Archery Whitetail Success

Today when I walked in to the CrossfitNOW gym I noticed that Patrick, one of the coaches, was not there and his wife Heather, also one of the coaches, came up to me and said "So, funny story..."

Turns out the funny story was that Patrick went hunting without her knowing today and was late because he ended up getting an arrow in a nice whitetail buck this afternoon.  Sounds like a great tardy excuse to me!

Congrats on a great spot and stalk buck

And while on the subject, if anyone in the Tucson area is looking for a way to get yourself in to great hunting shape then i would suggest checking out CrossFitNOW.  The gym has great coaches, atmosphere, and all the motivation you need to keep yourself in shape during the off season.  In fact, rumor is Patrick was able to carry out the entire deer down whole and on one shoulder.  There is no physical proof of this though...

Triclawps Review

This past Fall I was able to try the new and improved Triclawps gun rest system on my elk and deer hunts.  For those of you that are not familiar with this set up it is a very easy and secure way to gain a steady rest in most any hunting conditions.  Its newer light weight design makes it easy to pack and quickly assemble to most tripod attachments.

On my coues hunt I made a clean shot at 270 yards and was able to plant my gun up above the brush that would have prevented me from laying in a prone position.

On the same hunt my buddy Blake was able to take his first ever animal by using the set up for a shot at 353 yards.  Again, only one shot was needed.

But so far the most impressive showing I have seen was on my elk hunt where I placed a friends 300 RUM on the Triclawps and was able to harvest my bull with a 500 yard shot that I know I wouldn't have been able to make otherwise.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to pick up the suggested tripod and attachment system that is recommended for this system but it was still very effective on my SlickPro this season.  Hopefully by next year I will have the full system and can add another review.  I suggest picking up one of these Arizona made products before next season and check out all that it has to offer by visiting their website (www.triclawps.com) or on Facebook.

Saw Some Sheep Today...

I went archery deer hunting with my friend Mike today.  The highlight of the day was seeing some desert sheep on the cliffs above us.  Here are some pictures.  Sorry for the quality, but several of them were digiscoped through my 15's.  There were about 17 total hanging out together.  Mainly ewes and lambs, but a couple of small rams were in the group also.  Three of the ewes were collared.  It is always fun watching sheep interacting with each other and navigating the steep terrain they call home.

I Finally Did It!

I'm not really sure where to start with this story, but I think the title says it all.  I finally did it!

This year has been a fantastic year for me both personally and professionally but I have to say that December 1 was by far the highlight.  One would try to figure out how that is possible since it is over a hunting trip but the thing is, it is much more than that.  Hunting has been a part of me since I was a kid because of my Papa, Dean Flaming. In fact, the story has been told to me that when I was just a couple of weeks old he had shot an elk and proceeded to drive straight to my parents house in Phoenix just so he could take a picture with me and the elk.  And there is proof of this...

And from there I was able to be a part of the tradition.

As I grew older I remember many a days sitting it the front seat of his truck as we rolled down the road to one of our fishing holes that we would so often frequent.  I was always fascinated with his hunting stories and we always talked about the day that we could go hunting together and I could shoot an elk of my own.  Unfortunately, that trip never happened for the two of us.

About 15 years ago now I started getting in to hunting myself right before my Papa passed away.  I remember these dove hunts well because he would sit in the back of the truck and laugh and my new found shooting "skills".  That distinct laugh can never be forgotten and it still fills my head from time to time when I accomplish something that I want to share with him.

From there my hunts slowly expanded to other small game and then to big game hunts towards the end of my undergraduate days, where I ran in to Jay.  The two of us were pretty much on the same level in the fact that we both liked to hunt but were not quite sure what we were doing yet.  So each year we started venturing out a little more, helping on hunts, and trying to learn as much as we could.

We still laugh at our experiences on our first big game tag when Jay was able to take a bull elk in 2002.

