Arizona Elk - God, I love this place!
- Thread starter Big Fin
- Start date
Bucnutz.wis
New member
And the elk are singing cheers of victory.
Too bad - but it happens....
Change the underwear and move on to the next adventure.
Thanks for the ride.
rutdog
New member
Thanks Fin for keeping the story line going...We all appreciate the effort you put into each and every hunt and the time you take to keep us all updated of the adventure...Gettem on the next one..
montanadogs
New member
Still beats the desk job you used to have. Better luck on your next hunt
bmack
Member
You've worked your tail off this season and this hunt was no exception.
I'd rather watch a few episodes of you dealing with adversity, challenges, weather and real circumstances that impact all of us than watching another program whose hunters pull up to camp, walk 10 minutes and kill an animal that was scouted out for them by some guide.
Try and count how many bugles you've heard in the last month of hunting in 3 of the most amazing spots in the U.S. That's what it's all about!
I'd rather watch a few episodes of you dealing with adversity, challenges, weather and real circumstances that impact all of us than watching another program whose hunters pull up to camp, walk 10 minutes and kill an animal that was scouted out for them by some guide.
Try and count how many bugles you've heard in the last month of hunting in 3 of the most amazing spots in the U.S. That's what it's all about!
gman82001
Member
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2011
- Messages
- 357
Ok the hunts been over for hours when can I buy a hat ? Lol good Luck on the next one
idnative1948
Well-known member
Bmack said it best.
I would watch an episode with out any *Joy* just because it happens to us one time or another. That's why it's called hunting, not shooting.
I would watch an episode with out any *Joy* just because it happens to us one time or another. That's why it's called hunting, not shooting.
+1,000
Couldn't agree more. And the worst part about watching a tv celebrity shoot an animal with a guide is listening to him tell us all the tips and "secrets" that he had to use to shoot the animal. Here's his "real secret" to success: hire a guide on private ranch with landowner tag.
stillkickin
Well-known member
Amen to that!
StrutNut
New member
Real hunting does not define success with the kill of a record book animal. Too many of our young thinks you just go out in the woods and there is a booner behind every tree. I keep telling my son that what you see on TV is a week of hunting on prime private property narrowed down to about 15 minutes. This is not the real world of hunting. He appreciates this which is why he really enjoys OYOA as it depicts real hunting. You run into other hunters, sometimes you win, sometimes you don't but you always have fun and you always respect the game and respect mother nature and always appreciate the opportunity to have public land or private land where landowners will allow you on the land with nothing more then a handshake.
Thanks for the encouragement, guys. It will be an episode that talks about the trials and tribulations. About how sometimes you get the luck and sometimes you don't.
Gotta finish the story of the last evening of the hunt, as it is that remarkable. Like I said earlier, if not captured on film, people would call BS.
After the rainy morning and all the struggles of that hunt, we headed back to where the elk had been crossing from public to private each morning. We had let it sit for a couple days after the big bull was shot the third morning of season.
Some guys in the local town knew we were hunting and had talked to us each evening at dinner. The evening prior, they told us of the big bull shot on the private east of where we were hunting. They said the guy brought it to town and they guessed it at 360. Not sure if that is accurate, or not, but I suspect he was plenty big.
With the big boy now shot, I hoped the rest of the hunting pressure, both public and private, would subside, leaving the other bulls undisturbed for the last few days. With that, I drove through the wet arroyos and soft mud, getting to out parking spot around 4pm. That would give me over two hours to hike in and complete the evening hunt. Plenty of time to reach the canyon edge just three-quarter mile away.
Mason loaded the camera and wrapped everything in the rain shield, knowing this slight drizzle would probably get more intense when the clouds to our horizon got overhead. I grabbed my Sitka Jacket, knowing it would be too hot for the walk in, but would be good for the possible downpour that seemed to be coming.
We reached the edge and I started cow calling. No reply. Moved forward, into the wind, another 300 yards, set up and repeated the calling, adding a few bugles in. This canyon bench is public, with the bottom of the canyon meandering back and forth across the public/private boundary.
Within an hour, we had walked, called our way to the head of the biggest finger drainage that the elk had been using to come out of the canyon, and being well into public by the time they reached this bench. I stopped and listened for ten minutes, prior to any calling.
Hearing nothing, i started with some loud cow calls, knowing in this wind, it would take some umph to make enough noise that an elk may hear it. I had not even finished the calling sequence when a cow answered. She was whining more than I was.
I looked at Mason. The sound was slightly across a small rise forming the mouth of this little finger canyon. The public-private boundary when right across this little ridge. I dropped behind some junipers and neared the rim of this canyon, which was only 100' deep at it's deepest point.
The cow noise was straight across from me. She was standing there, looking at our location, trying to sort us out from the junipers, her job made difficult with the sun setting behind us, albeit filtered by a lot of clouds.
