What was your most memorable Az Hunt

[Edge]

Took a ride on a huge boulder in unit 27. Fortunately I only got scraped and bruised when I jumped off. My rifle scope was not as fortunate.

Tough way get your rocks off.

On the farthest Eastern edge of 27 above the San Fransisco, dad rode a boulder over the side. He was shouldering a new Weatherby 7mag and Leopold scope. Many cracked ribs and a very used looking rifle later...

[Snapshot]

 

Took a ride on a huge boulder in unit 27. Fortunately I only got scraped and bruised when I jumped off. My rifle scope was not as fortunate.

Tough way get your rocks off.

On the farthest Eastern edge of 27 above the San Fransisco, dad rode a boulder over the side. He was shouldering a new Weatherby 7mag and Leopold scope. Many cracked ribs and a very used looking rifle later...

 

Ouch! Cracked ribs are painful. Especially in unit 27 where we are always sucking wind trying to climb that stuff

[Edge]

 

 

Took a ride on a huge boulder in unit 27. Fortunately I only got scraped and bruised when I jumped off. My rifle scope was not as fortunate.

 

Tough way get your rocks off.

On the farthest Eastern edge of 27 above the San Fransisco, dad rode a boulder over the side. He was shouldering a new Weatherby 7mag and Leopold scope. Many cracked ribs and a very used looking rifle later...

Ouch! Cracked ribs are painful. Especially in unit 27 where we are always sucking wind trying to climb that stuff

Funny now, but as dad slid down one of AZs deepest canyons, he managed to unshoulder the 7mm and hold it up like it was his only baby and heir.

[Snapshot]

Not my best hunt but a hunt I think about almost daily... Unit 32, 5 years ago. Started out with a guy shooting himself due to family issues. Didn't know him but talked to the sherif and a few other hunters way out in the sticks. Sad story. We ended up staying at the camp he killed him self at (not knowing entirely what happened at first) apperamtly he was in a cot when he did it and the cot was left there since it was new with no blood stains, no, we never touched it. The next day I was about a mile from camp and glassed back torawrds camp and saw deer. I walked back torawrds camp and when I was close I noticed the deer were on the opposite side of camp. I walked in and my buddy and I decided to circle around and maybe get a shot. I went low, he went high. I ended up under 100 yards from the buck bedded with a small 8' ledge in my way. I eased up the ledge and grabbed the top of the boulder. That's when about 500 pounds of the boulder cracked off and took me with it!! It landed on my foot. At this point I saw the scoriopins that had lived in the boulder crack and I jumped back lol. Needless to say the deer ran off and I hobbled back to camp and spent the next two days hunting. I finally couldn't take the pain and we started our drive out. On the way out my buddy spotted a deer and we stopped. It was 450 yards out and a small buck. He wasn't comfortable shooting that far so I told him if I shot it he'd have to go get it haha! Ended up he went and retrieved the spike I shot. Next stop was dropping off the meat at his house then the ER. Turned out I broke every bone in my foot and 3 toes!! Still hurts to this day.

That foot never healed up?

[Snapshot]

 

 

 

Took a ride on a huge boulder in unit 27. Fortunately I only got scraped and bruised when I jumped off. My rifle scope was not as fortunate.

Tough way get your rocks off.

On the farthest Eastern edge of 27 above the San Fransisco, dad rode a boulder over the side. He was shouldering a new Weatherby 7mag and Leopold scope. Many cracked ribs and a very used looking rifle later...

Ouch! Cracked ribs are painful. Especially in unit 27 where we are always sucking wind trying to climb that stuff

Funny now, but as dad slid down one of AZs deepest canyons, he managed to unshoulder the 7mm and hold it up like it was his only baby and heir.

 

Gotta protect the rifle! I did the same thing, but I dented the scope and broke the rear scope mount. I didn't know the mount was cracked until I shot at a deer a bunch of times and couldn't hit it. The fall sheared the screws off the base mount.

