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Mossback Arizona 2012 Highlights

Here are some clips of our 2012 adventures. 2013 can't come fast enough! Enjoy.

Stans 2013 Arizona Coues Buck

Congratulations to Stan on his huge 2013 AZ Coues buck that he was able to harvest.  This buck has almost capped off what has been a very special year that we were able to share with many clients.  The buck that Stan harvested was a buck that was located early on and lost.  Here is a quick story and several pictures of the deer.  

Stan started his hunt coming out earlier in the season to hunt a great buck that was later harvested and scored an amazing 125".   While out scouting some new country, Luke called and said he had glassed up a buck that we had located earlier in the year but had since disappeared.  However, this buck was in some rough, thick and unforgiving country.  With the rut coming on, we hoped the couple does in the area would pull this huge buck out of his jungle.  The day started with several mule deer being glassed, right where he always would hang out.  The muleys were rutting hard and hopes were that the muleys had not pushed the other does out of the area.  With all of us on the glass, if finally happended!  Justin and Marc caught movement up on the ridge.  The two does popped out with this buck behind them.  He pushed them over a half mile right to the area where he was bedded a few days prior.  Fortunately, Stan is in great shape and hiked off one mountain and over to the other to get into position.  We had the buck found but he would not leave the thick stuff.  And to make matters worse, another buck showed up and fought with him for about 10 minutes.  This fight was the most aggressive fighting I have ever witnessed.  We could actually hear their antlers banging over 1,000 yards away.  The buck continued to move quickly in the semi-open country and not offer any kind of shot. This went on for over an hour with Stan waiting and waiting.  Finally, the bucks does fed across an opening, and he followed.  Stan shot this buck at 353 yards on a stiff walk, right in the wheelhouse.  We were a bit surprised by the shot, but we knew the buck was hit hard so I headed over to a look.  

This is what I saw when I walked up on the buck.

 This buck had more ground "growage" than any other deer we had walked up on.  We knew he was a big deer, but we had no idea he was as big as he is.  His body was huge, as big as any coues deer I have ever seen, and his mass was nothing short of incredible.  The buck is over 16" wide, with beams that average 19.5".  Over 35" in mass, with the right horn scoring 68" and the left 55 7/8" A final score revealed he was 140 2/8" gross.  This makes him the largest buck ever taken with a statewide tag in the state of Arizona.  Congratulations to Stan on this once in a lifetime buck!  Special thanks to all the MBAZ guides who work so hard doing what they love.  More pics and video coming.

Stan with his big buck.

Jay, Luke, and Stan with 140" buck!

Stan and his buck.

All of with Stan and his huge buck!

Justin holding this buck!

Chad and the buck.

2012 Arizona Late Bulls

It has been an extremely long time since a post..  We had several great deer hunts and some awesome late elk hunts with some great people.  We also were able to help Bill Karnes from Texas, who was the lucky recipient of the 2012 super raffle elk tag harvest an amazing bull that we had found.  We did not go 100% on our late elk hunts, but we were 100% on opportunity.  We were able to watch some huge bulls that are on the hit list next year!  With the warm weather and moon, we feel like this years late elk hunts were a huge success.  All of the clients had opportunities, and were hunting big bulls.  We are excited about next years late hunts as many bulls were located and will be back next year.  Special thanks to those who trusted us with their tags, and to the guides that put in days on end to ensure success.

First off we were able to help Melvin on his champ elk tag.  What an honor to take these guys who have been around quite some time and still have the will and courage to get out and push themselves.  Melvin wanted a bull more than anything, and although his legs could not really function, he was able to harvest this dandy at 83 years young!  These champ tags that the AZGFD offers provide those that otherwise couldn't hunt an opportunity to do so.  Mel dropped his bull across a canyon at 460 yards! Congrats Mel and thank you for letting us be a part of your adventure.

