Lance

May be one of the Round Vally bulls. There have been several of them lately. But some out of the Verdy Lately too. We have hunted/guided several of those OTC elk tags. 9 tags to be exact, and are blessed to still have 100% kill success. 6 bulls and 3 cows. Each area that is open has its little honey holes, and they can change from year to year, or month to month. But there are elk to be had if there is a lot of scouting and luck involved. That said, Anyone want to go kill an OCT elk this year? I know of a few more that I would love to go harvest! Lance

Well dang Jake, I know this is a Coues deer site, but if we are going to remember the good times of last year lets not forget about the wonderfull mule deer hunts we were blessed to be a part of! I'm sure some have seen these pictures before, but since we are waiting around.... Hopefuly this next draw will be like Christmas all over again! Lance And lets not forget these two Coues Bucks! Thats like 16 deer, cool. And each one its own memory! Thanks every one for shooting strait last year! Come on draw results! ....... Lance

They are already doin it. This is my youngest of 4. She is 6 years old. She catches all her own fish just fine but waders dont do her shortness any good. So we get a little creative. Here she is proudly showing the size of fish she just caught and released. Lance

Sweet variety of pictures! That 6X7 bull is a toad!

The 3rd Annual Flagstaff area CouesWhitail.com Get together is planned for the same weekend as last year. June 19th and 20th 2009! This is of course for all CouesWhitetail.com members and their families, and not just for Flag area members! We will provide dinner on Friday night and breakfast on Saturday morning. Maybe Amanda can post links to the last couple of years events? Lets hear from who is going to make it it this year! Visiting Camping Eating Shooting Scouting Fishing Tournaments Contests Raffles Friends Family Fun Don't miss it! The Gathering is held by Marshall Lake South of Flagstaff.

Thats sweet! great pictures ! Thanks for posting them!

Amen to those pictures Doug! Amen!

Single Bevel Broad Heads. Look up the Doctor's work!

Once again, it was a great time with great people! Thank you all so much for coming! I counted 33 in all that attended the Get Together this year. Some spent Thursday night and some stayed through Sunday making it a 4 day event! Sorry, I didn't get a picture of everyone that was there, or of all that went on, but here are a few pictures that I did get! To busy having fun to catch everything on camera I guess! You saw some pictures from Friday night, And I was one of the first to wonder about on Saturday Morning. We had a nice drizzle of rain of Friday night and woke to a cool fresh and beautiful mountain morning! Here a heavenly beam of light shines on a B&C class Coues shed as it lies in the morning dew of the rain soaked grass! That is exactly how I think we view every shed Coues anteler we find in the woods! That Halalula moment with a shining light! So I picked it up and put it on the table for a breakfast center peice. The reminant of the the friday night campfire. the Bow Tree But it wasn't quiet out for long and camp was busy once again! Ty and little Gavin. "You can pee on any tree you want Gavin". "Realy! Any tree I want!" "Yea! just pick one and you better hury!" Amanda was always a big hit with the kids! We ended up having 3 archery shoots! In the morning the kids had a shoot and the adults had a shoot. In the afternoon kids and adults had a shoot together and it got real fun and real creative! I just had my camera phone with me during the shoot so the pictures are a little blury. Jermey's arrow didn't care it the trees were in the way and scored a 5 right through an oak tree anyway! Thanks Amanda for this great site! Like I said before. Great time with Great people! Thank you all for coming, participating and contributing to this Get Together! All of you who come are who make it happen! I hope to see you all next year! Thanks! Lance and Carrie Crowther and Family

Those pictures are just AWESOME! .Very cool scenery and very artistic with the pictures!!! Looks like a great trip! Thanks for posting! You gotta love all the variety! Lance

Ok Almost there! Here are a few details if you havent got them already. Friday night we are cooking dogs and burgers. We will start cooking at 7:30pm. Some have brought side dishes in the past to go along with that, and it was well recieved! Please feel free to bring sides if you like! "Saturday Morning" We are cooking buscuits and gravy! Breakfast served around 8:00 AM. After breakfast We will have an Archery Shoot for those who want to partisapate in that! You are welcome to bring a target if you like! Last year was a lot of fun! We can also do horse shoes or other type games at this time for those not shooting bows. Please Bring horse shoes or other games if you have them. Tournaments can carry over after lunch if you would like to partisipate in more than one. If you don't like to participate in games, there is plenty to do like visit, scout, fish, clean up camp, cook lunch etc. For Lunch on Sat. Lets have a potluck together at 12 noon. We can include leftovers from the night before or what ever you like! During lunch we will have our Raffle. Money goes to CWT.com! You can bring something to donate for the raffle if you like! We will also anounce the winners of the guess the score contests for the racks that are brought! Bring some if you like! Looks like we will be able to have camp fires so bring your stories, pictures, gear, maps, etc. The forest is beautifull and green! Antlers are growing great! Fishing is still good in near by lakes! I Havent been to Lower Lake Marry in over a week, but a week ago it was still HOT HOT HOT if you fished with waders and flies! It will be off of Marshal Lake Road. IF YOU NEED DIRECTIONS YOU CAN CONTACT ME. If your comming please speek up on this post if you haven't already, And include how many you are bringing so we can get some sort of a head count! Thank you! Please feel free to add to this list!!! I know there is much more that goes on during this outing and I know some of you have some great ideas for this year as well! Lance and Carrie Crowther and Family! Below is a rack I found last season. I will be bringing it for the guess the score contest!

