Leftover Cow Tag

If you’ve ever applied for any Bull Elk tag in Arizona, then you know how difficult it can be to get drawn.  Celeste Stephens, like so many of us, found out by phone that she was unsuccessful on her draw.  There were, however, some leftover cow tags in a nearby unit!  And she wanted to fill the freezer!

She applied for and was successful on the draw process for the leftover Cow Elk permit!  So on opening weekend, Celeste Stephens and her husband Clay Stephens woke up the Stephens clan.  With Celeste, Clay, Craig, Karlee, and Karson loaded up in the truck, the group headed out to start Celeste’s hunt!  Now special consideration had to be made on this hunt.  Obviously, your not going to hike three young kids miles at a time, or get them to sit still for any amount of time… and the quiet thing is completely out the window!  Clay had a high spot that he could drive his truck to in order to do a little glassing.  The plan was, if they located some elk, he would stay with the kids and Celeste would put on the moves!

Clay parked his truck at the end of the road on his high spot and had to hike to a point with Celeste about 80 yards away.  Clay put his oldest, Karson, in charge.  The emergency code was to honk the horn on the truck.

Clay and Celeste set up and started glassing while taking turns returning to the truck every few minutes to make sure the kids weren’t torturing each other.  Clay had himself set up behind his high powered binoculars set on top of a tripod, while Celeste had a little cheaper pair of binos she was trying to steady by hand!  It wasn’t long before Celeste glassed up a small group of elk heading to a dirt tank below the glassing spot!  As planned, Clay stayed put and Celeste started her decent to try and reach the dirt tank ahead of the elk.

The elk reached the tank ahead of Celeste and were just finishing up when she got into position!  She settled her rifle behind the shoulder of one of the cows and squeezed the trigger.  The elk exploded!  Cows began jumping the fence surrounding the dirt tank, but one cow stopped short, obviously hurt!  Celeste set her crosshairs behind the cow’s shoulder once again and squeezed another one off!  The second shot spun the elk!  The elk stumbled a few steps and went down!  An excited Clay called his wife on the radio and asked “did you see them?!”, and over the radio came a cool, calm reply “of course I saw them, how on earth do you think I shot one?”

 

The freezer will now be full!

 

Daughter First, Mom Second!

Natalie Eagar’s husband set her up with a lion hunt in Northern Arizona with MuleyBull Outfitters, and at about 3 a.m. one morning her phone rang with news that a good tom track with a female was located crossing a road.  The Eagar’s loaded up and headed to the location with their two daughters in tow.  When the family met up with the MuleyBull bunch, the hounds were turned out and the job of trailing the lions began.

The morning turned hot, and the new snow was beginning to melt and run off the hillsides.  After a long tracking job, the dogs finally lost the scent.  Chalk it up to another day of lion hunting…

Natalie’s ten year old daughter Reagan stayed with the hounds step for step, not wanting to miss a minute of the action.  The days went by and another lion track was located.  The offer was made by the MuleyBull guys to trail the lion and let Reagan have a chance to shoot it if the dogs treed it.  Once again, Reagan was in the front of the action, only this time the dogs caught up with the big cat and forced him up a big yellowpine.

An excited Reagan got her chance and made good with it as she harvested the big cat.  One shot from her rifle, and the big cat fell straight out of the tree like a sack of potatoes.

 

You can watch Reagan's hunt on MuleyBull Outfitters "Just Hunting Volume 2" found at:

Amazon.com

coming August 2014! 

Just days later, another big tom track was located and another early morning call woke up the Eagar’s sending them back into the cold wilderness to catch up, once again, with the MuleyBull Lion hunter.  This lion sent the dogs on another long tracking job, and at times it looked like the big cat might give the hunters the slip when finally the dogs exploded leaving the hunters in their dust!  As the hunters caught up with the dogs baying at a lion up another big yellowpine the cameras came out and the ritual of picture taking began.

Cameras were stuffed back into packs, and Natalie readied her rifle for the shot as Reagan watched.  At the shot, the lion jumped from the tree and hit the ground rolling down the hill!  Natalie’s lion hunt was done, and the cameras came back out and pictures were taken with a thrilled Natalie and her first lion.

 

A Lion Got to Him!

P.T. has never been a stranger to big bucks!  Nor has he ever been a stranger to archery hunting, as a matter of fact, for the majority of P.T.’s hunting career, he preferred archery equipment over a rifle when it came to deer hunting!

This buck first made his appearance two years before this particular story actually takes place.  P.T. was nearing the end of another day of archery deer hunting when he located a monster buck about 150 yards away at the treeline!  The buck already had P.T. pegged, and knowing there was no chance at making a move on the big buck, P.T. grabbed his video camera and got a few minutes of video before the 35” wide 4X4 turned and disappeared into the treeline!

Now, two years later, P.T. had the buck located once again!  The old man (the buck not P.T.), was busy chasing does around in some scattered cedar trees.  The buck looked to have lost a little width over the years, but was in a location that would allow P.T. to attempt a stalk.  The scattered cedars and heavy snowfall provided great cover for P.T. to work within archery distance of the deer as they darted back and forth chasing one another through the trees.  At 35 yards the buck came to a stop standing broadside as P.T. held his bow at full draw!  The old buck showed his reflexes were still sharp as a tack as P.T.’s bow went off.  Slightly jumping the string, it looked to P.T. like he may have hit the buck just a little far back, but he couldn’t be sure.  The day was beginning to run out, and P.T. made the decision to mark the location on his GPS and back out.