Mel with his big 6x6

Next up were the late archery elk hunts.  Anyone that has hunted elk in the late season knows that it can be tough, place a bow in your hand and it is even tougher.  Dale accidentally put in for the wrong hunt and burned 14 points.  He was discouraged that he lost his chance to hunt AZ Bulls.  Well, what Dale knew is that he had the heart to do whatever it took to get him a bull.  On day two of his hunt, Dale put an arrow in this huge bull as he laid in his bed at 74 yards.  The bull didn't make it 50 yards and piled up.  This bull scores 350" as is and if he wasn't broken, we figured he would score around 371".  Congrats Dale on your awesome late archery bull.

Dale with his huge late archery bull

Mossback AZ Guide Art also had his own late archery tag and had his eyes on some great bulls.  With only a couple days to hunt, Art did what Art always does and got it done on this great clean 6x6.  Congrats Art on yet another awesome bull.

Art with his late archery bull.

Finally we had the late AZ Elk hunts.  Cowen, who is the father of MBAZ Guide Lee had drawn a late season elk tag.  With his health not doing so well, plans to hunt certain areas were not an option and Cowen made the best of things and took down this beautiful and unbroken 359" 6x6.

Cowen with his awesome late bull

Rick contacted MBAZ when he drew his late season tag.  Rick knew what he was up against, and worked extremely hard and harvested his best bull to date with Drake. This 8x8 is a bull that had been scouted and watched up until the hunt. After many miles of hiking, Rick put this AZ beast down! Congrats Rick on your best bull to date!

Rick and Drake with his late season bull.

Dan also drew a late AZ tag and after several days of hunting, was able to take this clean unbroken 6x7, which is his best bull to date!   Congrats Dan, we had a blast hunting with you and your party!

Dan with his AZ 6x7.  Congrats!

 Bill contacted MBAZ when he found out he had drawn his late tag.  At 74 years young, he wanted to come out and see what AZ was all about.  Bill hunted hard for several days, and was able to hike into position to shoot this heavy old bull at 420 yards.  Congratulations Bill on persevering and getting that big bull you always wanted!

Bill with his big bull.

Lastly, we finished up our elk season with a bull that had been located early on.  Bill Karnes, who had drawn the super raffle elk tag, wanted nothing more than a "nice" 6x6 to put above his fireplace.  Knowing how special this tag was, we told Bill to wait for a bull that was worthy of this tag.  Luck was on his side, as after several months of looking, we had located a clean bull that we thought would work.  Bill came out and after several days of hunting he was able to harvest this giant.  We have hours and hours of video of this bull, and will post up more pics and video of the bull soon.  Congrats Bill on your 407" monster bull!

The bull just prior to shot.

Bill with his "dream bull".

Taking it all in.

Jay packing the head out.

2012 Early AZ Elk Hunts

Here are some pics of the bulls that we were fortunate to be a part of on the early AZ elk hunts.  We had a great time, and want to thank those that trusted us with their "tag of a lifetime"!  I also want to thank our guides who work harder than anyone out there, and it shows! We had another good year, with lots of great bulls that we have watched for years being harvested. We were also able to lay eyes on some incredible bulls, some of which we had never seen in person! These bulls did not disappoint and we will be pursuing them next year! 

Here are some pics of the bulls that we were blessed to be a part of. I will save the details of each of them for a later date. We were able to capture some amazing video and kill shots on many of the bulls.  Our average score on the early hunts was almost 370"!  Many of them we have years of trail cam pics and video of as well.

Steve with is opening morning 7x7 archery bull. 

Wendy's 1st elk hunt! She took this monster after many days of hard hunting! Congrats Wendy.

Todd took this great bull, dubbed the "Anteater" by many guides due to his broken nose. 

Forest took this awesome 6x8 bull we called "Cross" due to his brow tines. 

Cade with his awesome archery bull! This bull has some beams! Congrats Cade

Steve with his awesome 6x7 bull! This bull broke off an xtra browtine before he was taken and is 50" wide! Congrats Steve!

Jim with his AZ Legend we named "Transient". This bull roamed all over the place!

Jason with his 2012 AZ Bull. Congrats Jason.

