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I got my first couse deer out of skeleton canyon last week. I backpacked in for three days from geronimo trail. Hike 25 plus miles and found a nice buck to pack 5 miles out.

She came in at 259lbs on the hook.

Well its been a couple wkks since the hunt. Tagged my first archery bull elk. Hit him at 40 yards with a shwacker right thru the heart. He ran 35 to 40 yards and tipped over. Dam great hunt with friends and family.

I picked up my 2013 buck this morning from Mark's Southwestern Taxidermy. Mark and Leslie did a fantastic job on this buck. I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out.

I drew a tag in Unit 27 this year after trying in units 23 and 24 numerous times but have yet to score, needless to say I need help. Any information, advice on unit 27 would be greatly appreciated. I am willing to reciprocate with info if possible, I live in Unit 10 and know the area. thanks in advance.

We found these in Conklin Creek on our turkey hunt in unit 27. They were about 20 yards apart. Sorry, my bad - did not get ATL pics.

This all began 2 years ago when I started putting in for the Unit 27/28 December hunt; I was determined that I would make this hunt my first coues hunt. Well I was able to draw the hunt for the 2013 hunting season, and a happy man I was. Now I knew that there was a lot of work to be done if I was going to shoot myself a nice buck. I started scouting, looking at maps and asking a few people that had knowledge of the area. Scouting led me on long hikes and hours looking through the optics, though I hadn't really seen too many of the elusive coues deer. Here are a few pictures of some of the smaller bucks that I saw when I was out scouting. I saw a few out on my first scouting trip which were nice and I kept that area in mind. Hunting season was just around the corner and I had finally decided where to set up camp and the general area that I was wanting to hunt. I invited my father along to share the experience with me. It was decided that we would arrive at the camping location two days prior to the opening day to get set up, and spend the next day seeing what the deer are doing, and then hit opening day hard. That was the plan anyway.. So here is the camp, we were prepared for some cold weather. So we got set up and my dad wasn't feeling well the next day. He opted to stay at the camp and I would head out and check on some areas that were of interest to me. I wasn't seeing much and decided to check out another spot. I thought that I should check up on ole dad, I sent him a message and he was feeling better and ready to check out some of these deer. (he is from NV so there aren't coues deer up there). We hopped in the truck and did a little roadside glassing. Saw a few coues and a few mule deer, as the day progressed into the evening the traffic was increasing with trailers and hunters. The next day we came back to the last area that we saw deer, and we went on a long rough hike. Kicked up a few doe, did some serious glassing. Hiked back and called the day kinda early in the evening. While at camp we were liking what we were seeing during that hike, and thought it would be wise to return there, though maybe find a different way in. We found a different way in and it was a long hike as well, though there was not as steep terrain on this section. As we had hiking in there we found that we were sitting on the mother load of coues deer. There was doe running around and smaller bucks everywhere; where were the big ones though?? After moving to get a different view point of what we were glassing, my dad had finally spotted what I have been looking for! These deer were at the least a mile out and through some pretty rough terrain. We noticed that there were a few nice ones in there, and came to the conclusion that it was too late in the day to go after them at this point. We came up with a plan which detailed our over to there. The next day we started our hike in, kicking up little bucks on the way in. Deer everywhere!! Though my focus was set on getting in where these larger ones were. We had spotted the deer and we had hiked in with hopes of taking one of these monsters down. They had other plans though and decided to get out while they could. Needless to say we spent the rest of our time (1 week) up there hunting these deer and couldn't seem to get to a vantage point to where I could take a shot. Time was coming to an end and we had to head home, it was a blast having my dad there with me. My dad headed back to NV, and I had a few days of work to attend, christmas after that. I plead my case to the wife after christmas. I knew that I had to head back out there and see what these deer are doing and maybe shoot one. Just maybe though, they are tricky animals... The wife gave in and out I went for another few days of hunting. I thought that I would pick up right where I left off. After my first day out I had noticed that there were not as many of the smaller deer running around through the area. I was still on a mission for a nice buck, though I was having a hard time finding them, I only had three days to hunt so I was hiking in early and hiking out late. I had spotted them, they were moving in closer to where all the doe were at and probably had pushed the smaller bucks out. Still not being able to get close to these animals I had a half day of hunting left. My last day would consist of the morning hours being hunted and then driving back to phoenix. I hiked in in the morning and decided to take a different route to my normal glassing points. I made it to the first glassing point where I could view a pond and 2 ridges, I glassed there and turned around and clipped the pack nice and tight was ready to continue my journey. As luck would have it... I was then staring right at a nice buck that had no clue I was a little less than 50 yds away. I drew the gun, aimed low, released the safety and squeezed a round off. I had done it!! I dropped my first coues dead in his tracks. I walked over to it and just smiled. Time to quarter this buck, and pack him out... alone. This was surely one of the finest hunts I had been on. I am glad that I was able to spend so much time out there and spend it with my dad. I wish he could have been there for the kill and especially the pack out. Haha. The deer scored 107 3/4. I took the deer in for the Euro Mount, this is how it turned out.

I was able to draw unit 27 again this year and had an excellent hunt. It was really nice to roll out of my tent walk up a hill and be into elk every morning even after it seemed my tent was going to float away during Friday night's torrential rain. Despite having a few other folks hunting the area I saw several really good bulls up to about 370. I was able to get close to that 370ish 7x7 a couple times but never had a good shot on him. On Tuesday morning (17th) I was following and bumping and following and bumping (LOL) the elk around a rim of a canyon and finallly got close to this 6x6 and his cows. He acted like he was going to breed one of them as she brought him to me. I was able to bring some cows close and I got a perfect broadside shot at 21 yards. He only made about 80 yards (a little cow call slowed him down) and piled up while I watched it all. That was also the first time I have seen a elk go down that I have shanked. What a rush! A short pack down a steep hill with help from Lex and Don and the rest is history. Sorry, no tripod made for some interesting self portraits. Jeff

Looks like my credit card got charged by AZ, my first choice was for Archery Elk in Unit 27. I've never hunted in there before and would appreciated any input regarding elk numbers, hunter numbers / density, effects of the Wallow fire, 2013 moisture so far, etc. Thanks in advance!! Stan

It is a bit slow for this forum for being so close to archery elk season!! Everybody must be out scouting. LOL Here is a few pictures of Unit 27 and some of the Wallow fire. ***All the dates are correct on the bottom of the pictures*** Jeff