Brent in Az
AH ambassador
I was sitting high up on the side of a razorback ridge, tucked into the shadow of a juniper tree. In front of me was a narrow canyon, behind me on the other side of the ridge was a rocky craig, and a jumble of steep rocky terrain. To treacherous to climb. Mountain Lion country.
My Docter Optics binoculars, were focused on the ridge across the narrow canyon. The object of my attention, was a big Coues whitetail buck. A Boone & Crockett candidate, with points to spare.
The shot would be easy..........
Unfortunately, I had a Mule deer tag in my pocket, and all I could do was watch this magnificent beast, as he fed over the ridge into another canyon. No doubt, to bed up in the shade on the other side.
Back in the day, the permits in this hunting unit were for any antlered deer. With declining mule deer numbers over the last 3 decades, the game & fish dept have split the hunts.
Fast forward to 2020...........
Because of the onset of sudden, and serious, knee problems, I had to forego my hunt. I was hoping to find this bucks offspring, but it was not to be.
The canyon country of this remote area of east central Arizona, is steep, rocky, and can be unforgiving. Because of my knee issues, I could barely get up a flight of stairs. Even though I have hunted this unit for over 40 years, and hiked many miles in it, father time has caught up to me, the big "Red S" on my chest has faded, and this is no country for old men.
Having a 4 day weekend, I decided to drive up and do some exploring, as well as some trout fishing. I was looking forward to some photo op's, as well as some long range glassing to look over some country. Little did I know, that all kinds of controlled burns were being conducted by the NFS, as well as on the Apache tribal land to the west.
My photo and glassing plans were ruined by the tremendous layer of smoke covering the southern half of the hunting unit. Pretty much everything below the Mogollon rim.
This photo is looking at the layer of smoke enveloping the Eagle Creek valley.
This particular area of the state has a broad diversity of, Flora, Fauna, and magnificent landscapes. From the high desert at the southern end, to Aspen and Spruce forests of the high country
Big game species include, Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep, world class Elk, Mule deer, Coues Whitetail, Black Bear, Mountain Lion, Javelina, and Merriam's Turkey. There is a small population of Pronghorn Antelope.
The Mexican Gray Wolf was also reintroduced here years ago.
The last Grizzly bear in Arizona was killed up by Escudilla mountain in the 1930's, which is north of Alpine in GMU 1.
I will post more story, and photos, when I get back to Tucson tomorrow. The Wifi at the lodge is Glacial slow, and it takes 10 minutes to upload a photo. There is no cell phone signal up here.
My Docter Optics binoculars, were focused on the ridge across the narrow canyon. The object of my attention, was a big Coues whitetail buck. A Boone & Crockett candidate, with points to spare.
The shot would be easy..........
Unfortunately, I had a Mule deer tag in my pocket, and all I could do was watch this magnificent beast, as he fed over the ridge into another canyon. No doubt, to bed up in the shade on the other side.
Back in the day, the permits in this hunting unit were for any antlered deer. With declining mule deer numbers over the last 3 decades, the game & fish dept have split the hunts.
Fast forward to 2020...........
Because of the onset of sudden, and serious, knee problems, I had to forego my hunt. I was hoping to find this bucks offspring, but it was not to be.
The canyon country of this remote area of east central Arizona, is steep, rocky, and can be unforgiving. Because of my knee issues, I could barely get up a flight of stairs. Even though I have hunted this unit for over 40 years, and hiked many miles in it, father time has caught up to me, the big "Red S" on my chest has faded, and this is no country for old men.
Having a 4 day weekend, I decided to drive up and do some exploring, as well as some trout fishing. I was looking forward to some photo op's, as well as some long range glassing to look over some country. Little did I know, that all kinds of controlled burns were being conducted by the NFS, as well as on the Apache tribal land to the west.
My photo and glassing plans were ruined by the tremendous layer of smoke covering the southern half of the hunting unit. Pretty much everything below the Mogollon rim.
This photo is looking at the layer of smoke enveloping the Eagle Creek valley.
This particular area of the state has a broad diversity of, Flora, Fauna, and magnificent landscapes. From the high desert at the southern end, to Aspen and Spruce forests of the high country
Big game species include, Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep, world class Elk, Mule deer, Coues Whitetail, Black Bear, Mountain Lion, Javelina, and Merriam's Turkey. There is a small population of Pronghorn Antelope.
The Mexican Gray Wolf was also reintroduced here years ago.
The last Grizzly bear in Arizona was killed up by Escudilla mountain in the 1930's, which is north of Alpine in GMU 1.
I will post more story, and photos, when I get back to Tucson tomorrow. The Wifi at the lodge is Glacial slow, and it takes 10 minutes to upload a photo. There is no cell phone signal up here.
