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AZ Elk Hunt Journal 2012

Real Quick Update

I'm in between running errands and hanging out with my son today since he doesn't start school until Monday, so this is going to be the shortest update so far. After we dropped off his sister at school, we ran out to pull cards from my cams. Two words: WHALE TAIL!!!

Full update with pics (did I mention MONSTER) to come Sunday evening or Monday morning. Stay tuned, because you're not going to want to miss this one!! :way:
 
Az love this thread! I wish you the best of luck @ sticking one of those huge bulls! Can't wait for the next update.
 
Update #11: Pic HEAVY, Including a MONSTER and Hard Bone!

Obviously, I didn't get a chance to sit down last night and update my journal, so you all had the weekend to build the anticipation from Friday morning's quick blurb! :D I aslo set up a photobucket account to upload pictures from when I realized my albums on IW were full and I had to delete pics from other albums to get my elk pics uploaded. Hopefully, this will work since I've never used Photobucket.

My son and I dropped off my daughter at school Friday morning and went out to swap cards after letting them sit for 2 weeks this time. After the last couple of card pulls, I didn't really have high expectations, but was at least hoping for a pic or two of hard bone. My first mineral lick cam had almost 200 pics in two weeks, so that was a good sign. I couldn't get my remote to work (you have to hold it just right) on my other (canyon bench) camera, so I had no idea how many pics I had on it until we got home. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with my canyon bench camera. There were a couple of dozen pics of 3 or 4 different bulls (mostly young). Nothing spectacular, compared to what I've seen in my unit, but it was still good to see bulls moving through the area, which was my main purpose in placing that camera where I did.

This decent 5x6 showed up in both cam locations, which tells me where the bulls are moving to/from and its where I suspected. He had this young raghorn with him here, but not at the mineral lick cam.




One of those two, decided to check out my camera.



There was also this young raghorn 5x5, but he definitely needs some more time



There was also this little guy who showed up here and at the other mineral lick a few days prior. I told my son I was naming this guy Jacob because he's got a goofy rack right now, but will grow up to be a great bull in a few years. He thought that was cool and couldn't wait to tell his big sister after school!



Back over at the mineral lick cam, I had some decent bulls, some small bulls, an idiot (staring at my cam), several mule deer does, a couple of giants, and a coupple of bulls just shedding velvet!

Jacob and the 5x6 from the other cam:



Couple of decent 6x6s



This guy has a cool right brow.



From here, it just got better! This giant 6x6 showed up and I'm pretty sure its "Fours", although I have to compare him to another one "Hippy" to be sure. This was the first pic of him in the series, just hanging back. He's HUGE!



Then he came in a bit closer, but another guy stepped in front. Look at how his royals sweep back!



From there, my heart just started pounding out of my chest. I've seen pics of whale tails and know a few guys who have connected with bulls sporting them, but to see one in my unit, on my camera got my blood racing! I'm calling this guy Moby. He's a true 7x6 with a whale tail on top of both sides. He and Fours were together in just about every pic. Check out their body size compared to some of the previous bulls. These are two mature old bulls, for sure. If they are not herd bulls, I'd be surprised. There is no way they are satellite bulls. If they are, I really want to see the herd bulls! After the initial excitement, i started second guessing myself on just how big he is. I got hung up on how small his right fourth is compard to his other side and compared to Fours standing next to him. Then I realized that his "fourth" is the extra tine and it shouldn't be that big, anyway. When I looked at him as a mainframe 6x6, he's HUGE and, as I pointed out to my daughter, his mass at the whale tail is bigger around than a softball! I'm just going to post the entire series of pics without cany further ommentary so enjoy.


















I finally got some hard bone pics, as well. They were from small bulls, but its still hard bone, which is a good sign!




Here's one of the bulls, using the log to knock his velvet off.


On our way out Friday, this muley doe obliged us by staying put as I drove past her, stopping 50 yards beyond and then backing up to take this pic with my good camera with the zoom lens.


