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« on: January 06, 2022, 11:40:19 AM »
This last years Deer and Elk hunts were a disaster, Hunted Kaibab 12Aw early Deer hunt , seen little bambi's almost every day little stuff nothing worth shooting. Way too many people, previous fires moved the Deer out, even the local loggers were not seeing Deer in any numbers and we didn't see any big ones and we were up there before opening day and left the day before closing hunting non- stop from way before daylight and getting back after dark each day, and we covered most of the whole unit. Guys I talked with said they would never hunt this early hunt again and I agree. Our Bull Elk hunt was even worst Unit 9 later hunt, again too many hunters , hunted every day except the last day afternoon. Elk in small numbers seen a few nothing we could get on, same thing up before daylight and back after dark and I only seen one Bull that was taken a nicer Bull to be honest we knew going in it was going to be a hard hunt, weather was warm, It wasn't hard there just wasn't Elk, a few and that was it and we covered the whole unit with the exception of the far western boundry in the open flats which we could see. I will never hunt this unit again either. I think if it had snowed a lot it would have pushed the elk into the unit. Hell we got bigger and far more Elk where I live, so there isn't a need for me to travel.
Now for the bad part we lost my son's old 1 ton diesel truck and my 18 ft hunting trailer in an accident the trailer got away from him and jack knifed on the freeway in front of a semi and got hit , I was behind him in my 3/4 ton Dodge truck towing a car hauler trailer with my sxs Honda 1000-5. I got out of the way and stopped up the freeway a few hundred yds , I honestly thought it killed him , but he walked away without a scratch, no one was hurt in any vehicle, his truck wasn't as badly hurt as we first thought , bent frame, front clip are toast, the trailer is going to be crushed at the metal yard. trailer tagged the steel flat bed on my son's truck and pretty much destroyed the trailer in the process another semi clipped the side of the trailer not as bad as I thought in any case neither are going to be replaced were't worth any money anyway. AZ Highway patrol and tow company were absolutely great, first class and professional all the way. Anyway not going to buy another trailer for hunting I'm getting too old and trailers too expensive especially for Toy Haulers I wouldn't get the use out of it, so we are either going to hunt out of our house locally, buy a new tent (I have an old one which is pretty ragged) or stay in a motel and have a hot shower and TV. Probably a lot cheaper to just stay in motels than buying new gear. I did pull the 4 burner propane stove/oven out of the trailer the next day and later built a short stand for it with little pots and pans storage and 3/8" plywood wind break for outside or tent cooking came out very nice. will hold a 20 pound turkey in the oven along with baking pies and biscuits and such. My Dad had one and was the camp cook for the younger guys so I got the idea from what he had. I was actually looking at a 16 ft poly canvas Bell type tent with stove jack, 4 season tents easier to put up and won't mildew so bad as Army canvas and a little lighter weight to move around and set up. I'm seeing a lot more of these Bell Tents locally in long term hunt camps so they must be pretty decent tents. I would go with a Kodiak / Spring Bar 10 x 14 but I think it's a little small for us, and doesn't have a stove jack. Wall tent would be nice for 2 guy's to set up maybe 13 x 16 or there about's nothing smaller. Wall tents just for me to set up are a pain especially in bad weather. I'm looking for easier / faster set-up. We have a pretty decent 13 x 13 shade canopy we can tarp the sides on and cook in with 2 larger wooden portable heavy duty tables for cooking stuff, works real well when anchored down with re-bar stakes and good rope in the wind. We are going to tow an 18 ft car hauler trailer with Honda sxs behind the truck the trailer is also set-up with a chest freezer on the front ran by a generator to keep any boned out meat from spoiling in our AZ heat. Generator had frame damage in the accident my son thinks he can build a new frame for it I don't know.