2012 Rifle Hunt

First of all I want to thank the clients that chose to trust us with their priceless Strip tags and allow us to assist them on their once in a lifetime hunt. Without them we would not be able to enjoy this remarkable place we have grown to care about so much. Thanks to each of you.

Well, I would be lying if I said I wasn't glad that this season is over. It proved to be tough as expected. There were not a tremendous amount of big deer to start with and most of the better ones has intense hunting pressure on them. We did manage to kill a few that were off the beaten path and once again proved that our aggressive scouting pays off on tough years like this one. I am still compiling all the pictures from our crew but here are a couple of the better bucks we killed.

The buck below was a buck we followed all summer. He was dubbed "Curly" by a good friend that bowhunted the buck in August. In November he lived in a place that gets road hunted hard but seldom does anyone get out of the truck and hunt around. Due to the vehicle traffic this buck stayed in the thick until the eve of the 6th day at which time he stepped out into Rick's waiting cross hairs. One 320 yard shot and the long slow week was over. Rich showed a ton of persistence and patience during his hunt and we thank him for that. Curly's 4x4 frame was 211.6 and his total 4x5 gross was 220.3. A true giant by any one's standard.

                             "Curly"on water at 3:00pm on day 4 of the hunt!

 

Rick and Curly together at last!

 

 

Rick and his son Travis

 

 

 

Rick and I with the customary skull shot.

This second buck was harvested by Jennifer R. This was Jennifer's first Strip buck and in fact it was her first animal harvest ever! She made a couple great shots and collected the awesome 5x6. She was accompanied by her husband and AZSB friend Michael. We scored the buck at just under 200" in camp and Jennifer's husband informed us later that an SCI official had grossed him at 202.7" An awesome deer either way and quite a little larger than the first Mule Deer buck I harvested at 11 years old!

                                   Jennifer's buck in early summer.

                                          Jennifer's buck in late November!

                                           Jennifer and husband Michael

                                 Jennifer,Stephen,Devin,Matt,Jason,and Bryon


I will update the blog with the other bucks when we get the pictures downloaded. We killed a few more great deer including a 4x4 whopper that 14 year old Tevon H. harvested after 7 long hard days of hunting. As usual we find our success as team. I want to thank every member of our crew. This includes guides, friends, family, and friends that are like family. The list is long and distinguished. Here goes. Byron Goswick, Bob Dykeman, Casey Carr, Tyler Tyree, Stephen Vohs, Bill Vohs, Devin and Bill Beck, Benny Wells, Ron Halford, Tory Brock, David Virostko, Johnny Casner, Jason Campbell and all the rest that contributed in any way throughout 2012. Thanks again gentlemen!

Pre Season Post

Well, this will be the last post before the Strip rifle hunts. Once the hunts start on November 9th we will have accumulated over 100 total man days of scouting amongst us all. We have hit it as hard as humanly possible and here is our prediction.

13B, which is first, should be good and solid. We have found a handful of various bucks that we want to harvest and have been seeing them regularly. My hopes are high that we will harvest a few bucks between 200" and 220". There is no doubt that the May/June drought smacked the Strip deer hard and antler growth is significantly down. Anyone that thinks differently is in denial or hasn't ever seen it on a normal year. 200" type bucks are a extreme rarity this year, no question. That said , there will be a few 200 gross bucks killed in B this year, but not as many as the last few seasons. This is tough on the unlucky tag holders that do not encounter the buck they have been dreaming of, but as good friend said the other day, "the deer need to win sometimes too." This is a true statement and I hope some of the other hunters elect to pass up some of the lesser bucks and not shoot one simply because they haven't seen a big one. With the predicted carry-over and unreal moisture we have had since the monsoon started, the stage is certainly set for stellar year next season. We will obviously need the winter and spring moisture, but the herd as a whole will be going into winter in phenomenal body condition and this will provide the foundation for huge horns next year.