I CANNOT wait for Sept 14 to get here! Our early archery deer season opens up this Friday and I'll be out there Friday morning and probably Saturday afternoon doing some on the ground scouting. Unless I get a wild hair misplaced, or see a heartstopper of a velvet buck, I don't really have strong intentions to try and fill my archery deer tag. I want to use that time to see where the elk are moving and how they are behaving, including scouting the rest of the canyon where my 2nd camera is hanging. So far, the weather patterns seem to be lining up to have a decent rut and, therefore, good action early on in the season. In the past, warm temps have stunted the rut or caused it to start in earnest later in the early archery season, but favoring the early muzzleloader season, which is immediately after archery. Fingers are crossed! I'm sure I'll pull the cards on both cams again Friday morning since I will be out there. Stay tuned for more frequent updates beginning next week. I'm also going to be taking my good camera with me, so, hopefully, I will get some good live action bull pics!

Stay tuned and thanks, again for following along! Its almost time!! :way:
 
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Won't be long and they'll be lighting up the mountains. Hope to see you sitting behind one of those dudes in about 3 weeks :way:
 
Thanks for sharing Brian.

Can't wait to see you behind one of those old boys.

Make sure you shoot one the first day and send me that rain gear. ;)
 
those are some GREAT bulls!! i'll be rooting for you in a little over 3 weeks! can't wait to see the harvest photos! thanks for sharing this with all of us!
 
Freakin awesome series of pics Brian. The hard horn is cool but fours and whale tail take the cake. Looking to see one of those giants on the ground.

Kratz
 
Update #12: First Deer Hunt, Wet Feet, More Hard Horns, and Some Bone on the Ground

Last Friday morning, I got up at 0330 to head out to my elk unit and take advantage of the opening day of our early archery deer season. Deer weren't really high on my priority list, but I wanted to get some boots on the ground in a couple of areas to see some elk and try and figure out their home areas. It had been raining all week down here, so I almost slept in, but I got up and did it.

On the drive out, I completely missed a turn in the dark and ended up driving a couple more miles down a muddy Forest Service road with 2 other trucks behind me. :thrwrck: After I got turned around, I almost cashed in and went back home, taking that as an omen. I got to the canyon I have a camera above and started questioning my choice of boots. I spend most of my time hiking and hunting in my wildfire boots because of how comfortable they are when you are carrying a heavy pack, but they are not waterproof (remember all the rain I mentioned?). Thursday night, I debated back and forth between those boots and my Danners with Gore-tex. I was hoping that since it hadn't rained in about 24 hours, things would be dried out, but I forgot about the high dew points. I left the truck at 0530 and 10 minutes into my hunt, my feet were soaked and I was cussing under my breath. But I was out there, so I kept moving forward.

I saw a fresh rub from a bull removing velvet and plenty of other sign and good areas, but no elk and no deer. I made it about a mile and half from the truck in just over an hour and decided my wet feet had enough. After surviving a housefire in November in Iowa when I was 5 years old, my hands, feet, ears, and nose have always been extremely sensitive to cold. There was no way I could stay out until 1000 like I had planned until family obligations had to be partaken in. After scoping some areas out, I started my way back to my truck and it was then that I noticed all of the ATVs and UTVs on the main roads around me. I have nothing against ATVs/UTVs per se, but I REALLY HATE road hunters that just drive up and down roads looking for game. I know there are some folks who are not capable of hiking a mile or more (even 1/2-mile) from the road, but I see road hunters driving all up and down and they fully expect deer to ignore the noise and stay in place while they get out and grab their bow (or rifle during general season). :(

Anyway, as I was working my way back to my truck, via my camera, I looked up and saw some bone laying on the ground in front of me. I remember saying to myself "no way!". I got up on it and it was a year old 4x4 mule deer antler with one broken tine. Its refreshing to know there are some decent bucks in the area!






On my way back to my truck and then back home, I swapped out my cards and was pleased to see some elk and deer still coming into the mineral lick and moving through areas. All but one elk was hard horned! This deer was on my canyon camera and I'm trying to figure out if its a buck or not. Its really blurry, but it looks like he might have some headgear. What do you guys think?



This raghorn 5x5 was the only bull still in velvet in my pics.



This raghorn 4x5 made a couple of appearances and it looks like his antlers darkened to what they should be in between visits.




And here he is bugling!


This guy showed up and then 2 days later showed up again with nice, dark antlers, too! It amazes me how effortlessly elk can step over obstacles.


