Arizona Unit 9 antelope report

[soccerguy]

The hunt was a fantastic experience!!  Great country, lots of bucks to sort through, and a (just barely) good result.  The details follow.

Got there four days early and began scouting.  With me was a friend from Phoenix and we were joined two days later by a hunting buddy from here who we picked up at the Flagstaff airport.  We quickly began finding antelope and bucks west of Highway 64 down Forest Service Road 347 from about mile post five on.  The land is owned by the State of Arizona with some private land mixed in, but hunting is allowed on all of it in the area we were in.  From the first point where we located antelope, we drove probably 15 miles to the west and northwest and were still finding antelope.

Prior to the season, we saw numerous bucks but only located one buck that we thought was a definite shooter.  My standards were very high and this buck seemed to meet them!!  Opening day of the season, we looked for this book but were unable to locate him.  For the next three days we continued to look for him but also looked for bucks in other areas.  We did locate a buck who I thought was close to this original "shooter in size, so we decided to put a sneak on him.   After a three hour stalk and my passing on a shot at 500 yards due to high cross wind conditions, we ended up spooking the buck back towards the truck.  While closing on the buck a second time, we heard a shot and determined that someone had just shot the buck.  It seems that four guys driving down the road had observed us out on foot after the buck, also set out on foot, spotted the buck, and when it came closer to them...shot it.   Needless to say, I was not very happy about their ethics and expressed it to them.

Anyway the fifth day came and it was my last day for hunting.  We could only hunt until around 11AM, so we got a very early start.  The bad news...the weather had turned cold and rainey and the antelope had disappeared!  We located a couple of small bucks but no real shooters.  Around 10AM, we decided to head in the general direction of camp in the truck since we had a couple more spots to check out.  The last spot was a two mile drive down a side road from the main road to the vantage point where we had spotted the shooter buck the day before the season.

Upon arriving we began glassing and a mile and 1/2 across the prairie...there he was!!  Immediately, we began a sneak and had enough cover via small swales to close within 325 yards.  One shot from my 284 Remington and he was down!  As we approached the buck, there was no ground shrinkage at all!  Gross B&C score is 83 although he is only 14 inches long.  The mass is off the charts on this buck!

Final Notes.  This unit has nowhere near the numbers of antelope as say Wyoming or Montana, but the potential for quality is very high.  We heard that the AZ gov tag shot a 94 buck out of this unit last year and the state record 95 buck came from there 12 years ago.  Also, we saw several bull elk and the genetics there are awesome...we guessed one was a 375 bull and some others in the 350 range....and we weren't even looking for them! 

If anyone draws in the future, I'd be more than happy to provid more details.  I'd highly recommend this unit,

[Bob33]

The mass is indeed awesome. That is a very nice buck.

Your hunt and the report were well done. Thank you, and congratulations.

[Wea300mag]

Stud speed goat, congrats. 

[Bigshooter]

Great buck. Luv the mass.

[Bwana Bob]

Hope to kill one like that in WY in two weeks. Great buck for sure.

[Bean Counter]

Congrats! Good story and pics 

[bucklucky]

HEAVY BUCK!! Nice job!

[Curly]

Great speed goat.

I notice quite a bit of green there.  Has there been much rain to get it green like that?  Or is that typical for that area to be so green this time of year? 

[washingtonmuley]

Nice goat!!!

[soccerguy]

Great speed goat.

I notice quite a bit of green there.  Has there been much rain to get it green like that?  Or is that typical for that area to be so green this time of year? 

Yes, there has been a tremendous amount of summer monsoon rain from the Flagstaff area north and northwest to the Grand Canyon.  Most of the area was covered with lush, green grass...instead of the usual late summer dried brown grass.  Waterholes were everywhere, which I'm sure didn't help the archery elk hunters after us.  It made the antelope very, very easy to spot, even at distances of 3-5 miles sometimes.  The day I shot the buck, we drove south down to Phoenix and were in solid rain for two hours.  In the last picture, you can see a rain shower just to the right of my left shoulder which hit us as we carried the buck out.  The anelope and elk all looked very healthy!!

[jackelope]

Congrats on an outstanding goat.

[carpsniperg2]

Indeed a great goat

[mfswallace]

Indeed a great goat

[RadSav]

Good gracious that's nice

[BIGMIKE]

Thats a nice animal. A real trophy for sure. Congrats.