The proceeding years found me trying to hunt and help as much as I possibly could: elk, deer, antelope, javelina, etc.  Out of all of those it was elk hunting that seemed to just hold a special place in my heart for a handful of reasons.  Beyond the size and majestic antlers they possess, big bull elk remind me of my Papa and a goal that we had set together.  I have had two elk tags in my pocket over the past 15 years and was not able to fill either one of those.  And I know we all experience the feeling of not being able to fill a tag but those two have stuck with me.  So this year with the start of my residency and unsure of my available time off I opted to apply for the late season bull tag in the unit that my family had hunted elk in for so many years. When the the Game and Fish came out with the results this year and I saw that I had drawn my tag I just knew that this year was going to be the year.

As I rolled in to camp on Thanksgiving evening it hit me that we were having a true elk camp this year with Jay and Ron there to help and several of our other friends with their own tags.  With the anticipation of the season we were excited to be seeing plenty of elk at the beginning of the hunt.  We were glassing up some smaller bulls and plenty of cows the first couple of days but as the days wore on it started getting tougher and tougher to find animals. Some of our old honey holds just weren't holding elk this year and the new areas we were exploring we turning up much of the same.  Also with the hunt progressing through the days most of my help had to start getting home to tend to work and families.  The only two of us left on the hunt were myself and my buddy Mark as we searched from sun up to sun down looking for a bull to take home with us.

On the final day of the hunt I found myself glassing from a hillside in an area where we had seen a really nice bull earlier in the week.  As the morning wore one and all I could find were cows my thoughts started wandering to the idea of having to go home with my third unfilled elk tag.  Worried that holding out for a good bull was going to bite me in the ass again this year I was able to snap out of it when I spotted a handful of cows feeding through an opening just underneath my position.  As I watched them and praying that at least a spike was following behind, I caught movement at the bottom of my binos.  When I panned down my heart nearly jumped out of my chest as I saw the top of a set up antlers working through the thick junipers.  As the bull worked towards me he would disappear from time to time in the dense cover and every time he would reappear a sense of relief would get my excitement going again.  I know this episode probably lasted no more than 5 minutes but my recollection of it seems like it took much longer.  All I know is that he finally hit a small opening and a shot from my gun echoed across the valley he was in.  As the bull disappeared I frantically glassed the area looking for his tines racing through the trees but I couldn't find a thing.  After a couple of frantic phone calls to Jay and Ron explaining my situation I decided to drop in to the flats and see if I could find where I had hit the bull and hopefully find some blood.  I never did find the small opening he was in or a drop of blood....but I did find this as I came around a tree.

There are no words that can describe the range of emotions I felt when I walked up on my first bull.  Before I could lay my hands on it I had to make a couple of phone calls to some people that I could share the moment with because something like this could be appreciated alone.

Once I finally did hold on to my first elk I couldn't have been more excited and appreciative for the experience that this animal had provided me.

One of the phone calls I made were to Mark who was able to come meet me and help with the quartering and pack out.  As we started cleaning the animal so did the snow and dumped about 3 or 4 inches on us over the next several hours.  And honestly, it felt great!!

I would like to give thanks to my friends Jay, Ron, Mark and the rest who helped on this hunt and those who have been able to provide assistance and knowledge through the years.  Most importantly I would like to thank my Papa who was the one who planted the seed that has grown in to the passion that I have for hunting.  The harvesting of my first elk turned out to be a very special moment for me that only a few could truly understand.  With my experiences over the years all I could keep thinking to myself in that....I FINALLY DID IT!!

Another Serving Of Tag Soup..

This was supposed to be a redemption year...  Last year I drew the late Arizona archery bull tag, and although its not a prime tag by any means I did my homework, found the elk and had some good opportunities. So this year I said to myself that I would give it a shot again hoping with some actual vacation time to take I would be able to seal the deal.

Scouting is key for this hunt.  Its a unit that I know very well and spend a lot of time in.  Using the knowledge from years past I focused my scouting in these areas and finding bulls wasn't a problem.

A decent Bull we called in while scouting in mid October

Id found some decent bulls and some were hitting the tanks pretty regular.  We had had a good monsoon in late summer but the fall had pretty dry, up until the week before the hunt.  Snow covered the ground leading up to the season opener and the elk quit hitting the tanks because of all the standing water.  So it looked like it would consist of the usual spot and stalk which is fine with a spotter but down in the PJ country by yourself, glassing them is one thing, cutting them off heading to their bedding areas by yourself is another.