OK, so I gave away the ending before the CWT Flagstaff area Get to Gether, but you should still come any way! Next weekend starting June 19th! And I hope you apply for this once in a lifetime kill buffalo hunt! It is truly a one of a kind experience! The spring hunt ends this evening, I hope everyone else was able to fill their tags! I cant wait to go back and hit it again for another year! Lance PS. Added 7/10/09- Our hunter Dennis wanted to write something about his hunt, so he wrote up some comments about his hunt and other things and He requested that I add them to this post on CWT. So here is what Dennis wrote.... This is a 2009 Arizona Buffalo hunt tale from the hunt/client’s point of perspective. I want to keep this post, via Lance of TLO Guide Services, as brief as I can so that you will not fall sleep before the end. Where to start? Well I have been an Arizona Sportsman hunting big game for some 45 years. Thanks to TLO, I now have nine of the big ten. Moreover, this coming fall season I have drawn a trophy bull permit. My fellow hunters now want me to play the lottery. I do not gamble. I am sixty four years young with many health issues. I have harvested a number of large game animals without assistance. However, when I drew for an Arizona Buffalo at House Rock I knew I was in over my head because of the terrain as well as the size of the game. I know of what I speak because I have harvested three buffalo in Co. After each harvest, I had a large amount of assistance of the ranch owners. Now first I must applaud the efforts of the entire TLO guide service whose performances are without question top notched and extremely professional. Please allow me to name names. Chief guide is Lance, followed closely by Russ, John and Jake. Their monumental dedication to their chosen field is beyond question. If they need me as a reference, they are but to ask. Second, I feel compelled to express my slant on a few reported highlights and lowlights of my buffalo hunt experience. True my favorite rifle and I “parted” ways early in the hunt leaving me a hunter with a tag only. Well Russ is not “just” an engineer, but a true outdoors “make it work” type of individual. No doubt you have viewed the picture of my Browning. The time between the first and second half was spent near the field because my last vehicle accident does not allow me to travel any distance without extreme pain. So to go back to Tucson was out of the question. As it turned out, I indeed needed the time to enjoy my surrounding and my own company. This brings to mind the story of the old lone bull. He wanted nothing more then eat and sleep on his own terms. Then one day the rancher spotted him and said he needed to go to market because he can no longer be of “service”. I/we on the other hand have more control of our latter years then this old bull. However, I for one tend to enjoy my own company more as we get to be senior (bull). The second half of my adventure can best be expressed as army boot camp. I was not in control one minute. My infamous miss can be described in two parts. First I have always told myself to be sure of target down range. When I heard two bulls and could only see the middle half of one and did not know enough of the facts until I remembered “trust your guide”. Now is where the story gets differing from my point of view. I am six foot one inch and my guide is about six foot four or so. My eye level is equal to his shoulder level. Add to that the height of a rifle and scope plus the fact that the shot was somewhat down gradient, I was standing on my tiptoes to see any part of the target. The rest is as they say history. Please allow me to fast forward a bit. It is two and a half days past my contract hunt and a change in guides because of prior commitments. As it turned out (engineer), Russ who was also in the buffalo hunter Richard’s harvest was in mine as well. (You may recall from Lance’s tale that Russ repaired my first problem rifle). Suffice to say my kill was about sixty feet form Russ and me and died hundred and ninth feet form my rifle barrel. TLO in 2009 is two for two. This should tell you all to hook up with TLO for not only buffalo but also any time you want great guides. The following is mostly for my own benefit- Here comes the “hard-spot” to many Coues hunters. Since my last accident, I have had to give up my cover ground fast and hard. I hunted in this stile so that the Coues will give up their hiding spot by becoming nervous. Now I will give in to “glassing”. I use to say that glassing is an old man's way to hunt. In my opinion, this is a lazy hunting technique. To me the definition of hunting is to pursue not sit and glass or in a tree stand… Please do not reply to this less then popular technique. In sum, I need one more paragraph to boast of my hunting history. My best achievement is my twenty-eight Coues in forty years of hunting this desert-gray-ghost. Most of the deer I shot on the run at distances of two to four hundred yards. I took an antelope at House Rock at four hundred six yards on a dead run. I do have my son-in-law to verify that tale. So I really am one of those hunters that find forty yard targets a challenge. On the other hand, I found long shots easy to accomplish. Therefore, with the new member of the family (338 Lapua who I have named EVE) I can once again be near my element except that I will not chase down any more Coues. Thank you for putting up with my gab and me, once again, to thank Russ, Jake, John and Lance from TLO. Dennis, AKA Maverick

