AZBridger
Active member
I have been lurking around this site for a while now. finally decided to start an account. i am an Arizona native and love chasing animals DIY public land. I am getting more and more fed up of looking at big money animals and seeing what hunting is turning in to. The members here seem like my kind of people, everyday hunters that work their tail off to get it done. i have been very fortunate in taking some great Arizona animals so i figured i would make my first post about a great bull i took a few years back.
The particular tag i drew was not a tough one at all to draw, but the unit intrigued me. i made the mistake of telling a friend that i would take him elk hunting if he ever drew a tag. Rather than taking my advice, he applied for units with high draw percentages and very low success and elk numbers. Long story short, while scouting for his hunt i found a giant bull that never left my mind. He ended up taking a small 6x6 opening morning waaay up in a nasty canyon. the next year, i drew a great Arizona archery elk tag that i had waited 10 years for. i ended up taking a beautiful 376" 7X7. the next year with only two bonus points (hunter ed and loyalty) i decided to put in for the unit i had hunting previously with a friend. I drew the tag, and the scouting began. i scouted for around 10 days in the field with never seeing an elk. The hunt rolled around and i did not have high hopes, but i still really got after it hard. i managed to turn up a few cows here and there for the first few days of the season, hunting alone most of the time. the 2nd to lst day of the hunt i climbed waaaay to the top of a big mountain in hopes of finding a good area to glass from. i got to the top of the hill and started glassing. a few hours into it, and right before dark i glassed a bull. he wasw 4 or 5 miles away, but i could tell that he was big. really big. the next morning, next to last day of the season, my good friend and hunting partner joined me. his wife tagged out the day before in a different unit, and when i told him about the bull i would be hunting the next day, he hauled ass and met me in camp before dark the next morning. it took us a LOT longer to figure out exactly where this bull was the night before. By the time we got where we needed to be, i was sure the elk had bedded already. we wplit up and got on different peaks and began glassing for the day. not a single elk sighting came all day. right before dark as i was packing up my binoculars, i saw something shining that i had npt noticed before. i quickly set up my tripod and binos again and saw that it was him. he was probably a half mile away and i needed to cover some country FAST. i practically sprinted through the manzanita until i figured i was getting close. When i saw him, I realized the shot would have to be off hand, because the manzanita was too tall for any kind of rest. i am almost 6'5" and if i was a couple inches shorter, i could not have shot over the brush. after a couple warning shots, i connected and he went down hard. when i was walking up to the bull, i found a clearing that i could see the bull good from a hundred or so yards away. i set up and burned another one through his ribs just to make sure he did not get up. when i got to the elk i could not believe how big he was. especially for this hunt. i phoned another friend that night and had him bring in his horses to pack this big bull out. i didn't have him scored for 3-4 years, just because i didn't care. about a year ago, i had him taped out. He grossses right at 402". 22-23" g1's and g2's (minus his right G1, 16") main beams just shy of 60". he is the highlite of my hunting career, not only for how big he was, but for how hard i hunted to get it done. thanks for reading my long-winded story.
The particular tag i drew was not a tough one at all to draw, but the unit intrigued me. i made the mistake of telling a friend that i would take him elk hunting if he ever drew a tag. Rather than taking my advice, he applied for units with high draw percentages and very low success and elk numbers. Long story short, while scouting for his hunt i found a giant bull that never left my mind. He ended up taking a small 6x6 opening morning waaay up in a nasty canyon. the next year, i drew a great Arizona archery elk tag that i had waited 10 years for. i ended up taking a beautiful 376" 7X7. the next year with only two bonus points (hunter ed and loyalty) i decided to put in for the unit i had hunting previously with a friend. I drew the tag, and the scouting began. i scouted for around 10 days in the field with never seeing an elk. The hunt rolled around and i did not have high hopes, but i still really got after it hard. i managed to turn up a few cows here and there for the first few days of the season, hunting alone most of the time. the 2nd to lst day of the hunt i climbed waaaay to the top of a big mountain in hopes of finding a good area to glass from. i got to the top of the hill and started glassing. a few hours into it, and right before dark i glassed a bull. he wasw 4 or 5 miles away, but i could tell that he was big. really big. the next morning, next to last day of the season, my good friend and hunting partner joined me. his wife tagged out the day before in a different unit, and when i told him about the bull i would be hunting the next day, he hauled ass and met me in camp before dark the next morning. it took us a LOT longer to figure out exactly where this bull was the night before. By the time we got where we needed to be, i was sure the elk had bedded already. we wplit up and got on different peaks and began glassing for the day. not a single elk sighting came all day. right before dark as i was packing up my binoculars, i saw something shining that i had npt noticed before. i quickly set up my tripod and binos again and saw that it was him. he was probably a half mile away and i needed to cover some country FAST. i practically sprinted through the manzanita until i figured i was getting close. When i saw him, I realized the shot would have to be off hand, because the manzanita was too tall for any kind of rest. i am almost 6'5" and if i was a couple inches shorter, i could not have shot over the brush. after a couple warning shots, i connected and he went down hard. when i was walking up to the bull, i found a clearing that i could see the bull good from a hundred or so yards away. i set up and burned another one through his ribs just to make sure he did not get up. when i got to the elk i could not believe how big he was. especially for this hunt. i phoned another friend that night and had him bring in his horses to pack this big bull out. i didn't have him scored for 3-4 years, just because i didn't care. about a year ago, i had him taped out. He grossses right at 402". 22-23" g1's and g2's (minus his right G1, 16") main beams just shy of 60". he is the highlite of my hunting career, not only for how big he was, but for how hard i hunted to get it done. thanks for reading my long-winded story.