P.T. arrived back in town just after dark and picked up good friend Richard Cox and some flashlights.  The heavy snow had become a white out and P.T. was afraid that if he didn’t locate the buck soon, the new snowfall would make things extremely difficult by morning.  The two returned to the location of the shot, but the snow had turned any tracks into small dimples under fresh snow, completely covering any blood that they had hoped to find.  After a couple hours, P.T. realized they had gotten off on the wrong track, so the two returned to town for the night.

P.T. was back on location at first light and had sorted out which tracks belonged to the buck he had shot the evening before.  Luckily the snow had begun to subside as P.T. and Richard headed home the night before, so tracking might not be as difficult as P.T. had first thought.  He continued on the right track when he came across a set of large cat tracks that had jumped in on the tracking job, only it looked like he had a head start on P.T.!  P.T. came to a spot that looked like a struggle had taken place, and suddenly P.T.’s tracking job went from following the bucks footprints to following drag marks!

The lion had drug P.T.’s buck to the bottom of a drainage, ate a hind quarter and a front quarter and covered to buck before wandering away to sleep off his easy meal!  P.T. reclaimed his buck that sported a 3X4, 33 ½” frame!

On the upside, the mount on P.T.’s wall is one of a kind!  The buck has new scars on his face from his final encountered with the big tom!

 

High Country Coues Hunt

Bryant and P.T. had been scouting for their December coues hunt in Northern Arizona.  A handful of great bucks had been seen over the weeks, and the two found themselves set up on a rim above the country they planned to start out on tomorrow when their hunt finally started.  This is the night when Bryant found a buck he said he was going to hunt, and he would only leave with this buck or no buck at all!

A monster coues buck was feeding about a mile away as Bryant called P.T. up and told him to “get over here quick!”  Bryant watched the buck as he slowly fed in the fading light.  As far as he could tell, the buck would definitely score over 100”.  He had extremely heavy antlers, but it looked like something was going on with his right side.  When an out of breath P.T. finally sat next to Bryant, the buck reached the treeline and disappeared!

The next day (opening morning), Bryant was sitting in the exact spot he was the evening before!  After a long morning of small bucks, does, and elk, P.T. called Bryant and told him to head over and help him look at a buck he had just found.

Bryant set up next to P.T. and a decision was finally made to let the buck walk.  A decent 3X3, but not quite what they were looking for on the first day.  The two started working along the rim, setting up every so often to sit and glass the country that lay out in front of them.  Finally, P.T. claimed “I got a buck, a good buck!”  Bryant located the buck and watched him as P.T. packed up his gear and headed out to try and get a shot. 

P.T. chose a location that should put him across a narrow, thick canyon the buck was heading to.  The thick trees made it difficult to identify anything across from him, so  P.T. would move a little, glass, and repeat.  Finally, P.T. spotted the buck about 120 yards below looking straight at him!  P.T. set up on a dead pinion tree he was next to and settled down for a shot.  The buck disappeared at the sound of the rifle!  Not long after, P.T. caught a quick glimpse of a coues deer flag as it was heading away from him through the thick timber!  With thoughts of how he let the buck get away running through his head, P.T. started toward the last place he knew the buck had been.  At the same time, Bryant packed up his gear and headed toward P.T. 

As P.T. arrived to the location, he immediately saw the rump of a deer laying just yards away!  He walked around a clump of oaks and got his first close up look at his great 97” 3X3!

 

The days ticked by, at one point, P.T. watched the big coues Bryant had found the day before the hunt, but Bryant was quite a distance away glassing a separate canyon. 

The second to last day of the hunt was a rough one.  Bryant was battling the flu, and with his wife Cindy McGee and P.T. along, the three sat in battering winds in single digit temperatures.  The same 3X3 P.T. passed up on opening day was below Bryant feeding on some scrub oak.  At one point, Bryant was within inches of talking himself into shooting the buck so he could leave with a buck and put an end to the freezing hunt! Eventually Bryant talked some sense into himself and packed up his gear.  Bryant and his wife were working the rim and glassing when Bryant saw a lone doe with a buck about a mile and a half away.  Immediately Bryant recognized the buck and the mad dash was on to get within shooting distance before the deer disappeared!

20 minutes later, Bryant and Cindy popped up on a rock ledge that should put him directly across from the buck, and it didn’t take long for Bryant to locate him as the buck chased a doe through the thick oak!

Bryant set up and ranged the buck at 350 yards.  Bryant was convince he was never going to get a good shot at the buck when he suddenly chased his doe through the thick oaks and stopped in a small opening.  A slow breath out and the gun went off!  The dull “whomp” was a good sign that the deer was hit, although all he saw was a coues deer flag just as it topped the ridge and out of sight!

Bryant and Cindy waited until P.T. reached their location before they headed into the bowl to search for the buck.  When the bunch reached the location, there were several moments when they though Bryant had surely missed when Bryant spotted the buck lodged in some oak trees.  Bryant pulled his buck out of the trees with a sign of relief!  His buck had 3 points on his left side, and a total of 5 on his left and taped out at just over 114”!

 

 

 

Archery Javelina

Clay Stephens had never actually hunted Javelina for himself.  He had taken folks on their hunts and gone along with friends, but this would be the first year he decided to put in for the archery draw.

The first day out, Clay had planned to hunt both Deer and Javelina, but shortly into the morning, Javelina took priority as he watched a small herd feed just above a drainage below.  The pigs were feeding in some thick brush, so Clay had to take his time to try to sneak within archery distance quietly.  Suddenly, three pigs busted out of the brush almost at Clays feet!  The pigs ran a short distance and stopped in a small clearing 35 yards away!  The pigs had no longer stopped when Clays bow went off!  The arrow hit the pig perfect, and the pig barely made it five steps before giving out.