Next day continued! The next morning started out a couple of hours earlier and we headed around to check out some holes on the high end of the unit! Once again Dennis took a stand, this time on a watter hole while I covered country and glassed some more. I found plenty of buff sign but none within the week. I eliminated spot after spot just going down the list of all our favorite little buffalo spots. But I could still find no sign within the week. By late afternoon I had put the puzzle together and decided on one last spot. The sign I had found led me to believe thats where they might be. We had covered everything from point A to point B and had discovered what they had done and where they had been everywhere in between. I was pretty sure it was going to be the spot and the day was getting late, so I went and grabbed Dennis so we could have the gun there while we checked it out! On the way into the area I found Buffalo tracks on the side of the road! They were old but from the amount of wear from the rain I could tell they were within the time frame I was looking for! I checked a few more areas and Bingo, sign from two days earlier! We went for a hike through an area I knew to be popular for buffalo in past years and found more sign there than I had ever seen before! A little more searching and we found sign from the day before! That was it, we were off on a chase trying to outrun the setting sun! I had a good idea of the pattern of the buffalo in the area and I wanted to try to intercept that pattern before dark! We had about an hour to get the shooting done and all night to get one out because I had to leave the next morning! Soon we were hot on the trail and now had stinking sign from that morning! We could tell there had been loads of buffalo in the area and the group we were following was just a splinter of the rest of them. This group had six buffalo in it with one being a huge bull! Now again, I remind you that Dennis was after a cow buffalo. But he also said he would shoot the first one he saw and that brought excitement to me knowing an animal making that size of track was less than half a day ahead of us and didn't know we were coming! Below are pictures from that day. Below a Clark's Nutcracker enjoying the sky high view! Below a Western Fence lizard keeps me company while glassing The pretty Yellow Rumped Warbler were also everywhere! We snuck through the woods as quiet and as fast as we could but we were not able to find them before dark. It was hard knowing what I knew of their pattern from the sign I found that night and knowing I had to leave the next morning. We had put in so much time miles and effort to find them again after Dennis missed the first one it was hard to have to leave. , and I didn't want to give them time to leave! I felt we just needed a day in the area and the job would be done. I would be able to be back on Monday morning but the buffalo were there, now, and we knew what they were doing there, now. I had a little time Friday morning that I could get in there with Dennis and make a good effort but there wasn't enough time to give a downed buffalo the kind of attention and respect it needed. I didn't want to take the chance of waiting tell Monday so I called Russ and told him what I had found! We made plans to trade places and he would get to do the fun part! You gotta love it when you have an awesome team you can count on in any situation! Thanks Guys! Friday morning Dennis and I moved camp to the other side of the unit and I left him there to wait for Russ and headed for home. On my way home I had a bad blowout on my truck! Had we filled the tag before that, I would have been pulling my trailer during the blowout! I believe our Father in Heaven was watching over our hunt in many ways beyond that as well. I handed the hunt off to Russ and told him what and where and the trail he needed to be on Saturday morning. Russ was very familiar with the area and I knew he would do his best and get the job done if it could be done! Russ arrived in camp late Friday night, grabbed a couple winks of sleep and he and Dennis headed out for the area Russ and I had planned out! They parked quite a ways off and hiked into the area to be as quiet as possible. Russ quickly found the trail I had told him about and began to stalk down it with Dennis. We weren't sure of the exact time of morning the buff would be in the area but from the sign I had found Thursday night we were sure it was going to be in the morning sometime. That is, as long as someone hadn't spooked them in the meantime! After a short ways down the trail Russ stops to listen. "You hear that?" Russ says. Russ tells Dennis to load the gun and get in front of him. They began stalking down the trail again. Russ slows down Dennis and tells him he hears buffalo down the trail. "You sure?" "Yea, and I hear a bunch of them!" Pretty soon Dennis can hear them as well! They ease down the trail a little more until Russ stops them. "They are moving our way" Russ whispers to Dennis. They wait and soon can see the backs of several buffalo coming over a rise just down the trail! Nerves are tense! They set up for a shot and wait for a clear buffalo! The buffalo continued to come as more and more of them file up the trail. Soon buffalo are all over in the narrow canyon before them and the lead cow rounds a tree at 20 yards and stops! She stares down Dennis and Russ as she tries to determine what they are. More buffalo file up the trail behind her and Russ can see several bulls in the immediate background mixed into the first dozen or so buffalo. A huge herd of 50 buffalo continues to file up the trail behind the first few as Dennis sights in on the lead cow! She is not sure what to think of the two camo forms blocking the trail and sidesteps showing her side to Dennis. It's a quartering on shot but its a clear one and if he waits any longer there will be too many buffalo and the chance for a pass through too great. Dennis touches off the trigger and the cow leaps off the trail to the left just out of sight! The entire canyon of 50 buffalo and two humans comes to a quiet standstill as the echo of the shot drifts through the timber. A huge Bull emerges from the herd and stares toward the lead cow.... All is silent..... Russ slowly reaches forward and grabs a tight hold on Dennis's clothing from behind and looks for a safe place to throw him in preparation of the imminent stampede that he knows is coming....... The crashing of the cows body hitting the ground breaks the silence and the big bull whirls in a thundering stampede, leading the rest of the herd out of the canyon to the right of the two anxious hunters! The ground pounding, rock throwing, tree thrashing, rock your world stampede continued just yards away for a few brief and tense moments as 49 buffalo vacate the canyon! The two hunters stand still and wait a while for things to calm down. They still cant see the cow and are not sure of the exact situation so they just wait it out for a while and gather themselves. Russ sends a text message to me saying they shot and are now waiting. But of course there is no signal there and I wouldn't get the message tell latter that day. After the wait they ease forward and there lies Dennis's big beautiful cow only a few yards from where she was shot! A humbled celebration fallowed and a long photo session. After the photos Russ hikes back to get some more gear and brings his quad down the old logging road and over to the Buffalo. While cutting up Dennis's cow the herd of buffalo came right back through the way they had left! They came running by in two big groups just a minute apart. They were able to count them this time and thats how they know there were 50 of them! The weather was good and warm up to this point but faithful to the the reputation of the Kaibab it changed in a moment and began to snow and hail giant snowballs! It was actually just what the meat needed to cool down without having to bone it right away so Russ hauled it out in two big skinned out pieces. Russ is an animal! Below are some of the pictures Russ took that day If you remember from the first hunt, Dennis was the one who broke his rifle in two. And now, a picture of the big and short blood trail from Dennis's second rifle! Dennis, Just taking it all in.... There was alot to take in! The smile says it all! Ok for those of you who became blood thirsty waiting for this story to end, this ones for you! What is the Bab without a sudden change in the weather! When they reached camp Russ was able to get out some messages letting us know the job was done and they were packing up camp and hooking up the trailers to come home, unless I had some more Buffalo hunters to send him! haha lol! But indeed he was the guide with the trigger man on each buffalo! Way to get it done Russ, ie-"Buffalo Hump"! They arrived at my home in Flagstaff safely that afternoon. After a big dinner with my extended family and Russ's we finished cutting up the buffalo and got it into the freezer. The next morning we loaded Dennis up with his meat, took his buff to the taxidermist and got him on his way home to his family! Thanks Dennis! You are a trooper indeed! Congrats on getting the beautiful buffalo you set out to get! It was a hunt of a lifetime with friends we all will never forget! We look forward to hunting with you again! Thanks to the TLO Buffalo Crew and the countless hours they dedicated to these hunts in the field and out! Thanks to our Families back home who had our backs and supported us in every way, day in and day out! Without your support, none of it is possible! Thanks to the readers of these stories for their patience, and to Amanda for requesting we post the stories! I hope the pictures brought it to life for you all and I hope you enjoyed it! We sure did! Thanks! Lance Crowther and the TLO Buffalo Crew!

