doesn't qualify as disabled hunter so can't be an"extreme" hike/land issue (he broke his back in 2 places now with rods and had both knees replaced Any suggestions for his gun unit that will definitely have leftover tags for me to grab one for my second animal? Thanks Patrick

I have two unicorns in my life which no matter how hard I try I could never seal the deal with, the first is a black tree squirrel (another story, another time) and second being javelin. I have moved here 8 years ago and began hunting them then and have yet to find one. I have always said, the day I find a javelina in season, is the day I will kill one. I started out gun hunting them but soon I got exhausted on the idea of taking a week off from work just to not find them so I got into archery last year for the purpose of extending my hunting schedule but also so I wouldn’t have to take off a week but to have a month to hunt the fabled creatures. Turns out archery was great to me, I got my bull elk out of show low this sept gross score 320 6x6 and now I was out to get me a stink pig in 20b, I have always hunted the big 42ish unit for the last 3 years with no luck so I decided to try something new. Not being able to get out opening day, the first Friday I was out in the field looking over a nice set of hills, about 1-2 hours after first light and all I was seeing was a burrow hee hawing up the canyon I decided I was going to move up to the next ridge. That was when my angle appeared, I assume it was G&F spotter plane doing a survey but they came real low, and circled the hill that was one hill over from me 5 times then flew off, I said to myself this is it and got a move on. After cresting the hill I set up the binos and begin looking, I find a man with a bow making his was right on the hill and look over way far right to see a pack of pigs just chowing down, so I curtail my excitement and sit down to watch the show. He after a while takes 3 shots with the bow, scattering the herd each time then he walks away and I see the pigs 200 yards away from him now heading down the hill…THIS IS MY CHANCE!!! I run back to the jeep, throw my crap in, grab my bow and range finder and do the 700 yard dash to get my pig, as I near5 closer I hear his truck scraping the ground making all kinds of racquet and he stops right in front of me, he never saw the pigs apologize for all the noise, he was hunting a 2 point and never went for the pigs, lol. We make a plan and start heading up, we see or hear NO PIGS, get to the top use the wind make my way over start heading down, and there it was, almost with an angelic aura surrounding it, 20 yards away, I range him, draw on him and he moves behind a Palo Verde, let the bow down, move over 10 feet and get spotted by another but since I'm in full camo I stay still and he starts eating again but a bigger one comes into the picture, range him at 30 draw back and he moves behind a Palo Verde but he keeps moving so I stayed drawn and what feels like forever he changes directions my hands and arms are shaking and let the bow down once more, getting slightly frustrated I can’t seal the deal even from this close on my unicorn, wind changes I’m in the wrong place now and they disappear, but they didn’t wind me but they did disappear, go back up hill, move over 40 yards come back down again, couldn’t find them…WHERE DI THEY GO (I’m screaming to myself inside my head) they I hear a squabble, a fight breaks out 50 yards above e me and to the right and a male gets kicked out of the herd and starts running to me, I quickly range the tree I think he will cross, 20 yards, here he comes….wait for it…draw back the bow….grab the 20 pin… settle it on him…. He stops and see me….I never felt the trigger and I never felt the bow let loose but the next thing I heard was THWACK!!!!!!! ROARRRRRR!!!!!! And watched him circle circle circle circle, run up the hill, circle circle circle then crash through Palo Verde and [prickly pear and run diagonal. I know where he went go to find the blood and retrieve my arrow I see blood, a decent blood trail then I find my arrow….guts, cursed myself and started looking for blood, I found a decent amount so I wasn’t worried to bad, 2” cutters better have hit something good. I find him piled up in a Palo Verde clacking he jaws at me and won’t budge, settle my 20 pin on him and it flies over then another it goes under, now I’m out of arrows, I get closer to him and around him, find my flung arrows grab one and point blank put another in his chest sealing the deal…..MY FIRST PIG!!!!!!The adrenaline rush of being so close, stalking like I never knew I could, using the wind and sealing my victory, god the flavor is great, can’t wait to taste my prize

so yes apparently my pictures have violated the terms of service for image shack, who knows why, but they have been removed. so I have sent my pictures to amanda via email and she will post up the images for me, hopefully. thanks again for all the help and suppor tthat was given to me via this site and the people on it...

