Andrew Crandell's 3A-3C Rifle Bull

This year I had the pleasure of hunting with my brother-in-law, Andrew Crandell on his very first elk hunt.  Andrew has been applying for an early elk tag since 2000, and he finally pulled a tag.  We hunted for 5 days before Andrew pulled the trigger on a great bull.  Congrats to Andrew and I'm sure I will be hunting elk with him again in the future. Video of Andrew's hunt will be posted later this winter.

Like father, like son

"The Abe Lincoln!"

 

 



Tom Chanez 3A-3C Bull Elk and Cabelas Out West Video

Tom had been applying with good friend, Leonard, and had finally pulled an early rifle bull tag.  When they arrived in camp I had a gift waiting for them.  I showed them video of the 385" bull that my archery client had missed.  I had lost the bull during the archery hunt but was able to relocate him just days before the start of the rifle hunt.  Unfortunately, he was missing an eye guard.
After watching the footage, Leonard and Tom decided that Tom would be the lucky hunter to go after the bull.  The rest of Tom's hunt was captured on film and aired on an episode of Cabela's Out West.
Congrats to Tom on a great AZ bull and a heck of a story to tell for years to come.  Click on the link below to watch Tom's hunt.

 

Cabela's Out West 2013 Season

Damon, Tom and J

 



Leonard Raimondo's 3A/3C Rifle Bull

This year Leonard decided to cash in his bonus points for a 3A/3C rifle tag (he had something like 22 or 23).  He was able to travel out with his two friends Mike and Tom.  Tom had also drawn a tag.  We were able to look over some good bulls before this bull strolled out on a big point sunning himself.  Leonard made a perfect 150 yard shot and the bull ran about 75 yards before piling up.  Congrats on a great bull and thanks for letting BTO be a part of your hunt.

Leonard's bull had 23+ in. royals and 58 in. beams

Art Otero's 3C archery bull

This year Art Otero was fortunate enough to draw a 3C tag and booked with Burnt Timber Outfitters.  We were able to harvest his bull on the 3rd day of Art's hunt.  We watched the bull fight a 340 type bull before he walked up to 25 yards and presented a shot.  Art's great bull gross scored a little over 384.  Congrats Art and thanks for letting me be part of your hunt.

Josh Hancock's Unit 1 AZ Bull

It's not too often that two of your family members get drawn for elk in the same year and the same unit.  This year we had that privilege. With Dane already tagging a great bull during the archery hunt it was now Josh's turn.
With Josh taking a break from college and flying home the day prior to the hunt it did not leave a lot of preparation time for him before his hunt. We began scouting in July and first located this bull on July 6th while camping with the family. We also had a couple of good encounters with him during the archery season with one being under 40 yards but could just not seal the deal. On the second day of the early rifle season with his brother Dane on point and his Brother in-law Colby Hale helping Josh killed this great Az bull.
It was great to get the entire family involved in the hunt and with Granddad's cooking and Mom (Melissa) in camp for both kills made for great memories for our family. Stay tuned to see the hunt in its entirety with multiple encounters with this bull through out the season in the near future on our blog. Good Job Boys!!!


Josh's bull had 23" Royals



The "Gang" Josh, Dane, Colby, Mom (Melissa)and Myself
 sure made for an easy pack out.

 

"Sibling Rivalry"  with Two great Az Bulls

Dave McNeill's 3A-3C AZ Archery Bull & Cabela's Out West Video 2013

This year I had the privilege of hunting with Dave McNeill of Clarksville, TN.  Dave drew a 3A-3C archery bull tag after 11 years of applying.  We had some awesome encounters that neither one of us will ever forget.  The first occurred on opening morning with a big, 6x6 at 12 yards.  Later that evening, we had another great bull moaning and screaming at only 18 yards.

On the evening of day 8, Dave was able to get an arrow in his Arizona trophy.  Click on the link at the bottom of this post to watch Dave's hunt that was featured on Cabela's Out West.

 

 

Cabela's Out West 2013 Dave McNeill AZ Elk Hunt

Dane Hancock's 383" monster from Unit 1

This year my little brother Dane was fortunate enough to draw a coveted unit 1 archery bull tag.  With my dad having a client, I was the one to get to hunt with Dane.  We began our scouting trips over the July 4th weekend and made many more leading up to hunt.  The horn growth was looking good as we had seen many good bulls.  The weeks of summer flew by and before we knew it it was the night before the opener.  Opening morning was relatively slow as we had pressure from other hunters and the bulls had all but shut down in the area we were hunting.  We finally caught a break on Sunday morning and evening as we had two of the bulls on our hit list almost within shooting distance.  Monday morning found us moving to the west looking for where the bulls had been pressured to.  We bedded some bulls and decided to be back in that evening.  As we were sneaking into the green trees a bull let out a bugle.  We hustled to get the wind a little more in our favor and get set up.  I cow called once as the bull let out a scream and was already on top of us at 50 yards.  Dane elected to pass on this 340 type bull.  We continued through the green trees listening for bugles and glassing.  As we got to a good looking bottom another bull bugled down the ridge.  We crossed the canyon and were waiting for the bull to bugle again.  As we were waiting we see a spike headed our way.  With the night being so slow we decided to see how close we could cow call him into.  The spike came by looking for us at around 20 yards and got behind us.  We stood up and began working in the direction of the last bugle when the spike came running by us headed back to where he came from.  We worked forward and now could see him with another spike.  I caught some movement off towards the bottom as a bull stood up out of his bed to readjust.  I could tell that he was a shooter bull and we began to get a plan of attack together.  The bull was bedded in a set of young aspen trees and was alone.  We began to stalk in on the bull and before we knew it it was raining and we were now at 38 yards.  Dane drew as I was going to cow call to get the bull to stand up and fully expose his vitals.  I had never seen a bull do what he did, as I cow called he laid his head sideways all the way on the ground as if he was hiding.  Dane let off and we just looked at each other.  About a minute later the bull picked his head up and began to stand up.  Dane drew back and released just as the bull took a step hitting him a little back.  The bull began to try to take off as i began to cow call to stop him.  The bull stopped as I ranged him at 42 yards and Dane made the second shot count, putting it through both lungs.  The bull ran 40 yards and piled up.  We began to celebrate as we knew the bull was better than we initially thought.  We started wading our way through the 7-8 foot tall aspens to the bull.  The bull continued to grow as we got closer.  The bull had a big inline and mass to spare.  It took until 130 AM to get the bull back to camp, we were all anxious to see what the bull would score.  We gross scored Dane's bull at 383 and change.  Not too bad for his first archery bull.  Congrats again Dane, I enjoyed our time spent together as brothers.

