At age 74, I had about given up on ever hunting elk after having been diagnosed with stage IV metastatic urothelial cancer in February of 2022. The cancer had spread to the fourth rib on my right side, the T-10 vertebral body, and the lymph nodes in my abdomen. Between chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation treatments, and a vertebroplasty procedure, I was hobbling around using a walker and then a cane. As my mobility improved, my great friend and hunting guide, Jason Marsalla (who helped guide my wife, Zona Pinto, on her Desert bighorn sheep hunt and me on my Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep hunt), convinced me not to give up on hunting elk.
With 17 bonus points accumulated and applying for a rifle trophy bull elk tag year after year with no success, Jason suggested I apply for an archery tag instead of continuing to apply for rifle tags. My joke had always been if I had to hunt with a bow, I would need to become a vegan. My younger brother, Russell, is an accomplished archery hunter, and I know the time, effort, and skill he puts into archery hunting. Russ told me to expect to be taking shots at 40 yards rather than 400 yards as I would be up close and personal while archery hunting. I seriously doubted my ability to become a successful archery hunter. After all, I began hunting squirrels at age 12 using a Remington Model 514 single shot, bolt action .22 rifle and as recent as five years ago had taken two bull elephants with a Krieghoff double rifle in 470 Nitro Express.
Well, you guessed it, I was successful in drawing the September bull elk archery tag in unit 9. Jason spent many hours finetuning a PSE War Hammer crossbow and teachingme to shoot it proficiently. My confidence was increasing as the hunt date approached. With my physical limitations, I was pretty much limited to hunting from a ground blind over waterholes.
When my wife, Zona Pinto (an accomplished hunter in her own right), and I arrived in unit 9 the Wednesday prior to opening day, we were surprised at the terrain in the southern part of the unit. The area looked more like antelope habitat rather than elk habitat. The open country made glassing for elk exciting. We were not bored as we could glass for elk at long distances and observe them for lengthy periods of time.
We found a great looking bull on Thursday the day prior to opening day. Of course, he was nowhere to be found on Friday opening day. We did see other bulls and plenty of cows, so opening day was exciting and encouraging. Saturday was more of the same, and it was encouraging to sit in a ground blind, watching elk at close distances. Just as my brother, Russ, had predicted, it was something new for me.
Thursday afternoon, the area was hit by a severe rainstorm, which resulted in pools and puddles of water everywhere, so the existing tanks were not being used as often. The hot, windy weather caused things to dry out, and by Saturday, the elk were back to hitting the existing tanks twice daily.
Sunday afternoon found us in a ground blind overlooking a small tank. It was hot, dry, and windy all afternoon. Late afternoon, the bulls were bugling and coming to the water to cool off and drink. We had four different herds of cows, calves, and bulls coming into our position. I had never experienced observing elk behavior so up close and personal. We were passing on 360-375" class bulls accompanied by 6-10 cows per group. I had never heard the words “Don’t shoot!” so many times on one hunting trip.
A small herd of six cows was in the tank drinking and cooling off when we heard a bull “glucking” behind our blind. He wasn’t bugling, but he was so close we could hear him making that swallowing sound. Finally, that bull suddenly walked into the middle of the tank and began to drink. The front of his antlers was under water as he was drinking and cooling off. Jason had whispered, “Don’t shoot,” as we were watching this bull right out in front of our blind at 28 yards. As he lifted his head to bugle, I heard Jason whisper, “Shoot it!” to which I whispered, “What?” as I thought this was another big bull I would be passing on without taking a shot. The next thing out of Jason’s mouth was, “Kill it!”
At 28 yards, the bull was quartering away from me when I took the shot. The 150 grain Swachacker 3" broadhead entered behind the right front shoulder, went through the lungs, heart, and jugular vein and exited in front of the left shoulder. The bull traveled 60 yards and collapsed. To be honest, once Jason had whispered, “Don’t shoot,” I had relaxed, so when it came time to actually make the shot, my nerves were calm and I was relaxed.
I booked my hunt with A3 Trophy Hunts guided by Chad Rhoton and Jason Marsalla. With the help of the two of them, I harvested the trophy bull-of-a-lifetime!
After the required 60-day drying period, my bull had a gross score of 399 4/8" and a net score of 382 6/8", thereby qualifying for the All-Time B&C Record Book. I was very fortunate that my first attempt at archery elk hunting was so successful.
Arizona Elk Hunting
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