BML

Thats way cool!!! Thanks for sharing.

Great Job Michael!!

I heard one of the USO clients killed a monster bull in 10. Maybe this is it?? I have a picture of this bull when the head was in the back of a truck. It looked big in that picture and HUGE in this picture!!

Well, the incredible season for our family just got a little better. My brother killed his deer on opening day. A little forked horn buck bit the dust. The deer actually surprised my brother and he made a difficult shot, but a bad hit. He and I looked for several hours before we decided to do a drive of sorts to try to bust him out of some thick stuff. Well, it worked because about 5 minutes later I hear BOOM, and down went his deer. Second shot was right through the heart on a dead run. My brother hadn't killed a deer in many years so he was absolutely thrilled to be done opening day. He is about to graduate from ASU soon and he needed a fun relaxing weekend to relieve a little stress and wind down some. I'd say mission accomplished!! Good job bro! Here is his buck. Not sure how it's going to turn out since we took the picture on his phone. Saturday morning found us in a slightly different spot glassing. We discussed it the night before and thought it would give us a little closer vantage point to glass from, but as it turned out, the spot was terrible. Closest shot ended up being 300 yards or so across a canyon that you could not cross at all. We glassed for several hours and nothing. We decided to head back to camp to regroup. On the way back, though, I told my dad to drop me off in an area a couple miles from camp. I was determined to get a buck this year, so I decided to just stay in the field all day long if I had to. About 2 hours later, I get a text from my brother. "Dad just killed!". My dad shot a spike buck on the hill right behind our camp after breakfast!! I couldn't believe it. I was excited for him, but told them all to just leave me out there until I called them to get me. So now I am the only one left in camp without a deer and seriously questioning my decision to be where I was. It was a big long shot to even see a deer there, but I figured what the heck. 5 hours into my sit, I was texting my brother to help me stay awake. I was just about ready to tell him to come get me when I look up and see a deer about 100 yards away. I turn off the phone and get ready. As he peeks around a tree I see he is not only a buck, but a very good buck!! My mind immediately started racing as this is by far the largest buck I have ever seen in my crosshairs. He never presented a good shot from my angle, so I was forced to get up and slightly move when he went behind a tree. Then after I moved I realized that my bipod would not work with the extreme downward angle of the slope. He finally gave me a shot angle that I wanted. I had to stand up and shoot him offhand. One shot and he was down!! This is my biggest buck ever and I am still on cloud nine!! I have no idea what he scores and I really don't even care. You all can take guesses if you want to. When I get the pictures of my dad's deer emailed to me I will post them up. He is a smaller spike then the spike I killed last year, so of course I had to give my dad a little you know what over that one!!

Great job man!! Sometimes these deer are just so hard to find that any legal buck is good enough!! Congrats again.

Great job in unit 21! We also went three for three in 21. There were four hunters in a camp next to us and as of Saturday night, they were three for four. Two of the hunters were 12 year old first timers who both killed nice little 4x4's. Congrats again!

I added a picture of my dad's buck and scored mine. Rough score came to 74 1/8. I never thought I would ever be able to kill a buck this nice! You guys out there killing all those monsters really know your stuff.

Thanks again guys! I really appreciate the comments.

Thanks everyone!

Great job on some great bucks. Congrats!

Anyone going to be in unit 21 next weekend? Having any luck scouting? My dad, brother and I will be out. My dad and I killed two little ones last year. We are hoping to improve on that this year. Just thought I would check to see who else had this tag. Good luck to you..

Will the general hunts getting ready to start, I thought I would bring this up again to refresh everyone. What are your strategies for glassing? Specifically, what directional slopes are you looking at in the morning, afternoon and evening? Do you completely change areas from morning to evening or are you simply changing where you look? Other than the obvious, "glass until your eyes feel like they are going to pop out and then glass some more", what do you do??

Andy, I am trying to head out both days this weekend. I have to be back early Saturday morning, so I am going to check the area where we killed our little bucks last year. It's basically one mountain that the bucks just circle throughout the day. Sunday I plan on heading into a totally different area that I have a "gut feeling" about. I will call you tomorrow to let you know exactly what my plans are. If you don't hear from me by 5:00 or so give me a call. I might forget..

Two Guns, I have seen muley does in the area we hunt, but no bucks. If I do end up seeing any, I will let you know.

