singleshot

There are some nice places off of the road leading into Hulsey lake. No facilities but easy access from off of the highway heading towards Springerville from Alpine.

Excellent!

Suzy was fortunate enough to draw her first choice elk tag in our favorite unit after ten years of applying. I know some of you are groaning about it only being ten years to get an early rifle bull tag but we actually talked to two other ladies who had drawn the same tag after three, and four years of applying. Our good friend Harry had drawn an archery bull tag in the same unit and we set up camp the Wednesday prior to his hunt and kicked it until opening day of the archery hunt. The first morning we got on a really nice bull we nicknamed stickers because he had an extra point on his right fifth, and fourth. It eventually fell apart when Harry got busted by a cow and that kind of set the pace for the rest of the hunt. We got rain, lots of rain, almost every day, and when it rained the bulls were bugling all day. We would hunt the mornings, come back to camp and eat a big breakfast and be back out before noon until dark. We had a couple of slow days here and there, but overall it was a really good season for bugling bulls and Harry had opportunity at several really BIG BULLS but was unable to connect. He could shoot four inch groups at camp at 60 yards but was unable to draw blood in the field. Harry has a great attitude though and was thankful that all the misses were clean and that no bulls were poorly hit. Another good friend Brian, also accompanied us and took some video of a really nice bull the second week of archery season. The video showed a pretty strong right side and a heavy left with a short fifth, but the bull seemed to constantly make right turns and we never could get a really good look at his left side in the jackpine cover he seemed to favor. The first morning of the rifle bull hunt we parked in the same area we had been hunting the previous two weeks and listened to a few screaming bulls until it got light enough to start our hunt. We honed in on a bull that had a bugle that we liked and the chase was on. Actually we parallelled him until we had the wind right and then cut him off by angling in. The bull was screaming often and a couple of satellites were keeping him busy as his cows fed out in front of us at 45 yards. Suzy was down on one knee and was having a really hard time containing herself as the bull bugled and carried on just out of sight in the pines. I told her a couple of times to "don't move" but she looked like one of those bobblehead dolls to me, and apparently the cows as they bolted just when the herd bull stepped out. We ran and circled, caught our breath and ran and circled some more, passing up three smaller six point bulls as we tried to stay with what we thought was the largest bull bugling. I saw some cows in the trees and threw up my glasses only to see a dink and for a second thought that we had lost him, but we heard a bugle in the distance and continued our pursuit. Eventually we climbed out of the flats up onto what we call "Bull Rim". Four different times in the prior two weeks we had climbed this rim to have a nice bull standing within 100 yards. It seemed that once they reached their bedding area they would relax. I know you are not supposed to hunt the bedding areas but we found different bulls in there each time and even if we busted them they would be back in the same area in two days, so what the heck. I caught antlers in the sunlight and got a quick look at him before he disappeared in the jack pines. I recognized him as the bull from the video but his fifth looked shorter on his left and something about his left side seemed odd. Of course in the few seconds I had to look him over he always angled to the right. I told Suzy that she should probably take this bull if we got the chance, but he quickly disappeared. We moved up about ten yards and had a bedded cow lock us up. The cow eventually got up and moved deeper into the jack pines and a couple of minutes later a cow bolted through the trees. I cow called to try and calm them down and Harry bugled from behind us. Between Harry's bugling, and Brians cow calling the bull hung up and barked at us about 10 times before ghosting out of the thicket at about 150 yards. A 150 grain Nosler Partition backed by 57 grains of 4831 leaped out of Suzy's 270 and the bull just sucked it up. The second shot kicked up dirt as he bolted for cover but the third shot hit home again. We found him layed up not far away after giving him some time. A little ground shrinkage at recovery when we first viewed him but he is a really nice solid bull grossing 322 at basically a 6x4. Suzy was really excited, but saddened that the hunt ended on the first morning. The rest of us felt the same way. Special thanks to Harry and Brian for the help and the you cant beat a Ranger for getting them out in one piece.

My grandparents, Elton and Constance Bingham. This picture was taken in northern Wisconsin in 1930. My grandparents owned a dairy farm in Milton and at that time their was no deer in the county. Now there is a deer per two acres. Grandad shot a Remington model 14 pump in 30 Remington, spiral magazine. We still have it. Exceptional American craftsmanship. Grandma would brown chunks of meat and place it in ceramic crocks covered in boiling hog lard. Stored in the cellar it would last for over a year.

My wife and kids took quite a few deer and pigs with 125 grain nosler ballistic tips out of a singleshot 30 - 30. They didn't shoot great but I figured they shot about as well as the gun would. It is a scoped rifle and we had a few kills at 300 yards. Turned that old 30 - 30 into a pretty decent western deer rifle. Of course you can only load that bullet in a bolt gun or SINGLESHOT, no levers.