Rich with his last day 6x8 bull that has an impressive 31" of mass a side! Congrats Rich

Rich's 15 yr old son Tevin with his 1st archery bull on his 1st archery hunt! He shot this bull at 20 yards on video! Great job Tevin!

Ernie with his best bull to date! Congrats Ernie on this great bull.

Mikes 476" Monster Arizona Bull!

Mike and his Arizona Giant

First off, I have to apologize for not keeping the blog going the last couple months. Things have been busy to say the least. We have been blessed to be a part of an amazing bull. Mike Gallo was able to harvest the most amazing bull I have ever personally seen. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we could turn up a bull of this caliber. I will share the story soon, but for now here are some pics of this amazing 8x8 bull that officially gross green scores 476 5/8" and nets an amazing 462 4/8".  This believe this is the largest public land bull to come from this great state.  The bull has a 34 2/8" spread credit. The bull has over 80" in mass, and a 49 and a 51 inch beam! Congrats to Mike on this trophy of a lifetime! I could have never passed on the other giant legends that he did to harvest this bull. I also would like to thank the Mossback Arizona guides who pound the hills day in and day out! Great work guys and a big congrats to Mike! Enjoy the pics

We were glad the bull had not broken off anything! He lost his left eye earlier in the day fighting with another bull.

This view really shows the big extras.

Mike and his good friend Bob

I really like the head on look of this bull. His 3rds are 24 and 26"!

The mass is incredible.

AZ Giant Hits the Dirt 440" Bull

Congrats to Corey Knowlton on harvesting a truly GIANT Az bull. Corey carried this special AZ commissioner tag in his pocket for nearly a full year before dropping the hammer on a bull of lifetime. This amazing bull grosses an incredible 440"!!

This was not a "one and done" hunt for Corey. Corey chased some incredible bulls throughout his year long hunt, including passing on a 420+" bull that was later harvested during one of AZ early season hunts. Can you imagine passing on a bull of that caliber?!! As Corey stated yesterday after harvesting his bull, " You can't kill a bull of this size if you don't pass on giant bulls". As I mentioned earlier, Corey chased some of AZ's biggest bulls including several typicals that are nothing short of world class. In fact, Corey hunted a particular bull with us over the last couple weeks with his bow. If killed with a bow, we are pretty sure this bull will surpass the current archery world record. Unfortunately, the weather has not cooperated over the last couple weeks and heavy rains have kept the bulls locked up pretty tight. With time dwindling on this year long hunt, Corey was torn between hunting the giant typicals that were not very consistent or hunt a giant non-typical that Doug Starr of Starr Guide Service and his guides had found a couple weeks earlier. Since that bull had not been seen in a couple weeks, guides from Starr Guide Service and our guides at Mossback AZ teamed up to try and turn this bull up. After a couple days of looking and having some other giants glassed up and bedded by our guides, Jay was able to find this non-typicl bull tucked away in a small opening amongst the tangled juniper jungle that AZ is famous for. After getting over 30 minutes of video, Jay was able to let Corey, Doug, and Chad come up with a game plan to move in for a shot. As is typical when hunting these big bulls, the final stalk was gonna be tough as the giant bull had not moved more than 30 yards in over 3 hours but his younger buddy stood feeding in the wide open. As the group closed in, the younger bull picked up movement and took this big boy up the hill into thicker cover to try and hide. Fortunately, the bigger bull had no idea what was going on so he kept looking back to try and figure out what was going on. Meanwhile, Corey got set up on the only place on the entire hill that he could possibly have a chance of getting a shot. Once again, Lady Luck smiled on this hunter and the bull moved through the only lane on the entire hill and Corey took advantage and touched off an extremely difficult shot at 420 yards. Knowing the bull was hit, the group backed out and returned the next morning. Doug and Corey picked up the track in the morning and found the bull bedded the several hundred yards away from where they left him the previous evening. Corey was able to get a couple more shots off as the bull darted through the jungle bringing this incredible hunt to an end. Congrats again to Corey for his well deserved, hard-earned, and once in a lifetime 2012 AZ giant. His trophy can be attributed to the persistent and very skilled guides from Starr Guide Service and Mossback AZ.