I'm sorry, but like I said at the beginning of this story, This story is about the journey and not the kill. If you dont like the other pictures,You can come back when the title says "Finished" But maybe he didn't even get one.... now you have to wait tell tonight for the end. Lance

The next day we woke to the quiet sound of no rain..... We headed out with high hopes that some buffalo may have come back into the area and I was going to cover all of it to find out. We checked some of the more accessible country together and then I took Dennis to a high point overlooking some common buffalo routs. Being that Dennis couldn't walk well he would hunt in this stand spot while I combed the country. I needed to find out if any were in the area or where they had gone. I knew there was a large group of buffalo some where in the unit and they had been there for a while. I know there are plenty of buffalo that hang out on the park all the time and some would say that all the buffalo did and that it was an impossible hunt. But obviously they don't all hang out there. At least not all the time! So that day I jumped on my quad and drove every road in the lower country looking for tracks . Every road, and many of them twice. For those that have never been there before, thats quite a few more than 50 or 60 miles. After finding nothing, I parked the quad and began hiking. The rest of the day was spent hiking 7 miles through roadless country from glassing point to glassing point. Not a drop of fresh buffalo sign was found high or low. But at least we knew they weren't there and we could move on! That day the clouds built up big but it didn't rain! I even got a sun burn that day and was glad to have it! Below are some of the pictures from that day. Below is an old buffalo wallow. Western Tanager were everywhere!

