Jdubbs07

I started applying at the age of 16 in 2005... 2005 - Early Archery Cow 4A - Successfull 2007 - Early Archery Cow 4A - Never recovered her 2008 & 2009 - Spent 2 years outside the country did not get to put in. 2010 - Late Archery Bull 4A - Not Successful 2011 - Early Archery Bull 4A - Successful 2012 - Early Archery Bull 4A - Successful Its pretty obvious that I don't put in for premier units but that's allowed me to go hunting more than the norm. For me just being able to spend time in the woods with family and chasing elk making memories with my brother is the biggest trophy in my eyes. Whether we go home with meat or empty handed every trip for us is a success. I have been really fortunate to have been drawn 5 times out of 7 years that i have applied. Once again it all depends where you wanna hunt too, 4A is no premier unit with trophy bulls running around but it sure allows me to hunt every few years or even get lucky back to back years. Happy hunting to everyone who got drawn this year.

He's right, your unit 1 tag is much better tag to have if your looking for better quality of bulls. kyle44k, I had the late archery hunt in 2010, and both back to back early archery bull in 2011, and 2012 but no dice this year. I have zero complaining to do considering i have been fortunate to have bull tags 3 years in a row. The bull i shot in 2011 was my first bull ever with a bow. Nice 5x5 scored around 215... Romocasador, my brother and I made about 12-14 trips up to scout for our hunt from May-September. We were practically there every weekend to check cameras, glass, and find elk. We found some BIG bulls, but it sure was a lot of work to find em. So the phrase rings true, hard work pays off. Especially in this unit.

4A is my #1 unit. I have been hunting there many many years. Between myself and all my family members we have taken 8 Elk in the past 12 years. This is a good unit with a lot of elk and opportunities. Like kyle44k said, if you do your homework you can find great bulls (350+). They aren't everywhere, but with, diligent scouting and patience you can find them. Your typical average bull is like everyone else said 280-330, but even those are good bulls and many will call that a trophy, like myself, and that's why I hunt this unit. Good draw odds, and a lot of fun spending time with the family elk hunting. Here are the bulls me and my brother shot last year on the early archery season in 2012. They are not monsters by any means, but the memories made are the real trophies we took home last year. Also this is the nice coues deer I shot in 4A back in nov. of 2012 on the general firearms hunt. Enjoy. And congrats on the tag, you and your g/f will have tons of fun with lots of elk running around you. let it be known that i am jealous. good luck!

I have a 5 month old redtick coonhound puppy. Free to good home. Can be a good family or hunting dog. PM me if interested.

I apologize if this is a reoccurring post but I have looked and havent found any like this. I am looking to find a local breeder for either a Bluetick or Redtick Coonhound or just someone who sells these breeds of dogs in general. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Wow, what an awesome looking buck. Congrats to you. It's just like you said though, you got lucky on the second weekend of the hunt. I beleive no matter how hard you hunt or how good you are, even the best hunter still needs some luck. Looks like it paid off big time for you. What a stud buck!

I have grown up doing a lot of hunting and archery hunting at that. I have to give thanks to my Dad for being the one who taught me such a love for the outdoors. From a small kid I have numerous memories walking behind my dad on archery elk and deer hunts. When I was 14 I got my first bow ever. I am 23 now and have never once shot a deer with my bow or rifle. Although I cant complain I have been lucky enough to harvest 3 mature elk with my bow. It seems as we get older the hunting adventures slow down as we begin our own families and careers and my dad doesent archery hunt anymore due to troubles in his shoulder and not being able to draw his bow so for the past few years he has slowly drifted away from coming on our (mine and my older brother) hunts. I drew my first rifle deer tag when I was 16. It was a juniors deer tag in 24b. It was the last time I had walked and hunted side by side with my dad deer hunting. Opening morning we ran into a 24-26 wide nice 4x4 Mulie. I shot 4 times at a hundred yards and missed every single one (I blame it on the buck fever haha). Despite my bad attitude and not being happy for missing such an awesome opportunity, my dad always stayed positive and cheered em up. That hunt was 7 years ago. So this year I decided to apply on the same application as my dad's with high hopes that we could once again enjoy a rifle deer hunt together. With success on our side we drew the october any antlered deer hunt in 4a. This is the unit my dad taught me to hunt in as a kid and the unit where we have taken 7+ elk in the past decade between my family members. Although in this unit we had never seen many deer I was just happy to finally go deer hunting again with my dad. Opening weekend we got skunked, didnt even see a single deer, not even a doe. We decided to hunt the follwing weekend but only had one day to hunt (Saturday) due to some Sunday obligations we had. Satruday morning came and me and my dad were hunting along a big canyon with lots of acorns. We were seeing lots of sign and had high hopes we just might see some deer. As we quietly walked the ridge unkowingly we walked right into a Couse Buck. I first saw him and he was at 50 yards.(I was wishing I had my bow at this time haha) I quickly dropped to my knee, clicked the saftey, and BOOM! The rifle went off and the deer ran. It all happened so fast I could barely realize what had just occured. My dad looked at me and said "I never saw him". So we walked right to where he was standing, found no blood. I started thinking to myslef "Maybe he was so close I missed" I began to panic. We diceided to split up and look in the general direction that he ran. Low and behold I didnt go 20 yards and there was my deer dead as can be. I quickly shouted to my dad to come over, as I embraced him and gave him a big hug. What an experience it was to be able to harvest my first deer with the companionship of my father being there. We took plenty pictures and made some memories that will last forever. One thing my dad has taught me is that, the real trophy of the hunt is the memories you make with the ones you care about. In this case, hunting with my dad and harvesting my first deer ever, was the biggest trophy in my eyes I have ever had hunting. Attached are a few pics of my 2012 Coues Buck from unit 4a.