coyoteslayer
Active Member
- Messages
- 349
Just wanted to write a post about our hunt on the early Kiabab. First of all, I want to say what a pleasure it was to hunt with all the hunters that were there. I am absolutely amazed at the friendliness and courtesy of the Az hunters. We never had one problem with other hunters. It is not like that where I live. I would hunt with AZ hunters any day of the week. Thank you! I also wanted to complement the lack of litter there is. You hardly ever see a pop can on the ground.
As far as the hunt went, we pretty much got our butts kicked. My 3 kids had the tags 16,15 girl, and 10. We set our goal at 3 year old plus bucks. We did not travel down there to just shoot a deer. We hunted for 8 days in all, my oldest boy, who has killed a few decent bucks never did see a buck he wanted to shoot. MY 2 youngest, both first year hunters had chances, but struggled seeing the deer, or getting a shot off with other deer around or trees. My daughter did miss a shot at a decent 4 point Saturday.
Sunday morning, that last day of the hunt, the last hour of our hunt we made one last push, and my youngest was able to connect on a 3 year old buck. Can I just tell you that the look and smile on his face was worth me transferring my tag to him, and every bit worth the money we spent to hunt there. It ended the hunt on a positive note.
I made some mistakes over the week, and learned a lot, but I have the utmost respect for anybody who can get a big buck on that early hunt every year they hunt. We passed on a buck, we probably shouldn't have and passed what seemed like a billion forked horns and smaller 3 points, with a few small 4 points mixed in. We hunted some areas we shouldn't have, and should have spent more time in others. Having 2 first year hunters was probably a mistake, but good family time is never a mistake. My daughter and oldest son killed elk this year already, and they set their goals and would not shoot a smaller buck.
The buck my son killed was probably less than a mile from where my brother and I killed an 8x4 20 years ago this fall.That was cool for me.
The Kiabab is an awesome place, but that early hunt is not an easy hunt for big bucks. The information I got prior to the hunt was all over the place in where to hunt and how to hunt it. It seems like every year must be a little different. I would like to try it again someday, and man I wished I had a late tag! There are a lot of deer in that low country already. I love that low country.
As far as the hunt went, we pretty much got our butts kicked. My 3 kids had the tags 16,15 girl, and 10. We set our goal at 3 year old plus bucks. We did not travel down there to just shoot a deer. We hunted for 8 days in all, my oldest boy, who has killed a few decent bucks never did see a buck he wanted to shoot. MY 2 youngest, both first year hunters had chances, but struggled seeing the deer, or getting a shot off with other deer around or trees. My daughter did miss a shot at a decent 4 point Saturday.
Sunday morning, that last day of the hunt, the last hour of our hunt we made one last push, and my youngest was able to connect on a 3 year old buck. Can I just tell you that the look and smile on his face was worth me transferring my tag to him, and every bit worth the money we spent to hunt there. It ended the hunt on a positive note.
I made some mistakes over the week, and learned a lot, but I have the utmost respect for anybody who can get a big buck on that early hunt every year they hunt. We passed on a buck, we probably shouldn't have and passed what seemed like a billion forked horns and smaller 3 points, with a few small 4 points mixed in. We hunted some areas we shouldn't have, and should have spent more time in others. Having 2 first year hunters was probably a mistake, but good family time is never a mistake. My daughter and oldest son killed elk this year already, and they set their goals and would not shoot a smaller buck.
The buck my son killed was probably less than a mile from where my brother and I killed an 8x4 20 years ago this fall.That was cool for me.
The Kiabab is an awesome place, but that early hunt is not an easy hunt for big bucks. The information I got prior to the hunt was all over the place in where to hunt and how to hunt it. It seems like every year must be a little different. I would like to try it again someday, and man I wished I had a late tag! There are a lot of deer in that low country already. I love that low country.