My brother and I were hunting in unit 31 one year when we heard the sound of a jet flying very low. The engines sounded like they were really struggling. Eventually a huge jet appeared and the space shuttle was strapped to the top of it, heading southwest back to California I guess. I watched some guys pull up into a trail head parking lot once and jump out and begin burglarizing vehicles after smashing out a window. I was probably 3/4 mile away and felt pretty much helpless. This happened before cell phones. I was glassing for bear in September of 1988 when I started watching a full size truck with business placards driving up an extremely rough road in the canyon below me. All of a sudden three guys bail out and start blasting away. I could tell it was high powered rifles not shotguns so I kept watching. After the shooting ended, wich was about 30 rounds they started walking around and picking up the Javelinas they had just poached. They stacked them in a pile and drove off. More than six of them. I ended up glassing up and killing a bear that afternoon with an ear tag. The unit warden came by the house to collect teeth and looked up the tag number and told me where I had shot her. It was a 13 year old sow and I killed her less than 1/4 mile from where she had been trapped as a cub. He also asked me if I had seen a truck up in that canyon. He desribed the vehicle and told me that it was his buddies from Phoenix and that he told them it would be a good place to find a bear. I told him that I had seen it, and asked about the business placards. Yep, thats my friends he said. You should have seen his face when I told him to ask his buddies about the whole herd of pigs that they had wiped out.

Sitting here jealous of all you guys with archery bull tags so I thought I would give you something to look at and think about. Their is only a few things that you can control on your upcoming hunt, not the weather, the bugling, other hunters, vehicle problems, etc.. But you can be confident in your shooting and I hope you all are. When you step out amongst those bulls know in your head that all you need is one good opportunity, just one, at the bull you want to take. You will know him when you see him, wether he's a spike or mister massive, he's the one you want, and you are ready. PUT IT ON HIM!! One thing about bulls and broadheads, you just got to freakin drill him. If you don't he will shake it off like a dog does water. 1991, PSE Fire Flight Express, Easton Gamegetter 2's. Bear Razorhead broadhead with bleeders. $9.00 dollars FOR SIX!!! 12 yard shot, broke ribs in and out, liver and lungs, 135 yard recovery. 1994, PSE Carroll Intruder, 88 pounds draw weight, 540 grain Beman Hunter, 125 grain Vortex steel broadhead. That high poundage and pumping up a 33 inch tire with a bike pump before the hunt took it's toll on me the night before ( along with some serious bull fever ) when I couldn't get it done on a huge bull at 16 yards. The next morning I took this guy out at 63 yards, steep quartering away angle, through the right ham, guts, liver, lung and out the left shoulder, yes through the offside shoulder blade. That expandable ate him up. My father is in the pic. 9 long years later, yeah I have had three AZ. tags in 20 years but I don't feel like I'm lucky. Every year it hurts just the same. 2003, PSE Carrera, 540 grain Beman carbon hunter, 100 grain Muzzy glue on four blade broadhead. Muzzy made these heads for awhile. They glued right onto a Beman 16/64th shaft. I loved them. They flew great, penetrated deep, and were tough. 1 inch cutting surface. I once took a mule deer buck and a javelina in the same day with the same arrow and broadhead. But that's another story. Anyways, my third Pope and Young class bull, 30 yard shot, blew through the top of the shoulder and buried in the spine. I have the vertebrae and you can look through the middle and see all four blades. The spine drops low between the shoulder blades and I thought that I had broke both shoulders with the shot. He went down so fast I couldn't tell. 353 gross, 346 and some net. He's only 29 inches wide but those long tines add up quick. Take the first good shot you get, believe in yourself and your ability, know that you only need one opportunity.

We looked up just in time to see Delbert about in the middle of a one and a half back flip with a full twist. He didn't stick the landing. Any body else would have been hurt but not Delbert. As we all just stood there and stared, speechless at what we had just witnessed, he mumbled "No Scent". Seems he had sprayed scent killer on the bottom of his shoes and that top step out of the motor home was like ball bearings on ice. I witnessed a similar act of agility at San Carlos lake one day when he leapt from the bow of his boat to the shore, only to have his feet go out from under him in the soft mud. He came out of his dirt roll, whirled around and grabbed the bow of the boat before it hit the beach. He looked up and pulled the bottle of "silver soda " from between his teeth, spit out a piece of broken tooth and proudly proclaimed " didn't spill any". Another time he failed to lock out a ball mill at the mine in Morenci one day and went for a ride on it after the operator inadvertently started it up. He rode a series of bolts around as far as he could and then dropped 15 feet to the grating, landing on his feet. Most humans would have broken some bones at a minimum, Delbert just looked up, said "WTF" and walked away. Hey Brucie! Thats what he called me, "Brucie". We grew up on the same block in Safford in the early sixties until I was six or seven, Then my dad built a house and we moved across town. In 1987 we were bow hunting the trail in unit 27 and right in the middle of my stalk on two huge whitetails, thats what I heard. " Hey Brucie". When I heard him say that, I knew it was over, and my heart started to sink until he said " I got one". First deer, second shot at a deer, with any kind of weapon, and he drives a Zwickey broadhead through both hams of a net 106 buck. After that shot, in hunting camp, he was known as zwickey Lou. We all loved him, Delberts dad died when he was in 8th grade in a helicopter crash in South America, his mother when he was a Senior in High School. The hollidays were hard on him, in the end the "Silver Sodas" cost him his marriage, his job, his life. In Memory of Delbert Dean Hall, You will always be with us.

