Joe's 2011 Henry Mt. Buffalo Hunt

Joe Gonzales' 2011 Henry Mt. Bison

Joe was fortunate to win a raffle tag at the Western Expo in Salt Lake City, UT for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hunt the rugged Henry Mt.s for buffalo. This truly was an experience that we won't soon forget. Beautiful and rugged country, jaw-dropping animals, and great company made for a fantastic hunt. Even though we were novices at buffalo hunting, we made the best of it seeing many great bulls. Joe even videoed one we dubbed the "Musk ox" bull. This bull had both horns dropping downward, a sight even the game warden have never seen. On the first day of the hunt, Joe was able to drop the hammer on this mountain of a bull. THAT WAS ONLY THE START... Then we had to figure out how to get this beast out. Being just shy of 2 miles from the trail head didn't sound to bad, until you throw in the fact that is was up hill through rugged country, with near a foot of snow, and at 9500 ft!!!! NEED I SAY MORE... We had some cowboys bring in horses but with the snow and difficulty of the terrain, we still had to pack the buffalo 3/4 of a mile to the horses. They sure proved to be worth there wait in gold.. Not to mention the cowboys' heroic effort in riding 10 miles on horseback in blizzard conditions since the weather did not allow us to get their trucks any closer. We would probably still be out there right now if they hadn't come in to help. Here are some great photos and a video that we put together capturing Joe's hunt. Joe passed on a bull that may have been bigger if not as big in order to get his hunt on video. It paid off. Enjoy the pics and video.

Joe's giant AZ archery buck!!! UPDATE!! More pics

Joe Gonzales stands and admires his 2011 AZ archery mule deer.



 

Holy smokes, were do we start. Joe was able to fill his OTC archery deer tag today after having several close encounters with many smaller bucks. Joe's buck grosses 190 7/8". This buck is very decieving both in pictures and while we chased him. With 21" of mass per side which added up to an 84" left horn, an 81 7/8" right horn, and a 25" inside spread, the inches add up quick! The hunt for this buck actually started in September when we came across a new area that we seen several great deer in velvet. During the elk hunts we stumbled across several great sheds from these bucks and we began thinking we might be able to find these deer in the late hunt. Once the late archery season opened up, Joe and I were behind the big glass scouring the brush fields. Incredibly, everytime we went in to this area Joe chased nice bucks. This morning we glassed up a herd of deer with 4 bucks, including this bruiser. Once Joe got in close, he simply sat back and waited. The deer were rutting and since this buck was pre-occupied with chasing other bucks and does, it was only a matter of time before the opportunity presented itself. Well, if finally happened and at 43 yards, Joe's first hit was a bit far back so we sat back and watched him bed to give him time to expire. As soon as one of the other bucks in the herd seen he was hurt, he went in for another battle. Joe's buck gave a good effort but being wounded he was quickly beaten down and the other buck spent the next 15 minutes putting a good beat down on this buck. While this was happening, Joe took advantage of the chaos and close the distance to finally put this heavy buck down for good. I was able to capture some rough footage of Joe's final stalk through the spotting scope so we'll have to put a quick video together. Congrats to Joe on a whopper of a deer. Let's see what else our new spot may bring in the future..



Check out the mass on this guy!!

This is the shed from Joe's buck that we found in September.

The day after harvesting this beautiful buck, Joe skinned and caped the buck in preparation for a shoulder mount. When he removed the hide, the true damage caused by the other buck was evident. The first picture below shows only the arrows entrance wound. The next pictures shows the bucks other side, this is the side the other buck stomped and gored him. We knew from watching the fight that the other buck had put a beating on him, but we had no idea of the damage he inflicted. Look at all the puncutre wounds and bruises! You can basically get and idea of the spread of the other buck based on the puncture wounds on this buck's side. This was the other buck's opportunity to show his dominance while the bigger buck was wounded, and he took full advantage of it.

2011 Late Hunt Fun

The late hunts of 2011 were a lot of fun.  We had some awesome hunters who hunted hard and had a great time.  We will add more details to the bulls but we wanted to get some pictures up and say Thank You to all of the hunters who trusted us with their hunts.  More pics of bulls to come.. Stay tuned.

Phil with "Droopy"

Phil with his great bull.

"Droopy" in 2010, we were able to get the sheds off this bull as well.

Another pic of him as he was passed up in 2010 with a score of 375.

Robbie with his hard earned trophy from a tough unit. Congrats.

Gene with his heavy 2011 late season bull 

The bases on this bull were huge.  Check out the mass.

Gene and his brother Dick with Genes bull.

Dick was able to take a great heavy late bull with time winding down as well.  

This bull had awesome mass and is a bull we have watched for a few years. 

Brian admiring his dark horned bull.

Brian with his 2001 late bull.

With a day left in the hunt, Brian was able to take this heavy old bull

Timm with his great late season bull.

Congrats Tim.

Mark hunted hard and was able to get this nice bull at the end of his hunt.

Mark with his first bull elk.

Congrats Randy on your beautiful late bull!

Randy and Crew with his bull.

Lance with his best elk to date, a dandy az late season bull.

Lance was a little excited when he got his bull.

Pete made a great shot to get this 3 horned bull!

Timm and Pete were able to enjoy a great hunt together!

James made a great shot to get his first elk! Congrats James!

196" AZ ELK SHED!!

While up scouting for the late hunts, MBAZ guide Jay Lopeman found a world class shed.  The shed tapes 196" as is, and is from a bull that was harvested several years ago.  The bull is the "Parks" bull, and scored 435" I believe.  This bull had moved quite a ways north of where he was harvested, and it gives us a good idea of the natural patterns of these animals as they move back to the winter range.  Now we just need to go find the other side!  Congrats Jay

Attached is a harvest photo courtesy of Jay Scott at jayscottoutdoors.blogspot.com.  

As you can see the bull had a split 3rd, but for the most part kept the same horn configuration with a bigger front end the following year.  We believe this shed was the yr prior to him being harvested. 

As it lay baking in the wide open!