After 5 Long years I was finally privileged enough to be graced with an archery bull elk tag in 3c, not that I was specifically going after 3c or for that matter an archery tag, but that’s what I got and it was a blessing just to be able to get out and hunt the magnificent elk. Lets first start off by saying, I’ve never hunted elk, never been in a rut, never hunted archery successfully, so the doubts were high but the motivation was incredible, to have so many firsts on a trip is indescribable. I contacted a few members on a forum, about information and was welcomed with open arms by few who gave me some good information tips, tricks, and one member who said he would be glad to help me hands on. Opening day Friday the 14th I met up with mike at 630 and the bulls were in full swing bugling like I had never heard before. I was greeted with, “suit up and we’ll go and chase them” I was more than excited, we chased up hills and down, calling ourselves to locate then stalk again.. Mike told me to sit near the bush and he would call and after 2 minutes of listening to mike cow call I was 10 yards face to face with a little spike bull. Man this is a treat, face to face with this huge creature, and it was only a spike, obviously I didn’t shoot and just let him stare at me and then go off on his merry way, we had 2 more stalks that morning but didn’t get close enough to connect with anything good, that night I sat on a water hole (since no bugling was to be heard and the unit was DRY), I saw 2 flocks of jakes 1 doe, and an absolutely huge cinnamon bear that I was asleep when he passed and only saw his backside when I awoke leaving the tank Saturday the 15th, went out with mike, we bugled and called, we stalked and hunted, we got really close and almost connected but the bull just wouldn’t leave his cows and we couldn’t stalk any further, they started bugling at 530 and were shut up by 7, that night I sat on water just north of the highway and was greeted by a coyote entering the water at 67 yds away, I took a shot and realized my whisker biscuit was pushed over so far, I missed that yote by a god 3 feet, uh oh.. Big problems Houston, I reset the whisker biscuit as best I could by eye and went back to camp Sunday the 16th in the morning, we hear bugles on bugles on bugles at 530ish and we decide to go after them, in a hill behind some houses, we drove through forest roads like we were possessed, found an in and started our stalk, OMG HES HUGE!!! 350in bull pushing cows around kicking out other bulls and he was SCREAMING nonstop, ADRENALINE RUSH I was going to connect, I was going home, this is a dream come true, running and hiding in scrub, waiting for him to pass us, and he forgot to read the script we wrote, he never came, the subordinate bulls left and he went over the other side never to be seen again, 200 yards was the closest and most exciting we got that day, and man was it worth it, every second of heart pounding action, never had I experienced before, that night I sat on a tank on FR300, I interrupted a nice black bear leaving the tank, I promptly made my presence known and shushed her away, 1 minute later I see little cubs walking right to me, drawn the pistol and hope and pray that mama(who I just ran off) doesn’t come after me, sat down, head to toe camo and watched the cubs play, and romp, then get bored and start calling for mama, eventually mama came and the family went off on their merry way, mom got within 4 yards of me, and the cubs were within 15 yards, the cubs never got closer and it was so refreshing to see their carefree nature, 1 hour later I was busted by a doe, and 1 hour after that I was treated by a man in a suburban driving down rim road, stop in front of my water hole and proceed to empty an entire cylinder in the apache res (apparently attempting to keep the big bulls from crossing the res, 3c border, ok I get it hunt over going back to camp Monday the 17th, greeted by mike and a friend of his, we go down one of the forest roads after nobody was talking, finally located 1 bull attempted a stalk, the hardest run I have ever been on and still made it no closer than 400 yards through stickers, ton of dead fall and 3 hills, I acted like I had bronchitis and couldn’t catch a breath, morning fail. That night sat on a tank, spooked a spike bull and black bear out of the tanks..opps note to self, sneak into a tank, maybe next time there will be a trophy waiting for me, later that night got greeted by another bear, MUCH MUCH larger, never saw me and came within 15 yards (yes I got it all on video) Tuesday the 18th, stalked on some bulls in the pinion forests, got within probably 50 yards but again bull wouldn’t leave his cows and the stalk failed, sat on a tank that night and saw nothing Wednesday the 19th , the morning was another great stalk on 3 different bulls, nothing able to connect, no arrows flung but we did get within 40 yards of a 300 bulls but no shots presented due to trees and branches etc, we located another tank and figured the elk were suing this to water most likely, so we built a ground blind suitable for a king and went on our way. At 12 noon I was excited to head to the water hole so I geared up sprayed everything down with scent killer and went to my pond… I waited and waited, apparently we set up with my butt in an ant hill (yeah that was fun) sun went over the trees and I start hearing bugling then more bugling all downwind…OH NO!!!!!! then I heard a big bugle just above me, then another, then one in front of me as if it were coming to the water hole… adrenaline dump, started shaking then 3 cows come rushing in the water hole… OMG they’re here, where’s the bull where’s the bull… then he enters, big dude, royalty as far as I am concerned, I turn on the video camera (which is one of those spy glasses that record in first person) range him at 25 yards in the middle of the pond, I nock an arrow and wait for him to turn broadside….waitin……..waiting….. waiting…. All his cows are looking around, so is he…finally he turns, I draw back, carefully aim, (at which point, I have to tell you, I don’t even remember hitting the release consciously) THWACK!!! Dead center chest broadside, he runs to the bank, and I nock another, chanting to myself, please go down, please go down, please go down, I aim again 30 yards away, THWACK!!!!! Another sinks into his chest he walks another 10 yards, I nock another THWACK!!!! A third shot into his chest, he runs 15 yards, I nock another, I hear a bugle coming into the water hole, THWACK another sinks in, and just when I look at the water hole and realize a MUCH BIGGER BULL just entered the pond as well… he sees my bull and chases him outa sight with 4 of my arrows in him…. I CALL EVCERYONE, more giddy then an Amish boy seeing a girls leg for the first time I call mike, I tell him I stuck a bull 4x and then he ran off, he asks if he’s bleeding, I say IDK,I stuck him 4x and don’t think I was getting any penetration, I could see 3 out of 4 arrows and all still had 90% of the shaft still exposed, he rushes from town to come help.. I wait 15 minutes then start the blood tracking, at the point of the 3 arrow, he was bleeding, he was bleeding REAL GOOD, Stevie wonder could follow this blood trail, I find one arrow, follow more blood, then see him piled up in the trees, he never made it 100 yards, mike comes, finds me and we start the gutting process… we man up and after several attempts, got him loaded onto the Toyota pickup without pulleys ropes or anything except for a nice gash going straight to the bone on my forehead from our efforts of getting him up and in from the antler…opps PSE dream season 60 pounds with 29.5 inch draw Gold tip hunting arrows Grim reaper 3 blade mechanicals with 2 inch cutter (he took 3 of these) Grim reaper 3 blade mechanicals with 1 ¾ inch cutters (he took 1 of these) A HUGE THANK YOU goes to mike, huntitup, for helping with this hunting, speaking elk, and motivating me to run harder, run faster, and run longer. He is a stand up guy, I would go to bat for him anyday of the week, and if he ever needs help, I'll be there no matter what....I'm proud to call him my friend