Cricket Chirp! lol! OK OK The never ending story continues! Sorry for the delay. Scout Camp was a week on the back waters of Blue Ridge You see, this way, with all the delays to finishing the story, you can feel the way we felt every time we took a trip back home for one reason or another. lol! So there we were, I told Dennis whenever, and as soon as he could come back up, we would go at it again but that I had plans set for the next weekend and would have to go back Friday Morning. Dennis said he could meet me back in the Kaibab Tuesday afternoon after celebrated his wifes birthday.We had Russ waiting on call in Flagstaff for packing out a buffalo if we needed him but it would just be the two of us during those days. Dennis met me at camp and we headed out as soon as possible! We met up with some hunters that told us a small group of cow buffalo had been spotted at a distance and their friends were going after them. They were headed into the same area we had planed to hunt that evening so I elected to hunt elsewhere and let them have the country to themselves the rest of that day. We headed for plan B where we could glass the rest of the evening. That evening started out with distant thunder storms but soon we were back at our regular windy downpours to keep us filling at home in the Bab, and continue the pattern of the week before. Rain, rain and more rain! It seemed like we just couldn't get a break from the rain. Now, I'm the kind of guy , like most Arizonans, who always prays for rain. So when its starts having an effect on me in a way like it was effecting this Buffalo hunt, I try not to jump on a complaining band wagon. So, although it was hard to muster some hope out of the horizontal rain that blew into every seam of our bodies and equipment, we were going to do our best. I turned to Dennis and told him "Dennis my friend, This buffalo hunt is just like life. It"s not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain!" And with that, our mood was set for the next couple of days! We pulled into camp that night without seeing any buffalo, hung clothes to dry and got to bed early. Camp Below are pictures from that evening. Dennis enjoying the rain! Me, enjoying the sideways rain on the lense of my binos!

That night we rolled into camp late and due to some things we found that day we decided to check the low country one more time in the morning. The alarm came early that morning and no one was ready to get out of bed yet. We just pushed the snooze and listened to the pounding rain outside. Finally we pushed ourselves out of bed and put on our driest clothes and rang out our "Water Moccasins" and tied them up tight. We spread out again pounding the ground and making a thorough grid search of an 8 mile area. Finding nothing but more and more rain, we wanted to get an earlier start on some higher ground so we headed back to camp and repacked for the rest of the day. Jon had about 3 more rough miles to cover than any one else and was the last one in that morning by about 40 min. We headed out for the rest of the unit and some known buffalo haunts. Jon and I took Dennis in my truck and Russ and Jake headed in another direction in Russ's truck. We drove, hiked, glassed, tracked and dove some more. Later that afternoon we met up with Russ and Jake to compare notes. We decided that the freshest sign was the same we had found the day before and made plans to hike out some canyons and points in the area far from the roads and see what we could find. That day started with lots of rain but began to break up with scattered showers throughout mid day with a little heaver in the evening. I even got hailed on again and then just at dark, the skies opened up again and we experienced the biggest thunderstorm of them all, and could hardly see to drive! Needless to say, we rolled into camp late again having covered hundreds of miles. We were done for that little trip and the next day we would all head back to town. I told Dennis that when ever he could come back I'd be there and we would go at it again! He said he had his wifes birth day to celebrate and would let me know after that. So the next day the sun broke through the clouds and dried us out on the way home! Sorry For all the "to be continues" I hope it isn't discouraging the readers. I hope you are enjoying the pictures, They take a long time for me to download but help get the story across. And now, one more time I have to continue this story next week when my boys and I get back from Scout camp. Tell then! Lance

Latter that morning the clouds lifted a little and we headed to glass from some higher ground. We split up and covered several miles of country. Jon on one point, Jake on another , Dennis and I on another and Russ burning boot leather around the bottoms. But as we reached our positions the clouds and the rain rolled in thick and heavy! It washed away all tracks and made glassing almost impossible. And it rained and it rained! Here are some pictures from late that morning in between clouds and rain.... Finally Russ came on the radio and said he had fresh buffalo tracks! By the way it was raining they could only be fresh! But then he came back on the radio and reported that they were just up in front of him but that it was a cow and a tiny calf. Dennis did want to shoot a cow but we weren't really set on taking a cow away from such a young calf so I told Russ to just fallow them and see where they were headed and if they would lead us to some more buffalo. Up and up and up they went until Russ said "I think I'm closer to the top, do you want to just pick me up there?" We decided to make a change of scenery and head for higher ground to see what we could find. We headed back to camp and changed into dry clothes and made our way around to the top and split up again. When we got there we found buffalo sign but it was hard to tell how old the tracks were due to the amount of rain so we had to find droppings. From the droppings we could tell we were still a couple of days behind them. But then while sneaking through an area I found sign only a day old but it was too wet to fallow tracks, so we decided to spend the rest of the day there and search every hole we could find before dark. It was wet and fogy and it rained and rained and even hailed a little for us! We didn't find any buffalo that evening but had a great time walking around in our "Water moccasins none the less! Below are some pictures from that evening. To be continued!

Sorry for the delay. Lots has happend. Any way, I have decided that if you want to hear the rest of the story, then you have to come to the "Flagstaff Area Coueswhitetail.com Get-to-gether!" You can look up the details in the "Get-to-gether's" section of this Forum! See you there! Lance

It was a down poor of rain when the alarm went off in the morning! And it continued to rain all day! But hey, we were buffalo hunting and daylight was burning! We decided to start out spread out across the lower stuff and work our way into the higher ground and cover everything in between on the way. Here are some pictures taken between cloud bursts that morning. Fog rising from the Canyon! To be continued....

