Live Hunts - Arizona Archery Elk Hunt - September 28

Live Hunts - Arizona Archery Elk Hunt - September 28 - Day 7

Wednesday - September 28 - Day 7
Arizona Archery Elk Hunt

Wednesday P.M. Hunt
This evening we went to a completely new area, a roadless area about 5 miles from camp. It's basically a wilderness area. Right when we stepped out of the car at the parking area at 4:30, we heard a bugle. A deep bugle from what sounded like a mature bull. This was a real change, since we had only heard bugling one evening of the whole hunt, all the bugling had been in the morning. We had only walked about 100 yards from the truck when we spotted a group of cows, which we assumed to be his. We heard the bull bugling probably 300-400 yards distant, often, and he was moving around 1uite a bit from the sound of it. We started making a circle around to the left in order to get around the cows and try to find the bull and get a stalk on him. We seemed to be doing okay getting around the cows until we came to an area where the visibility was good for a ways and we discovered a bunch more cows. There was another bull bugling as well. After a few minutes of watching we saw the 2nd bull, a small 6x6, definitely a shooter at this stage. He was terrorizing a small pine tree, which would have been a perfect opportunity for me to move in on him - he was only about 100 yards away - except that there were cows between us and all around him. He appeared to have his own small band of cows. The big bull and his group were to our right and the small bull and his group were directly in front. The small bull after a few minutes took his cows and wandered off. At this point we were kind of focused on getting a shot at the big bull, who was still bugling this whole time. He was also working his way in our general direction, but he seemed to be staying out in the open and roaming around, perhaps herding cows in this direction. Anyhow, we had a hard time getting into a position where we thought he might be ambushed, because of all the cows present, probably about 20. We got pinned down a few times by alert cows looking at us, but we stayed still and they eventually went back to feeding. About this time we finally saw the bull for the first time. Did I mention that his bugles made him sound like a big bull? He was a 7x7, probably in the 350 class. Had beautiful ivory tips. Long tines, long beams, good mass. Great bull. He was about 80 yards from us, just walking back and forth amongst his cows. He did appear to be moving in one general direction, so we backed off our vantage point slowly and cautiously and duck walked out of sight, planning to circle around and try to come around in front of the bull. This we did, and we again saw him at about 80 yards with his cows. Bruce decided to do a bugling and cow calling sequence. I've got to say it sounded great. He bugled, raked a tree and then cow called some. I was also cow calling. At this point we were about 100 yards from the bull. All the bull did in response to this challenge was to look back at us, then slowly herd his cows a bit further away. No running away, no charging us, just nonchalance. By this time, we had been working this bull for about 2 hours. We had about 30 minutes of shooting light left, and he was still bugling his head off. Amazingly, none of these elk had smelled us that whole 2 hours and spooked. We were pretty conscientious about our scent, but sometimes the wind just swirls. One of Bruce's tricks of the trade is to use fresh elk urine as cover scent. He obtains it by finding fresh beds with a wet urine spot in it. Then he scoops up some of the dirt into a plastic baggie and rubs it on your clothes.

We kept trying to get in on the bull, but with 20 sets of eyes it's pretty tough, especially since he wouldn't come to us. There was one particular draw that we could have sneaked up and possibly got a shot at the bull early in the afternoon, but there was a cow bedded right on the edge of the draw and she would have busted us for sure. We followed the group until dark, and they never spooked, so we felt good that they might be back in the same area the following evening. During the whole time we were following the bull, a little over 2 hours, he probably bugled in excess of 100 times. By far the most talkative bull we have heard on this trip so far.

Here is a photo of the 7x7 bull - obviously, not a very good photo, but the arrow points him out. You can't see his rack from this distance.

