Kevin's Archery Bull

Well it has been awhile since I have posted anything.  We have been super busy and are trying to stay caught up.  We wanted to take a minute and thank all of you for your business.  We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and also that you all will have a very merry Christmas.  Thanks again for your loyalty to our shop and we will continue to bring you the very latest in the archery world as well as bringing to life your awesome animals that you all continue to bring into the shop. 

Well my dad and brother both drew early archery bull tags this year.  My brother however was just accepted to veterinary school and knew he would not be able to hunt.  He was kind enough to give up his tag to hunt of a lifetime.  A young man was able to harvest a bull.  We are very thankful to work with Mathews Inc. as they donated a crossbow to this young man as he battles his physical challenges.  We are grateful for these opportunities to help out and applaud Mathews for their kind act!  A big kudos goes out to my brother Vaughn for giving up his tag to help a young man fulfill one of his dreams!

So off we went to hunt.  The first morning brought a ton of excitement but the swirled a few times not allowing us to get a shot.  Also my dad passed on a few 6 points that were not what we were looking for.  The 2nd evening brought the most excitement for me as we were in elk all evening long and the rut was on!!!  We called in a bull to 15 yds but my dad was pinned down and was unable to draw his bow.  The bull spooked and I stopped him at 60 yds but my dad missed judged the distance and shot just under the bull.  Check out the footage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezduZYqtaDE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I had to go home after opening weekend, however my dad continued to hunt with Dustin and my uncle.  My dad missed one other time at a 320 class bull and we thank Keith for stopping him from shooting a spike at 5 yds!  My dad was tempted but I told Keith not to let him shoot a small bull early on.

The hunt wound down to the last day and I told my dad that I would take the last day of the hunt off and would come up to hunt.  I told my 3 yr old son he could come with me.  Well I was leaving and my 5 yr old daughter said she wanted to come to.  I said lets go and let her ditch kindergarten for a day.  Boy am I glad I did.  The wind was almost unbearable but we were able to get in on a few bulls in the morning, however were messed up by the wind.  We went and got some breakfast and headed back to a place we knew there was some respectable bulls.  I took the kids and went to push off the point as my dad made a big circle to meet us.  We bumped 3 little bucks out and a coyote.  My dad never showed up.  I was starting to get a little concerned about my dad because it had been quite a while.  Finally he showed up and said where have you been?  I said looking for you.  He said I shot one but can't find him.  We headed down to the location and sat for another 45 minutes to give the elk time.  We starting following the blood trail that ended in a manner of 25 yds.  I was worried that we weren't going to find the bull.  We started tracking the bull and ran right into him about 200 yds later.  What an incredible day!  My kids were ecstatic.  I hiked the 4 quarters out and another load of 100 lbs of meat while my dad was boning it out.  It was a blast and a hunt I will not soon forget.  Thanks again dad for having us along!

Enjoy the pics!

Found a Broadhead in his shoulder

Found a piece of arrow in his neck

Wide Buck!

Congrats to Good Friend Cade J. on his 2013 archery buck!! I gave him some video and pics that I had of the buck and he edited into an awesome video. We are excited to get his mount back to him. Enjoy the story and video.

Well it finally happened I got a deer with a bow! My stars finally aligned. Eight years of trying finally paid off! About a month ago my hunting buddy T.C. and I were headed out to glass a place where he had been shed hunting in April. He said he had seen a ton of deer sign up there. Also a good friend of his gave him a specific place to glass from. Big thanks to Layne! We setup at the base of the mountain spotting way up where we picked up a few does. Then T.C. say hey there’s a buck. Only about 200 yards in front of us two bucks come high tailing it out of a wash. One looked nice and wide. We think possibly the one I shot. He was running away pretty fast so we couldn't see how nice before they disappeared. Then last week T.C. and Layne were out there and spotted up a bunch of nice bucks. They were able to get some great pics and video of my buck that I’m very excited to have and I’m sure T.C. will be posting. They ultimately decided to go after another big buck, but couldn't close the deal before some coyotes chased them off. I at the time was up in Flagstaff hunting with my cousin. I put on this sick stock on a bedded three point getting with in what I thought was 30 yards. I shot right under him because he ended up being 40 yards. Not only did I miss once but he ran out to what I thought was 60 yard, which ended up being 50 and missed again. He ran out to 80 stopped and jumped my string with another miss. This was a low point in my bow hunting career. I even texted T.C. and told him I had a cheap bow for sale that it was practically brand new (nearly four years old now) never shot anything. He jokingly told me it was because it was a Hoyt. As it end’s up greater things were meant to be.