 

Even though Clay had been on several successful Javelina hunts, this would be the first time he took one for himself.  On his way out, he was able to glass up a nice Muley buck, but as luck would have it a doe busted him during the stalk sending the deer on a mad dash for a better location.  Shortly after, Clay took a bobcat that he called in.

 

A good day of hunting in anyone’s book!

3 Big Bucks!

Here is a general hunt that takes place in a very tough unit in Northern Arizona.  Bryant McGee and Lee Payne have always had a passion for big muley bucks, and Cole Orosco is a guy that loves to hunt, but this would be his first hunt for a mule deer buck.

We’ll start off with Bryant…  Bryant had been watching a particular group of bucks for a couple years, but has been unable to connect during a hunting season.  Yet…  This group of bucks had two that he had his eye on, but they lived in an area that was very tough to hunt, so luck was going to have to be a huge factor.  These deer resided in an area that was flat and very thick making glassing them up impossible.  The only option was to get in and bust the brush and hope for the best, so it was no surprise when Bryant found himself in some more favorable country the first few days looking for a couple other bucks that he liked.  This more favorable country was full of hunters, and the two bruisers were eating at the back of his mind, so he decided to see if his luck would be on his side.

The day that his luck finally came in, Bryant was working an area that he knew the deer liked to feed.  Bryant always said “You have to put yourself in a position to get lucky”, and that’s just what he decided to do.  As he slowly worked his way through the feeding area, a buck began to bound off just yards ahead!  A second buck joined him, then a third!  Bryant threw his rifle up but the thick trees made the decision difficult, he didn’t want to end up shooting one of the smaller bucks.  Just as the deer started to disappear over a small rise, Bryant realized one of the bucks was one he was looking for, but it was too late.  Two more bucks began to bound of to his left and as he swung his rifle, he realized the back buck was another of the two monsters.  All the deer disappeared over the small rise, but hey appeared to be slowing to a walk.  Bryant regained himself and began to sneak toward them.  This time when he jumped the group, he knew one of the two biggest bucks was to the far left.  He raised his rifle, confirmed that it was one of the bigger bucks and pulled the trigger.  A split second later all the deer were gone in the thick brush.  Thinking he missed, Bryant walked over and began to follow the tracks of the buck he shot at.  Blood!  A short tracking job turned up his buck!  The buck had 4 points on his right side and 8 on his left!  Taping out at just over 204”, this was Bryant’s best buck to date!

Now its Cole’s turn…

Not wanting to go back to work, Bryant jumped in with Lee and Cole to help out.  A couple days later, a good 4X4 was glassed up bedded under a cedar tree at the top of a high ridge.  Paul Carter had shown up to do a little hunting of his own, and jumped in to help Cole get a shot.  Lee stayed on a knob to watch Cole, Paul, and Bryant work within rifle range.  The plan was, Bryant was going to film the hunt, Paul was going to help Cole sneak in, and Cole was going to come out with his first buck.  As the three popped over a ridge directly across from the bedded buck, Bryant made the decision to stay put and film from there while Cole and Paul tried to work their way up the backside of the ridge and pop up at a better angle for a shot.  Part of the way to their new location, Paul and Cole jumped up a small bunch of does and fawns which ran directly over the ridge and just under the bedded buck.  As Cole’s luck would have it, the buck watched the does go by, but never got up.  As Paul and Cole peaked over the ridge, they knew they were at a good angle, now it was time to set Cole up for a shot!  Anyone that has ever hunted deer probably remembers their first buck.  Cole’s symptoms were much the same as the rest of us as we were about to get our first shot.  The adrenaline was high, rapid breathing took over, a little shakiness moved in, and as Cole settled in behind his rifle, Paul gave him words of encouragement, reminding him to get solid and squeeze the trigger.  The first shot hit the deer in the back half of the front shoulder and the deer stood straight up out of his bed.  Now the first shot was probably going to be all that was needed, but Paul and Cole weren’t taking any chances.  The second shot hit the ribcage just behind the front shoulder sending the buck end over end!

Bryant could hear the two shouting from his location, and as he walked up on the two, a normally not very talkative Cole was smiling and jabbering a mile a minute.  Cole’s first buck was a solid 4X4 and taped out just over 170”!  Great first buck!

 

You can watch Cole's hunt on MuleyBull Outfitters "Just Hunting "Volume 1" found at:

Amazon.com

 

Now its Lee’s turn…

Bryant and Cole still didn’t feel like heading back to work so they stayed to help Lee on his hunt.  The three had headed up a ridge to help a friend look for a buck that he had shot a few days before.  Things weren’t looking good on recovering the buck so they split up to glass some of the canyons and drainages.  Late in the morning, a buck was located across a canyon bedded under a thick clump of cedars, now the hunt for Lee had begun.  When Lee was located watching a small group of does in the bottom of another canyon, the three headed back to where the bedded buck was located.  The buck was positioned just right.  Everyone could tell it was a buck, but they just couldn’t tell how good a buck he was.  Lee decided to work around the finger ridge to a location just above the buck to try and get a better look.  The wind had begun to pick up as Cole and Bryant watched Lee sneak into position.  As they watch Lee set up for a shot they though, “must be good enough”!  The buck came rolling out of his bed at the sound of Lee’s shot, and for the first time Cole and Bryant could see what kind of buck he was.  Lee had just shot a great 4X4 that taped out at just over 175”!  Congrats on three great bucks in just a few days!