Darkened:



Sunday afternoon, my daughter and I got suited up to hike around another area close to home. We had a great time hiking together, teaching her more about sneaking through the woods, reading terrain, and looking for sign. She pointed out all kinds of game trails and while we were taking a snack break, we heard what sounded like something crashing through the woods. To her credit, she perked right up and knew it was an elk or deer. By the sound, I figured an elk was running along the bench above us. We walked up over there and saw a mule deer doe bounding away from us! She loved seeing that. Shortly after that, I stopped her and asked her how she would get back to the truck without me if there was an emergency. Keeping in mind she's 8 years old, she gave me the exact directions I would have taken for the easiest, quickest way back! VERY PROUD MOMENT! We continued hiking and eventually jumped an elk, thanks to me snapping a twig. We tried to catch up to the elk to see if it was a bull or a cow (I just saw legs), but it ran farther than I thought. After about 1.5 miles and an hour or so of total hiking, my daughter decided her legs were tired and she was hungry. I told her we could head back and she apologized for ruining my hunt. I told her she didn't ruin anything and that this particular hunt was more about spending time with her and teaching her so she'll be ready in a year and a half when she has an elk or deer tag (hopefully both) in Arizona! I gave her a quick lesson on how to use my GPS and she used it to lead us back to the truck. She is well on her way to be one heck of an outdoorswoman!

Here she is as we were getting ready to try and close the distance on the elk.



I went back and looked at pics of "Fours" and "Hippy" and the bull I originally thought was Fours hanging out with Moby (the whale tail) is definitely NOT Fours. Its Hippy and he looks even better than his when he first showed up back in June/July. Its nice to have several bulls of that caliber out there running around waiting for my tag to be placed on their antler! :way:

I'm not sure what this coming weekend holds since its Labor Day weekend. I have out of town meetings tomorrow and Thursday and a class field trip with my daughter Friday. My wife wants to go camping, but I'm not a big fan of camping on holiday weekends out here because of all the idiots that show up. We'll see. If we stay home, I'll be out deer hunting/elk scouting for part of the weekend. I'll be leaving 2 weeks from tomorrow to head out to my elk unit and secure a campsite and get ready to fill that tag in my backpack! Stay tuned!
 
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Update #13: Mixed Emotions, the Fighting Starts, and Another Giant

I said in one of my early posts that every journey has speedbumps that test your faith and mettle. Two weeks ago today, I hit another speedbump and it’s taken me this long to come to terms with it and put it behind me and prepare for what lies ahead. I was in Phoenix at a mandatory training with several other folks from our region. One of the guys in that training was from Albuquerque and was someone I had worked with before via email and conference calls, but we finally met in person Tuesday, August 21. After a long day in training, several of us went out for dinner that night. After dinner, we all went our separate ways, but several of us were staying in the same hotel. I had tons of work to get caught up on, so I went to my room and got to work. Wednesday morning, my boss called me at 0640 and asked me to come to her room. When I got there, I learned that my friend had been hit and killed by a drunk driver as my friend tried to cross the street near our hotel. I take comfort in that he died instantly, but it shook me to my core, especially because he was a 25-year old single father of two girls, one of which is my daughter’s age.

I’ve spent the last two weeks putting on a great poker face and continuing with my life, but deep inside I have been questioning everything about my faith and what I’m doing in the world. Although I’ve gotten some great pics and had some great times lately, the questions lingered and the poker face only covers so much. It’s been hard to get excited about my upcoming hunt. It’s almost become a chore instead of a fun hunt. I bring this into my journal because I know several of you have been through these situations and have deeper faith than I do. A good friend of mine down here has spent quite a bit of time offering faith-based words of encouragement and providing me with a perspective of understanding God’s plans and intentions. I also bring all of this into my journal because it has lead to me to a major life decision. After years of wrestling with the idea, I have decided to take the classes to become Catholic and become a full member of the church we attend (wife and kids are Catholic). I have my first class tonight and it has all ready started to bring peace into my life and get my mind back in the right mind set. It has also helped me remember that nothing great in our lives is achieved without some level of difficulty and adversity.

So with that, I am back on track and, while still nervous about my hunt, I’m definitely more excited than ever. We had a crazy Labor Day weekend. My wife wanted to go camping, but I dragged my feet. Too much rain was predicted and too many idiots hit the woods out here on long holiday weekends. And the trailer needs a spare tire. Yesterday, my wife suggested we head out and check my cameras. Who am I to argue? I honestly didn’t expect much since it was a holiday weekend. I was figuring the elk would have been scattered by ATV riders on all the closed roads. I was pleasantly surprised to see 200 pictures in 11 days. As I was swapping the card on my mineral lick cam, my wife comes up and says “I’m really excited for you. I hope you get a big one. You’ve been working hard at this and deserve a good one.” Those words right there, also helped snap me out of my funk from the last two weeks. A lot of family stuff has been put on hold in the name of me shooting my bow to prepare as well as running my cams since early June. My wife is the BEST!

