For non-resident big game hunters, Arizona has always had a certain mystique with areas like the Arizona Strip and the Kaibab. With few tags and abundant applications, the lure of those tags is even more enhanced. This has been my experience for the past 25+ years in applying for western state tags. In 2021, I had 25 points plus one loyalty point for a total of 26 elk points as I perused the Arizona elk and antelope section of the Huntin’ Fool magazine in January. Unit 9 had consistently good reviews and is a bit unique in that it rotates between muzzleloader and rifle each year. I have taken several species with a muzzleloader and am very comfortable with it, so I applied for area 23 as my first choice and area 9 as my second choice.
I was looking at my credit card activity in July and noticed a charge come through from Arizona Game and Fish. I immediately got online, but the draw had not been posted. I suspected it was elk as it was the right amount. Sure enough, when the draws came out, I had drawn area 9 for muzzleloader. I immediately called Huntin’ Fool and spoke with Isaiah Joner who gave me two options for guides for that unit. I called Chad Rhoton from A3 Outfitters, and he offered me an option of paying a trespass fee for the Blair’s Ranch to be the only hunter there during the season. I took him up on the offer and booked the hunt for September.
In August, Brett Reyes, my guide, kept sending me photos of elk he was spotting on the ranch. My excitement level kept escalating with each text. August flew by, and it was time to fly to Flagstaff for the hunt. Rob Cannon picked me up at the airport, and we drove to camp. We met Brett and the rest of the crew, and I got settled in.
That afternoon, we drove to the ranch and glassed until dark. We spotted several bulls but nothing we thought would be worth going after. We headed back to camp for dinner and then bed with anticipation for the start of the hunt tomorrow.
We got up at 4 a.m. for a light breakfast and drove 30 minutes to the western part of the ranch. We had several spotters while Brett, Rob, and I started working a gulley to the north. After about an hour, we had a cow elk come up out of the bottom. We got ready, expecting the bull to follow, but none appeared. About 15 minutes later, we saw the bull running up the opposite hillside with a bunch of cows. We kept working north and eventually crested out at a water tank. We called for a ride and headed back to camp for lunch.
For the afternoon hunt, we went to another part of the ranch and started glassing. We saw several bulls and cows but nothing we wanted to put a stalk on. We were seeing a lot of bulls but not what we were after.
The next morning, we were up at 4 a.m. again and made plans for spotters, covering as much of the ranch as we could. We got up on a hillside where we could glass for several miles, but even though the terrain looked flat, there were many ravines the elk could hide in that we could not see. Once again, we were seeing several good bulls but not the bull we were after. After lunch, we went back to one of the water tanks we had hunted the first day. One of our spotters saw a huge 7x7 bull about two miles from our position. We dropped down in a ravine and started a stalk as quickly as we could move toward the bull. We would occasionally crest out and glass to reposition. We could see he was with a group of 30 cows and still a good distance away. My muzzleloader was sighted in for 300 yards, but we had to cover a lot of distance to get to that point before dark. Just as the sun was setting, the bull popped up on a crest about 200 yards in front of us but only for a few seconds and then he was gone. We kept moving as fast as we could run, and as we got in position, we spotted the bull 700 yards away with his cows under some powerlines. It was getting dark, and we had run out of light and time. Disappointed, we headed for the truck and called one of our spotters to pick us up.
We had had good weather up to this point, and the third day was no different. We were up at 4 a.m. again. Brett wanted to head back to where we had seen the big bull and glass to see if we could find him again. We covered a lot of ground but could not find him. Several of our spotters had moved in on several bulls about a mile from us, and one of them was a big 6x6 that Brett was willing to go after. Brett, Ron, and I drove to their location and sneaked in from about 500 yards. Several of the bulls showed themselves, but as luck would have it, not the big 6. We sneaked back out so as not to disturb any elk and headed back to camp for lunch. As we were driving, there were some storms coming in from the south. We could see lightning and rain all around us.
We grabbed lunch and a quick nap, and Brett wanted to head to an area on public land to our east. We drove through a rainstorm and exited the highway on a dirt two-track, heading into some small hills and ponderosa pines mixed with junipers. Rob had gone out early and gotten up on a hill to spot. As we drove in, he started screaming at us to stop because he had five bulls in the junipers in front of us. As we got out of the truck, we could hear the bulls all around us bugling. Rob said one of the bulls was huge and about 500 yards to our right. The problem was that we had so many bulls screaming we could not tell which one we needed to go after. We slowly worked our way through the pines and junipers, and one of the bulls had a really deep bugle. Brett decided to work in on that one and hoped it was the big one Rob was watching. After about 45 minutes, we could hear the bull about 300 yards ahead of us. We got set up behind a juniper and waited. To my surprise, a bull popped its head out from behind a tree 250 yards in front of us. He was feeding and didn’t know we were there. I put the scope on him but did not have a shot. He pulled back in behind the tree and disappeared. I was afraid he was working away from us, but about 10 minutes later, he popped out again and was feeding toward us. Brett whispered that this was the bull we were after. We ranged him at 230 yards. All I had was a head-on shot, so I waited. As he fed, he quartered, showing his left front shoulder, and I pulled the trigger. I could hear the “whap” as the bullet hit but couldn’t see anything for all the smoke. The bull rocketed to our left. Rob radioed that he was running, then running in circles, and then he was down. I had my bull! We hugged each other and danced around, celebrating. As we walked up on the bull, it was clear how large he was. What an impressive animal!
The 26 years of applying and anticipation only added sweetness to the success of the hunt. What a wonderful experience this was to work hard and be persistent and then be rewarded with a magnificent animal that I have truly come to respect. The icing on the cake was the wonderful people I was able to hunt with and the friendships we developed. Their excitement was as great in the execution of the hunt as was mine in the success we had. This is what we hunt and live for, and I thank my God for the beauty and the opportunity provided.
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