The taking of "Flare" the giant Antelope.

After a month and half of watching the Antelope we named "Flare" is finally over.  Opening morning of the Antelope hunt found myself and Brian W. sneaking to where Flare was last seen that morning at daylight.  After passing the buck some where in the cedar trees we found there tracks and the walk was on.  We had additional help in glassing of Brian D., Buck B. and Todd L.  So while Brian W. and I were walking over 6.5 miles on nothing but tracks and starting to get a little tired, the crew kept moving in front of us glassing to hope to find flare before someone else did.  After a great spot by Todd L. the hunt was back on.  With other hunters also finding the buck we had to hurry and make a great stalk to finish the quest.  The rest of the story is in the pictures.  Just one last thing, my hunter Brian W. was in great shape and had a great attitude about walking for hours.  Without him being in shape we probably would of not killed. We probably walked over 7-8 miles before noon. Great job Brian.

Here are a couple pictures of Brian and  "Flare".

I almost forgot to tell you that "flare" green scored 88 7/8.  This is most likely the largest antelope ever killed in unit 3A.  The unit is not know to produce this quality of antelope.

Check out the video of the hunt of "flare" along with the kill shot.

First Bugle of the Year!

Today was a great day, I got to hear my first bugle of the 2011 year.  There is nothing better to hear in the early morning dawn than a elk bugling with the sounds echoing through the canyons for miles.  Scouting this morning only brings back memories of whats to come in the next 45 days.  BRING IT ON...
Here are a couple pictures of some of the cow elk I saw today.  It was like I was in Alaska glassing the Caribou migration.  I saw over 150 cow elk in one little area, bring on the rut and lets see what type of Bull Elk move in to take over a share of this huge group.  Stay tuned and I will keep you posted on the scouting efforts.  I hope you do realize if and when I find a real monster you wont see anything on it until we kill it or the hunt ends, SORRY..

Here is the video of the morning.  Turn up the volume after I talk and listen to these elk cow calling and a couple bugles even.

Limited Opportunity Success!

Skyler has success!  With 15 any elk tags and 60 cow elk tags on a hunt with very limited number of elk it make for some tough hunting.  After 4 straight weeks of scouting and 3.5 hours in the air flying the unit we had determined there were four shooters (Skyler's standards 320+ and no he has never killed an elk before, yes he is very picky).  Opening morning had us 850 yards from a group of 10 bulls with one "shooter" before the wind changed direction and they were off running.  Three miles later they crossed the highway into a part of the unit that we could not hunt.  Day two and three went by without even seeing an elk.  The morning of day four found us tracking a group of elk in the soft sand for over 3.5 hours in the dense tree cover in hopes of finally completing the task at hand.  After bumping the group from there first bedding spot with out a shot the trek was back on.  Approx. 1.5 miles later we came around the corner of a cedar tree and I hear Skyler say "there he is under that tree".  Yes the "shooter" was bedded only 150 yards from us looking the opposite direction.  After an awesome shot with no coaching from dad the journey was complete.

Here are a couple pictures of the awesome velvet bull elk Skyler took.



There is an extremely hard hunt.  They don't call it limited opportunity for no reason.  We talked to over 20 different hunts that had not seen an elk in three days.  Today is the last day of the hunt and I have only heard of two bulls and two cows killed.
Here is a short clip of Skyler's hunt with the kill shot, walking up to the elk and the interview is on a different camera. I will post the entire hunt video when it is completed later.  Thanks to Jed Larson for getting the kill shot on tape.  He did not have time to zoom in on the bull before Skyler put the hammer down.  Congrats Skyler that's an awesome elk for a 12 year old.

"Flare" The Antelope with huge Spaids!

The Antelope here is one of many Antelope we have been seeing lately looking for some quality bucks in numerous units through out the White Mountains area.  Theses units are not usually known for producing large bucks.  This buck has just awesome prongs.  We have killed a net 90 and 85 inch antelope in unit 10 the past two years but with elk tags we are going to have to stay closer to home this year.  It looks like we will still kill a buck in the mid 80's even staying on this side of the state.

Sheep pictures and more!

With the draw results out its time to start looking at some sheep pictures and get ready for the up coming fun in the desert this December.  Congrats to all that drew those awesome tags.  Here are some of the live photos we have taken the past two years.  I will post the pictures of the rams we have harvested in the past couple years in another post.  Enjoy the pictures!!!

That is a very picture heavy post.  Hope you enjoy the photos, there many more to come.

Limited opp. Scout Trip -2. The Pretty vs Ugly!!