Mason filmed as I let out another big cow call from behind some brush. A bull let lose a bugle down below us and closer to the bottom of this little draw. As soon as he bugled, another bull did the same. I eased to the lip of the bench and looked down. 200 yards away are two six point bulls following this cow.
They are right on the boundary. I wave Mason over to film. He gets them on tape as I call for them to come our way. He tells me we have about fifteen to twenty minutes of filming light with these clouds being ow and dark.
I make some serious cow calls. The darker colored bull immediately gives up pursuit of the other cow and makes a vector to our position. He stops behind a small tree directly below me, waiting for more confirmation.
I give him one more call and his buddy decides he wants to come check me out. Seeing the lighter colored bull headed out of the canyon, the dark bull lets out a scream and starts up the steep rock face that makes the west side of this small canyon.
I tell Mason we must move back to the edge of the opening behind us. It gives us a small elevation gain of maybe ten feet and provides 75 yards of open shooting in front, left, or right. We have the sun setting behind us, a wind mostly in our favor, and two bulls wanting to answer my pleas.
We can hear a little noise of rocks rolling as the elk work their way up this face. The cow has moved to our right and is now quiet.
Within a couple minutes, the wind is howling. The rain is horizontal and lightning is getting closer. Mason tells me the light is fading real fast with the rain getting worse. Fearing a loss of shooting light, I give another series of loud cow calls, letting them know we are now further away from the canyon lip and they should step out of the junipers and make themselves known.
Suddenly it is hailing like crazy. Rain, I hate, but can withstand. The hail is smaller than a marble, but bigger than a pea. It stings my ears as it hammers my face and head. I can barely see the junipers 75 yards out in front of me.
Lightning hits to my right and simultaneously I hear the thunder. The vibration makes an elk bugle seem like a whisper. I yell at Mason to get down. We are already the high point on a small ridge. Him being the highest point, holding an electronic device does nothing to enhance his life expectancy.
Now it is pelting. Mason is trying to film the chaos. The horizontal rain is messing with everything. He keeps pulling down the flaps of the rain shield and filming me as I crouch down with my Mystery Ranch acting as a defense against the rain and hail, making myself the smallest lightning target as possible.
The booms and flashes are relentless and scary. The footage shows almost completely blackness, interrupted by a blinding flash of lightning hitting in short distance. I hate lightning. I hate it more than anything I deal with when hunting or fishing.
We have no filming light in this torrent. Shooting light is still 20 minutes away, if you use the half-hour after sunset rule. But, it is to no avail.
I tell Mason to jump into the small juniper to my right. It is smaller than the other junipers and might give his body and equipment some shelter from the pelting.
We sit there for twenty-five minutes, jumping with each lightning flash, counting the "one thousand one, one thousand two, ......" to guess how close it hit. For a ten minute period, I don't think I ever got to "one thousand four."
Finally, the lightning moved off to the east and north. An occasional bolt would hit close by, sending me into another squatting position retreat. The rain continued, but eased. The hail had long since passed after the five minute beating it administered to our already tired bodies.
It was now 45 minutes past sunset when I felt the lightning was far enough away that I would feel comfortable walking the mile and a half back to the truck. A sure fire encounter foiled by a near tornado of lightning, hail, and torrential rain? You gotta be kidding me. I have had opportunities messed up for a myriad of events, but never a hail storm.
I am grateful that the lightning did not find either of us. It was very close at times. Way too close. I am thankful that Mason is so committed to his job of capturing the events, however easy or difficult those conditions may be.
Viewers get to see two young six point bulls a short distance off and moving closer to my calling. They also get to see a thunderstorm upset grand finale that we had worked so hard to put in front of us. And, if I was looking at the camera when it happened, you will get to see the look of fear as lighting hit within 100 yards of my position.
So, that is how it ended. One of those hunts that seems to be a challenge that some day will provide some benefit that I have yet to realize.
Our bodies, minds, and equipment could not have been pushed much further. It was a hunt that mentally challenged me more than any hunt of the season. It was a ton of fun to go to an area with such low elk densities, work hard to find their locations, and put myself in a position where I could have killed a six-point bull, except for my added sideboard of needing ten seconds of pre-shot focused footage.
That is part of why I went there. I went there to spend time with Larry, something that unfortunately did not happen. I went there to shoot a mature bull, which did not happen, but did everything I knew to try accomplish that. I learned knew country and met some really neat people.
It is such a cool place. I hope to be back some day. I think it will be an interesting episode, with a lot of factors all of you have probably experienced at one time or another in your hunting days.
Gotta finish the story of the last evening of the hunt, as it is that remarkable. Like I said earlier, if not captured on film, people would call BS.
After the rainy morning and all the struggles of that hunt, we headed back to where the elk had been crossing from public to private each morning. We had let it sit for a couple days after the big bull was shot the third morning of season.