Fast forward a week later on Saturday T.C. goes to Flag with another buddy of his to hunt so I decided I will go out there and try and find these bucks. I spot for two hours from my Zuk while it rains lightly. I don't see a thing. I am spotting a mile and a half up the mountain where I think these bucks will come out. When it stops raining, I decide I better get farther up the hill if I am going to be able to get on them before it get’s dark. If they even are going to come out at all.  I am not too optimistic in seeing anything since that's about how things go for me when I bow hunt. When I get halfway up the mountain I am really surprised when I see four bucks pop out off the top. I watch them for a while trying to figure out where they are going to feed off of and come down. I finally come up with a game plan. I decided that they are going to feed down into the next canyon. I pick a yucca plant right on the skyline and a little outcropping of rocks. I figure if I can make it there before it get’s dark I will have a chance, but everything is going to have to work out perfect. Since light is fading fast and I hope the bucks have fed off into the next canyon I take off at a pretty fast pace. It is quite the hike I am pouring sweat as I try to make it through the canyon in time. When this antelope buck that we had been seeing popped up out of nowhere between me and these buck. He takes off making his warning call and snorting at me. I am thinking here we go again he's going to run over this hill and scare off the bucks. There is no turning back now though, I have just spent the last hour climbing this hill so I pushed on to my reference points. As I sneak up to the rock out cropping and peeked over the rock I am behind, thinking I’m going to see anything, bam there they are! Feeding about 80 yards in a little flat at the top of the canyon. As I sit there trying to decide how I’m going to close the distance. They started to feed right down the ridge towards me! I decided that I am going to try and make it to this bush between me and them. As I slide up the rock outcropping, bam again! I see these antlers pop up maybe 30 yards away right behind the bush I am trying to get to and they look huge. The widest heaviest buck I have ever been so close to and possibly seen in real life feeds right around the bush right at me. I am stuck in this awkward crouching position trying to figure out how I'm going to draw and shoot. He's feeding closer and closer as I try to calm myself. I don't move as my calves begin to burn. I decide that I'm just going to have to shoot how I am. There is this small fallen dead cedar tree between me and him. He has to angle around it to keep feeding down the ridge. I am thinking about how my dad had just told me I need to use the force and not range him because of last week's fiasco when I had ranged a tree too close to me and missed. I had told him no way that next time I was going to take the extra time to range the deer to make sure I had the correct yardage. I have to chuckle to myself as I don't dare use my range finder because he's so close I feel I can reach out and touch him. My heart is pounding. I'm now thinking please let me make this shot. As he turns broadside to go around the dead tree he puts his head down to feed. I draw back and settle my 20 yard pin on him. He still has no clue I'm here. When I let it fly! I hear a thump and he takes off like he was struck by lightning. As I watch him bolt away I see what I think is my arrow buried to the fletchings in his side. Come to find out later is was just the blood pouring out the side. As I watch him disappear down the canyon ridge losing sight of him I try to fight the sinking feeling I get when I imagine the worst. A bad hit and not finding him. The other three deer just stand there. Another big four point and two smaller bucks looking at me. I can read their minds they are thinking what the heck just happened. As I sit there deciding how long I should wait. I get out my camera and take some pictures of the other deer. Unfortunately at this point it is too dark for my camera to pick anything up. I wait patiently for these deer to wander off so they don't hook up with my buck and push him off back in the tree. It's pretty much completely dark at this point. I realize all I have is my phone for a flashlight, which is running dangerously low on battery life. I go up to where I hit him to try and find some blood. I don't really look for my arrow since I still think it is stuck in his side. I see his tracks where he bolted, but no blood or arrow. Still trying to push back the fears, I'm staying confident that I will find him since I feet that it was a pretty good shot. I decide since it was a little farther back than I wanted I would let him lay. I hike back to the truck about an hour away in the complete dark because I am trying to conserve the battery on my phone. I only hit a couple of cactus's and try not to think about mountain lions and other wild things stalking me in the dark. I call T.C. and asked him to come help me track him. Even though he and his buddy haven't slept in about 20 hours they are ready to go. I have to drive back into town to pick up some flashlights and batteries. I get back out there at eleven. I am thinking we should wait until morning since I think it will be tough to track at night, but T.C. is worried about losing the meat. We decide we will go see what we can find and then if we have too we will take up the search in the morning. After slopping around in the mud on a few different roads. We almost getting stuck trying to find the best way to get as close as we can in the truck. We finally get about a quarter of a mile away. As we start the trek straight up the mountain we begin to count off the feet as we are all getting pretty tired at this point. When we get to the spot where I had hit him, I obviously hadn't looked very good because right away we find blood and my arrow. It has made a clean pass through with some good red blood on it. There wasn't much blood at first so we go down to a tree where I last spotted him. I started to cut down the canyon trying to pick up any blood. When I hit a big spray of blood. I call to the others and they come a running. At this point we know he is going to be close because there is blood pouring out in a nice trail. About a hundred yards from where I shot him he's piled up! Oh man am I pumped he is huge buck! I have barely seen bucks like this let alone shoot one with my bow! Although I could have found him earlier I am thankful that I had to go back and wait for T.C. and my new  friend Andrew. They showed me how to cape and bone out a deer since I had only gutted and drug my deer to trucks before. Saving me from most likely being there all night and long into the next day. We had a little photo shoot and everyone is happy to have a great end to fun filled day of hunting... especially me! I rolled up to my house at four a.m. and quickly drifted off to sleep dreaming of giant bucks.