We have now found another decent bull that three weeks ago was flying solo.  Now the "knuckle head" has moved into the group with the pretty 6x6.  To me it's a no brainer but Skyler is having trouble deciding cause he like no typical type racks.  I have found another very large track a distance from these two bulls so after I fly the area real heavy hopefully I will find a no brainer so both these bulls live another day.. We will keep you updated..
Here are some pictures of the two bulls together.

Another angle!!

Here is some video of the bulls all together and a lot better look at "knuckle head"

I have also been scouting unit 3c heavy and have seen some really good bulls.  I will be posting some of the pictures and video of them real soon.  Also with the AZ draw out again "congrats to all the lucky sheep and deer hunters".

Limited Opportunity Elk Hunt.

With about a month to go before Skyler's limited opp. elk hunt we found a bull that will work if a larger bull is not found.  This elk is just a nice looking 6x6, nothing special but a great elk for a 12yr old to shoot in velvet in a limited opp. hunt.  Here are a couple stills from the video.

Here is some video of the larger bull!

Clay Mine Legend!

Sorry for the lack of post over the last little while.  It has been very busy with Little League and now All Star little league.  The forest have been closed to entry, but the monsoons have arrived and the forests have been opened again. So now it time to kick up the pre-season scouting.

This is a bull that we had watched for years but never had a chance to kill him in his prime.  This bull was well over 400 as a straight 6x6 in his prime.  The year he was killed by Nathan Garvin he had lost a lot of bone from the previous year.  I had opted not to hunt the bull this year.  It is just a shame when you see a bull loose so much horn in one year.  Nathan did not hunt the bull early in the season either and then after the hunt got hard and the elk almost quit talking completely Nate decide to go look for the Clay Mine Bull.  Just a couple hours later he had put an arrow in the the old legend.  Congrats Nate.

Here are a couple stills from the video of the Clay Mine Bull in prior years.

Here is the Video of the Clay Mine Bull in prior years and also the year Nate Killed him.

Junior turkey hunt starts off with a BANG!!

With the opening weekend of the Junior turkey hunt over now the adults get to see if they can fool the old gobbler into coming into range.  We were hunting with some juniors this past weekend and did very well.  We killed 5 beautiful long beard (NO JAKES), in two and a half days of hunting.  There is nothing better than watching these juniors get all excited when they see that old gobbler turn the corner and start at us in a FULL STRUT.  Talking with some of the other hunters in the unit people were struggling a little for some reason.  We thought it was awesome, 4 of the 5 birds we killed were by themself or with another gobbler.  Any time you can call these birds before they hen up it is going to be good.  We did get some of the hunts on tape but not as much as we had hoped for.  We had one Junior attempt to kill a turkey with a crossbow after killing 3 with a shot gun prior to this year.

This is Kade with his very first turkey....Congrats Kade!!

This turkey is almost bigger than Kade!

Check out Tyler's 1st turkey of his young career!

Congrats Tyler on a great bird!

This is Kelsea's 3rd turkey in four years.  I know she is making the boys jealous!

After this bird fly past them out of the roost a couple clucks from dad and this bird was back putting on a show.

 

 Steffen with his nice long beard!

This bird almost landed on us when he flew out of the roost, bad mistake on his part!!

Tanner Rocked this big old long beard on the second morning of the the hunt!

The word has not got out to the animals yet to stay clear of Tanner, he also killed a great 4x4 Mule deer last year in the same unit.

Here is a little video of Kade's hunt. 

Junior hunt with a Crossbow.  After killing three turkeys in three years with a shot gun the decision was made to try a crossbow for a little while.

The Junior hunt goes for a week and then closes for two weeks while the general hunts start and then it opens back up for the last two weeks again.  This means you have not seen the end of the Junior Turkey hunt pictures for the year..  More to come soon.  A GIANT congrats to all the kids who have killed so far in the Junior Turkey hunt.  For many of them this was there first turkey.

Turkey Pre-Season Scouting!

With the Junior Turkey hunt in Arizona only 5 days away me and the boys decided we better check on the old Turkey's and make sure they were still where we thought.  We have hunted this unit for numerous years and have also scouted this same unit just a week ago.  We have to figure these birds out even more since both my boys age 11 and 14 will be using a bow and arrow instead of the trusted shot gun.  Here are a couple pictures from the video we just took this evening. Check out the video on the bottom of this post to see these long beards in action!  Check back starting Friday 4/15 for updates on the Junior hunt here in AZ.

Just a little strut action!!

Five long beards and numerous jake's with about 20 hens.

Here is the video of the Turkey action. Enjoy!!