Some guys in the local town knew we were hunting and had talked to us each evening at dinner. The evening prior, they told us of the big bull shot on the private east of where we were hunting. They said the guy brought it to town and they guessed it at 360. Not sure if that is accurate, or not, but I suspect he was plenty big.
With the big boy now shot, I hoped the rest of the hunting pressure, both public and private, would subside, leaving the other bulls undisturbed for the last few days. With that, I drove through the wet arroyos and soft mud, getting to out parking spot around 4pm. That would give me over two hours to hike in and complete the evening hunt. Plenty of time to reach the canyon edge just three-quarter mile away.
Mason loaded the camera and wrapped everything in the rain shield, knowing this slight drizzle would probably get more intense when the clouds to our horizon got overhead. I grabbed my Sitka Jacket, knowing it would be too hot for the walk in, but would be good for the possible downpour that seemed to be coming.
We reached the edge and I started cow calling. No reply. Moved forward, into the wind, another 300 yards, set up and repeated the calling, adding a few bugles in. This canyon bench is public, with the bottom of the canyon meandering back and forth across the public/private boundary.
Within an hour, we had walked, called our way to the head of the biggest finger drainage that the elk had been using to come out of the canyon, and being well into public by the time they reached this bench. I stopped and listened for ten minutes, prior to any calling.
Hearing nothing, i started with some loud cow calls, knowing in this wind, it would take some umph to make enough noise that an elk may hear it. I had not even finished the calling sequence when a cow answered. She was whining more than I was.
I looked at Mason. The sound was slightly across a small rise forming the mouth of this little finger canyon. The public-private boundary when right across this little ridge. I dropped behind some junipers and neared the rim of this canyon, which was only 100' deep at it's deepest point.
The cow noise was straight across from me. She was standing there, looking at our location, trying to sort us out from the junipers, her job made difficult with the sun setting behind us, albeit filtered by a lot of clouds.
Mason filmed as I let out another big cow call from behind some brush. A bull let lose a bugle down below us and closer to the bottom of this little draw. As soon as he bugled, another bull did the same. I eased to the lip of the bench and looked down. 200 yards away are two six point bulls following this cow.
They are right on the boundary. I wave Mason over to film. He gets them on tape as I call for them to come our way. He tells me we have about fifteen to twenty minutes of filming light with these clouds being ow and dark.
I make some serious cow calls. The darker colored bull immediately gives up pursuit of the other cow and makes a vector to our position. He stops behind a small tree directly below me, waiting for more confirmation.
I give him one more call and his buddy decides he wants to come check me out. Seeing the lighter colored bull headed out of the canyon, the dark bull lets out a scream and starts up the steep rock face that makes the west side of this small canyon.
I tell Mason we must move back to the edge of the opening behind us. It gives us a small elevation gain of maybe ten feet and provides 75 yards of open shooting in front, left, or right. We have the sun setting behind us, a wind mostly in our favor, and two bulls wanting to answer my pleas.
We can hear a little noise of rocks rolling as the elk work their way up this face. The cow has moved to our right and is now quiet.
Within a couple minutes, the wind is howling. The rain is horizontal and lightning is getting closer. Mason tells me the light is fading real fast with the rain getting worse. Fearing a loss of shooting light, I give another series of loud cow calls, letting them know we are now further away from the canyon lip and they should step out of the junipers and make themselves known.
Suddenly it is hailing like crazy. Rain, I hate, but can withstand. The hail is smaller than a marble, but bigger than a pea. It stings my ears as it hammers my face and head. I can barely see the junipers 75 yards out in front of me.
Lightning hits to my right and simultaneously I hear the thunder. The vibration makes an elk bugle seem like a whisper. I yell at Mason to get down. We are already the high point on a small ridge. Him being the highest point, holding an electronic device does nothing to enhance his life expectancy.
Now it is pelting. Mason is trying to film the chaos. The horizontal rain is messing with everything. He keeps pulling down the flaps of the rain shield and filming me as I crouch down with my Mystery Ranch acting as a defense against the rain and hail, making myself the smallest lightning target as possible.
The booms and flashes are relentless and scary. The footage shows almost completely blackness, interrupted by a blinding flash of lightning hitting in short distance. I hate lightning. I hate it more than anything I deal with when hunting or fishing.
We have no filming light in this torrent. Shooting light is still 20 minutes away, if you use the half-hour after sunset rule. But, it is to no avail.
I tell Mason to jump into the small juniper to my right. It is smaller than the other junipers and might give his body and equipment some shelter from the pelting.
We sit there for twenty-five minutes, jumping with each lightning flash, counting the "one thousand one, one thousand two, ......" to guess how close it hit. For a ten minute period, I don't think I ever got to "one thousand four."
