HUNTER: Aaron Neilson - Global Hunting Resources

HUNT LOCATION: K-4 Ranch

Outfitter: Chad Smith - Vaquero Outfitters

HUNT DATES: Sept. Oct. 2-8, 2009

SPECIES HUNTED: Bull Elk

WEAPONS: .338 Rem Ultra Mag/225 gr. Nosler Accu-Bond



Well, fortunately or un-fortunately, however you choose to look at it, this one's gonna be short but sweet! For the past 10 years, AZ outfitter Chad Smith and I have been pretty close friends. Often trading clients back & forth, and generally just trying to help each other out. Chad has been to eastern Colorado with me a couple times, bringing clients and friends, but until now I just haven't had the good fortune of drawing a tag in his home state of AZ. Along with outfitting in AZ, Chad outfits hunts for clients in Sonora Mexico as well. In fact I bought a Coues Deer permit from him in 2008, and hunted a ranch on my own, shooting a net 112" typical on the first day I was there. So to say that generally what Chad has to offer is good, would be a gross understatement to say the least!

I arrived on Oct. 1st, the season was scheduled to open Oct. 2, 2009. We were hunting just west of Chino Valley, AZ. in a multiple Unit area that is comprised of mostly private land. In fact, Chad leases two ranches that total 360,000 acres between the two of them, so to say we would have some good country to hunt, was also an understatement! Chad had a total of 4 hunters, including myself, so he took the other 3 guys to a separate ranch, and gave me the 100,000 acre K-4, all to myself. My guide, Logan Anderson had been scouting for 3.5 days prior to my arrival and he had a fairly good idea what was around. The usual for the area, lots of big bulls, and a whole lot of them broke all to hell!!! In fact, that is the one major draw back about this hunt, these ranches have so many big bulls that by the time the rifle hunt starts, its difficult to find one that isn't broke, and broke badly. However, Logan assured me that he had found one really good bull that was still completely intact, and the following morning we were going to look for him.

Opening morning, my cameraman and I met Logan about an hour before day-break, and followed him and his buddy Jimmy Hoffman into the ranch. Jimmy had come along to help glass, as he is a fanatical elk hunter and just wanted to be along for the fun! By day break we reached the top of the hill that Logan wanted us to spot from, and not 15 minutes later Jimmy had located our bull. He was with 8-9 cows about 2 miles north of us, just lounging around a big open flat, interspersed with cedars. In fact, they were pretty much out in the wide open, but the ranch gets such little hunting pressure that they weren't the least bit concerned. Only bad thing was, within the last 48 hrs the bull had broken about 7-8 inches off his 5th point, on the left side. Other than that, he was still completely intact and Logan assured me he was the best bull he had seen with most of his head gear still remaining.

After about 10 minutes of us all debating his score through the spotting scopes, I finally said, "what in the hell are we waiting for"? We all agreed he was right at 380", and considering the other bulls we had seen the night before, we knew we better get him before he breaks the rest of his horns too. So off the hill we went. The wind was perfect, the sun was at our back, it could not have been better. It took us about 35-40 minutes to get over to them, even though it was pretty flat ground. It didn't seem as far from the top of the hill, but looking back it was easy to see that it was at least 2 miles. As we approached to with 400 yards, we could finally see them scattered out amongst the cedars. Slowly and carefully, we worked our way down another draw in front of us, then came up the other side, now less than 200 yards from the elk. We could hear him, but we just couldn't see him, so slowly we worked closer until finally we saw two cows feeding 140 yards in front of us. We sat still, and about the time the bull came into view. He was just down over a little rise, so sitting down all I could see was his horns and head, nothing else. Jeremiah was sitting up just a bit higher than me, and was getting great footage. Finally the bull turned and slowly started walking up the hill towards us, and to our left. At 142 yards, he cleared a little bush, I asked Jeremiah if he was on him, and then I let him have it. It looks awesome on film, as he just dropped like a brick!!

After 12 years of waiting for a tag, that was it, over!! By 8:30am on day 1, we were taking pictures, skinning an elk, and getting ready to head home. Logan nailed the score on the bull as he hit right at 380". Of course I would have loved to shoot a 400" Arizona bull, but after spending a day on Chad's other ranch and seeing just how many of the big bulls were totally broke, I considered myself quite fortunate.





Aaron Neilson
Global Hunting Resources
www.globalhuntingresources.com

Aaron,

What a toad! Very nice bull. My dad used to say, "a good hunt does not have to be a long hunt." Congrats.

Good job Aaron!

Great bull Aaron. Hoping to draw AZ next fall...COngrats.

What a bull! Congratulations Aaron. A great result

Hey Aaron, thats one hell of a bull. Wish I was taking him home to hang on my wall. Congrats.

Thanks guys, sorry for the late reply I have been guiding muzzleloader deer hunts for the past 10 days.

Aaron

Congrats Aaron.

Just think, if United States Outfitters had their wish (remember, they sued the state of Arizona) non-resident tags would be unlimited. Of course, the state would essentially set the limit by increasing the non-resident rates to astronomical levels.

Think about that. I for one will never book with USO. And I want to vomit every time I read a story by an outdoor writer that is their guest.

Big money will ruin hunting; let's not encourage it. When a plumber from Ohio no longer can dream of hunting elk in AZ we all lose.

Damn fine elk Aaron!!! Too bad about the point being broken.

Congrats again,