After the initial snow, temps came up and made for a sloppy commute

I had help on the weekends from Rob and Ron as spotters and opportunities were constant.  Continuously changing wind directions made for a handful of blown stalks.  Overall I was able to make multiple stalks with and without help.  When the winds picked up we were able to find bulls bedded out of the wind and worked in on them.

I can never really complain about getting out in the field and even though I eating tag soup again this year, I got to spend some good times with great friends and was into elk everyday.  A successful trip in my book.  Here are a few pics I took along the way.

Elk from years past at our Elk hunting camp

Part 3: The Finale

B Wilde and Stan each had limited amounts of time they could hunt and were able to get it done.  I on the other hand had the week off with plans of hunting until Wednesday and then heading north to meet Jay for the start of his archery bull tag.  And I've got to say, this happened to be one of the most rewarding hunts that I've been on in a long time. I hunted as hard as I could each day, saw a good amount of deer, and had an opportunity at a great buck that I missed on Monday morning.

I was able to glass him up from a long ways out and make a good stalk to where he and a smaller buck had been feeding.  When I reached my planned location that brought me back in to view it turned out that I was within 125yards of where he had been feeding.  The buck wasn't there but I was pretty sure I knew which tree he had gone to bed under.  After 20-30 minutes of trying to pick him out I tried relocating to my right, which was the move that caused him to come firing out of the tree like a bottle rocket.  I quickly ranged the ridge he would be coming up and got a bead on him hoping he would stop.  And when he did stop I didn't think too much about it and shot....and missed.  He did  stop one more time and I might have missed again before he was gone for good.  All i know is that the ground he covered in 20 seconds took me over an hour to cover to confirm that I indeed missed.  But I know where he lives and will be back next year to find him again.

After the miss on Monday I got a text from B Wilde giving me grief for missing a buck since he is shooting 100% right now (he's 1 for 1) and that all I needed to do to shoot as well as him was to "Close my eyes and let it ride..." Sounded like sound advice at the time.

Wednesday morning was my last day to hunt and it was time to bring home some meat.  Fortunately I was able to glass up a buck in one of our favorite spots and he was in a stalkable location.  After a quick relocation on a ridge above where he was feeding I was able to close my eyes and let it ride from 260yards, which dropped him in his tracks. (He's lying just above the two bushed at the bottom center of the pic)

Seeing this guy up close made me realize just how big the buck was that I missed but I was extremely happy to take him home with me.  

A full pack is a great way to end a week of hunting!

This hunt got my fire going again for chasing these little coues deer and I can't wait to get after them again next year.  In the mean time, I will see if I can scratch this hunting itch with chasing bulls this weekend.  Hopefully there will be some more pics to share next week!

Part 2: Those are Deer??

Two years ago I took a handful of my classmates from dental school out on a whitetail hunt, and Stanley was one of them.  As a farm boy from Washington, he is used to hunting some pretty flat and forgiving terrain around the fields of his hometown.  During our first hunt in Arizona he wasn't quite sure what to make of the hills and overly aggressive vegetation that we have here.  When we located a group of does and a forky on the first morning he laughed and asked "Those are deer?? They look more like greyhounds!"  He then proceeded to shoot right over the top of the small buck...

Stanley is now in residency with my here in Tucson and he decided he wanted to give these little deer another try this year.  I'm pretty sure our constant talk of hunting in the office is a large part of why B Wilde thought he wanted to try a hunt with us.

The week before the hunt we were able to bring his boys out with us to shoot the rifles and let them poke a few holes in some milk jugs with their BB guns.

During the first day of our hunt Stan hiked in with our buddy Joe to an area over the ridge from where B Wilde and I were set up.  As they reached their glassing point there was a buck feeding just underneath their position and Stan quickly set up for the shot, and dropped his first coues deer.  It happened so quickly that I don't even think they picked up their binos at any point before the shot.

It also happened so quickly that I didn't hear the shot over the ridge from my position so it made for a great surprise when we met up at noon and we had two bucks packed and headed for the truck on opening morning!

Here's a pic of their two bucks