I leave for my hunt a week from tomorrow. Opening day is a week from this Friday. We are going to head out to the area I want to camp this Sunday afternoon to set up and secure it for me and my buddy that is coming to help. The reality of this dream is sinking in and my nerves are just about shot. My camera on the canyon bench had no elk or deer pics in those 11 days; just shadows.

Enough ramblings. Here are the pics from the latest pull. There were tons of mule deer pics, including one that I think might be a buck in the background (far upper right). The first pic is the original, then there are two where I zoomed and cropped. What do you guys think? Deer season is open right through the Thursday before elk season. I may just go sit in this area next Thursday morning and see, especially since he was there at 0730.






After all this time and one mountain lion pic, I finally got two coyote pics.





All of the bulls that came in to the lick are hard horn. A few were raghorn bulls and there were a couple of decent 5x5s. What really got me excited about these pics is that two different pairs of bulls were fighting! This tells me that the bachelor groups are getting ready to break up and territories will be defended. Hopefully they will be responsive to calls next Friday morning!

Raghorns fighting (note one guy is all ready broken at the tip):








5x5s fighting:





And then this giant 6x6 showed up in hard horn. He’s not a typical 6x6 since his third is missing, but he has a nice point coming off of the base of his fourth. I’m pretty sure this is a bull I call “Sixes” because of his long, sweeping sixths, but I need to compare to a previous photo.





When I head out next weekend to set up camp, I’ll swap my cards again take a last organized look at what’s out there. Next Monday or Tuesday will also likely be my last major journal entry until the hunt is over. Reception is spotty out where I will be. I will try to give some brief updates from the field via my phone, but I won’t be back home until it’s over. I'll probably take our laptop with me to do one last card check Thursday (13th), but there will be no internet, so be looking for a brief phone update, as I said, if reception cooperates. I’m hoping the hunt will be over Friday morning. Although I have several giants out there, this is my first archery elk hunt. My main goal for opening weekend is respectable 5x5 or bigger (no raghorns or spikes). As much as I would like to hold out for Moby, The Hippie, Fours, or Sixes, I can’t promise anything. The second weekend of my elk hunt is off the table since my daughter has a soccer tournament here in town. I am confident that I WILL fill my tag earlier than later; it’s just a matter of who gets the honor of wearing it on his antlers! Again, thank you for all the support and encouragement along the way. My plan is that the next major journal entry after next week’s entry will include harvest photos and the final story! I may get ahold of a couple of you via PM to get your cell #s so I can send a quick text when it happens!
 
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Quick Photo Update: Definitely Sixes Returning

I had a chance to compare the July photos to this weekend's photos and that is definitely Sixes returning. I got caught up in how long his sixths were back in July that I completely missed the lack of a third and the point coming off the base of his left fourth. For comparison, here is the July photo again where you can just see that extra point and then the August photo again. It looks like he's put on several inches all around in the month between appearances! :way:





Yesterday afternoon, I spoke to my buddy from CO that is coming down to help me. The excitement is setting in!!
 
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Those are great pictures. I have been patiently waiting for your post all year long. Best of luck and I hope all of your hard work is worth the wait. I'm anxiously awaiting harvest photo's. Remember the Gor-tex boots. :)
 
Good luck Brian! We'll be pulling for you. Sorry to hear about your co-worker, those things really put things in perspective.

Once again, good luck!
 
Last Big Entry and Update

This is going to be my last big journal entry before my hunt starts. Life is getting hectic and crazy as I’m getting ready for my hunt and trying to maintain my family obligations and priorities. My daughter had soccer practice Friday night and then a scrimmage game against the boys’ team that is an age group younger. The boys’ team stepped it up a notch after last weekend’s scrimmage where they got beat 6-0 by my daughter’s team and got physically knocked around the field, too. But my daughter’s team managed to pull it out with a 3-0 win! After the game, we had to run to the archery shop to get some last minute scent cover stuff. Several guys who have more free time than I do are seeing bulls with 12-16 cows and are hearing all kinds of bugling! The rut is kicking in and this coming weekend should be great!