[WallHanger]

It's awesome to read everyone's stories. You just never know what kind of experience people have had out in the hills and the knowledge one has gained by putting so much effort into their passion. One common theme in this thread has been wives, kids, brothers firsts, and that makes reading it so much better. It seems like most do it for the right reasons as the most memorable wasn't "look at me" I killed a giant.

 

All the firsts makes me think of my wives first. It was day 2 of the October hunt in 2008. We began the morning glassing a small canyon and drainages that had produced for me in the past but everywhere I panned the Binos I found people. At one point I spotted a deer feeding on a bush near the top of ridge with probly a 20 yard radius opening all around it. As I studied the deer trying to make out antlers, it gets down and crawls into the bush and disappears right as a hunter walks 20-30 yards above it right in the top portion of my view. That was a significant event I will never forget, these deer are crafty! I told her lets get out of here there are way to many people. We loaded up the four wheeler and headed east up a rough road I hadn't been on before. The road made it up in the middle of a large saddle that had few openings in the junipers on the shady side. I stopped the quad in the middle of the road to make a phone call. As I was on hold with a hotel to cancel reservations so we could keep hunting, I put the 10s up and started looking in the openings. Luck would have it one of the openings had three bucks standing there looking at us in the broad sunlight. It was around 400 yards and half way up. I hung up the phone and got her unloaded explaining quietly what was going on. We slipped into the shade and I showed her the opening where the deer were and we leap frogged to around 300 yards and set up. She was having a hard time, we had only a 12" bipod and she had to shoot up hill..doesn't work well. So we move up another 10 yards and jump a couple does straight up to where the original bucks were. We get down and set up and the deer are gone. Crap. So i am scanning through all the openings and then back to the first and there are three bucks again but two are spikes and one small 3 point. The 3 point may have been one of the original three but the spikes weren't there before. I told her get back on the first opening and shoot the buck on the right. She moved over slightly and slid the safety off. That moment was slow motion and my heart pounding I am watching the buck and she squeezes it off and the buck just drops. I jumped up yelling and cussing holy....you dropped him! She got spoiled right away thinking it was just that easy...she ended up with like a 4 year dry spell after that but has definitely earned the animals she's got in the past couple years, she's been a trooper.

[muledeerarea33?]

 

 

Not my best hunt but a hunt I think about almost daily... Unit 32, 5 years ago. Started out with a guy shooting himself due to family issues. Didn't know him but talked to the sherif and a few other hunters way out in the sticks. Sad story. We ended up staying at the camp he killed him self at (not knowing entirely what happened at first) apperamtly he was in a cot when he did it and the cot was left there since it was new with no blood stains, no, we never touched it. The next day I was about a mile from camp and glassed back torawrds camp and saw deer. I walked back torawrds camp and when I was close I noticed the deer were on the opposite side of camp. I walked in and my buddy and I decided to circle around and maybe get a shot. I went low, he went high. I ended up under 100 yards from the buck bedded with a small 8' ledge in my way. I eased up the ledge and grabbed the top of the boulder. That's when about 500 pounds of the boulder cracked off and took me with it!! It landed on my foot. At this point I saw the scoriopins that had lived in the boulder crack and I jumped back lol. Needless to say the deer ran off and I hobbled back to camp and spent the next two days hunting. I finally couldn't take the pain and we started our drive out. On the way out my buddy spotted a deer and we stopped. It was 450 yards out and a small buck. He wasn't comfortable shooting that far so I told him if I shot it he'd have to go get it haha! Ended up he went and retrieved the spike I shot. Next stop was dropping off the meat at his house then the ER. Turned out I broke every bone in my foot and 3 toes!! Still hurts to this day.

That foot never healed up?

I went back to work before I should have. Never healed correctly. Had bone fragment in a fracture that aggravated the break a year after it happened that caused lots of pain and doctor bills.