First hunt(s)

[Kilimanjaro]

I grew up in west TX in a serious bird hunting family. We've had bird dogs in my household my entire life. Grew up chasing Bobs and Blues in west TX and eastern NM with my Dad and bro, all my uncles and cousins, Grandad, etc... there were ALOT of dogs at our get togethers!! I cant even remember the first quail I shot.. My folks have a pic of me and my brother hanging in the house with us with my first limit of doves.. I think I was 7 or 8. No front teeth in that pic!! When I was 11, I took my first deer.. a fat ol' WT doe on a cousin's ranch. I still have the tanned hide to this day.

I can remember as a kid standing underneath my uncle's pronghorn mount and just thinking that is the coolest, most exotic thing I've ever seen... been fasinated with taxidermy ever since! I've been hooked for along time now.

[RoughCut]

Roughcut, how are you related to Glen Morrison? In the early 90's my dad and grandpa would clean out stock tanks like grey tank, in 6b. Glen would give us half a range fed beef for helping keep them cleaned out. Ask about A.C. Newton when you see him again.

 

That is crazy. Glen is my father-in-law. I will probably see him tonight so I will mention your name. I too grew up in Sedona, looks like you are my brothers age. His name is John Villegas.

[coues krazy]

I was nieghbors with Johns grandmother and went to school with him for years. We lived on lower red rock loop road. Crazy how Sedona changed for the worse. Was a great place to grow up.

[uofahughes2]

Roughcut, how are you related to Glen Morrison? In the early 90's my dad and grandpa would clean out stock tanks like grey tank, in 6b. Glen would give us half a range fed beef for helping keep them cleaned out. Ask about A.C. Newton when you see him again.

 

That is crazy. Glen is my father-in-law. I will probably see him tonight so I will mention your name. I too grew up in Sedona, looks like you are my brothers age. His name is John Villegas.

 

So if Glens your father in law, that would make EF your wife? Jed and Trey would be your brother in laws and Mike Hughes would be my Dad. Small world on the internet!!! Your Chris right?

 

[JLG]

I am an AZ native, I grew up without a dad in a non-hunting household. When I was 7, I went to see my grandparents on a small farm in Illionis. The neighbors had a BB gun and I got hooked. I came home told my mom about it and she said I would never have a BB gun. A couple of weeks latter she picked me up and their was a BB gun in the back seat of the car,

A couple of years ago she told me it was one of her all time backfires, she thought she would get me the gun, I would shoot it a little and loose interest in guns forever.

I actually started hunting with a couple of neighbors from my street. My dove hunting started with a childhood friend and his dad. I shot my first dove, that I lost in a cotton field off of Indan School and El Mirage when I was about 10. I grew up off of Indian School and 83rd ave. In high school I would come home grab my bike and hunt off Indian School, between 91st and 99th ave., for dove. I can remember riding by a cop with my shotgun over my shoulder and him never saying a word, try that today.

Everytime I drive by the Cardinals stadium all I can think of is all the dove I shot there in my late teens and early 20's, when shells were $3 bucks a box and all I needed was $1 for gas and two hours with travel time to get a limit of dove.

Dove was my passion as a teen, my grandparents lived in Youngtown, when I was in my teens and I would go to their house for mini-vacations. It was 11 miles from our place. I shot alot of dove in the Afria River bottom between Olive and Grand, 115th ave and El mirage road. It was a sad day for me when I was kicked out of there by a couple of El Mirage cops in my early 20's lots of memories, of hunts and hikes with my grandfather, his wasn't a hunter, he did like fishing.

I shot my first deer in 34B when I was a month shy of 16. It was a great hunt I went with my neighboor and his son. He was a world class mechanic that grew up in a small Missouri town, when he was 19 he loaded up his wife and two young daughters and moved to LA to make his fortune. In the early 70's they moved to Az and he became my nextdoor neighbor, he got me hooked on Big Game hunting and Baja Bugs. I can still remember the feeling driving home from that hunt, both his son and I shot our first deer that weekend and he also took a buck as well ,on the last day with about 2 hours left before we were going to leave. 2 spikes and a fork, but we were a happy bunching driving home in his 1973 Ford pickup with a camper shell on the back, good times and great memories.

I shot my first elk and second big game animal at 19 and my third big game animal didn't come until I was 23. It wasn't until I took a hunting class from Mike Cupell, it was a non-credit, one night a week class at Glendale Community College, that I started having some success on a regular basis. He taught about glassing among other things, but the glassing stuck.

I bought a pair of Bausch and Lomb Discover 10 x 50's, they were my mainstay binoculars for 15 years. Earlie I had made a makeshift crappy mount for my bino's, it worked but not well. I was helping out a childhood friend on a coues deer hunt in 33 and glassed up a nice 80 pt WT with my crappy mount. He killed the buck. He was a machinist, so he made me a tripod mount out of a block of aluminum. I still have the glasses and the mount. They are all beat up and hard to see out of, because I drop tested them on a WT hunt in 36C one year when one of the biggest WT's I had ever seen blew out of a single tree high on a rocky ledge up on Mildred Peak. I keep those Bino's in my truck all the time when I am out running around. A couple of years ago I tried to get them repaired but the factory said they were too old and they would sell me another pair for $200 bucks and keep my old ones. I had way too many memories behind those glasses so I had them send me my old friend back. Even though they are not very usefully, I had a lot of good times tied up in that glass.

