Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 2016 AZ Elk Hunt Part 2: Cody's Turn

Two weeks ago my wife was able to shoot a nice bull and it was awesome. After a two week wait I was playing guide again to my brother-in-law Cody. Cody has been in AZ 3 years (Minnesota transplant) and has not been able to draw a big game tag. He drew an any-elk tag this year (finally) in a limited opportunity area. The terrain is the challenge, steep thick mountainous country, but there are elk around. The more I hunt this area the more elk I find but getting shots at them is tricky. The forest is so thick and the terrain so steep it makes still-hunting a challenge and spot and stalk is out of the question. There's nothing to glass.

Day 1:
Being his first elk tag and his last for awhile (plan is to move out of the country in a few months) Cody was holding out for a decent bull the first two days and then was going to shoot any elk that gave him a shot. The first morning found us in an old hot spot that has been cold of late. It was cold again, so we moved to another spot where I had success finding elk last year but we couldn't ever get a shot. Sure enough, still hunting the thick stuff, we jumped a bull out of his bed but we didn't get a good look or a shot at him.

The second part of the day we hiked into a set of hills that we found elk in last year but is terrible to hike. We found a new and easier way in which was nice. We also jumped a nice bull out of this area but again, the forest and the terrain did not allow us a shot. We jumped a cow and calf on the way out and couldn't have gotten a shot at them either although he was holding out for a bull still.

The evening found us calling the same spot my wife killed her bull two weeks ago but no luck.

Day 2:

Day two we did the same routine as day 1. As soon as we made the climb into our morning spot, almost light enough to shoot, we hear a bugle not too far away from the bedding area we jumped the first bull in the day before. We set up and distress called and had a cow and calf come in but they did not bring the bull. We decided to leave the bull alone and not spook him and would maybe come back to him.

We ended up having no luck the rest of the day.

Day 3:
Cody was ready to put an elk down at this point. After seeing elk 4 times and not being able to shoot any of them we decided it's hard to pass up opportunities on this hunt and he wanted to knock any elk down that he could. This is a tough hunt to hold out for a good bull, you may only get a chance at an elk a time or two in 7 days.

My sister came along which ended up being great but is also hindering to have 3 people try and still hunt in lousy country. We set up and called our morning spot with no response and then went back home so Cody could watch the Vikings lose

Early afternoon we headed back out and decided to try something different. We decided to get to the top of "Spike Hill" which is a mountain that is absolutely terrible to get up/down but is generally covered with elk sign. I nicknamed it Spike hill because the first time I ever glassed it I found numerous elk and they were all spikes. The problem with glassing this particular hill is that it's a worthless endeavor; you can't shoot the elk you see and you can't get to them either. You can, however, climb the other side to the top and it is usually covered with elk sign and should be a daytime spot for the elk. The issue up there is the same as the rest of the area; it's very hard to successfully still-hunt.

Well we tried. We got up there with the intention of setting up and distress calling awhile before dark to hopefully pull something up to the top. As we crept to the north side we busted a big herd of elk that was already there. It was so thick we could just see bodies and hear the herd rumble to the side of the mountain. They stopped but we could not shoot through it, the only shot he had was at the arse-end of an elk. Eventually they left down the side and we were frustrated again.

We made our way to where they had been and stood there awhile looking for a spot to set up for the evening. We decided to walk to the edge and as we stood there I saw movement. We froze and stood in disbelief to see a young bull elk making his way UP the hill at about 40 yards right towards us! As he slowly walked up his body came into view but he was behind some scrub brush/trees. It was steep where we were standing and my sister kicked a pebble! He stopped and we froze, and after a minute he looked forward again. I motioned for Cody to step in front of me to where he had a shot. As I stepped to let him by I broke a twig! This got his attention but he just watched as Cody inched over slowly, raised his rifle and drew a bead on him and fired. Down he went, thrashed around and slid down hill but was stopped by a tree. Just like that, Cody had his first elk down and we had our work cut out for us:



We worked on getting him in pieces and boned out for a packout


It worked out ok that he was a little bull, less to pack out that way. We got a hind leg and two shoulders hung and half of him packed down just at dark. Went and got the rest of him this morning:


The pictures do no justice to how steep in was. This was the easy stretch at the top of the hill:



Bonus material:
I mentioned there was brush in the way of the shot. I don't love shooting through brush but at 35 yards and on a hunt like this I will take it. So will Cody apparently 30-06 blew through this small fir tree and still knocked him down. Man I'm glad that thing didn't make it any further down the side of that mountain, the side he was on is just terrible:



This was a great hunt for me. Cody is a great guy to hunt with and I'm very glad to have been a part of his first elk. We hiked a lot for this bull and worked our tails off to get him out. Well worth it. Bull elk are what I love best and I loved every minute of this hunt. Can hardly wait to see what next year brings.

Fantastic! Congrats to you guys.

That's awesome congrats...

Good read.

Congrats.

Congrats, I know those hills and they are steep!

Excellent! Thanks for sharing.

Great stuff! Congrats to you and Cody!

Wonderful story and a nice critter,,,,, congrats to all!!!!

Congrats to your brother in law!

Good story - congrats to you and your BIL!

Congrats, you've been a busy guy. And congrats to Cody. Love the photo of the hole in the tree, what bullet was he shooting? That's impressive. Did it look like the tree expanded the bullet before it hit the elk, and did you get an idea of how far the bullet penetrated?

Excellent write-up. Congrats to all!

Nice!!

Thanks for the excellent write up

Fantastic,
Sometimes you gotta go into the nastiest stuff to get your critters,
congrats

He was shooting Federal 180gr Trophy Copper. Not sure who makes the bullet, black tip... E-Tip?

You know there was a hole in the hide on the off side of him but we never noticed an exit in the meat. We didn't look that hard I guess but we still should have seen it. I guess it's possible he tore his hide on the tree that stopped him but I kindly doubt it. My guess is it went thru the tree and the elk. He hit him high, got spine, so there was less elk to go thru than a dead center.

Great hunt and memories...you all did well.