I also had a 13b thag this year. I had max. points for the once in a life time monster muley hunt. Not a hunt that one goes to kill a 170 to 180 inch class buck. Tough hunt.Hot, dry & dusty was the entire hunt. I think that that little tiny bit of rain was on day 3,but it wasn't much. I usally saw 2-5 bucks per day. Little to no rut activity most of the time. I did turn down a 35" 4x4 with crabed back forks on both sides on the 3rd day. He had good mass, great frame, eye guards,but no back forks.
Day 5, I turned down the biggest 2 point that I had ever seen. He was a 40" cactus buck "in velvet" with a bunch of junk coming from his bases. He was a neat buck,but still only a 2 point. again, this hunt is'nt the kind of hunt that you want to shoot a 2 point. I did see serval bucks that were mid 170 type deer,but turned them down.
On the 9th day, I did see a buck that was well over 200",but he was over a mile away and I only had about 20 minutes of light left. I know that I never would have made it on time. The only other buck to speak of was a 200+ non typ. that I saw in the head lights, but I had to wait 20 minutes for the sun to come up, and never could find him again.
I never squeezed the trigger on this hunt. It not about killing, its about hunting.
My only problem on this hunt was how I ended it. The last day at dark I set my Swarovski SLC 10x42 bino's on the hood of my truck and drove off not knowing. Then coming off the mountain from Flagstaff I broke down. My truck froze up the right front hub bearing. Very costly, and thats all I have to say about that!