I would like to thank everyone for their help. I still can't believe everything worked out perfectly like I imagined it as I was making the hike up the mountain. Eight years of blood, sweat, and tears was finally made worth it. Oh, and my bow isn't for sale anymore. Now I can’t wait for my buddies at bct to do my mount for me.

108" Ghost

Good Friend Steve Frost was able to arrow this giant buck in January with a bow that we sold him in December.  We measured the buck at 108"!!!   We thank him for using BCT and DCA.   Congratulations Steve on an incredible buck!

I just wanted to add that this bucks throat was slit.....so when you think your cape is ruined let us take a peak at it.....it just might be salvageable.

Colton Fish's Giant Speed Goat

We just finished this awesome speed goat for good friend Colton Fish.  It is always an amazing feat to kill an antelope with a bow let alone a buck of this caliber!  Congratulations to Colton on this buck of a lifetime.  Thanks for using Badlands Custom Taxidermy and Desert Country Archery!

Desert Country Archery

We are proud to announce that Desert Country Archery is now moved into the shop.  We sell a variety of bows, arrows and archery accessories.  We are currently trying to get our indoor range up and going but have a few outdoor targets up.  Please contact us with any questions and stop by the shop to shoot Bowtech's newest products.  For all of you who were lucky enough to draw your coveted archery elk and antelope tags come in and check out the new Experience by Bowtech.  For all you ladies we have the Heartbreaker that is unbelievable as well.

AZ Javelina

Good Friend Andrew Gillett was out at it again.  Here is what he had to say about the hunt.  Enjoy the pics.

"We started out on Saturday morning back in our usual spot looking for pigs and deer.  We found a herd of about 10 pigs just after 8:00 AM and the stalk was on.  Well everything that could go wrong did, the wind swirled all over the place, a cow spooked and ran right through the herd, a coyote chased a jack rabbit all over the hill they were on.  Needless to say when we got to where they were, they were no longer.  We setup the tripods and got started looking for them.  We glassed up the pigs and a buck at about the same time so we had a decision to make.  Well the buck slipped into a wash so we decided the pigs were a better bet, but by this time another hunter had closed in on them.

After watching for a few minutes we realized the other hunter had no idea where they had moved to so Mike took off to see if he could cut them off while I kept track of them from our hill top.  As Mike headed out I settled in to watch the show.  Before long I could see the pigs scatter and I realized the other hunter had stumbled into them and flung an arrow.  Fortunately the pigs ran right into Mike's lap and after a couple of tries a pig stayed in front of one of his arrows long enough to get stuck.  The hit was low and the blood trail was long.  While working the blood trail we met up with the other hunters who turned out to be some acquaintances Mike has met hunting this area before.  They were kind enough to help us out and after a couple hours we were able to find the wounded pig holed up in some mesquites.  Mike got another arrow in her and she only went another 50 yards or so.

All told it took us about 3 hours to recover the Javi after the first hit.  I was happy to see Mike break a couple year drought by taking this pig, and I was even happier to rest in the shade of a tree while he got to dress the stinky bugger".

Eric Fish Strikes Again!

Good friend Eric Fish Strikes again.  Eric made the most out of  the January archery hunt and here is what he said about it.
"I was lucky enough to get a buck with my bow this year.  I saw this buck feeding down a ridge right towards me. The buck was closing the distance quickly. He popped around a cedar and was 40 yards away. At full draw and my heart pounding the grass was as tall as the deer and i was not able to shoot and just like that he was past me and out of sight. Moving slowly i walked down the ridge a ways and stopped the buck popped back into sight and was at 70 yards. I pulled back and let her fly, with an arrow in the air and a prayer in the heart i watched the arrow stick high in the back hip. I left the area super quiet and i knew the buck never saw me. I returned three hours later with my buddies from camp and to my surprise the arrow drilled the main artery and there was a highway of a blood trail right to my first buck with a bow."

Dumb Luck!