13A is similar. We have seen a small handful of 200 inchers. There are fewer big bucks in A for sure as well. We have been able to keep track of a few we hope to harvest. The rut should also be strongly building by the opener and this will hopefully bring a few more out of the thick stuff. The hunter pressure in A is usually heavier and may be fierce due to the limited number of big bucks this year. This pressure is not new to us and we plan for it.

Overall, the 2012 season will go down in the books as one of the tougher hunts the Strip has experienced in recent years. However, our spirits are not dampened and we will pull out all the stops and hunt as hard as we possibly can. This mindset of persistence will be our focus and it almost always leads us to success. To all our fellow hunters across this great state, good luck and be safe. We will check back in when the dust settles....

Allen's 2012 Early Rifle Bull Hunt

My brother Allen drew the early rifle bull tag in unit 10 this year and we were obviously stoked at the chance to harvest a monster bull. We commenced our scouting right after we got done with the Strip bowhunt. As with all game this year they are spread thin due to the unreal feed quality and water standing in virtually every draw and canyon. The bulls antlers appeared to be affected by the May/June drought, but not as bad as the Strip deer have been. It seemed that some bulls fared better in some areas with others looking very droughty with poor back ends and thin mass. We did see a few of bulls over 380" among all of our help and finally found a true giant of a 6x6 that we intended to harvest if given the chance.

 A couple of days before the hunt was to start I checked a small and obscure spot that was much more suited to Antelope than it was to a big bull. I slept under the stars listening for bugles and hearing none, my hopes were not high as daylight came. I dropped off a ridge into a shallow draw that led down to a dirt tank and was surprised to see a dozen elk feeding across from me at 200 yards. The next image is one that will be burned into my brain forever. The sight of this bull walking from right to left with this gigantic freak antler toward me! My first thought was "That thing looks prehistoric"! His huge 7 point right side was overshadowed by the enormous palmated mass on his left horn! I was able to video him for 30 minutes before they slipped out of sight up the draw.

I raced back to camp 30 miles away and showed the video to the guys. It was a unanimous decision, this was the bull we were gonna hunt. Even though we couldn't decide what we thought he would score, it was plain to see he was a giant and unique in every way. We packed up our camp and made the move over to his area. The tale of the actual hunt was fairly straight forward. We watched the bull rut cows until dark on the eve of the opener and went to bed confident that our hunt was going to be over in the morning. With the only high point being 4.5 miles away, Allen and I awaited daylight while Bob Dykeman, Casey Carr and Ben Wells watched from afar through the big glass. It took a while to find the bedded cows bedded in a small depression invisible from anywhere besides standing on top of them. At 4:45 PM they got up to feed and a couple of rifle shots later the bull was ours.

 We could not have been happier. As Allen and I approached the dead bull we realized just how fortunate we were to be standing over this incredible animal. To have gotten to share this hunt with our close friends and to take such a awesome bull was an incredible experience. His incredible size was only icing on the cake. Our hunting schedule is full throttle and non-stop from July thru January. What a nice break to slow down a bit and go hunt with family and friends. I only wish these opportunities came around a little more often!

 To Allen Schimberg, Bob Dykeman, Casey Carr, Ben Wells, Ron Halford, Todd Geiler, Scott Westlake, Brooks Cameron, Dan and Cheri Lynn Martin and all the others that contributed to this month long adventure, thank you all so much. It won't be forgotten anytime soon! God Bless....Matt

The End of the 2012 Bowhunt

Well, here is the final chapter on our archery season. We started the season off with a bang with Gary Galford's huge 6x7 on opening morning. His story is below this one.  As season rolled on, the hunting got tough. This was expected and we had prepared for it. We started the season spottin and stalkin, as water was everywhere. We hunted hard for a couple giants that we had seen preseason as well as we had numerous back-up bucks. Overall we experienced 4 missed shots total. The hunters that missed these shots were rightfully heartbroken. Shots are few and far between when you are focused on the biggest of the big and often one or maybe two opportunities is all you can expect on these big mature bucks. The hunters that missed had a tremendous amount of grit and persistence and stayed the course until season closed. My hat is definitely off to them!