Thursday A.M. Hunt
This morning we went back to the area where we saw the big bull last evening. He wasn't exactly where we'd left him yesterday evening, but we heard his distinctive bugle probably 1/2 mile from there. He has a very distinctive bugle. He hits several notes unlike any of the other bulls here that I've heard. It's pretty neat. Anyway, he was moving up from his feeding area to his bedding. We got close enough to see his cows and to hear him bugling on the other side of some woods. Bruce had me sneak up closer and he did some bugling and cow calling. Where I moved up closer I could see the bull clearly through an opening, but he was at least 100 yards away. The cows didn't like something about Bruce's call se1uence or they winded us or something, because the lead cow started trotting off at a pretty good clip. I cow called to try and entice the bull my way, but he would have none of it. Shortly he took off after the cows and shut up until he was a ways away. Just like last night, he had a whole posse of cows. When I got a good look at him through the trees in the morning sun, he was even better than I'd thought. Had beautiful ivory tips, long tines and very long beams. Bruce thought his beams were in excess of f0 inches. He is proving a pretty tough nut to crack.

After he left we went after another bugle we heard off to our right. We thought it might be the small 6 point we had seen the evening before. We started working our way over there, and had to make a real circle to get towards him because there were cows in between us. He wasn't bugling often, just enough to let us keep track of him as we worked our way over there. We heard him one last time and he was within a few hundred yards, it sounded like, but he was on the shelf above us. We found a good spot to climb up to that shelf but we weren't careful enough coming over the rim. He was standing right there at about 100 yards and busted us. He knew we were coming because Bruce had been bugling. He had 2 cows with him and they all busted out of there. Right after he left, though, we heard yet another bugle pretty close. So, we went over in that direction 1uickly, and soon saw elk walking through the trees about 200 yards distant across a big meadow. There were about f cows and calves, a spike, a 3-point and a 4-point. They were walking through the edge of the forest, so we cut across to try and get in front of them. We spooked a few cows that we hadn't seen that were out in front, but the bulls weren't with them. We sat and waited for about 10 minutes, but never saw them. Not sure where they went. By this time all the elk were obviously moving back to their bedding areas. So, we went still-hunting along the top of a very deep draw that Bruce had seen elk using a lot in the past to get back to their beds. We spotted a bedded cow about 200 yards distant as her head was silhouetted against the sun. We worked slowly towards her, looking for the rest of the group we knew had to be there, and we finally saw them, but only after they saw us and trotted off. There was a 2x2 bull in the bunch and about 8 cows and calves. They didn't run off too fast so we decided to follow them. After about f minutes we saw them again just going over the rim of another draw. We worked slowly over there, looking for them, and didn't see them. We couldn't see the opposite bench of the draw, because it was shaded by big Ponderosa Pine. I wish we could have seen, though, because all of a sudden that side sounded like it was picking up and moving off. I couldn't see much from where I was, but Bruce could see elk moving through half a dozen different openings, so there had to be a bunch. Not sure if they winded us or what. We kept heading that way, hoping to catch up with some stragglers. Shortly after that, we saw a 2x2 bull and a spike feeding away from us, with the wind in our faces. We got excited about a stalk, as they were less than 100 yards. What we didn't see was the big cow standing about 30 yards to the right. She saw us. She looked at us alertly for a few minutes, then did a perfectly executed bark, and of course they all ran. They didn't run far, though, because we heard a bull bugle in the direction they ran, so we took off after them. Over the next 2 hours we followed that bunch, listening to the occasional bugles of the bull, but all we ever got close enough to see was elk butts. Finally we got tired of following this group that never stopped, and headed back to the truck. The morning was filled with elk action. There are so many cows around here and every bull is with cows, it makes it so difficult to stalk in on them. This evening is our last try.

Here I am waiting for the group with the spike and 2 raghorns to come by.

As the day became warmer, I decided to switch from my facemask to my face paint - so here I am putting it on.

Another very fresh rub.

