Az Elk Success

[jlp]

Pictures are in Gallery. Can someone put them in this post. or tell me how.


Well, we had a great time on our elk hunt. I was able to get an average 5x5 on the first day. 100 yards freehand standing right through the lungs. He went about 60 yards and cashed out. Packed him out about 1.6 miles through 3 canyons. Slept well that night.

Day 2 was less eventful only saw one elk and never could get a good look at him.

Day 3 filled our second tag. A nice healthy spike. Right at safelight. about 300 yards from a waterhole.

Day 4: Got up on a hill and glassed as the sun came up. right at 8:00 we had a nice bull come out of the trees at about 300 yards. only saw him for 2 seconds. My friend was after his first big game animal. This was going to be it. We worked the ridge in the direction we saw the Bull walking. He was in the thick cedars. after not seeing him again for about 10 minutes we started getting discouraged. Then he popped out again. 264 yards quartering away in a small opening. My rookie partner dropped down and shot...never saw a little flinch and a rear leg kick. Not sure if he hit him. Waited about 10 min and went down the hill to check for blood. Nothing.... found the tracks and walked around the big cedar and there he was only went 25 feet. Turns out he hit just behind the shoulder and a little high clipped the windpipe, through the lungs and buried into his other shoulder. Not bad for his first shot at a big game animal.
We were very excited and fortunate to fill all 3 of our tags. plenty of meet in the freezer. What a great experience.

Josh

 

[Oak]

Looks like a good time. Congrats on the success!

 

[jlp]

Thank you. We had a great time.

Josh

 

[jlp]

Anyone else do any good out here in AZ?

 

[WHT_MTNMAN]

Great Job on filling those tags. My uncle shot a itty bitty bull in the vicinity that I shot my archery bull this year.

My dad in the picture

 

[Salmon]

Great animals for all!! Looks like a great hunt you had.

 

[noharleyyet]

Nice bulls jlp...good pics & story too.

Congrats to your uncle White Mountain...just another small Az bull huh?

 

[A-con]

Congratulations guys, nothing like hunting Arizona bulls.

 

[AZMIKE111]

Congrats on all your bulls above they are all Awesome Bulls! On our elk hunt last weekend we had a great time. Opening morning I could hear two bulls fighting in some thick cedars. I tried sneaking in to get a look at them but they soon stopped fighting and everything was quiet. I then looked to my right and five bulls were feeding along the tree line. I watched as they continued feeding 80 yards away. It was a group of four, five and six points but nothing I wanted to shoot opening morning. Then a bull bugled in the distance. The bugle was rare to hear for mid November but I followed where it came from. I then got in front of him and waited for him to cross a small meadow. A group of 10-12 cows came out first and then a medium five point walked out. I watched them walk off hoping to find something bigger. Then about an hour later I was walking through thick cedars and heard antlers collide about forty yards in front of me. I should have stopped and waited to see if they would walk out, but instead I tried sneaking in to get a look at them. They busted out and all I saw were bodies and flashes of antlers going through the cedars. I got on the tracks they left in the dirt and chased. I jumped them twice more and each time I could see decent racks but they would dissapear behind a cedar so quick a shot was almost impossible. I continued walking for hours through dense cedars hoping to kick up a bull, but nothing happened. I started noticing pine trees as I was walking and then knew I had a long ways back to the truck. On the way back I found a good hidden tank next to the tree line that was getting pounded by elk. I had found shed antlers in the past in that area but somehow I never saw the tank. My brother was hunting an area about ten miles away where we had seen a big bull scouting. That morning he saw a spike and cows, but not the big one. That evening we both hiked for miles trying to push up elk. I saw some cows and passed on a small bull and my broher passed on a 5 by 1. One side was completly broken off. Saturday was slower, I didn't see any elk all day, after hunting the morning and then sitting a tank in the evening. My brother saw a lot of cow elk in the morning. In the evening he watched the tank I found opening morning and saw two small bulls come out of the trees but decided to let them go. The next morning I snuck in to the clearing by the tank hoping to cut off the bulls before they dissapeared into the cedars. I didn't see any elk and continued over by the tank. Then an elk walked out along the tree line by the tank. Then there were three elk all bulls. Two smaller fives and a huge broke up bull. I looked at the big bull and he had four tops on each side broke clean off. Immediately I knew I had seen this bull scouting but I never thought I would find him near this water hole. So I knew in this group there were three smaller fives the big bull whiched I named topless and then a big six with no broken points. As I'm watching and waiting for the big six to appear those three dissapear into the cedars and then another body appears but all I could see were pieces of antlers on the head. I knew it was either the other small five or the big six. I didn't shoot hoping to see if these last two would walk out in the opening but they didn't. So they dissapeared and I continued a long walk looking for them with no luck. Sunday evening was my brothers last evening to hunt and I told him to watch that water to see if the big six would show himself. In the last thirty minutes of light the two smaller five points walked out near the water. He knew the three others were near but they wouldn't show themselves. After twenty minutes of waiting for the others to come out with no luck, it was either tag soup or shoot the five point. He shot the five point and headed back to camp. On the way back to camp for help, two big bulls crossed the road in front of him. He marked the location, hoping I would hunt there the next morning. Monday morning was the last morning I could hunt and at day light I set off walking through the trees where he had seen the two big bulls the night before. I neared an opening in the trees and began glassing it looking for the two bulls. Nothing so I continued walking and then suddenly I saw a bull standing at about 260 yards away in the same opening. At first I thought it could be the big one, but then noticed it was a big five by. I knew it was now or never so I shot and heard it hit as he took off running. He fell over after running 80 yards. Overall it was a tough hunt but a lot of fun chasing bulls around last weekend.

 

[AZ402]

Good job guys, the late hunts were a little tough this year. You all did real good, congrats.............