Finally, the lightning moved off to the east and north. An occasional bolt would hit close by, sending me into another squatting position retreat. The rain continued, but eased. The hail had long since passed after the five minute beating it administered to our already tired bodies.
It was now 45 minutes past sunset when I felt the lightning was far enough away that I would feel comfortable walking the mile and a half back to the truck. A sure fire encounter foiled by a near tornado of lightning, hail, and torrential rain? You gotta be kidding me. I have had opportunities messed up for a myriad of events, but never a hail storm.
I am grateful that the lightning did not find either of us. It was very close at times. Way too close. I am thankful that Mason is so committed to his job of capturing the events, however easy or difficult those conditions may be.
Viewers get to see two young six point bulls a short distance off and moving closer to my calling. They also get to see a thunderstorm upset grand finale that we had worked so hard to put in front of us. And, if I was looking at the camera when it happened, you will get to see the look of fear as lighting hit within 100 yards of my position.
So, that is how it ended. One of those hunts that seems to be a challenge that some day will provide some benefit that I have yet to realize.
Our bodies, minds, and equipment could not have been pushed much further. It was a hunt that mentally challenged me more than any hunt of the season. It was a ton of fun to go to an area with such low elk densities, work hard to find their locations, and put myself in a position where I could have killed a six-point bull, except for my added sideboard of needing ten seconds of pre-shot focused footage.
That is part of why I went there. I went there to spend time with Larry, something that unfortunately did not happen. I went there to shoot a mature bull, which did not happen, but did everything I knew to try accomplish that. I learned knew country and met some really neat people.
It is such a cool place. I hope to be back some day. I think it will be an interesting episode, with a lot of factors all of you have probably experienced at one time or another in your hunting days.
AZ402
Well-known member
Way to stick with it Randy. Hopefully you'll be back in AZ soon...........
AZ Ron
Member
Randy, sorry AZ wasn't too kind to you in regards to filled tags this year, but hopefully you will be back soon and that will change.
I'm glad to know I am not the only one who has used a MR pack as a protective barrier against hail this fall.
Good luck on your next hunt!
Ron
I'm glad to know I am not the only one who has used a MR pack as a protective barrier against hail this fall.
Good luck on your next hunt!
Ron
Lv2hnt
Well-known member
Randy:
This year's Ariz.archery elk hunt was tough being pre-rut. Yours followed suit, mainly due to elk numbers. Kudos on your effort! Hope you don't have to wait overly long before you draw another Az.tag (just let my number come up 1st!) ...
This year's Ariz.archery elk hunt was tough being pre-rut. Yours followed suit, mainly due to elk numbers. Kudos on your effort! Hope you don't have to wait overly long before you draw another Az.tag (just let my number come up 1st!) ...
Brandenbowhunter
Well-known member
I feel your pain...hear it has been tough out there this year.
Had time to sort through some of the hundred or so pics I took. Man, I take an awful lot of pics just to get a few that are in focus.
Following the good advice of some Hunt Talkers. Amazing we did not kill an elk that day.
Sunset the first night of scouting. Man, this is going to be a great hunt.
If you don't like big, creepy, furry spiders, don't apply here.
Me telling Mason that those elk that made it to the private behind me, are going to die the next morning. Yup, they did. Only problem was he didn't die from my bullet, but the guy who was hunting the private. The joke is on me.
Mason, reviewing his footage. "Epic!" was all he could say. I sure hope so.
Following the good advice of some Hunt Talkers. Amazing we did not kill an elk that day.
Sunset the first night of scouting. Man, this is going to be a great hunt.
If you don't like big, creepy, furry spiders, don't apply here.
Me telling Mason that those elk that made it to the private behind me, are going to die the next morning. Yup, they did. Only problem was he didn't die from my bullet, but the guy who was hunting the private. The joke is on me.
Mason, reviewing his footage. "Epic!" was all he could say. I sure hope so.
A few more.
Mason asked why I would pack two tripods and two spotting scopes into that place. One for me and one for him. He was a great sport about adding an extra set of eyes. Still can't believe I didn't spot an elk in that area.
The Howa, dialed and ready for action. All that was needed was a cooperative elk.
Glassing from daylight ........
............ until dark.
Some pics I took of the big storm about an hour before it put a premature end to our hunt. thought it looked pretty cool from a far off distance.
Mason asked why I would pack two tripods and two spotting scopes into that place. One for me and one for him. He was a great sport about adding an extra set of eyes. Still can't believe I didn't spot an elk in that area.
The Howa, dialed and ready for action. All that was needed was a cooperative elk.
Glassing from daylight ........
............ until dark.
Some pics I took of the big storm about an hour before it put a premature end to our hunt. thought it looked pretty cool from a far off distance.
JohnCushman
Well-known member
Awesome pics!!
Bucnutz.wis
New member
That storm front is awesome...fuzzy spider - not so much....
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