Thanks for the comments! OK where were we....About this time, miles away Jon hears the shot. booooooooosshh.... Now I have had at least 60+ animals shot off of my shoulder From point blank out to 500 yards so I know the drill and only a handfull of them have ever rang my ears. Well, this was one of them! With the gun over my right shoulder I had turned my head somewhat into the gun and back toward Dennis in my angst of trying to tell him to SHOOT and bringeeeeeeeeeeee... My left ear took a hit! So for me there was no telling if I could hear a meat shot or not. We positioned ourselves on the slope where we could see over to the next slope just in case they went up the other side. Then we waited.... Jake tore apart the surrounding area with the Swaro 15's, Jon was on his way to the road where we left our truck and Russ was on the radio Saying that he was at a vantage point at the top of the draw the buff had gone up! I turned to Dennis, "Where were the cross hairs when the gun when off?" I figured even if we hit him bad it would be a short tracking job to get another round in him. But how can you miss a three foot circle at 50 yards. Dennis said it was in the bull, then thought twice about it and finished with "It may have been a little high." High? Now that is not what I wanted to hear, Low would have been fine but a buff especially a big bull has allot of back strap and buffalo hump up high that won't mean a thing if you poke a bullet through it. So all we could do was wait. Below is a picture of one of the views from where Jake was glassing. While I was waiting I looked over the shot and point of impact area trying to find any blood or a bullet path through a tree or hair or anything. But, nothing. Dennis showed some discouragement "This doesn't look good" he said. I told him "This ain't over yet" We still had them surrounded and out numbered and we were gonna either find a dead bull or find out what happened!" After a bit Russ's voice on the radio breaks the intense silence "I've got Buff!" "I got a really big bull walking out of the draw one finger to the north headed toward Jake! Its thick and all I see is one." "Is he limping or have any sign of a hit? "No, nothing, and he doesn't seem spooked, but it's got to be one of those bulls he came right out of there at about the right time." The bull walked slowly over the hill and out of site of Russ. My thoughts were, one bull is better than two, and hoped the other was down somewhere. So we began our tracking job. Both bulls pretty much stayed together the entire time with no sign of a hit and we soon found ourselves walking up the same hill Russ had seen the single bull on. "Thats the spot right there" Russ told us. "Thats his tracks". "OK I said, "The other bulls tracks are right here with him just behind this tree" we had tracked for a good 3/4 of a mile or more and I was now convinced that we didn't have a hit. But the tracks had slowed down so we kept on. After we got way off over the hill I pointed out to Dennis that by the tracks you can see the buff were dragging along at a slow pace and would soon be looking for a place to rest! We slowed down and kept on. the tracks were still in a strait line and not wandering so I didn't expect them to stop right away. I got on the radio to Jake to let him know where they were headed.... Stop! I put my hand out to stop Dennis! I could see up ahead the tracks stood for a bit then made a 90 turn to the right! Dennis stopped just in time behind me to hear the thundering hooves as the two bulls ran out of a cedar thicket taking half the trees with them. They were about 70 yards away and it was so thick we never even got a glimpse of them. They weren't even down wind of us! I tell you what, some times Buff seem a little slow in the head and other times they can rival a Coues deer! The bulls didn't run as far this time before slowing to a walk. They were beginning to tire of these sudden sprints. so all we could do for now was stay on the tracks. After a bit Jake comes on the radio, "I got em!" "About 200 yards in front of you lined out walking fast". Dennis was giving all he had and we had already gone 3 miles! Another mile and Jake had lost sight of them again. The Buff made another change of direction so we got Jon on the radio and had him come around to meet us on another road. When we got to the road Dennis and myself were ready for a break! So Jon pulled up on his quad and sat down to go over the story, maps and a little brunch with us. The lucky tag holder Dennis Jon coming on the quad with extra water for our pit stop! During our little break Russ went for a quick 2 mile run from his spot to get to a glassing point in front of the bulls! Jake stayed put and when we were done Jon went around to climb to another vantage point. Again we had them surrounded! Dennis and I continued on the tracking job and right away noticed they were looking for a place to stop and rest. After slowly sneaking through even thicker cover for another mile we finally came across their empty beds. It was clear they had just gotten up and walked off without us spooking them and long before we got there. I relayed to the guys where we were and that I thought from this point the bulls would be circling and headed back the other way soon. Sure enough the tracks started to circle and head towards Jake. Jake switched his vantage point to better see a natural buffalo rout through the area and shortly thereafter Jake's whispered voice came on the radio "I've got them" "Both Bulls! They are passing right here below me!" I quickly grabbed Dennis's pack and rifle to lighten his load and we took off as fast as Dennis could go! We headed for the rise behind Jake! I figured the buffalo would continue to circle Jake and would pass by this vantage point giving us an easy shot. Russ came running back his two miles and Jon ran down his point to bring the quad around and meet us on the road. Jake's whispers grew intense as the bulls made their way around him . "Hurry, HHUURY!" Now, our main man Dennis was working on his 6th mile by then and it was all uphill slope as fast as he could go! I'm telling you, he is a trooper! Jake could tell we weren't going to make it and jokingly asked if we wanted him to try to drop a big rock on one of them to slow one down? We all met on a little road just below the vantage point that we were wanting to be on, but to the dismay of poor Jakes nerves, the two bulls had already passed by. Dennis was done and I think a little over done so Russ and Jon picked up there trail and Dennis and I headed on my quad all the way around the valley to set Dennis on a tank we thought the tired bulls might hit before dark. By the time we got to the tank Jake had spotted the 2 bulls a couple of more times a long ways from any roads. Jon stayed on the trail and Russ climbed another mountain to see if he could see the bulls and take over the spotting for Jake. Jake said the two bulls had stopped in a back canyon and looked like they were going to hang there for a while. When Russ reached his point it was about 1 or 2 pm and he could not see into the spot where the two bulls had gone but both were sure they hadn't come out. When Jon's tracking job led him into the area we pulled Jon off the trail as not to bump them out. Then Russ comes on the radio and says "I've got another buffalo in a totally different area!" It was a half mile or so from the others and looked to be a cow. I relayed the message to Dennis that we had two spots with buffalo hanging out in them but it would be at least a 3+ mile hike to each. He declined the offer and I could already tell he would. So we decided to let everyone have a restful evening. We would leave Dennis by the tank and the boys would just stay on their points and keep watch for the evening while I covered some of the lower country. It was hard to know where buffalo were and not go after them, cause although we all hoped they would be there in the morning , We knew it was highly unlikely. At dark Jake came down and met me on the canyon edge for some phone reception a little light rain and some pictures. Jon and Russ hiked out of the mountains and picked up Dennis on their way and met us back at camp. It was an end to an exciting day, and we knew we had a clean miss and no wounded bufflao! We had teamed up on two big bulls and even though the country is not very conducive to glassing compared to some areas, we were still able to give those bulls a run for their money and stay with them all day! That night it begain to Rain....and Rain.....And RAIN!