Dane's awesome AZ Giant

Dane and  Dad (Mike)

Dane and myself 

Cabelas Out West - Southern Utah Mule Deer Hunt

We have the privilege of being apart of the Cabela's Out West video series again this year.  Here are the video highlights of our recent mule deer hunt in Utah.  Also included on this segment is Parker Colburn's 1st archery mule deer hunt in Arizona.


CABELA'S OUT WEST 2013 VIDEO SERIES

Southern Utah Archery Deer Hunt

Craig Blackburn and I recently returned from a week long hunt in Craig's old stomping grounds in Southern Utah.  Its always a good time chasing mule deer around with a bow, and enjoying the local fair, parade, and rodeo.  But the icing on the cake is Craig's moms cooking and hospitality.

Here are just a few pictures from our trip.  Video coming soon.  Enjoy.

Can you see the arrow?

 

How about in this photo?  Arrow?



 

I almost forgot.  Craig and his brother-in-law, Tyler, won the "Wild Cow Milking" contest at the rodeo the night before our hunt started.  My brother-in-law, Andrew, also came along to film our hunts.

Pre-season Scouting

Check out some Pre-season scouting video for elk/antelope from this summer's trips to the woods. With some great summer rains, this fall is really shaping up to be a good one. Come on September.......

Bill Davis 3A-3C Mule Deer Hunt Video

The AZ draw results for deer and sheep are out! Congratulations to all the lucky hunters that drew tags. 

Here is the video of Bill Davis hunt from last year.

 

 

Hits and Misses Video of 2012

 

Enjoy this video of some of our 2012 hunts and misses.

Antler Season 2013

My 2013 shed season has officially come to a close.  This past weekend my brother-in-law, Andrew, and I loaded up our bone and cashed it in.  We did pretty good for as little time as we spent looking.  After all the miles and blood, sweat, and tears..... our final tally was.....

9 Days of Looking (roughly 60 hours)
142 lb. of #1 Brown
109 lb. of #2 Hard White
166 lb. of #3 Chalk
417 Total Pounds

$ 3,000 Pay Day!!!

 1 of my 4 trips

 

 Our 2013 Bone Pile

 

$$$$$$$

 

 



Lake Powell Stripers

I KNOW IT'S NOT HUNTING....... BUT WHEN THE FISHING IS THIS GOOD IT'S HARD NOT TO SHARE!!

For my 16th anniversary my wife and I spent last weekend at Lake Powell getting our fish on.  I normally don't waste my free time fishing, but all reports were "snooze ya lose".  So my brothers and sisters-in-law had to check it out for ourselves.  My nephew also joined us since it was his birthday.

 FISH ON!

 

 Happy 13th Birthday Chancho!!

 



 Our neighbor, Frank Greer also joined us and had a great time

 

 

 Assembly line at the fillet station

 

Happy Anniversary Babe!

 

This wasn't a fishing trip, this was a "catching" trip.  Both days we caught over 100 fish and ended up filleting 50-60 stripers a day.  We had a blast!  If you have been thinking of going......... just go!  You wont regret it.

 



3C Junior Turkey Season........Last Two Days

 

Watch as Jarom experiences the highs and lows of turkey hunting during the last two days of the Jr. season.  It was a tough season and very few birds.  But we managed to go 3 for 3 in 6 days of hunting.  Enjoy.

3C Junior Turkey Hunting 2013

The AZ turkey season is underway and the Juniors are up.  My good friend, Ben Williams has two boys that drew tags (Jarom and Trevor).  My 2nd daughter, Makenzie also drew a Jr. tag.  So the plan was to get in our scouting then hit the Jr. season hard.  Hopefully we could fill 2 out of the 3 tags before the general season opened.  The first morning, Ben was able to call in 4 jakes to 10 yards and his younger boy, Trevor let the lead fly.

Trevor's 1st Turkey

 

On the 4th morning, Makenzie was able to smell gun powder.  We trolled into a lonely gobbler that traveled a long ways to make our morning a success.  Makenzie shot this bird at 30 yards.

 

 Makenzie's 1st Hunt

 

 

There are still a few days left in the Jr. season, so we are still working on getting Jarom a bird.  We will let you know how that pans out.



Elk Highlight Video "Harlem Shake"

 

With the recent release of the elk draw results, we thought we would put together a little video from some of our footage from last year. Enjoy this highlight film from our 2012 season in unit 3A-3C.

 

  

More 2013 Shed Hunting Photos

As a kid I used to look forward to spring time and Easter egg hunts.  Now days, it's evolved slightly.  It's still the same basic principle, but the prize has changed from Easter eggs to elk sheds; from candy to cash. 
Enjoy these pictures of some of the brown sheds we've found during the last week of March.  Most of them were found by my brother-in-law, Andrew.

Just a Warm Up

 

 

Little Harder

 

 

 

 

 

Jackpot 

 

And a Coues Shed to Boot...