at 2:38..... the bull on the left side of the screen ...what would you gross score him at???

so apparently no scouting until late...LOL no worries but it looks like it gets recinded july 31 so we can still hunt there...and the areas are north of fr300 when I was told to stay south of 300....is 300 road itself closed or just the lands north of it? G&F recommends scouting below 260 which bidects the unit... I'm sure there have got to be good scouting areas I can go to south of 260 right?? or is that the area we are talking about and I can't go?? Thanks

So I had a talk with a game warden, and they told me I should be looking for elk during the early season along fr 300 just slightly north of the res... they showed me a map, it looked easy enough to find.... but I cannot find it nor can I find a path to find it... Can someone tell me where FR300 is just north of the res land in unit 3c it would be just north of "easterly along the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest boundary to U.S. Hwy 60" as per G&F unit boundries on the website, I am planning a scoutng trip trhis weekend and would like to start here unless of course someone has a better area or is willing to show me around :-) Thanks for any advice Patrick

sorry..... early hunt

So I pulled my first archery bull elk tag in 3a/3c.... from what I have been seeing, I plan to spend most of my time in 3c but since I have neevr been elk hunting nor hunting near the rim, I was hoping some could share the knowlegde they ahve gained over the years of hunting/camping in this unit during this time and what gear I may need and what gear I absolutely cannot live without What gear, what cammo, how "cold prepared" should I be, I heard about rain? I am typically always a desert hunter so this will be the first time hunting high country in 10 years living back in NY when I was all of 19 Thanks

Thanks I will practice my 10 yard shots allthough that sounds obsurd to me, not that I have the ability to make or not make 10 yd shots but that I can actually get that close to them.... I am not a trophy hunter by any means, I actually follow the old addage, you can't eat antlers but I will admit I am totally jonesing for this hunt and hope and pray I dont get punked.... I don't even know "how to score any animals" so I honestly wouldn't know what a big one is except HOLY S^&* that one is huge and right next to me

Who is my bugler??? I don't understand?? I have never been elk hunting in my life, I have only "spooked" one herd of elk in my life and that was 3 years ago on accident while squirrel hunting , and I was archery deer hunting last year (to no success) and stalked within 50 yds of a cow elk witha calf, man was that a thrill..... I have only been archery hunting for the last year and have not had any sucess sticking anything yet.... it took me 5 years to just get drawn for this hunt but I don't have the cash to go buy an outfitter/guide etc to help meon this so like many other hunts I am mostly on my own

Hey everyone, my name is Patrick, long time lurker, first time poster :-) anyways I am hunting friends with gr8 white jr who initially turned me onto this site, I was lucky enough to pull a 3a/3c early archery bull hunt, and am looking for people who drew similar tag or later tag and want to go hunting/scouting togetehr.... I am not looking for a guide, just a hunting buddy to up the success rate a little ttyl have a good day

"Does that rock have a white stripe on it?” “Yes” he replied. I told Zach, “Shoot that rock right in the stripe.” BOOM!" ROFLMAO AWESOME story, and congrats, I got a little of the story from jon but nothin near yours, way to get it done