Northern half for me, but I wish I was in the "coues holding" part! haha... We actually will probably get into some bucks, but who knows. I will know more after this weekend.

That's very cool!!! Here is a pic of a buck that I shot in WY this year. It's the first antelope I have ever seen that had a pure white neck with no color. Your cousin's buck is much cooler and more unique than mine though!!

Smith, That's good news for you!! There is no reason for him to not be there for your December hunt. That is, of course, you don't let your buddy smoke him next weekend! AC, I am sending you a PM Man, I wish I had the luck you guys have in finding good bucks. I would be happy with just about any 3 point or better buck, no matter what he scores. I know it takes lots of time in the field, which we just didn't have this year. We have already been on 3 big game hunts this year, including one in WY. That took up most of our free scouting time.

Hey AC, I didn't know you had this tag this year! Are you serious about finding some big bucks? If so, good luck getting them. I know of one other guy who has this hunt and he found a 100+ buck last weekend. This guy is a very good hunter and if that buck sticks around, he will hit the dirt for sure. I will be scouting all this weekend as well. We just didn't have enough time to dedicate to scouting this year so our hopes aren't too high. We will do our best though. Hey Smith, I am sure you have some areas already picked out by now. If I see anything promising during our hunt next weekend, though, I will let you know. I owe you one. Gunsmith, I don't know where you will be compared to us, but if I do happen to run into you I will be sure to say hello. Good luck!

You already answered your own question. If it were me, though, I would shoot either one. Sorry, not much help here! haha

Nope, I live up in Prescott Valley. I wish there was a BPS up here.

Well, we are back from our short trip, but we had a blast. We arrived Saturday and purchased our Conservation Stamps and checked out the ranch. I immediately found a buck that I wanted with my bow, so we drove the short distance back into town to get an archery license so that I could hunt that day before everyone else had a chance to kill him. I was able to get within 60 yards several times, but I just could not get him to stop long enough for a good shot. We continued to scout the ranch the rest of that day and decided on two bucks for us. One was the big one and the other was a very nice heart shaped buck. He was the only buck on the ranch that we found that had tops that curled in. Every other buck had tops that just went straight up and that's it. Opening morning came and found us getting ready. I was to walk into a natural blind in an alfalfa field where both our bucks were living. My dad walked in a short way with me just in case one of those bucks was already there. Sure enough, the heart shaped buck was there. After a small stalk, my dad was ready for the shot. BOOM!! I said, "dad you hit the dirt you dingdong!!" He says he must have shot under him, but then I explained that the dirt he hit was the small hill 50 yards in front of us in between us and the buck. We both had a good laugh about that one. So I told my dad to go back to the truck while I would walk in the rest of the way to the blind. As soon as I got set up, I glassed up the big buck about 500 yards away on the edge of the field. Then, I noticed that my dad was already stalking him! I watch the events unfold hoping my dad would shoot straight. BOOM, a miss. BOOM, another miss. BOOM, yet a third miss!! I couldn't believe it. He kept at it though, and the fourth shot rang true! Yeah baby, my dad got the big one!! So my time in stand lasted about 5 minutes and I grabbed all my gear and ran over to my dad. He was pretty excited to say the least!! He just shot the biggest buck on the ranch and it was a great buck!! Shortly after we finished taking care of his buck, the predicted bad weather rolled in. Not much in the form of rain, but terribly high winds. I knew that bowhunting was now out of the question. I really wanted to kill two P&Y bucks with my bow this year and I also knew that had I sat that blind it would have happened, but ethically, it just wasn't right to try to fling arrows in such high winds. I already had a terrible experience in August because of a bad shot and I had no intentions of repeating that performance. So, I had to painfully put my bow away and grab the rifle. I tried for several hours to get buck number two on our list, but he was very elusive. He had a ton of does and even getting within rifle range was tricky. I decided to let him go for a while and try to find another buck. I found another buck a couple hours later that ironically looks very similar to the buck I killed in AZ this year. I wasn't able to seal the deal at first though, so we headed back to camp for lunch and a little rest. We headed back out after lunch and found that buck again, only this time he was in a great spot. I made a short stalk and set up on him. Ranged him at 302. Quick check of my ballistics that I tape to my rifle showed a 6 inch drop at 300 yards. Aim, squeeze, BOOM and a miss. I hit right where I was aiming, but the bullet didn't drop. He took off about a quarter mile, but stopped in another good area. I did about a 600 yard sprint through an old river bottom while my dad and his buddy stayed behind to watch. I was able to sneak up on them again and wait. I knew they were funneling out of this draw and he would give me a great shot. Another check of the range. This time 342. I put the cross hairs right behind his shoulder this time and squeezed one off. I heard that distinct THWACK when the bullet hit him, but he didn't move. Instead, he instantly laid down. I had to circle around him for another shot at 175 yards and put him down for good. All in all, we had a great hunt. My dad shot the biggest buck on the ranch and I couldn't have been happier for him. This was his hunt and he made the best of it.