 

You can watch the video of Lee's hunt on MuleyBull Outfitters "Just Hunting Volume 2" found at:

Amazon.com

Coming August 2014!

Terry's Bull

The bull finally made it to the edge of the alley cut for the barbed wire fence that ran through the thick cedars.  Less than an hour ago, Terry watched the bull with P.T. Carter and Bryant McGee as he walked into a thick clump of cedars to lay down for the day.  Guessing the bull to be in the mid 370 range, it was just what Terry was looking for.  A plan was devised!  Terry was to go around the bull and get into position above him to set up in what was just about the only clear shooting lane in the country.  Guessing the bull would leave uphill, P.T. was going to wait for Terry to get into position, then slowly work toward the bull hoping to push him out of his bed.  If the bull did go uphill, then Terry would have a shot as he entered the clear-cut fence line. 

So here we are, the bull stopped at the edge of the alley and slowly took a look around.  Clearly he was in no hurry, P.T. held up to his end of the plan perfectly, not pushing the bull into a dead run, but got close enough to make him uncomfortable.  The bull got up and trotted a few yards then continued toward Terry and the fence line at a moderate walk.

Terry clicked the safety on his rifle to the off position as the bull took the few short strides that would carry him the rest of the way to the barbed wire fence.  The bull stopped once more and casually looked around trying to decide whether or not he really wanted to hop the fence.  At 80 yards, Terry settled behind his rifle.  Having a bull of this caliber this close, and in the crosshairs forced a little buck fever to set in on Terry.  The rifle boomed!  The bull stood where he was looking toward Terry!

“Shoot again!” were about the only words that could come to Bryant’s mind.

The bull stood and watched Terry and Bryant as Terry fought with his rifle.  Something was wrong!  Not only was the bull completely fine after Terry’s shot, but Terry couldn’t eject the empty cartridge from his rifle!  Finally, bored with what he was seeing, the bull hopped the fence with no effort and walked into the thick cedars on the other side!

It took some time to get Terry’s rifle unjammed, but the moment had passed.  Buck fever claimed yet another victim.  The good news is, the elk hunting isn’t over yet.  When buck fever gets the best of a guy, nobody is harder on him than himself.  With words of encouragement, because this isn’t the first time, nor will it be the last that buck fever makes an appearance, the elk hunting continued.

The next evening put Terry within about 50 yards of a nice 6X6, but with one more day left, Terry opted to keep looking.  The next morning, with Terry’s son Gary along, the group found themselves heading off a bull as he worked up a ridge above a deep canyon.  After looking the bull over, Terry decided to take a chance at redemption!  The bull fed through the cedars when finally he moved into a small opening offering a shot.

This time Terry’s shot would be around the 250 yard mark!  Terry settled in behind his rifle and laid the crosshairs behind the bulls shoulder as he squeezed the trigger.  This time when the rifle went off, the unmistakable “whomp” echoed through the canyon!  The bull took a few short limps in the opposite direction before spilling over!  Redemption!  Terry ended up with a nice 6X7 and a load of new stories to share at the campfire!

Baily's Lion

Baily Bates was a young lady that had an itching to chase a lion, so the MuleyBull guys teamed up with the guys from Six Shooter Molly’s Guide service to see what we could make happen…

A winter storm had finally moved out of the area, leaving a fresh batch of snow across Northern Arizona.  Perfect for cutting a fresh lion track!  The day started early, 2 a.m. early!  Everyone was out fighting the subzero temperatures running roads in hopes of cutting a track.  Somewhere between 3 and 4 in the morning, P.T. Carter, Clay Stephens and Bryant McGee found what they were looking for.  A couple phone calls were made to get everyone to meet up at the same spot while the two continued checking roads to find the last place the cat had crossed.  As the daylight began to creep in, the crew began to wake up and climb out of their idling trucks ready for the chase ahead.

As the first dogs hit the ground, the hounds let out quick bays as the smell of lion filled their nose while they worked tracks lined out in the snow.  The dogs were moving at a fairly good pace, a good sign for the day ahead.  The lion traveled several miles when Rick Murphy from Six Shooter Molly’s turned back to move a truck around to a location that might be closer to the direction the hounds were trailing.  Shortly after Rick caught back up with the gang, the dogs blew up and started to get ahead of the hunters.  When everyone finally caught back up with the dogs, they had the lion bayed up in a cave less than a hundred yards from the Road Rick had moved his truck to!

The lion was too far back in the cave for any shots or pictures.  Eventually the lion shot out of the cave and topped the rim with dogs hot on his trail!  The dogs put the lion up a large pinion tree just a short distance away, and as the hunting crew caught back up with the action, they were finally able to get their first good look at the lion!  Pictures and video were taken as the dogs put up a concert of their own.  The lion suddenly jumped from the tree and headed back to the rim it had just left!  Again, the dogs did their job by putting the lion on a ledge in a crevice that could be seen from above giving more opportunity for pictures, but more importantly giving Baily a shot.

After the cameras were stowed back into packs, Baily prepared a shot with her dads pistol.  At the sound of the first shot, the racket coming from the hounds switched from rapid barks to long drawn out bawls.  The one shot from Baily’s pistol was all that was needed, now all was left was to get the big cat out.  Clay Stephens hefted his way down the crevice and was able to lug the lion out!

The smile says it all as Baily posed for the last pictures of the day!