A couple of years ago my wife and I moved out to Buckeye. It kind of recaptured some of the stuff I had as a kid. I have always like going out looking for brass and I can do it about 7 minutes from my house. There is some decent bird hunting out here that isn't really far to drive to. I can glass the south side of the White Tanks from my deck, but I have not seen any critters yet. Its a couple of miles away.

I just get out and hunt and fish as much as I can, pretty much the same stuff I have been doing for the last 32 years, Take Care, JLG.

[RoughCut]

Roughcut, how are you related to Glen Morrison? In the early 90's my dad and grandpa would clean out stock tanks like grey tank, in 6b. Glen would give us half a range fed beef for helping keep them cleaned out. Ask about A.C. Newton when you see him again.

 

That is crazy. Glen is my father-in-law. I will probably see him tonight so I will mention your name. I too grew up in Sedona, looks like you are my brothers age. His name is John Villegas.

 

So if Glens your father in law, that would make EF your wife? Jed and Trey would be your brother in laws and Mike Hughes would be my Dad. Small world on the internet!!! Your Chris right?

 

 

Woah Woah Woah now before you go giving my social and credit card numbers away let me just say calm down.

 

I was laughing so hard when I read this. You are right small world.

[RoughCut]

Roughcut, how are you related to Glen Morrison? In the early 90's my dad and grandpa would clean out stock tanks like grey tank, in 6b. Glen would give us half a range fed beef for helping keep them cleaned out. Ask about A.C. Newton when you see him again.

 

That is crazy. Glen is my father-in-law. I will probably see him tonight so I will mention your name. I too grew up in Sedona, looks like you are my brothers age. His name is John Villegas.

 

So if Glens your father in law, that would make EF your wife? Jed and Trey would be your brother in laws and Mike Hughes would be my Dad. Small world on the internet!!! Your Chris right?

 

 

Wait I just had a thought... IS this Jake or Lindsay, cause the picture is of Lindsey and the profile says MALE.

[uofahughes2]

Roughcut, how are you related to Glen Morrison? In the early 90's my dad and grandpa would clean out stock tanks like grey tank, in 6b. Glen would give us half a range fed beef for helping keep them cleaned out. Ask about A.C. Newton when you see him again.

 

That is crazy. Glen is my father-in-law. I will probably see him tonight so I will mention your name. I too grew up in Sedona, looks like you are my brothers age. His name is John Villegas.

 

So if Glens your father in law, that would make EF your wife? Jed and Trey would be your brother in laws and Mike Hughes would be my Dad. Small world on the internet!!! Your Chris right?

 

 

Woah Woah Woah now before you go giving my social and credit card numbers away let me just say calm down.

 

I was laughing so hard when I read this. You are right small world.

 

 

Haha when you said your fam owns the windmill I was confused as I know Jed and Trey don't know how to use the internet. Haha hows everything going? Did you guys draw any tags?

[GodIsGood]

we moved to AZ in 1970 from Chicago - although we were city-folk, dad grew up dirt-poor in Joliet, IL where hunting and farming were required - ifin you wanted to eat.

 

My first memories of hunting were around age ten in '73, when dad and I would go each year to 23 east of Punkin Center. We'd sit a hill for as long as impatient kid could stand it - no scouting, no camo, no blinds, no stands, no scent protection... in fact I vividly recall and dearly miss the smell of Pa's Mixture #79 cherry blend pipe smoke - as it filled our camper or graced the quiet hillsides.

 

never even saw a deer in the early years, we'd laugh about the "Watch for deer" signs in route... reminding us as to the prey we sought - but I wouldnt change a thing about our time together.

 

good times!

[RoughCut]

 

 

 

A few of us drew tags

 

Glen No Draw

Jed No Draw

Trey WT Unit 33 Nov 28 - Dec 4

EF No Draw

Me Unit WT 36c Dec 12-31

Scott Richey WT Unit 22 Dec 12-31

 

Trey and I will be down a few times to scout for me and him, you will have to come along.

[muskrat]

Grew up in New Brunswick, Canada. Was more of a fisherman in my younger says, than a hunter. Shot my first partridge (ruffed grouse) when I was 16. Had a pretty good trapline going through high school and some of college. Hunted ducks and geese, deer, partridge. Lots of bears around but never had much interest, in those days. I only drew one moose tag in NB - didn't get one but had a memorable hunt! Had my first outdoor column in high school, and kept writing for the Maritime Sportsman through college.

 

Lived in northern Maine for about 5 years. I did manage to get a Maine deer in the famed Haynesville Woods. A big fork that dressed out at about 170.

 

Lived in Arizona about 11 years, but only have been hunting for 5 or so. Won't discuss my success - most of the kids on here have killed more game than I have LOL. Still learning though, and almost ready to declare Arizona "home".