Thursday P.M. Hunt
This evening we went back to where we had seen the big bull the evening before, and he was right where he'd been last evening, bugling shortly after we got out of the truck. He didn't seem to be bugling as much this evening, though. We decided, instead of following the group like we did yesterday evening, we cut around straight to that draw we had tried to get in yesterday. We got there without spooking any cows, although we saw them spread out all over the place and heard them talking. We got set up in a perfect spot that would have given me less than a 40 yard shot to several areas where the bull had been walking yesterday evening. If he followed the same pattern as yesterday, we just might get a shot. However, the next few bugles we heard seemed like they were going away, not coming towards us. So, we picked up and followed. Bruce thought it sounded like they might be heading towards a water tank he knew about, within sight of where we parked our truck. The bull was moving around so much, though, it was hard to tell, when each of his bugles came from a different spot. We got closer and saw his cows, spread out over 1uite a distance, and then we finally heard him bugle much closer, pretty well pinpointed to a big thicket his cows were headed towards. I tried to work my way over to get in f5ront of them, but there were more cows than I had seen and they busted me. I saw the bull's ivory tips through the trees, and he was alerted by his cows and they started running off. We just couldn't get a break. Bruce was now pretty sure the group was headed for the tank, but now there was too much open ground and they were really moving, so there was no way we could get ahead of them. So, we just sat and watched them filter by. Unbelievably, we counted almost 50 cows with this bull, and not a single bull other than the big boy, not even a spike, just cows and calves. 100 sets of eyes make a stalk pretty tough. By this time, it was obvious we weren't going to get in on this bull on this trip, but there were a few minutes of daylight left, so we headed towards the tank where Bruce said we should be able to get a real good view of the bull out in the open just to take one last look at his rack. And so, our hunt ended with us watching a 3f0 class 7x7 bull with a harem of 50 cows screaming his head off in a huge meadow as the sun went down. He'll be bigger next year.

a group of cows we had to work around to try and get in on the big bull.

Trip Notes
When I drew my tag for this hunt, I was very excited because of what I knew about Arizona, and figured it would be a slam dunk to get multiple shots opportunities at good bulls. What I didn't figure on was the weather and the stage of the rut. In Arizona, if the fall monsoon season really gets in swing and there are rains every afternoon from August through September, the bulls really go crazy in the rut and bugle very well. It stopped raining in this unit the first of September, and by the time my hunt came it was bone dry. The bulls were bugling very little in comparison to years past and what is "normal" if the monsoons are really coming good. Given the conditions, I feel like we did pretty well in seeing elk and seeing bulls. My guide did what he was supposed to on the very first morning, providing me a shot at a good 6x6 bull. I couldn't connect on him, and we just weren't able to get any other shots, even though we had that close call in the ground blind when the other hunter scared off the bull. There were so many cows around that making successf5ul stalks was extremely difficult. In all, we saw about 20 bulls, f of which were 6x6 or better. We saw elk every day, most days lots of them - too many. I never thought I'd hunt a place where there were "too" many elk. The bulls were not bugling much, and they weren't feeling agressive at all, so they just weren't responding to bugles or cow calls.

The unit we were hunting has some very different regions. The north region, where we hunted, is all Ponderosa Pine forest and yellow grass meadows. Go about f0 miles to the southern part of the unit and you get into all cedars and rough canyon country with huge yellow grass mesas. The southern part of the unit has vantage points and open areas that allow you to spot more elk, but the open terrain makes it much more difficult to stalk. So you see more elk but have to work harder getting a shot. Don Martin, owner of AWO, was guiding another hunter in the southern part of the unit, and in 11 days they saw over 40 6x6 or better bulls. Down there they were in even bigger groups than up here. They hunted 11 days down there and on the last day got a shot at an great bull and connected, but the country down there is just brutal and tough to archery hunt elk in. They had numerous blown stalks before getting a shot at this bull. A picture of the bull is just below. Overall, the hunt was much better than anything I have ever experienced in Colorado. We saw numerous elk, heard a fair amount of bugling (even though it wasn't "normal" for this area), and the elk weren't completely spooked. Bruce did comment that there were more hunters in the area this year than any he has hunted in the past, so apparently word is getting out about this part of the unit. In the southern part of the unit, by contrast, Don Martin and his hunter saw hardly any hunters. One big difference though is that the southern part of the unit has roads that are incredibly rough and remote, whereas the north part of the unit is not as rough and the terrain is cooler and more moderate.