I have a barely used Onan Homesite 3500 for sale. I bought it off of a 70 year old guy who purchased it new, but soon realized that it was too heavy for him to lift in the back of his big truck. I used it twice for my old travel trailer. I think it has around 10 hours or so tops. I just bought a new toyhauler with a built in genny, so I no longer need this one. I was able to run my microwave and my A/C at the same time on my old 30 foot Prowler with this genny. Here is a link. Every place I looked had them priced new at around $600 give or take $20. http://www.cumminsnpowerproducts.com...500-p/3500.htm I am asking $450.

Thanks for all the comments! I appreciate them. Jamaro, As far as what happened, I really don't know. The first shot was a complete pass through, but no blood on the arrow. In fact, there really wasn't much on the arrow. I could visibly see the wound on my buck, though, so I knew it was a hit. The shot was perfectly aligned vertically, but about 2-4 inches behind the lungs. In the first 20 minutes, he released three pools of blood about 18-20 inches in diameter. The blood was darker on the outside of the pools and much pinker on the inside. We figured with all that blood, he would die very quickly. He actually wouldn't bleed when standing, but every time he laid down, he would lose a lot more. In fact, the dark you see on his underbelly and legs in the pictures is actually dried blood from when he laid down. He would lay down in his own blood and have to get up every so often, move a few feet and lay down again. I really have no idea how he lived so long. They truly are tough animals!! That was the best cold pizza I ever ate in my whole life!!! I actually pre-paid for that one with 8 full days of work helping him on his elk hunt last year. Lucky me, he killed the day after I went home. Jim, Emotional rollercoaster is an understatement. I was a wreck by the time I finally got it done. In fact, after I released the final arrow and my buck laid his head down, I just dropped my bow. I turned around to my brother just in time to see him running at me. He tackled me to the ground and I just laid there. Anyone who knows me well, knows how passionate I am about antelope. I have been working hard for years to finally get my opportunity at an AZ buck. After I was tackled, I have to admit I was a little emotional. This has been a long time coming for me. Having my bro with me was just icing on the cake. October 5th will find me in WY once again chasing antelope with my bow. Hopefully, I will have another opportunity at a great P&Y buck.

