prhunter
Well-known member
Took a chance this year and applied for a limited opportunity hunt in the great state of Arizona. Somehow, I got lucky and drew my first choice. Arrived in the unit 2 days before the opener. Scouted the spots that were previously determined and found a few others with potential. Opening day found us glassing and area that had good cover and was a good distance away from the nearest road. Glassed up three small bulls that morning and sat on them most of the day waiting to see what their plan was. By late afternoon they were up and feeding getting closer to our location. Unfortunately, wind direction changed, they picked up our scent and were gone!
Day two turned out to be more of an all-day scouting expedition. Lots of driving and getting to know the area. We did stop a few times to glass. There were no animals spotted that day, but we did receive some valuable information from fellow hunters in the area.
On day three we woke up a bit earlier and headed up to a new area. Right when we got set up to start glassing, we heard a bugle down in the valley below us. After a few minutes we located some cows and a mature bull in that area. We cut the distance from over 800 yds to just a little over 300. We relocated the bull who was now bedded and waited him out. At approximately 9AM the bull stood up and my Win Model 70 rang out. The bull was hit and he went down in the same spot he was standing.
We made it up to where the bull was and found him... the bull was a lot bigger than expected! The work began and approximately 6 hours later we were packing out the last load of meat.
A big thanks to all the Hunttalkers that contributed information (already sent PMs) and an even bigger thanks to my hunting partner who took a whole week off from work to help me glass and pack.
Arizona never disappoints... This was truly a hunt of a lifetime for me. Somehow, I'm already thinking about next year.
Day two turned out to be more of an all-day scouting expedition. Lots of driving and getting to know the area. We did stop a few times to glass. There were no animals spotted that day, but we did receive some valuable information from fellow hunters in the area.
On day three we woke up a bit earlier and headed up to a new area. Right when we got set up to start glassing, we heard a bugle down in the valley below us. After a few minutes we located some cows and a mature bull in that area. We cut the distance from over 800 yds to just a little over 300. We relocated the bull who was now bedded and waited him out. At approximately 9AM the bull stood up and my Win Model 70 rang out. The bull was hit and he went down in the same spot he was standing.
We made it up to where the bull was and found him... the bull was a lot bigger than expected! The work began and approximately 6 hours later we were packing out the last load of meat.
A big thanks to all the Hunttalkers that contributed information (already sent PMs) and an even bigger thanks to my hunting partner who took a whole week off from work to help me glass and pack.
Arizona never disappoints... This was truly a hunt of a lifetime for me. Somehow, I'm already thinking about next year.
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