The grand finale came at 2:00 pm on the lsat day of season. Brian had used our scouting service and spent the entire season hunting a true giant! Nobody knows how challenging this is until they have spent 20 days straight hunting one old smart buck. Brian is as knarly a bowhunter as there is and when the final day of season finally came, he made short work of the awesome back-up buck below. Brian stalked into spitting distance and placed a perfect arrow into the bucks vitals. Brian's wicked typical buck was 30" wide and grossed over 190" One heck of a last day consolation prize!

I want to thank all of our valuable clients for trusting us with their tags. Each and everyone of them hunted their guts out. Some connected and some didn't but the whole ride was awesome and already has us looking forward to next bow season. Also, to the entire AZSB crew. Another hunt in the books and many more to come. Thanks to all!...Matt

2012 Strip Archery Hunt

Aaaaand were back! Wow, a guy goes scouting and hunting for a little while and 2 months go by! My apologies for the long absence from the blog. I give my word it won't happen ever again. In fact, we intend to ramp up our blog activity and hopefully build a faithful following. Anyways....

One of the best pieces of business advice I feel I have ever received is this. "Surround yourself with people better than yourself." I have worked hard to do this and can honestly say that it has been achieved. Case in point is the unreal job that AZSB guide Bob Dykeman, Hunter Gary Galford and assistant Tyler Tyree, did on the opener of the 13B bowhunt...

In early July while hitting all my old spots I found a great buck that appeared to be half grown. He was a 6x7 and, although a dandy, didn't strike me as something we would be hunting. My initial opinion was that he would finish a bit over 200" A dandy for sure but not the type of buck we focus our attention on. So, I dismissed him early and gave him little thought as the summer rolled on. In case you haven't heard the Strip is suffering a below average year this season. Bone dry conditions thru May and June have reduced many of our 200"+ inventory list to bucks that are mildly interesting to look at. In fact, to put a number on it, we have found exactly 25% of the gross 200" or bigger bucks than we had found this time last year, or the year before, or the year before that...Anywho it is a tough year to say the least. So amongst our team we had seen 3 bucks that we wanted to kill ahead of this buck. Not to take away from him at all, he just wasn't going to be our focus. The massive amount of rain the Strip has received this summer climaxed two days before the bow hunt started with a 2.5 inch flood that removed a few roads from existence and furthered the water options for the deer even more than they had been already. So as the 24th of August approached, my gut tightened as we repeatedly failed to relocate any of the best bucks we wanted to kill...

Bob dubbed this buck "Hollywood" due to the fact that the paparazzi seemed to follow him around. He resided in one of the most popular areas in 13B and was readily visible from the main road. He was well known and we knew that he was going to be hunted HARD come opening day. Now, we normally have so many big buck options that we don't have to join such circus events but this year was different. After discussing the facts with Gary Galford, the Pennsylvania hunter that would be paired up with Bob, we decided to make a run at this buck, at least for the first two days. Bob immediately went to work putting a plan together that he felt would give him and Gary an edge over the other ten tags and guides that would undoubtedly be hunting for Hollywood. Three days before the hunt, the buck vanished. Several camps popped up in the bucks area and the human activity quadrupled in the week leading up to the hunt. Bob was able to put a pattern on Hollywood in the area that he had chosen to hide in. As the night before opening day came to a close, tension was high. It always is on the eve of big buck hunt...