Whew, it was a late night. Took a while to wipe the pumpkin seeds out of my eyes So where were we.... Jake had done lots of climbing to get to his vantage point and Russ had hiked several miles to get to his spot. Jon was still 5+ miles away with his quad ready to back us up but had stopped to lesten to the excitement on the radio. Dennis and I were about 3/4 of a mile from the truck in the depths of a cedar jungle looking down the barrel at a huge hairy ribcage just 50 yards away! "Shoot Him, right through the middle, Shoot, .... The bull had had enough and began to turn to leave but as he did he stepped forward keeping the center of his chest in the center of our shooting lane. "Shoot him!" Quartered away now, "Shoot! Quartered hard, "SHOOT"! ...BOOM! The bull spun and bolted along with the other that we could now see running through the trees! "They bolted, Did you shoot?" came Jakes voice on the radio "We shot We shot" I called back! "Where are They headed? Are they still together? They went Left, and then up the draw out of site. Did either of them look hit? Couldn't tell, they were just gettin out fast and they were still together! About this time, miles away Jon hears the shot. booooooooosshh.... Sorry guys I have to go, I'll write some more later today....Sorry

The next morning came with great anticipation and soon everyone was off to there designated spots to glass for buff and I took Dennis to check some lower country for an easy buff while waiting for someone to call on the radio. After a while I took Dennis to set by some water while I continued to look around. It continued to sprinkle lightly off and on that day with lots of light clouds, which made for great hunting weather! Not 2 min after I dropped Dennis off, Jake's voice came on the radio! "I've got what your looking for" he says! Yee haw, The whole teams activities come to a screeching halt as they stop to listen to the conversation between Jake and I..... Jake tels me he's got at least one big bull spotted and lets me know about where he is. I get on the radio with Dennis and tell him to gather his stuff and meet me at the road cause I'm coming to pick him up! On the way to Dennis Jake comes back on the radio and says he's got at least two bulls in the spot feeding together! Meanwhile Russ hikes to another vantage point to get a better look at the area Jake is talking about. Jon is a long way off and says he cant see them from his point so I tell him to bring his quad around to such and such road and wait for further instruction. As I drive up to where Dennis is I see him hurrying toward the truck with pieces of all his gear sticking out of a big bundle in his arms that he snatched up in his haste to get to the truck!.... He hops in and we drive a few miles up the road to a high point where Jake can see us. Jake gives us further instruction as to where the bulls are at and we take off on foot to approach the area from down wind. The bulls are in a thick cedar jungle with light rolling slopes. One of the slopes faces Jake and that is why he can see them so well. But they are feeding their way over the slope and will be out of sight of Jake before we can get to them. My hope is to come in on their back trail and slowly track them down! As we get into the area it is hard for Jake to get an exact distance for us because of the flat angle and the fact that he is glassing from 2 miles away. But through his instruction about where he last saw the bulls I can figure the spot and slope he is talking about and Dennis and I make our final approach into the spot we expect to find their back trail.... Sneaking along as quietly as Dennis can be, (I know he'll get a kick out of that when he reads this) We come over the slope and cut a fresh track going the other way. "That is from earlier this morning" I tell Dennis and we sneak forward looking for a set of tracks going the other way. We then came across wandering tracks going every direction. I hit the breaks and give a good long look around and then try to decipher as many tracks as I can see from that point before moving on. We do that a couple of more times and then I notice a track going the way Jake said the bulls were headed. I fallow the track with my eyes as far as I can and notice that it just turns around and comes right back the other way.... That is when I have one of those moments that I realize that for the last 3 steps I could have seen the buffalo to my right had I not been looking at tracks to the left.... But at the same time I realize that these buffalo Only 40 Yards Away, hadn't seen me yet either!!! "Right there! Right THERE Dennis" I point and wave him to step around the tree to see the Tank of a bull that stands before us! The huge bull stood in the wide open except for his head that was behind a big bush. I could see enough through the bush to see the other bull bedded down right in front of the first! My tripod is down for a rest as Dennis steps around the tree and lays his rifle on it while pulling the bolt back in one smooth move! But