Kylie's Junior Hunt

Kylie had finally drawn her very first big game tag ever.  In her pocket she held a tag for the “juniors only 18b deer hunt”, and she couldn’t wait to get started.  She had practiced her shooting off a bench, off her knee, sitting, and off a bi pod religiously leading up to the hunt and could probably shoot 95% of the hunters out there today.

One thing she couldn’t practice was patience and persistence, at least she couldn’t practice them until her hunt started.  She got on bucks day after day, but time after time she was unable to get a shot.  The buck would disappear before she could get into range, other hunters would bump the deer and spook them before she could get into range, elk would be jumped during the stock and the deer would leave with them, other deer would spot them before she could get into position, the buck wouldn’t give her a good shot, so on and so forth.  But Kylie did show she had the patience and the persistence to keep it up.  She was the first to be ready, and she was the most willing to go again after a blown stalk.

Just after lunch one day, a group of bucks was glassed up a couple miles away, feeding along a ridge.  The hike took about an hour when the group finally was getting into position, but the bucks were nowhere to be found.  Suddenly a small buck raised his head revealing himself just a few yards from the hunters on the same ridge they had hiked onto!  The deer had fed around a bowl and ended up on the same side the hunters had planned on shooting from!  The small buck finally spooked and took off toward the bottom of the draw.  Luckily, even though the rest of the bucks spooked with him, they had no idea why the small buck had run off.  The bucks scattered in all directions, with the biggest of the four heading in the general direction of the small buck.  He crossed the drainage below and came up on the slope opposite of the hunters before he stopped to have a look at what was going on.  Kylie set up on her bi pod and calmed herself down for the shot.

The shot looked to be around 250 yards and Kylie squeezed the trigger.  The buck jumped and ran at the sound of the shot with the dull “whump” returning to the hunters.  The buck topped the ridge and out of sight.  Knowing the buck was hit the celebration began.  Eventually everyone made their way to where the buck stood during the shot and found a blood trail Stevie Wonder could follow!  The buck had made it just over a hundred yards before collapsing and rolling a short distance down the hill!

Kylie had her first buck!  A nice 3X4!  Wish I could have started off with a buck that big!

 

You can watch this hunt on MuleyBull Outfitters "Just Hunting Volume 1" found at:

Amazon.com

1st Day of the Archery Hunt...

Right off the bat, Clay sat at the bottom of a steep slope watching a couple bucks chase does around on the bald mountain above.  Clay was traditionally a rifle hunter, but had held out for a big buck that never gave him a shot during the general hunt, so he practiced up with his bow and started to scout for a spot to shoot his first archery buck. Now, day one of the archery hunt, the deer above him were a few of the deer he had seen during those scouting trips, the only trick now was to get within bow range.

Clay backed off and headed back to the truck, from there he drove to the backside of the mountain from the deer and began his ascent on foot.  When he left the deer, they were close to the only scattered trees located on the hillside, and he hoped they would still be there, as the rest of the country gave little cover.  Clay neared the location the deer should be in, and he slowed his pace to a crawl watching for anything, expecting at any moment to see deer watching him through the tall grass, blowing his stalk.  Finally Clay caught movement directly ahead as a buck chased a doe toward him.  The deer veered uphill and eventually turn back the way they had come, still too far for a shot.  Clay slowly worked his way toward where the deer were, occasionally a buck would chase deer back over the horizon then disappear again.  When Clay finally worked to a position where he could see the deer he was still about 90 yards away.  The two bucks wouldn’t stay still, they were taking turns chasing each other off, then pestering a doe as she tried to feed in some of the tall grass and low shrub.  At times it looked like a buck would chase a doe within range before they would zig or zag and head back to the main herd.

Finally one of the bucks chased a doe toward Clay again, this time when the doe cut and headed back toward the rest of the does, the buck stopped broadside, looking directly away from Clay toward the rest of the deer.  Clay ranged the buck at 45 yards and drew his bow.  The buck never knew Clay was there and when Clay released his arrow, the buck exploded downhill toward the location Clay had first glassed the deer up.  The buck only made it about 80 yards before he piled up behind some low scrub oak.

The remaining deer had a hunch that something had just happened as they stood surveying the area as Clay sat quietly watching the spot his buck had disappeared into.  Eventually, the remaining deer filed out one at a time not sure what was going on.  Clay sat on the hillside for about 20 minutes never seeing his buck get back to his feet.  He finally got up and began working his way to the shot buck.

Clay had his first archery buck!  Great start to an archery hunting career with his first archery buck ever showing 4 points per side.  Congratulation Clay.

Big Tom in a Cave!

It’s always a good time when you get to go hunt with friends.  The MuleyBull bunch hooked back up with the guys from Six Shooter Molly’s Guide Service to help out with John Youngker’s lion hunt.  Once again, a big tom had been caught by the bunch the day before John showed up.  A handful of pictures were taken of the big tom before he was let go.  Back in the area the next day, the tracks of the big tom were finally located and the hounds were turned out.

Now up to this point, the hounds had been on lions day after day for the past couple months.  To say they were tuned up would be an understatement!  As soon as the dogs hit the ground they were out of sight and started to get way ahead of the hunters.  The dogs caught up with the cat long before the hunters could get on scene.  P.T. being one of the stronger hikers, was the first to catch up to the dogs.  They had the big tom bayed up far in the back of a deep cave in some rim rock.

P.T. got the dogs tied up and crawled inside with his video camera to have a look.  Sure enough!  The big tom from the day before was once again bayed up by the hounds, and he was not in a friendly mood.  P.T. caught some video of the action while the rest of the hunters caught up.