The one that started it all. Maybe I should have posted this under vintage pictures. 33 years ago, 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser. This is the biggest bodied Coues I have ever seen. Estimated dressed weight 130 pounds. My wife Suzy took this buck at 389 yards with her 257 Roberts. I glassed him and another buck up feeding at midday. The hillside he was taken on was extremely steep and rough. We had to prop him up on rocks to hold him in place for pictures. I pulled the rocks out and he tumbled to the bottom of the canyon. Chewed his rack up some but still netted 92 after some broken tines. I couldn't bone him out where he lay and couldn't hold him back either. This is my personal best buck with rifle or bow. I took this buck in January of 1999 with my bow. He grossed 115 + and nets 111 5/8. He broke a tine when he blew through a barb wired fence on his death run. I was too excited to worry about it. He's the only true four point buck I have ever killed. Proudest moment, My daughter Sarah took this great buck after 5 years of hard hunting. Her first buck, and she made a great heart shot at 289 yards. 108+. Everything finally came together on this hunt, the spot, the stalk, the wait, the shot, and the smiles.

If an application arrives before 8:00 A.M. on August 4th is it rejected? Or can you send in an application now?

Great pics, Whenever you post it is always something special.

My 15 year old daughter has never drawn a youth hunt, but she has hunted deer every year since she was 10. This will be the fifth time I have signed over a tag, ( if none of the leftovers come through ) three to Sarah, and two two for my son. I put in for a gimme just about every year while applying my kids for the youth hunts, being able to sign over your tag to a youth is a really great thing that AZGF has done.

Good luck Danny! The home town crowd is jealous.

On the early season elk hunts, or when camping I like to put a dutch oven dinner in the ground at midday and dig it up at dinner time or after the evening hunts over. Hot food in minutes. Take a whole chicken, season it up however you like, brown it in your dutch oven and stand it up with a can of opened dark beer stuffed inside, add a quart of water, potatoes, carrots, onions etc. Brown up a couple of pounds of stew meat, beef or pork, throw in a few cans or bags of fresh green chiles, onions, garlic, two cans of cream of chicken soup, some brown gravy mix or beef boullion and a couple of soup cans of water, great easy green chile. If the ground is wet, or it's really cold you have to let your fire burn longer to dry it out and heat it up. About a foot of coals in an 18 inch round, two feet deep hole is enough. Put your dutch oven in with a shovel full of coals on top. Cover it with a piece of plywood or metal, and cover it all with dirt. Make sure it is airtight. Even a small leak lets the heat out and it won't cook. You can leave it all day and it won't burn.

If your talking about the cabin that was built in Holder Cienega, and I think you are, it was built by my father in laws grandpa. His son, my in laws father, Gene holder was raised there. I will get the whole story and post it. Gene if I remember right was AZ.Game and Fish warden #3. They have is badge, I'll get that info also.

That means Suzy has 100 more days to recover from her second knee surgery in the past 3 months:)

Really nice pictures! Thank's for sharing them.

Glad to see that you are using your time over there to your advantage. Those are some really nice pictures and I'm sure a lot of great memories. Beautiful trophies. Take Care

Unsuccessful! Highlighted in red? That's extra harsh!

We have one of the original 500cc rangers that has been used on the ranch since it was purchased. It has over 1100 hours on it. The floor boards cracked right out of the box, and it has had some carburetor issues etc. I think that we have put about $1500.00 into repairs since it was purchased. All in all it has been a pretty reliable workhorse, literally. I printed out the specs. on both the ranger and rhino and was surprised at how close they really are in size, length, width, height turning radius etc. The payload capacity of the Ranger is almost double that of the rhino, more wheel travel also. I don't know anyone who has ever walked away from a Yamaha, or a Honda, but the original Polaris quads were troublesome. The Rhino was more expensive, I went with the Ranger, only time will tell.

Harrington And Richardson / New England Firearms make a pretty decent rifle for the money. You can get into one with a nice scope for less than 5 bills. And they are universal as a singleshot.

3 pellets and a 350 grain 45 caliber saboted bullet by Precision Muzzleloading Bullets. Shoot a bullet twice as long as the caliber, at a minimum. Your groups will tighten dramatically.

Wow that's quite a rifle!! You can put K's of rounds thru one of those withe no jams. And I'm talking BLAZERS if you old guys remember.

Try some of the now "locked out forest service access" ranches in unit 31. Say no more!

That was awesome. I would have never beeen able to keep my cool enough to get that second shot on film.