Well I just finished a November archery elk hunt.  It is funny how things happen.  When the draw results came out I found out that I drew a tag.  I was all jacked up calling everyone telling them I drew an elk tag during the rut....then I looked at the regs and noticed I had written down the line below the one I wanted to put in for.  Well I had a late archery elk tag and had to call everyone back and let them know it wasn't that great after all.  Well after a long coues deer hunt and no success on the bucks we had scouted out it was time to go out and try and kill a bull with my bow in November.  I heard where a good bull was hanging out and decided to go and try to find him.  The first morning of the hunt my brother in law, Win Wright, and I were up glassing and within ten minutes had found three bulls one of which was a decent six by six with sweet little kicker on one side he was headed right for us so I snuck down in the trees and got in as close as I could.  I was forced to take a long shot and missed.  I was disappointed but thought I would have never even release and arrow on this hunt.  That evening we glassed up another group of elk but no bulls.  This particular herd  is one that will come into play later in the hunt.  The next morning found us right back in our glassing spot and immediately we found two of three bulls that we had seen the day before.  One was a small 6 by 6 and the other a small 5 X 5.  I had told myself before the hunt if it has 6 points on both sides I would give it a go.  We watched these bulls until they were bedded and off I went on the stalk.  Closing the gap to 140 yds and was in perfect position to close it another 100 yds when a truck pulled over the hill and a couple of hunters got out and scared them off.  That is hunting I guess and I really couldn't help that the elk were bedded on the side of the road.  The evening of the second day Win and I decided we would try and find the big bull that was supposed to be in there from a different angle.  Once again with in 15 minutes of sitting down I had elk in the Swaros.  The silence broke "oh my gosh look at this T.C."  quickly I ran over to the spotting scope and Win and I were galking and putting a plan together to kill this bull.  Well darkness beat us to the punch. The next day that I made it up hunting my brother in law Jay Wakild showed up as he had drawn the tag with me.  My dad Kevin got a tip on an awesome bull (thanks to Burnt Timber Outfitters) and we were off first thing in the morning after him.  Within 15 minutes we located him and were at 46 yds and he was bedded down.  Jay quickly put an arrow in and the bull stood and the arrow was flying.  Clean miss!!  I think Jay had a little buck fever as it was only his 2nd big game hunt.  After this I told Jay I wanted to go after the bull we had seen the weekend before and off we went.  With in about an hour of the hike I located the elk.  Oh yea this is the same heard as we saw on the morning of the first day.  The bulls must have been hiding that day.  Jay and I put a short 3.5 hour stalk on them and found ourselves in the middle of the heard as the fading light was approaching.  The cows were talking to each other and the young bulls were fighting.  One particular 6 by 5 caught my attention as he chased off all the smaller bulls.  Searching everywhere for the big one he was no where to be seen.  A few of the cows had moved into a range of 88 yds.  I told Jay if he makes it to those cows I will take the shot.  About 10 minutes later the 6 by 5 came at a sprint to make sure the cows were doing ok.  I quickly drew my bow and locked into my 90 yd pin and let it rip.  It felt great.  CRACK.  I said Jay I am pretty sure that I just smoked that bull.  The elk ran off to about 188 yds.  The bull was humped up bad and didn't move an inch.  The cows started feeding again an didn't really know what had happened as Jay and I were tucked away in the only cedar tree in the meadow we were in.  The darkness soon overcame us and we pulled out the flashlights and I told jay lets go see where I shot and see what we got.  No blood nothing.   Well we kept walking around for about 20 minutes in the area and all the sudden jay says here is your arrow.  It was covered in blood but the broadhead wasn't beat up at all.  I got nervous.  My first thoughts were guts.  However, in the back of my mind I thought that is really red blood on my arrow to have hit the guts.  Not wanting to bump him, we GPS'ed the location where I shot him and backed out.  First thing the next morning we went to the location of the shot.  On the way in you will never believe who we saw.....yup the Big One.....he eased out when we came into the shot location.  We headed out to the spot where he had stopped and then I got the confirmation I needed.  Where Jay and I had watched him stop and stand still the night before there was a pool of blood about 2 ft in diameter and it was good blood.  I was feeling a lot better now.  From that point on it was a steady stream and approximately 500 yds later there he was up under a tree.  At last my first bull. (only my 2nd Tag)  Who would of thought it would have been in November with archery equipment.  Like the title says Dumb Luck.  I put in for the wrong hunt. Although this bull isn't giant I am proud of him as it was in November with a bow.  A big thanks goes out to all who helped during the hunt.  Enjoy the Pics.  

Daman Williams

Good friend Eric Fish sent me pics of this bull that he helped harvest.   Eric said "on the 5th morning we got right into a great heard of elk with 9 bulls and 20 cows , as the sun started coming up they took us on a rough 2 mile chase but @ 7 o clock we finally got right in the middle of an elk  and caught this bull beating the heck out of a tree and were able to close the distance with a 35 yard shot, Daman nailed the bull right in the middle of the heart and we had a 60 yard blood trail to the bull. rough score 330 but not to bad for a unit that typically doesn't produce lots of big bulls."