Going into a cave after a lion is something most folks won’t even consider!  76 year old John didn’t bat an eye!  He got his pistol ready and said “If I end up leaving this world going after that lion in a cave, then that’s a heck of a lot better than other ways I can think of!”

Pistol in hand John got on his belly and began to inch his way in.  It took a few minutes for his eyes to adjust to the darker environment of the cave, but when they did he readied his pistol for a shot.  Now you would have thought he was shooting a 50 caliber when that pistol went off inside the confines of that cave, but John didn’t flinch.  He slowly backed out and readjusted his eyes to the outside world.  His one shot did the lion in!

Now it was our turn.  If John was willing to go into the cave to shoot the lion, then we were willing to go back in and pull the lion out.  As P.T. pulled the lion out of the cave entrance, the size of the animal became apparent!  He looked big yesterday when they caught him and took pictures, and he somehow looked twice as big now.

Congrats John on a monster tom!

Travis's 7 East Bull

Travis Vincent left Sierra Vista on Thanksgiving Day and headed to Flagstaff to meet up with Bryant McGee and Clay Stephens for his unit 7 East late bull hunt.  Along for the ride and to watch the hunt was Travis's dad Boone, which had come down from Montana to celebrate an early Thanksgiving and go along on Travis’s elk hunt.

For Travis his hunt began when he heard his draw results over the phone.  He had finally drawn a rifle bull tag in Arizona!  Travis is employed with the U.S. Border Patrol, a job that takes up a large amount of his time.  He was still able to get in plenty of practice time with his rifle, and was ready when the time came to head north.

For Bryant and Clay, the hunt began weeks before the opening day.  At first things looked like it was going to be the usual tough unit 7 east hunt.  That is until Clay finally stumbled into an area that seemed to be overflowing with elk.  Bryant and Clay concentrated their efforts in this area with some days finding more than 200 elk.  There were days when they would see 29 bulls, the trick was finding the bull Travis had in mind.  Lots of average bulls with even more small bulls, and the occasional big bull. 

Right off the bat on the first day of the hunt Bryant glassed up a group of bulls that they had been trying to keep track of.  One small bull, two bulls that were borderline shooters for Travis, and one that was a no brainer.  From the get go, the bulls weren’t acting right, and as the four watched the bulls and brainstormed a plan of attack, two hunters appeared about 50 yards below the group.  The hunters had no idea the bulls were in the area as they hunted along the hillside, but it didn’t take long before the bulls blew out and were never found the rest of the hunt.

A short time later, another lone bull was glassed up.  This bull was in the thick cedars, but he was big enough to go after.  The stalk was a wash, but the hunters had a large group of cows and small bulls pass by single file within archery distance.  Unfortunately, there wasn’t a bull in the bunch that Travis wanted to wrap his tag on.

The next day found the hunters in the same area.  Like yesterday, a couple bulls were glassed up right off the bat but fed over a ridge before a decision was made whether or not one was a shooter.  Clay finally glassed up another small bunch of bulls that had a shooter in it.  These bulls finally fed over a ridge and a plan was made.  It took a long time for the group to make their way to where the bulls were last seen.  The small amount of snow on the ground showed the bulls were heading into some small canyons.  After around a couple of hours of tracking, the bulls stood up out of their beds looking at the hunters at 50 yards!  The largest of the three bulls was standing directly behind a cedar tree and left without ever giving Travis a shot!

Day three ended terrible.  The weather did not cooperate all day making glassing nearly impossible.  At one point the snow came down so bad the bunch decided to retreat into town for a warm meal.  Only a handful of elk were found this day, with a few small bulls, but no decent bulls were found.

Day 4 only had a little better weather. More elk were glassed up than yesterday, but they never saw a bull that got Travis excited.  Now moving to day 5, the last day Travis was going to be able to hunt.  First thing that morning a big bull was finally glassed up, but as Travis’s luck had proved so far, the bull was feeding into flat thick country.  The crew hiked in and began to track the big bull figuring they had to give it a try.  Eventually they kicked the bull out of his bed, but he was up and gone so quick that Travis never had a chance for a shot.  Frustration was trying to kick in when the bunch moved into an area that elk had bedding in the previous days.  A decision was made to have Travis and Bryant walk in and try to find a bull while Boone and Clay stayed back and glassed. 

About an hour into the walk, Bryant located a bull up feeding in a group of cedars.  The bull was a 5X5, and Travis decided he was going to take a shot.  The bull was feeding just over 100 yards away with no idea of the hunters presence when Travis readied for the shot.  There was no reaction from the bull when Travis’s rifle went off, but the dull “whomp” was enough evidence the bull was hit.  The bull began to walk forward.  Travis sent shot number two just as the bull began to tip over!  Things finally worked out, even though this wasn’t the monster Travis was hoping for, it was a great trophy that came at the end of a long hunt.

Bryant and P.T. Get It Done!

Well…. There were lots of big bulls and even more small bulls that could make their way into this story.  It was a tough year, temperatures soared, hunting pressure was heavy, and the rut was a little slow, but isn’t that about the way most of these stories go?  P.T. Carter and Bryant McGee have been friends and hunting partners since they were old enough to wear big boy pants.  Just about every hunt one has ever been on the other has been there somewhere either helping, hunting, or getting in the way.

The two finally drew a coveted Northern Arizona archery elk hunt, and of course they had to start scouting in May!  It seemed like September was never going to arrive, the bulls eventually grew out their antlers and finally began to rub the velvet off.  Picture texts were sent if one or the other came across the first wallows of the year.  When the first bugle let out, that was it!  The days slowed to a grind that made the final couple weeks leading to their hunt seem like months.

