Unit 9

[NonResAdventurist]

First just wanted to thank @Tight Guy for being a primary contact with knowledge of the specific hunt. Others also were kind enough to share info with me and I’m very appreciative of it all. 

Being from Wisconsin my knowledge of hunting in AZ was extremely limited. I did have a flight booked to get a scouting mission in prior to season but due to a death in the family I had to switch my flight out to be at the funeral. That left only 3 days prior to the hunt open for me to scout.

Long story short I put on almost 800 miles in 3 days, driving/glassing/driving/glassing until my right foot was about to fall off and my eyes couldn’t stay open anymore. Ran into a few hunters scouting and the reports were all similar... not much being spotted at all. One hunter had spoken to the biologist for the area and he was told this would be a great year to have used point guard (not encouraging to hear). I spent 6 hours between an AM and PM on top of the dog knobs glassing and never glassed up a single goat.

I spotted 1 buck around 75” on day 1 of scouting and never found a bigger buck the entire time. Opening morning I went to where I knew he was hanging out and glasses him up right away. He was on private working his way to public and I was set up to intercept him when I had a couple elk hunters on atv’s come through. That idea ended up a bust. Went to a few other areas where I had seen some goats that I couldn’t get clear views of while scouting but found hunters in the general area of all of them. I’m not the kind of guy to intrude on others, regardless of if they’re after the same general animals or not.

While scouting I did find a nice water source that had lots of goat sign all around it, no fresh tire tracks within 3 miles of it but never glasses up a goat. I decided to just go with it and spend the rest of my day in that area. About a mile out I spotted a white patch between some cattle out in the distance, pulled up the binos and saw a buck with a handful of ladies.

I wanted to get a better look and began the long stalk with a strong crosswind and the sun at my back. 2 hours later I managed to get within 125 yards. It was an awesome stalk I’ll never forget and when I got there I realized I hadn’t seen much worth shooting and this would be a great memory, regardless of if he’s a wall hanger or not. Dropped him there and for him on ice within 45mins. 

Definitely not the biggest antelope in the world, in fact I’ve shot larger, but based on what I’d seen and heard he was big enough for me. Very large body, very small horns. His teeth were just about gone and his balls had shriveled up to almost the size of marbles. I’m guessing he’s very old but I’m not positive. Either way, awesome hunt and great memory! Thanks again everyone! Hope some true giants get dropped this year!

[Tight Guy]

Great Job,

I was wondering how your hunt went. The hunt sounded like a blast. 

[Red Rabbit]

Congrats.  Sometimes the hunt is what puts the inches on the trophy.  I once arrowed a small 6 point bull at 17 yards in unit 9 because I was pleased with the stalk and calling sequence.

[Outdoor Writer]

Good job. Congrats.

[Flatlander]

That’s a heck of a buck to settle for! Congrats on making it work on a tough hunt.

[bonecollector]

Thats a good looking pronghorn. Congrats!

[Heat]

Not bad at all, Congrats!

[lefty]

nice buck, my buddy just got back from the same hunt, he said the same thing that it was tough. he spoke with the game warden and he told my buddy that he honestly didn't know if there was a record book buck in the whole unit this year

[Chef]

Congrats on your success!