Gilrock
Member
Caution: hunting photo below...
I've been gone for a week for my yearly Elk hunt. In AZ we have a lottery system so you aren't guaranteed to get a hunt every year and if you put in for a Bull Elk hunt the chances are low. We put in for Bull Elk on a couple slots and Cow Elk on the others and got lucky to draw for Bull. I've only been hunting 4 years and this was my second time drawing Bull so I've been really lucky. Also when you apply you have to select the hunting unit you are applying for. So when you go on a hunt in Arizona it is for a single unit during a one week period and only when you get drawn in the lottery. We always put in for a unit on the south rim of the Grand Canyon. On my first Bull hunt 2 years ago I got one but it was nowhere near as nice as this one. I was walking a short 2.5 mile loop up a ridge line straight out of our campsite when I spotted this one in midday. It's fairly thick full of trees and bushes up on the ridge so I was lucky to spot one before he could hear me. It was only 3/4 mile from our camp but it took us four hours to get it back to camp. We navigated my friends truck through all the dense trees having 2 guys in front clearing out the dead stuff on the ground and holding back branches. We got the truck within 200 feet and it took 4 of us to drag it over. The second photo is dark because of how long it took to get it back to camp. We use a truck to pull it up into a tree to be skinned.
Almost as exciting I took my friends 15 year old on a walk up the same ridge the next day and I spotted a Bull bedded down 50 yards away and we were only 0.35 miles from our camp. So he got his first Bull Elk. Then the next day I was hunting with his dad and I spotted a really nice Bull for him. His shot didn't bring it down and we spent 2 hours tracking it and finally had to give up because the blood trail disappeared. I probably walked 30 miles. A lot of guys like to ride around in trucks hoping to get lucky but we like to get out and walk the forest. I felt pretty good about spotting the 3 Bulls in 3 days before they heard us coming considering we were walking in heavily wooded areas. I was the rookie among the adults but they were starting to want me walking with them. We process the meat ourselves. We came home with 3 of 4 tags filled and it took us 4-5 hours to process the meat yesterday.
I've been gone for a week for my yearly Elk hunt. In AZ we have a lottery system so you aren't guaranteed to get a hunt every year and if you put in for a Bull Elk hunt the chances are low. We put in for Bull Elk on a couple slots and Cow Elk on the others and got lucky to draw for Bull. I've only been hunting 4 years and this was my second time drawing Bull so I've been really lucky. Also when you apply you have to select the hunting unit you are applying for. So when you go on a hunt in Arizona it is for a single unit during a one week period and only when you get drawn in the lottery. We always put in for a unit on the south rim of the Grand Canyon. On my first Bull hunt 2 years ago I got one but it was nowhere near as nice as this one. I was walking a short 2.5 mile loop up a ridge line straight out of our campsite when I spotted this one in midday. It's fairly thick full of trees and bushes up on the ridge so I was lucky to spot one before he could hear me. It was only 3/4 mile from our camp but it took us four hours to get it back to camp. We navigated my friends truck through all the dense trees having 2 guys in front clearing out the dead stuff on the ground and holding back branches. We got the truck within 200 feet and it took 4 of us to drag it over. The second photo is dark because of how long it took to get it back to camp. We use a truck to pull it up into a tree to be skinned.
Almost as exciting I took my friends 15 year old on a walk up the same ridge the next day and I spotted a Bull bedded down 50 yards away and we were only 0.35 miles from our camp. So he got his first Bull Elk. Then the next day I was hunting with his dad and I spotted a really nice Bull for him. His shot didn't bring it down and we spent 2 hours tracking it and finally had to give up because the blood trail disappeared. I probably walked 30 miles. A lot of guys like to ride around in trucks hoping to get lucky but we like to get out and walk the forest. I felt pretty good about spotting the 3 Bulls in 3 days before they heard us coming considering we were walking in heavily wooded areas. I was the rookie among the adults but they were starting to want me walking with them. We process the meat ourselves. We came home with 3 of 4 tags filled and it took us 4-5 hours to process the meat yesterday.