Several bulls were passed up, both had made up their minds that on this hunt they would come out with a big bull or a unfilled tag in their pocket.  The first day of the hunt was about the one good day they had for calling in bulls, after that the hunting pressure and the high temperatures had limited any bugling to the first 30 minutes of the morning.  The bulls would shut up for the day and head to their bedding areas.

Finally, somewhere around the mid-point of the hunt, Bryant and good friend Jeff Pettit parked under a tree and started to get ready to hike in to a water hole that a small amount of elk, but an even smaller amount of hunters were hitting.  The two made themselves as comfortable as possible in a make shift ground blind they had made earlier that September.  Jeff’s job that day was to try to get a little video of anything that may happen that afternoon.  Shortly after arriving at the blind, two yearling cows showed up and gave Jeff and Bryant a good show as they played and splashed around in the water.  At about 10 minutes into it, a bull about a half mile away gave a bugle that sent the two kids back to him and their mom. 

About an hour later, the same bull began to bugle a little more, and it started to sound like he was headed their way.  One thought is, the two yearlings showed back up to where the bull and his cows were bedded, smelling of mud and water.  This may have made the rest of the elk think that going to the water sounded like a great idea.  At about a quarter mile out, the bull finally quit bugling.  About 30 minutes of silence went by when out of nowhere a bull began to rake a tree just above the water.  The cows finally appeared and made their way to get a drink.  The bull took his sweet time raking the tree when he finally walked out and showed himself, and it didn’t take long before Bryant made up his mind to try to shoot this bull if he presented an opportunity.  He came to the water about 20 yards to the left of the cows giving Bryant a broadside shot.  The arrow hit the bull perfect!  The bull jumped into the water and onto the opposite bank and back up the hill.  Bryant and Jeff just about jumped out of the blind trying to calm each other down.  The decision was made to sneak back to the truck and call P.T., Bryant’s dad, and some other friends to help recover the elk.

After a short tracking job using the lights from their flashlights, the bull was recovered.  This bull ended up being the biggest bull Bryant had taken, taping out at 377” and some change.

Fast forward to the second to last evening of the hunt.  P.T. had been tested, could he hold out, or would he give in and shoot the next bull that came in.  Well…. P.T. had his opportunity at a average bull that morning and let him walk, seems he’s gonna stick to his guns.  P.T. and Bryant had a big bull contest between the two of them, loser had to buy the winner a dozen arrows.  Bryant set the bar high, and the pressure was on for P.T.

Like I said, we are now at the second to last evening of the hunt.  P.T. had a great water that he had been sitting in the evenings, but most of the elk were waiting until just after dark to come in.  Bryant sat the blind with P.T. and a video camera a few times, but it was a tight fit, so Bryant was on a hilltop in another area trying to locate a bull P.T. almost had a chance at a few days earlier.

The elk started bugling early this day.  At about 3 in the afternoon, P.T. started sending Bryant texts telling him the elk were bugling all around him.  Sometimes it sounded like they were coming to the water, sometimes it sounded like they were going away.  P.T. had to make the decision to get out and try to sneak in on some of the noisy bulls, or wait and hope they would come in for a drink.  As luck would have it today, a handful of cows started to appear just behind P.T.’s blind.  P.T. waited and watched as a bull finally appeared.  It was one of the bulls he had his sights on during the scouting phase.  He was finally going to get a shot at a great bull when they came in to get a drink, if they came in to drink.  P.T. watched for the next 45 minutes as the bull chased his cows back and forth behind his blind, bugling at every bull that made any noise in the distance.  Back and forth, 20 yards away, 60 yards away, back to 20 yards away.  No elk were making their way to water and the day was starting to run out!  Problem is, straight behind the blind was the one direction P.T. couldn’t shoot!  Time was running low!  Something happened, the elk slowly began to leave!  Did one of the cows see or smell P.T.?  Seeing his chance may be slipping away, P.T. slowly started to climb out of his blind to try to get his shot.  About halfway out and balancing on a log, P.T. saw the bull was getting ready to leave!  He drew his bow and as the bull stepped into the last shooting lane he let it fly.

He started sending texts to Bryant, “I think I just shot the big 6X7, but I might of missed”, followed shortly by “I think I just heard him die”.

P.T. snuck out of the area and back to his vehicle while Bryant started his direction.  P.T. called a couple more friends and his dad to help with recovering the elk.

The bull only went about 10 yards after the shot!  This was P.T.’s biggest bull to date taping out at 381” and some change, which was bad news for Bryant who now owes P.T. a dozen arrows for the 4” difference!

Mr. Palmers Pig

A year prior to the main story, Cass Palmer had never been on a Javelina hunt of any kind.  A friend talked him into going along on his archery Javelina hunt.  Well, after one day, Cass decided it was time for him to start applying for a Javelina tag.

The next year he did just that.  Cass drew the HAM (Handgun, Archery, Muzzleloader) hunt.  The first morning of his hunt was a little slow, a few deer, some elk, varmits, but no Javelina. Lots of glassing in good country didn’t turn up any pigs until finally midafternoon Bryant McGee found a small group about 3 miles away.

Cass had invited his friend Paul Munowitch along, so the three set out to get within archery range of the Javelina.  After a pretty good hike across a few canyons and ridges they closed the distance to just under a hundred yards.  After a quick survey of the area, the three decided they had a good handle on where all the scattered Javelina were, so they started to cut the distance in order to put Cass within archery range.