then he saw the tank of a bull that stood right directly before us and in his excitement he slammed the bolt forward with a loud "chlack!" . I saw a shiver run through the leanth of the big bull as he jumped like a Coues deer that just got zipped by an arrow and disappeared just as fast! The bedded bull elevated himself just as fast and in one fluid motion they were both gone in a cloud of dust, leaving me saying "Shoot Shoot Shoot!" So not to be descuraged, I gave them the old TLO 1,2 and they came screaching to a halt just down the hill.... Jake was on the radio saying "They stopped They Stopped! Just 80 yards down the hill!" We put the gun back on safety and begain sneaking toward them but Dennis got tangled in an old dead cedar limb on the ground and it cracked in two with that loud noise only a dry cedar branch can make. Thundering hooves and they were off again! Once more I threw a loop in there plan and they slammed on the breaks again! "They stopped They Stopped again just down to the left! " Jakes voice came over the radio. Now easier this time we made our way down the hill toward them.... After a ways I crossed a gap in the trees and thought "No Way!" I stepped back and there through a three foot circle through the thick cedars, about 50 yards away, filling the entire 3' hole was the chest of a buffalo! I through my binoes up and could see the rest of the big bull that was facing to the right watching his back trail! "Right There Right There Dennis Shoot Him!" Dennis, looking for another entire Tank sized Buffalo said "where Where?" "Right through the hole in the trees right there, see him" I said pointing and reaching for the barrel of the gun! "That dark spot?"Asked Dennis. "Yes YES" I whispered as I pulled the fore stock of the gun onto my shoulder and squatted down a little so it would point right at the bull. "Right there! Thats him! He's facing right and that is his chest right there shoot him Shoot him! Dennis looked through the scope and the safety came off! "I see Him!" "OK" I said "Take Him, Shoot em, shoot em!" Dang.... look at the time. It's almost midnight! I'll have to continue this sometime tomorrow. Stay tuned and thanks for reading! Lance

Sorry for the delay. I can only sit in front of the PC for so long. The Kids got home from school so we took them out for a family cookout up on the mountain! Any way, here are some more trail cam photos from that week! There were loads of deer, mostly at night but mostly bucks! Note! That all Buffalo Pictures are during shooting hours during the hunting season with hunters in the field! Too bad we wern't there at the time

So we packed up camp and loaded up with sun screen and extra water and headed out to meet Dennis in the Bab! On the last Buff thread I signed off on my way out the door with a comment of a beautiful rain falling on my house! We were excited to know that the buffalo tracks would be freshened and we would be able to tell the old dusty tracks apart! Haha lol! Little did we know just how much the rain would effect our hunt! Russ, Jake, Jon and myself met Dennis in the Bab for what was planned to be another 3 day hunt. Dennis wanted to break the hunts up into three day periods as to try to avoid extreme fatigue from the Fibromy-. This was fine with us and is something we sometimes do on this hunt for other reasons as well. We hooked up with Dennis Wed afternoon, Russ would be in Latter that night so Jon and I grabbed Dennis and headed out to check tracks and trail cameras to see if the buff were still around and what they were doing. Jake took one of the quads and headed out to a far glassing point to see if he could find anything during the last part of the evening. As we drove the roads we could tell that many groups of hunters had come to hunt and had gone in the short time that I had been gone. It was apparent that the buff had gotten allot of pressure and a couple of easy buff had even been taken in the open meadows. On our trail cameras we had many pictures of buffalo and then many pictures of all kinds of people and then no buffalo.... well except for one. As we checked the rest of the area we new we had missed the easy hunt and all but a scattered hand full of buffalo had left the area! Well, no problem we thought, we are here and there is still a hand full of buff around somewhere and we just need one. So we settled into camp with Cheddar Cheese Elk Brats over the fire and made plans for the next days hunt. There was still another camp in the area and another showed up that night. For some reason both camped right on the main buffalo route so we knew things were stired up and the hunt in that area wouldn't last much longer. Below are some of the pictures from that night and from the two trail cameras. Below is an old Cicle horned cow. We told Dennis if he had to shoot a cow we hoped it would be this old nontypical buff! Below is a nice bull still in the area! This bull gave us a couple of pictures after all the people had been around and chased off all but a couple of the buff.