In between birthday parties and riding lessons Saturday afternoon, I managed to finally shoot my bow after 2 weeks and get the camper prepped and ready. After my first group at 40 yards after not shooting in 2 weeks, my first reaction upon seeing my group was “thank God elk have a 16” vital zone!” After that, everything came back to grouping tight in the bullseye! I got all of the essential gear loaded up in the camper and, after more family obligations, we (whole family) hauled the camper out to the forest Sunday afternoon. I waited until the afternoon to let some of the weekend campers clear out and was fortunate to get the spot I wanted. I’m within walking distance (1/4-mile or less) from both of my cameras and the areas that I want to hunt. That makes it nice to be able to get up and walk to your hunting spots! We got the trailer parked and it was perfectly level the first time and right next to an existing fire pit. Setting up our pop-up is a breeze, which was fortunate for us as it started to sprinkle a bit just as we finished. On these types of hunts, I like to have an extra tent to change into/out of hunting clothes so they aren’t in the camper getting food smells and other scents on them, so I started setting up our big 6-man dome tent that I can stand up in. Of course, that’s when the rain really started coming down. Thankfully, my lovely wife helped me, which got everything done that much quicker. As a result of the rain dumping on us, we also found out why our trailer was so level. We were in the lowest spot in the campsite! I managed to park the trailer on the nice, flat spot, but the area around it filled up with water quickly. It looked like the trailer was on a little island.






We rode out the rain under an EZ-Up awning while my kids hung out in the camper. When the rain let up, we got the campfire going again and then the kids discovered the big puddles and the mud! I distinctly told my son to be careful of the puddles and then he proceeded to jump from a cut-stump into an ankle deep (on him) puddle! At that point, all hope of clean kids was lost, but hearing them laugh and giggle was worth every moment! A buddy and his girlfriend showed up to hang out a bit and it was nice to relax in the woods before the pressure starts! I pulled out my diaphragm call to show him what I’ve been working on for bugling. My wife had been telling me I sounded nothing like a bull, but we were in the house and she was in close proximity, so I didn’t take her criticism too seriously. I did, however, listen when she got mad at me for practicing in the house after we put the kids to bed! My buddy said I sounded pretty good and gave me some more pointers with calling. He warned me not to sound too much like a big, tough, bull because the real bulls are likely to just pack up and leave, avoiding a confrontation. I told him I wasn’t worried about sounding like that because I figure I sound more like that “snotty wannabe on the play ground that just needs his arse kicked” and should be ok.

By the time we decided to head back home, it was too rainy and late to get to both cameras for one last card pull, so I ran into the lick cam real quick since it was on the way home and easy enough to get to. 76 pictures since the last pull on Labor Day. Not surprising, there were no giants coming into the mineral lick. They should all be with their harems and guarding them closely. In addition to the muley does that love this area lately, there were a couple of raghorns and a couple of different spikes, including a couple of spikes still in velvet. I know where they will be during the rut and what they won’t be doing!

This doe has made several appearances in the last few weeks. Every time I see her and that spot behind her shoulder, I think of the Far Side cartoon with the two deer. “Bummer of a birth mark!”




Here is one of the spikes still in velvet.




Surprisingly, Propeller made a return visit. In the first pic, I can’t tell if his leg is swollen now or if that is his antler. It wasn’t until I got the profile pic of his head that I even knew it was him.






And this small 5x6 has made a few appearances these past 2-3 weeks, so I’m guessing he’s getting pushed around by the bigger bulls in the area.




What truly amazes me, is that after running 2-3 cams in this general area all summer, I have only seen 2 or 3 cows in pics. Oh well, I have a bull tag, not a cow tag, so I’m not really bothered by not seeing cows. I know they are out there because I’ve seen them on the sides of the roads. I will do my best to get a short blurb via phone from out there Wednesday or Thursday and I’m praying there will be a short “Bull Down” post sometime Friday! I’m hoping my next big entry will include harvest pics and the final chapter to this journal! To those of you traveling this week for your elk hunts (Risto and Shredder, DOR, ?): Good luck and travel safely. To all you youth hunters out there, good luck this weekend! Trenton and Allison, if you or your dad read this post, I expect a phone call when you get a good buck down and I don’t care if it is in the middle of my hunt. If I am in a spot where I can answer safely without disrupting elk, I will. If I don’t answer, assume I’m in the middle of something big, but I’ll get back to you as soon as possible!
 
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