[drcarr]

In 1967 Mom and Dad moved the family to Tucson from Antioch Township, Illinois. We made the move for my mother's health and it sure was the right call as she is still with us today. Dad had good success hunting on our Illinois farm and so he never saw the need to switch from walk, walk, walk to the glass and stalk hunting that's proven so effective here in Arizona. Of course it didn't help to change Dad's mind one bit, that just when I thought a 13yr old's pleas to save some boot leather had been heard, he out walked a heavy antlered old mule deer buck that we all agreed just had to have been blind, deaf and nasally impaired. I hope to never forget my Dad and I carrying, dragging, pushing and wishing that deer back to the old white suburban that during our lunch siesta had appeared to be little more than a shiny glare through the heat waves. One of the many lasting lessons learned from that night was to never forget your knife as the military PR29 can opener was never meant to zipper a deer. I well remember sighting in our "deer" rifles at the north end of Campbell Ave. and hunting doves, quail and ducks near today's Cortaro Road Wally-Mart. We spent many days hunting deer & pigs in Unit 37A back when it still felt like a hunting area and not someone's back yard. Anyone else remember the petroglyphs, huge cottonwoods and couple hundred yards of year round running water in that wash on the SE end of the Tortilita's? Oh yeah, I think now "Sun City Vistoso" calls that area their "Honeybee Canyon" million dollar home subdivision!!!!

Next came 34A, the 35's and the 36's. For many years our campfire light drew people quietly asking "tiene agua, tiene comida" and "adonde Tookson". During most of the 1970's we seldom saw any crossers much less a group larger than 2 or 3 people. I remember Dad shaking his head and wondering aloud about the kind of life that made a man leave all he knew and loved to walk off into the unkown. We never ever felt intimidated/threatened and only once did we return to camp discovering that some canned food/drink had dissapeared from the cook tent. Today, almost everyone that's hunted in the southern Units, has seen and/or experienced some crazy things from drug mule backpackers to groups of 20 or more crossers. Not to mention the truly astounding amount of clothing/trash discarded along foot paths wide enough to drive your truck down???? Now, because of those experiences, none of our group ever leaves camp without a sidearm, a partner and the nearest BP station number preprogrammed into our cell phones. Over the years those Units have just been too good to us to consider hunting elsewhere for too long.

Whenever the "Red Gods" smile enough to grant one of us an elk tag it's off to 7, 9, 10, 5A/B, 6A/B or just about any of the northern units where I spent my college years flinging arrows and otherwise amusing deer with oversize headgear. Levi Packard, Chic Wayne, Tom Britt, Ray Perrin, all stationed in the Flagstaff, AZ G&F Office, were sure helpful to this pesky kid that tried to pick their brains whenever the opportunity presented itself. I believe that those that are gone don't go too far if we talk about them from time to time.

Hey, how many remember rifle "Any Elk" tags or $1.00 Mnt Lion tags???.

Good hunting to you all and see you in the hills.

Don

[SEhunter]

Unit 21.

 

I grew up SHOOTING deer in south Alabama and to be honest with you, my world was turned upside down when I realized I could no longer park my truck, walk into the woods 50 yards and kill a deer at first light. It took me a couple of years after moving to AZ to figure out what HUNTING really was and it was in 21 where I learned. So I guess one could say I "grew" up HUNTING in 21.

 

At first I was strictly hunting Mule Deer and had great success. However, once I set my sights on this enigma called a Coues Deer, 21 was not very kind to me. I was almost to the point of selling my bow and gun and giving up hunting completely. Then one day it dawned on me that I was actually having fun sliding/rolling down mountains, twisting ankles and sometimes looking just downright silly. So I stuck with it and after miles upon miles of hiking the most horrific canyons I have bagged some very nice Coues Deer in 21. My son and I both got drawn for the Oct WT hunt in 21 so I am hoping he bags a nice Coues and comes to appreciate HUNTING 21 as much as I have.

[tjhunt2]

I grew up in Brilliant, Ohio hunting ground hogs, rabbits, and squirrels. Did most of my hunting with my Grandpa. We raised beagles and I ran them year round. I use to pick fresh kill rabbits up off the road and take them home and drag them around the yard then hide them for the pups to find. I once stopped and picked up a rabbit on a date and threw it in the trunk and for some reason she never went out with me again. Moved to Az in 72 and started hunting doves but never connected on a big game until 76 and haven't looked back since.

 

TJ

[RockyMtnOyster]

I grew up in northern arizona hunting mainly deer, elk, and turkey. My old man taught me how to wear out the old boot leather. Many times I thought he was trying to test me on these long hikes in the woods. See if I could hack it or something. I know now that's just they way he hunted. It was funny, he would draw a map in the dirt and then say something like this, " you follow this canyon unitl you reach the rock outcropping at such and such point, I'll meet you there around noon". I remember thinking, uh, okay Dad, whatever you say. Back in those days with no GPS, that was old school. Only got lost a couple of times. Shoot three times in the air if you're lost!

 

RockyMtnOyster