Opportunity VS Trophy Hunts

[OpticNerd]

Deleted my comment. It didn't have much to do with the topic. I apologize 😔. 

[PRDATR]

10 hours ago, HyNoon said:

Let see that bull already...

Shot at 400 yards with Rem 700 in 7Mag I bought new in the early 90's. Barnes Factory ammo 160gr and Swarovski 3x18 with custom factory turret for 168 Nosler LRAB. Broke both shoulders. Guided by Grant Hottman and his assistant guide Tyler Sanchez. I'm old enough to be their grandfather but somehow managed to keep up with them. 

This bull was taken on day six after a 600 yard stalk.

[AZBIG10]

Good job Predatr! Congrats

[firstcoueswas80]

I like hunting. But I also like being successful. I am always tahnkful for the opportunity to be in the woods, but seeing a Tom, Dick, or Harry under every tree is aggravating.

And I know some will say "then you're too close to the road" and I am getting to the stage where this is more of a fallacy than a truth. People are getting deeper and deeper in the woods every year. Short of doing  backpack style hunt (which I did for a couple days this year), it seems as though more and more hunters are making their way in the depths and off the roads. 

Just something we all have to deal with, as I personally am not willing to go 5 or 6 or 10 years without drawing a tag just to have a premium tag every so often.

[UggRedBilly]

9 hours ago, 6AYoteHunter said:

Figure on late hunts only having 1 or 2 chances at good bulls in 7 days so you have to be able to shoot a bow or rifle extremely well. If it rains most units roads trash out. Had one late bull only 500 yards from road. So muddy we had to take horses in 3.5 miles. Also rusted the inside of barrel so bad it was replaced with stainless. This year I had to cut brush for 3 hours to get to bull. Hands thrashed still. Early hunts you can have 1 or 2 chances per day if you scout well enough. Normally easy pack outs. Plus minimal breakage during early hunts. Most years at least a third of bulls are really busted up by Nov. Saw a 330 class bull this year busted above sword on left and only eye guards on right. Early hunts are just long days, late hunts are brutal all around. 

Geez. That helps me make my decision

[UggRedBilly]

1 hour ago, PRDATR said:

Shot at 400 yards with Rem 700 in 7Mag I bought new in the early 90's. Barnes Factory ammo 160gr and Swarovski 3x18 with custom factory turret for 168 Nosler LRAB. Broke both shoulders. Guided by Grant Hottman and his assistant guide Tyler Sanchez. I'm old enough to be their grandfather but somehow managed to keep up with them. 

This bull was taken on day six after a 600 yard stalk.

That's awesome dude. Congrats man!

[Crazymonkey]

Nice bull .

[PRDATR]

10 minutes ago, firstcoueswas80 said:

I like hunting. But I also like being successful. I am always tahnkful for the opportunity to be in the woods, but seeing a Tom, Dick, or Harry under every tree is aggravating.

And I know some will say "then you're too close to the road" and I am getting to the stage where this is more of a fallacy than a truth. People are getting deeper and deeper in the woods every year. Short of doing  backpack style hunt (which I did for a couple days this year), it seems as though more and more hunters are making their way in the depths and off the roads. 

Just something we all have to deal with, as I personally am not willing to go 5 or 6 or 10 years without drawing a tag just to have a premium tag every so often.

We hiked in close to two miles the first day and while on our way back ran into another hunter and his friend who had hiked in almost the same distance from our north. With such great optics it's a piece of cake to glass up game from a long ways off then hike in to them. In some places there is a road darn near every two miles.

We watched a heard of about 70 Elk travel a mile for 20 minutes until they bed. We circled in to them about 1000 yards and snuck in from juniper to juniper and were waiting and glassing for close to an hour when another hunter popped up to our left about 30 yards away. I motioned him to come over and found that he had seen the elk bedded from the road and parked, next to us, and hiked in with a buddy who came in directly into them with the wind to his back and blew them out.

 

[idgaf]

It can be both. Give me a late season archery tag over a September archery tag any day.  

[AZBIG10]

Problem is poverty hunts are hard to draw nowadays 

[Coach]

3 hours ago, idgaf said:

It can be both. Give me a late season archery tag over a September archery tag any day.  

Just curious what you prefer about the late archery tag.

[oz31p]

3 hours ago, Coach said:

Just curious what you prefer about the late archery tag.

I’ll guess frequency ?

[Northern Pintail]

21 hours ago, UggRedBilly said:

Dang thats crazy man. I was on an early cow hunt with my mom this last season. It was fun calling the Bulls in. I found a nice pocket in 4b with pleanty of elk. Would you recommend a cow tag for early archery? Would that be a waste of 3 points or should I just keep going all in on bull tags?

3 points isn’t a guarantee for an early cow tag.  A lot of units take 5 points.  Points does not equal what type of hunt it is 

[idgaf]

4 hours ago, Coach said:

Just curious what you prefer about the late archery tag.

They are in a natural pattern.  Not a million wannabe calling experts bugling with their diesels running   until recently good draw odds and if you know where to look you see stuff like this. 

 

[AzRaised08]

On 12/5/2022 at 7:03 PM, idgaf said:

They are in a natural pattern.  Not a million wannabe calling experts bugling with their diesels running   until recently good draw odds and if you know where to look you see stuff like this. 

 

I remember when you were giving us updates on that hunt. Still crazy how many you got into and then the whole ordeal with the lion