When the distance was cut to twenty yards, Cass nocked an arrow and let her fly.  The pig let out a grunt and a short hop and ran behind a clump of cedars.  That was all it took, Cass had his Javelina and Paul claimed “next year I’m putting in for these little suckers!”

Cass’s pig ended up being a big boar with three legs.  He was missing one hind leg from some kind of old injury.

 

Larry's Best Bull to Date...

“This is as close as were gonna get” muttered an out of breath Jamie Mace while P.T. Carter nodded in agreement.  The two had been sneaking down a steep hill with Larry Hurd to reach a rim that would allow them to look across a canyon at a bull elk they have been hoping to get closer to for the past couple hours.

Jamie and Larry had been hunting for a couple days when Jamie gave P.T. a call to see if he wanted to come out and hunt with them for a day.  True to P.T.’s nature, he wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to get out and hunt, especially when invited by good friend Jamie Mace.  P.T. agreed to meet them in an area they had been hunting the past couple days, but before P.T. arrived Jamie already had a good bull located.  When P.T. pulled up, Jamie and Larry were packed up and ready to start moving.

Once the three finally arrived at the rim they were shooting for, Larry immediately began to set up for a shot.  Jamie set up next to Larry to watch the shot through his binoculars while P.T. broke out the video camera.  The bull was across the canyon feeding in and out of the brush, when he finally presented a shot.  Larry took a deep breath and touched off a shot.  One moment the bull was in P.T.’s view finder, the next moment the view finder was filled with dust that blew every direction kicked up from the muzzle break of Larry’s rifle.  When the dust finally started to clear, there was no bull in sight.  After a couple of agonizing seconds, the bunch realized the bull had dropped in his tracks.  The celebration began.  Larry was on his feet with one of the biggest grins of his life while the three giggled and cheered about the events and the big bull that was on the ground across the canyon from them.

This is where the bull showed just how rough and tough elk really are…

“Oh, @#$%, he’s up looking at us!” were the words that Jamie shot out of his mouth to put a quick end to a good time.  Larry immediately got back down and behind his gun while Jamie and P.T. started the back seat coaching.  “Calm down”, “Take a deep breath and squeeze”, “Take your time”, were a few words of wisdom coming from the two. 

Now it’s hard enough to get set up, gain your composure and make a good shot when you finally get within range of an animal, but now Larry has to do it all over again after initially believing the job was done all the while having to postpone the celebration.  There is a little more panic in a situation when an animal that has been hit stands up and has a chance to get away.  But, you gotta hand it to Larry, he pulled it off without a hitch.  Shot #2 left the rifle and the bull tipped over backwards while Jamie hollered “that’s the one!”

The celebration began again, but this time it went on while six eyes were afraid to leave the spot where the bull laid.  After a short time, the three were convinced that Larry had delivered the final TKO, and the trek across the canyon began.

The bull turned out to be every bit as big as they thought, and is Larry’s biggest bull to date.

You can watch this video on MuleyBull Outfitters "Just Hunting Volume 2" found at:

Amazon.com

Coming August 2014

 

 

Cutting it Close!

A couple days of feeling under the weather didn’t do much in the way of helping Tom Carter along on his 2011 general bull elk tag.  Now facing the last day of his hunt he was feeling a little better than terrible facing a not so favorable weather forecast for the day.  Not the best of circumstances for a very hard to draw hunt in Northern Arizona, but Tom and the MuleyBull crew were not likely to let the last day get away from them without giving it a try.

A few bulls were found earlier in the hunt, but fighting the flu while trying to get around in the Arizona mountains in the bitter cold of mid-November is no easy task.  So far Tom’s hunt had been the usual late Arizona bull hunt, but as they say, they save the best for last, and the last day turned out to be the one day we didn’t want to miss.

Usually by the tail end of the season, things seem to get more difficult.  Hunting pressure moves elk into areas that make them difficult to find, and your chances for success begin to drop as the days go by.  This was not a typical “end of hunt” day.  Daylight found the bunch on a vantage point trying to get a better look at a couple bulls in the distance.  Unfortunately these bulls were able to drop low enough into a canyon to stay hidden, however nothing in the group seemed to catch anyone’s eye.  For the next hour or so it became a contest on who could say “I got a bull” the most times.  Lots of small bulls, average bulls, a few “we might wanna keep an eye on that one” kind of bulls when finally P.T. glassed up the kind of bull that needs no introduction!  Gear was jammed back into packs, and the foot race was on.

The weather was beginning to act up, so everyone was thinking how lucky we were to locate this bull before the conditions became any worse.  Now think back in your hunting career, how many times has that big bull or big buck slipped out without any idea of where he went?  Well, add one more to that list.  It will likely happen again, but it probably won’t be any easier than it was this time.  Hunter and guides searched and waited, then searched and waited some more, but the big bull might as well of disappeared into thin air.  To add insult to injury, the weather beginning to look like it had something against us.

The world started closing in on everyone.  The hills and draws we were finding elk in earlier in the morning were beginning to disappear behind a curtain of white.  Everyone’s eyes began to feel like they were gonna pop out of their heads when P.T. glassed up another good bull.  Tom took a look and agreed to go after him.  This time things worked out much better than they had earlier in the day.  Tom finally found himself within range, set up, and aired his rifle out.  The report came quick, the dull “whomp” sound that usually indicates the first stages of success have begun.  The bull took a couple steps behind a clump of cedars and went down. 

As it turned out, it’s a good thing Tom didn’t want to throw in the towel for the final day, and the grin said it all as Tom got to his elk and the pictures began.