CAelknuts
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LAST EDITED ON Oct-04-14 AT 07:09PM (MST)[p]We returned a few days ago from my son's AZ muzzleloader bull hunt. What an incredible, if short, hunt it was! Since my son, Danny, also drew a Doyle muzzleloader buck tag this year and started a new job a few months ago, we knew his time to hunt would be short. Knowing that this would likely be the last time my son draws this tag for many years, if ever again, and that he'd be short on time, I hired Matt Schimberg of A3 trophy hunts to scout the unit for me before the season arrived. He employed Hunter Weems of Flagstaff to do the scouting and these turned out to be wise decisions on both our parts.
With that in mind, I headed south to AZ early, arriving in time to get a day of scouting in with Hunter and his buddy, Austin. We went to an area of the unit where I'd never been before and once upon a large hill, set up the big binoculars and spotting scopes. As it got light, Hunter and Austin told me to look out onto a grassy flat a couple of miles away.
Once I got my binoculars focused, I immediately found about 50-60 elk out in open, flat 'pronghorn' country. There were a number of mature bulls floating around this group, with the 3 biggest being a big wide 7x7 that they had already estimated would be a 370s class bull. Next biggest was a clean 6x6 that they thought was a solid 360s class bull and the next best bull was a 6x7 that they thought would go around 345+. We watched these bulls and others until they headed into the junipers just like they told me the elk had been doing for days now. The season was to open the next day and Hunter was going to be guiding an early rifle bull hunter in unit 10; while Danny, our buddy Jeff and I would be hunting on our own. Again, I purchased a scouting package from these guys, not a guided hunt and they gave me everything I was looking for before the season opened. That afternoon, I scouted the area alone, entering from a different direction, the way I planned to hunt these bulls. I didn't see any elk (which was good) but figured out how to access their bedding and feeding areas with favorable prevailing wind.
Now that I had some candidate bulls located (in an area where I'd have not looked, and we never saw another hunter) and a plan formulated on how to get them (keep in mind, this unit is not known for really big bulls, as most bulls taken in this unit score from 300-340 range) it was time to head to Phoenix to pick the guys up at the airport. By the time we arrived in Flagstaff to spend the night, it was almost 1:00 AM. We hit the sack for 3 hours sleep, then headed out to begin Danny's elk hunt...
We accessed the area with a steady favorable wind and began walking in the beginning of dawn light. Right away, we could hear bugling from several different directions. About 15-20 minutes into our walk, we found the first bull of the day, a nice 7x7 but not the big 7 from the day before. He was about 300 yards away, very stalkable and herding about 8 or 9 cows. Danny took one look at him and passed! I was kinda surprised as this was a really pretty bull, and after all, how many guys ever kill a 7x7 bull? About 10 minutes later, while pausing next to a juniper to glass, we got pinned down by a lone 6x6 that came walking our way. Right off, I told Danny "You are NOT going to shoot this bull" as he was only a 300-310 bull (isn't it nice to be able to say "only" about a nice bull like that?!). That bull walked past us and we kept on glassing. Then, we found the big group and realized we were too far to the east, so we hiked back toward them as fast as possible.
Once we got to within about 500 yards of the big group, we were in the junipers with them as they headed toward their bedding area. We moved forward, calling occasionally to provoke answers and keep tabs on where the herd was moving. Finally, they settled into a big area, with herd bulls staking out different areas from where they were each calling before bedding. I told Danny "you know what you have to do now, you have to stalk one of these bulls by yourself. 3 of us is simply too much noise and movement". So, Danny picked out one of the bugles to stalk and he slowly disappeared. Jeff and I stayed put and I laid down to take a nap since I was cranking on about 3 hours sleep over the last 36 hours.
More to follow...
With that in mind, I headed south to AZ early, arriving in time to get a day of scouting in with Hunter and his buddy, Austin. We went to an area of the unit where I'd never been before and once upon a large hill, set up the big binoculars and spotting scopes. As it got light, Hunter and Austin told me to look out onto a grassy flat a couple of miles away.
Once I got my binoculars focused, I immediately found about 50-60 elk out in open, flat 'pronghorn' country. There were a number of mature bulls floating around this group, with the 3 biggest being a big wide 7x7 that they had already estimated would be a 370s class bull. Next biggest was a clean 6x6 that they thought was a solid 360s class bull and the next best bull was a 6x7 that they thought would go around 345+. We watched these bulls and others until they headed into the junipers just like they told me the elk had been doing for days now. The season was to open the next day and Hunter was going to be guiding an early rifle bull hunter in unit 10; while Danny, our buddy Jeff and I would be hunting on our own. Again, I purchased a scouting package from these guys, not a guided hunt and they gave me everything I was looking for before the season opened. That afternoon, I scouted the area alone, entering from a different direction, the way I planned to hunt these bulls. I didn't see any elk (which was good) but figured out how to access their bedding and feeding areas with favorable prevailing wind.
Now that I had some candidate bulls located (in an area where I'd have not looked, and we never saw another hunter) and a plan formulated on how to get them (keep in mind, this unit is not known for really big bulls, as most bulls taken in this unit score from 300-340 range) it was time to head to Phoenix to pick the guys up at the airport. By the time we arrived in Flagstaff to spend the night, it was almost 1:00 AM. We hit the sack for 3 hours sleep, then headed out to begin Danny's elk hunt...
We accessed the area with a steady favorable wind and began walking in the beginning of dawn light. Right away, we could hear bugling from several different directions. About 15-20 minutes into our walk, we found the first bull of the day, a nice 7x7 but not the big 7 from the day before. He was about 300 yards away, very stalkable and herding about 8 or 9 cows. Danny took one look at him and passed! I was kinda surprised as this was a really pretty bull, and after all, how many guys ever kill a 7x7 bull? About 10 minutes later, while pausing next to a juniper to glass, we got pinned down by a lone 6x6 that came walking our way. Right off, I told Danny "You are NOT going to shoot this bull" as he was only a 300-310 bull (isn't it nice to be able to say "only" about a nice bull like that?!). That bull walked past us and we kept on glassing. Then, we found the big group and realized we were too far to the east, so we hiked back toward them as fast as possible.
Once we got to within about 500 yards of the big group, we were in the junipers with them as they headed toward their bedding area. We moved forward, calling occasionally to provoke answers and keep tabs on where the herd was moving. Finally, they settled into a big area, with herd bulls staking out different areas from where they were each calling before bedding. I told Danny "you know what you have to do now, you have to stalk one of these bulls by yourself. 3 of us is simply too much noise and movement". So, Danny picked out one of the bugles to stalk and he slowly disappeared. Jeff and I stayed put and I laid down to take a nap since I was cranking on about 3 hours sleep over the last 36 hours.
More to follow...