story and photos submitted by JON YOKLEY
About the 3rd week of July the draw results were
posted for the fall hunts here in Arizona. My friend, Ken Thomson, and I DREW!!...not
one but 2 tags!! Pronghorn and Bull Elk, both archery tags. These are both
second choice and in highly hunted public land areas so this would require many
hours of scouting and serious strategy.
The Pronghorn would be first with the opening day of
8/21/15. We started with Google Earth and topical maps to help make the
decision on where we would concentrate and begin setting cameras. Once cameras
were placed and working, we began hours of glassing and looking for sign.
Through the first 4 weeks we learned a lot and found some decent herds that
held some good bucks. Our cameras weren’t producing Pronghorn at all, instead we
found countless elk. This was due to our heavy monsoon rains that kept
producing large amounts of rain leaving standing water everywhere and of course
scattering the Pronghorn even more.
The decision was made to make this happen on the ground with
spot and stalk. The use of our H.U.D. mobile decoys were possible because this
is pre-rut and I prefer this method over sitting any day. Day 1 was full of
opportunity as we found Buck # 1 and Buck #2 in the same area. These were
notable bucks to us and both would score mid 70’s. Buck #1 had 6 does whereas
Buck #2 wanted them. This would make an ideal situation to decoy once in range.
We watched as the satellite buck, which is buck #2, try to gain control of the
does but the herd buck, buck #1, had other plans. A half mile out, a great
fight started, as the 2 bucks met. We grabbed the decoy and moved as fast as
possible to the fighting bucks. We knew that if we could get there it would
present a shot or maybe two. As luck would have it the fight broke up and we were
just 150 yards out. The herd buck took his does in to the juniper trees while
the satellite buck moved away. This was a perfect opportunity to use the decoy.
We presented the smaller buck decoy to the satellite buck and he responded
slowly. As he approached with caution and stopped inside bow range, I knew this
was as close as he would get so I settled my pin on the buck then released. I
missed!! I shot just an inch under his chest. He moved away and when he was out
of sight we made our way back to the vehicle deciding to leave this group alone
until the next morning. My pride was hurt because I really wanted this buck!
It was Ken’s turn now so we went in search of Buck #3
(another low 70’s buck) about 4 miles away. We searched and searched for him.
After an hour we found him with his 7 does. He was in a great place to decoy so
the plan was made. We made our way to a position to start the process, the
decoy was raised. He was curious and started to commit slowly, and then would
hang up but still inside of bow range for an out west hunter. I ranged and Ken
released his arrow. The buck jumped the string so fast he left the arrow behind
him unharmed as he took his does and moved on out.
On the second day we decided to pursue the satellite buck
that I had missed the day before. I was up to shoot next and felt ready. After
glassing for about 45 minutes we picked him up and made a plan. I made an
attempt on him in the wide open but it went the buck’s way. I failed again. We
watched as buck #2 moved toward the back of this huge valley. He was heading in
to a juniper patch so I quickly worked my way through the trees to try and get
ahead of him. As I started glassing below I could see him a few hundred yards
out working towards me, but this time he picked up a smaller buck. I slowly moved in to position as this was
going to be great because the wind was perfect and they had no clue that I was
there. The smaller buck fed to about 40 yards as the other buck held up. After
about 5 minutes he started moving across from me and stopped inside my comfort
zone. I settled my pin on the spot and released. I heard that familiar crack
and I knew he was hit. He quickly left the area to end up bedding in a huge
cactus patch. After about 30 minutes I settled down and I could see that the
buck had not left the area so I started my slow stalk towards him. This took
about an hour to locate him after minimal blood on the ground. I glassed every cactus and was finally able
to turn him up. I had filled my 2015 tag! He was larger than I thought because
he grossed at 76 6/8” putting him well into Pope & Young and just a few
inches under the Boone & Crockett minimum of 80”. This buck is very special
to me because of my history with him and numerous pictures throughout the
scouting time.
On day 3 we searched for an opportunity for Ken to fill his
tag. We found many antelope which produced a few stalks but none would give any
shot opportunity. That day ended way to fast but Ken was still in great spirts knowing
that we were going to be back hunting after a few days of work at our real
jobs.
It was now Thursday and our 4th day in the field.
We had decided to work an area where we have seen some great bucks and also
heard of a great one in particular known as Unicorn. We were told he has one
solid, normal horn and a deformed horn growing along side of his face. We
started out glassing up a few does but couldn’t turn up a buck so we moved on.
We were heading to an area where we had seen the most sign from previous
scouting trips. It wasn’t long until picked up a single and it was a great
buck. We didn’t study him too hard but knew that he was a shooter. The plan was
to get above him in the junipers and work toward him. We started moving to
where we saw him last but at a slow pace, glassing and picking every little
bush apart. Finally, we heard him grunt and quickly picked him up. He was
moving through the trees and unaware that we were there. Once again the wind
was in our favor so we became very aggressive to try to get in to position to
decoy this buck. Before we knew it we were there. The buck was 80 yards and
moving at an angle that would present a shot. Ken knocked an arrow and I
grunted to stop the buck while showing him the decoy. The buck stopped and
locked on to the decoy, I gave Ken the yardage, and he released his arrow. The
buck was hit well! As I glassed the running buck I told Ken “You just shot the
“Unicorn Buck”! We were both in
disbelief that he just took one of the notable bucks in this area. We were able
to watch this buck fall inside of a 100 yards. As we approached him we couldn’t
believe the mass and character that this buck had. We also saw the deformed
side was growing down and into the side of his face. He ended up with a gross score
of 72 4/8” Pope & Young points even with his goofy horn. If his deformed side was equal or close to the
good side he would have grossed right at 80” Boone & Crockett minimum!
What a season start this was. Two great Pope & Young bucks
in just 4 days of actual hunting. As the
phrase goes, “Scout Hard, Hunt Easy”.
Now it’s on to Bull Elk in the northern part of Arizona in
an area that I am very familiar with. Season opener is 9/11/2015.