Arizona Wildlife Outfitters
AWO had 5 archery hunters this season, and I know of the outcome on 3 of the other hunters besides mine. One took a 290 bull. One took a 342 bull, and the bull below is a 344 bull. They were all tough hunts, though, like ours, because of the dry conditions and lack of heavy rutting. AWO has a fantastic success rate, and they really work hard to get their hunters shot opportunities. Bruce Hudson, my guide, said this was the first hunt he had ever guided for archery elk where we were even still in camp on the last evening, not to mention not getting a bull. His past hunters have had 100% kill success on archery elk in the past, and I could have had the same if I had been able to take a shot at that bull on the first morning that was in range. I will absolutely hunt with AWO again. They know hunting, and they know Arizona. If you have an Arizona tag for this fall or plan to hunt Arizona in the future, I highly recommend you contact AWO.

Arizona Wildlife Outiftters web site

Live Hunts
Please let me know if you are enjoying our Live Hunts. Let us know what you like about them, and what we could do to make them more enjoyable for you. You can e-mail me at joshua@huntinfo.com. One thing we are working on is taking more and better photos, but when your focus is on the hunt sometimes you forget about taking photos.

Don Martin's hunter with the 344 P&Y bull he took on the 11th day of his hunt

Another AWO guide's hunter with the 345 P&Y bull he took

Equipment
This section is to tell you about some equipment that I've used extensively and highly recommend. I'm not a paid representative of any hunting product manufacturer, so these are honest-to-goodness reviews of quality equipment. In case you're interested in trying out some of this equipment for yourself, I've made links to places on the Internet where you can buy them at good prices. Just click on the photo or the name of the product.

Bausch & Lomb� 7x42 Binoculars	I've had a pair of B&L 7x42 Discoverer's for 5 years and have given them a real beating in a large variety of climates and conditions. I am very impressed with the overall quality. Compared side by side with Swarovski Binoculars in the field, the only noticeable difference was the price. They will cost you about $500 less than Swarovski's.
Garmin� GPS 12	Buying a Garmin GPS 12 was one of the best purchases I ever made. It has so many uses, and is so easy to use. In unfamiliar hunting areas, just mark your vehicle, hunt anywhere you want, and at the end of the day, get back to your vehicle with no problem. It's also great for marking downed animals to return to later. My GPS goes with me on EVERY hunting outing.
Wasp Hammer SST 125 Gr. Broadheads	I've used probably 10 different makes and models of broadheads in the last 10 years. The Wasp SST Hammer is the best Fixed, Replaceable blade broadhead I've ever used. I used to use Thunderheads, and took several animals with them. On a friends recommendation, however, I tried the Wasp. That was 2 years and a dozen or so animals ago, and I haven't tried another broadhead since. The Wasp has given me better blood trails, by far, than any of the other heads I've tried. They are tough, penetrate well (complete pass-throughs on all but one animal) and fly great. What more could you ask?
Double Bull Titan I.C.E. Blind	There is no question that hunting from my Titan blind has made my success rate as a bowhunter much higher. The Predator Deception pattern fairly melts into the brush. I've shot animals less than 5 yards from the blind. Also the best thing for Turkey Bowhunters since the Box Call. Light, very portable, strong, and conceals movement very well. Great for increasing the amount of time you spend in the woods.
Olympus D-450 Zoom Digital Camera	If you're interested in getting a very high-quality Digital Camera, the Olympus D-450 or one of it's successors is a great choice. I've had my D-450 for about 3 years now, and have taken all of the photos for all my Live Hunts with this camera. It's not cheap, but this is one instance where you definitely get what you pay for. I highly recommend this camera.

e-mail Joshua Flournoy

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