3:00am came quick and as Bob and Gary and Tyler slipped down the main road, not a single light shown from any of the other camps. Bob and Gary parked and walked an old two track up into a saddle near where Bob had been watching the buck. Gary positioned himself in the saddle and Bob climbed the knob just west of Gary. Tyler hung back to start looking in some other areas that Hollywood frequented. Still well over an hour before daylight, Bob quietly set up his optics and began to glass with the little moonlight that was available. As Bob dug through an oak choked hillside he glassed up Hollywood bedded in the dark! The buck was exactly where we hoped that he would be and as daylight began to erode the darkness, Hollywood rose from his bed and began to feed downhill. Gary was 250 yards below the buck. Via signals from Bob, Gary quietly closed 100 yards on Hollywood. Simultaneously, Hollywood closed 100 yards on Gary. Gary hunkered down next to big burnt pine tree as the tremendous deer continued to come his way. Due to the thick brush, only bits and pieces of deer could be seen by Gary. That is until Hollywood stepped clear at 38 yards. Like the well seasoned veteran that Gary is, he eased his bow string back undetected. The rest is history. The 38 yards chip shot went off a second later. The two blade Rage head entered exactly where it was intended and the outstanding buck was down in less than 30 yards. The entrance hole was amazing and if it hadn't been witnessed I would have sworn that Hollywood was ax murdered! After we all gathered at the dead buck, it was instantly apparent that we had drastically under estimated the size of this buck. As is so common on Strip deer, when you approach a dead one they seem to grow on the ground instead of shrink. Hollywood's gigantic body was the reason for the under estimation. At a live weight approaching 300 pounds we were 15 inches low on our guesses. We took our pictures and butchered the deer and got him back to camp as quick as we could as the heat mounted.

After reducing the head down to the skull cap and antlers we began to tape the buck. As we figured, each measurement was much longer than we had estimated. The final tally came back at over 220"! To be sure that we had it right we taped him again. It was the same at 220.4 His frame was a hair over 192" with 28 inches of extra.

I want to say thank you to Gary Galford for trusting us with his valuable tag, I want to thank Bob Dykeman for his unrelenting drive for success and his endless dedication to AZSB. And last but not least to Tyler Tyree for the multiple rough miles hiked and the gallons of sweat he poured out for the cause. I can say with full confidence that the future of Arizona Strip Bucks LLC is blindingly bright and it is due 100% to the team of individuals that make up our company. I could not be prouder of what we are building.

PS- We still have two guys hunting and each is hot on a whopper buck. We unfortunately had a missed shot on the morning of day eight but we are still grinding and odds are fair that there will be more bucks to post in a day or two. Thanks for reading and God Bless....Matt

John H. 2012 239" Buck Mount

Here is John Holbrook's unreal 239" buck from the 2012 13B rifle hunt. The taxidermy was done by Devin Beck at www.arizonawildlifedesigns.com Devin has mounted dozens of big Strip bucks and takes his taxidermy work to a level seldom reached by other artists. He is also a guide with us here at AZSB and if he's not looking for and harvesting giant deer, he is mounting them in his shop. Enjoy...

2012 Season Predictions

Here is what we expect out of the 2012 season. As you know, the state of AZ is well behind the annual rainfall averages as of today. The drought monitor shows a terrible year in the making and there is no doubt that what little moisture left in the ground is rapidly drying up as I type. So....How will this relate to antler growth and expectations for big bucks on the Strip this year? In my opinion, the late winter/early spring storms Arizona did have were great. In fact the Strip received more precipitation than anywhere else in the state. There were a few different storms that were very heavy and wet and were staggered apart perfectly. In fact the timing couldn't have been better between them. As one was drying up another was lining up to drop it's load. The bucks had a relatively mind winter and came thru it in solid body condition and were healthy when they shed their antlers. They then had storms that brought the feed to life and they have been gorging themselves on it ever since. Combined with the fact that 2011 was a below average harvest year for big bucks and many of the bucks we expected to get harvested by others never did and they are alive and well going into this year. My hope and prediction is that the feed received adequate moisture early to carry it through the antler growth cycle and regardless of what rain we do or do not receive in the future, the antler growth will still be ok. I think a worst case scenario is that we will experience an "average" year on the Strip, which is still pretty darn good, and we fully expect to find and harvest several big deer between 210" and 230", hopefully a couple bigger... I think a best case situation would involve another storm in the next few weeks, although June is typically a dry month in AZ. This would cement a great year and provide the bucks the necessary good feed to finish their antlers strong and maximize the growth. This is all my opinion and I could be a bit off base, but I don't think so. We launch our full scale, full time scouting operation on June 28th this year and by July 10th we will be able to give a detailed and accurate assessment of where we stand. Until then we can only guess, but I see no reason to not be excited about 2012. I know we are going to find and take some GIANTS, just how giant they will be is the question...