azcouesfanatic Report post Posted September 30, 2011 Well lets just say we had an amazing week of hunting. Let me start by telling you that I had three friends draw the same early rifle tag on two seperate applications with a combined total of 1 bonus point. Yep 1 bonus point. An even more amazing thing is they drew tags 13,14, and 15. My brother in law, Josh drew along with two coworkers Richie and Ryan. My parents have a place in Heber so we all stayed in their cabin so there was lots of great company. I started scouting on Tuesday before the hunt opened and Ryan and TJ arrived on Tuesday. Richie was soon to follow on Wednesday and Josh arrived on Thursday. We all scouted hard and put a lot of miles on our boots. The night before the hunt opened I had two bulls located that I was hoping we could kill. The first morning found Josh and I overlooking a burned out drainage waiting for it to get light enough to shoot. The bulls quickly started moving before it got light and by the time we could see there were three bulls left in the drainage and they were all small. About an hour after first light we heard one shot in a small drainage that we could not see into and I later found out a local hunter from Show Low had shot the bull we were looking for. The bull scores 373" and had 57" beams. I have some great video of this bull. The next morning Josh and I headed out to an area where I had heard some bull going crazy a couple days earlier. We found the bulls and they were still fired up. Roughly an hour before first light they shut down and only the small satelite bulls were still going. About an hour after first light the bulls started going again and we started moving in on a good bugle. We got close and busted a small 5x5 into the heard before we could see the bull. The elk ran down a steep drainage giving me a look at the bull. The bull was what we were looking for and he had an extra 7th on his right side. The bull ran down next to a major road and a quad came down the road and spooked the herd. We followed the herd and we were able to relocate them in a canyon where they had bedded. After playing cat an mouse with the bull for nearly 3 hours I finally found him bedded across the canyon. When he stood up Josh made a great 300 yard shot and he had his first bull on the ground and a great bull it was. The next morning I took Ryan out to a place where there was rumor of a great 7x8. We arrived early to very little bugling. An hour after first light the bulls finally began to fire up and we worked in on a great sounding bugle. The bull was in a small canyon that was choked with jack pines and oak brush. I was able to located the bull across the canyon at 200 yards through a small opening. The bull had tremendous 3rds and his 4ths were split on both sides. I though we had found the 7x8 bull and I got really excited. After a couple of great shots Ryan had the bull on the ground. The bull was awesome but he was not the 7x8. The bull has some tremendous character with matching 7th points on both sides that are respectively 14" long. The next morning found Richie, Ryan, TJ, and I out looking for a bull I had named big tops. An hour after first light I found big tops but he was not going to stick around for us to get a crack at him. TJ notified me he had found a good bull in the next canyon over and we needed to take a look at him. After a mad dash we found the bull and his 10 cows and he was definately a looker. Richie had one day left to hunt and this bull appared to have good beam length and great mass so the decision was made to take him. After a great 346 yard shot Richie had his first bull on the ground. I was able to get great video of Richie harvesting his bull. I will eventually post the video when I get around to editing it. We managed to take 3 great bulls in 3 days during a rough year in Arizona. This was one of the most amazing hunts I have ever experienced. We had a great time hunting together and we all worked very hard to kill some nice bulls. I am not sure I will ever experience such an amazing hunt again. I would like to thank my dad for the use of the cabin, my wife for taking great pictures, Daniel for all his help scouting, John Mackenzie for his packing skills, Greg Leibertz for his packing skills, Mike Nunn and John Sarvis. Video Link: Hope You Enjoy Brian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gotcoues Report post Posted September 30, 2011 That's really awesome right there, love that last bull with the matching trash. Congrats to everyone! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
coues7 Report post Posted September 30, 2011 Looks like you guys had fun. Thanks for sharin' Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chef Report post Posted October 1, 2011 Lucky Lucky Lucky! Early rifle with a total of 1 combined BP?! WoW! Congrats to you guys and thanks for sharing your success! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lookin4amonster Report post Posted October 1, 2011 The goal-post 4ths are awesome! Great job and good write-up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
loco4coues Report post Posted October 1, 2011 wow! Awesome job on some great bulls and thanks for sharing! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billrquimby Report post Posted October 1, 2011 Beautiful bulls... and three for three. Congratulations. Bill Quimby Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mje1 Report post Posted October 1, 2011 Congrats to the hunters on some nice Bulls. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Younghunter Report post Posted October 1, 2011 Great job! It's always nice to have a bunch of people helping to pack out a big bull. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Will K Report post Posted October 1, 2011 Three big congrat's to you guys. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pine Donkey Report post Posted October 1, 2011 Wow! Congratulations on three great bulls and on drawing those tags. A quick trip to Vegas may be warranted while things are going your way. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lionhunter Report post Posted October 1, 2011 Wow! Congratulations on three great bulls and on drawing those tags. A quick trip to Vegas may be warranted while things are going your way. Nice work Brian. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Elkaddict Report post Posted October 1, 2011 Way to get it done!! Very nice bulls! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Apache7mm Report post Posted October 3, 2011 Now thats success right there! simply amazing, congrats to everybody involved. DAN Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hunting6 Report post Posted October 3, 2011 You hit the big 3 Congtrats to all Three of you !!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