Hey all, Figured I would share some pics and story of the antelope I harvested this year. My original story was pretty long, so I basically cut out all most of the "day one" part. It's still pretty long though!! haha Hope you all enjoy. Day one started out with much anticipation. My brother had driven up the day before and we scouted a little before dark to make sure we were both on the same page as far as how we were going to hunt. We had our game plan and we were ready to execute it. We were driving into our area about ten minutes into shooting light when a buck walks across the road right in front of us! I was able to get out undetected and put a very shot stalk on him. A quick check on the range finder revealed a distance of 57.5 yards. This is a chip shot for me since I knew from all my practice that I was shooting two inch groups at this distance. I drew back and remembered thinking to myself how I never would have dreamed that my hunt would be over this early into it. Well, it wouldn’t be over because that buck jumped the string on me and I missed him by two feet!! Oh well, I thought. I knew I was going to have more opportunities. Day two found us in the same area as the day before. In the afternoon of day one, I put up a blind about a hundred yards away from a drinker that I knew the antelope were using. Antelope are very weary and cautious when they water so I knew I could catch them off guard if my blind was set up on their approach route instead of right at the water. The plan was to continue our spot and stalk method in the morning and then jump into the blind around 9:30 and wait for them to come to water. Little did I know that I would never need to sit that water! We started in the same spot as the day before and glassed up a pretty nice buck that was surprisingly pushing some does. They were once again about a mile away so we headed out. We closed the distance to six or seven hundred yards when we realized that the buck was going to push those does right to us. We were sitting along the edge of a dry dirt tank and decided to stay put and let them do the work for us. It wasn’t long before we realized that we were going to get a shot opportunity very soon. As they approached us, the cows in the area started getting very nervous that we were there. This in turn made the antelope a little nervous so they began to turn just slightly away in an attempt to go around the tank and the cows. I knew it was now or never or they were going to get by us. The shot was a little longer than I wanted, but because I had practiced so much before the hunt, I knew I could make the shot. I drew back, took a deep breath, settled my pin behind the shoulder and touched off the release. We both heard that distinct “thwack!” when my arrow found it’s mark. The buck ran about 300 yards and laid down. We instantly started celebrating, thinking my hunt was over. We found my arrow. It was a complete pass through, but showed very little blood. We then found where the buck was standing and found several very large pools of blood. I was thrilled to say the least. What happened over the next twelve plus hours I would never wish on another hunter in my lifetime. Two hours after the original shot, we were still watching my buck, but he was showing no signs of expiring. Against our better judgment and instincts, we decided to it would be best to get another arrow in him. That was a HUGE mistake. We kicked him out of his bed and he ran for almost 3 miles!! Not only did go that far, but he crossed a fence into some private property. We didn’t want to lose sight of him, so we followed him the whole way. I was willing to face the consequences of being on private land if it meant that I would recover this animal. Unbelievable, he stood motionless in the blazing sun for almost 3 full hours out there!! We were sitting in the sun as well, out of water and food. We decided that one of us was going to have to make the 4 mile trek to get the truck and more water. My brother manned up while I sat on my buck. I knew that as long as I never lost sight of him, I would still have a great chance at recovering him. My brother returns with much needed water, Gatorade and cold pizza from our dinner the night before. (gotta love cold pizza!!) It’s about one in the afternoon now and I first hit this buck at 6:30 in the morning. My brother and I were so exhausted from sitting in the sun. We knew we were getting close to being dehydrated and heat exhaustion. We took turns napping in the hot sun to try to conserve our energy for the rest of the day, just in case. Finally, my buck decided to move again and slowly started walking back towards the public land. It took him another hour to do so, but he crossed the fence. I figured he was heading to a water source that was close by, so we made a mad dash to beat him there. We beat him, but surprisingly, he never went to the water. Instead, he decided to bed up again about 200 yards from the water. He bedded right in the middle of the road!! So, again, we sat in the hot sun and waited. Then, another set back. A rancher was coming up the road my buck was laying on. My brother, again, manned up and hiked all they way back to meet this guy and tell him what was going on. This rancher basically told my brother that he had work to do and he could care less about us. After about 5 minutes of discussion, my brother finally convinced him to at least give us a chance. The rancher said we had 10 minutes and then he was driving through no matter what. Well, of course I had to try to stalk up on him again and he bolted. This time, he ran about 400 yards and laid back down in the middle of this little bowl where he was pretty well hidden. So now it’s 3:30 in the afternoon. My brother and I are barely able to keep walking. We both are suffering sever sunburns and probably a mild case of heat exhaustion. We decided to get in the truck and wait. We drove to an area where we could glass him from the truck and not have to sit in the sun any longer. Three full hours later, we knew that he was almost done. He had laid down in a position where I knew I could use the surrounding cover to finally be able to end this nightmare. At a little past 6:30 that same evening, I placed another arrow in his vitals at a distance of 50 yards. It was all over. As with most hunts, there are usually one or two people that play a significant roll as a non hunter and they need to be thanked. On this hunt, it was my brother Charlie. I never would have been able to get this buck without his help. I walked close to 8 miles that day and he tacked on 3 or 4 more with all the times he had to go get the truck. He suffered sunburns and the heat right at my side the whole way. He kept me positive when that buck went into private land and I thought we were going to lose him. He did everything that a hunting partner should do. Thank you Charlie. I love you bro!! Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy. You can all take turns guessing the score if you want. My brother had him pegged to the inch. I had him underscored by three inches. You be the judge!! Thanks for listening to my long story. If you just scrolled past the story to see the pics, well, good for you!! I probably would have too. Haha.

Here is something to hold you all over till Jim gets back. PLEASE NOTE THE GUY WHO POSTED THE PICTURE DOES SAY THAT HE WAS GIVEN PERMISSION. http://arizonahuntingtoday.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2389