It would be mind boggling to even start to imagine what kind of giant elk Wild Thing could have been like on a good moisture year. What was amazing was that this trophy elk had grown to this size on the worst drought and growth year that anyone could remember in Arizona. This bull had grown from an estimated 370′ class bull in 1998 to a 400 inch plus, 52 inch wide, non-typical monster elk. When he was finally located Wild Thing was unbelievable. The scouting began and the search for this Arizona elk was underway. He found and owns several of Wild Thing’s sheds and was lucky enough to draw an Arizona archery elk hunt in Wild Things’ unit in 2002. Wild Thing was a bull that good friend Josh Epperson had been following and video taping since 1998. Bob’s bull and a bull that had been named “Wild Thing” were among the best elk that anyone saw in Arizona this particular season. Arizona Elk Outfitters LLC guided our client Bob Verbica who shot a giant 414 inch Boone and Crockett elk with the Arizona statewide raffle elk tag on public land. I say nearly non-existent because there were still some good elk seen and some very good elk taken. Most of the Arizona elk hunters during the early archery and rifle seasons experienced very little to no rut activity and monster trophy elk were nearly non-existent. Lots of Arizona elk hunters and Arizona elk outfitters with dreams of non stop bugling and Boone and Crockett bulls were sadly disappointed. The intense heat and no rain had taken a severe toll on the elk and all of the Arizona big game species statewide. Some bull elk were still in bachelor groups and in velvet in the middle of September. Most of the massive, long-tined big bull elk left over from the previous season now sported tiny back ends on their antlers and no mass. Areas that were green and held lots of big bull elk the year before now looked like the moon landscape and were devoid of anything that you could even start to call a trophy elk. The entire state had been put in a strangle hold by a terrible drought and the antler growth and elk rut were nowhere near what they had been the year before. There were lots of other words muttered by Arizona elk hunters and Arizona elk guides that dusty fall season but I don’t think they would be too appropriate to print. These seemed to be the words that most all of the Arizona Elk Outfitters were saying during the 2002 fall Arizona elk hunts. What does a bull elk look like again? I forgot what a bugle sounds like. I wonder if I can get a refund on my tag? I can’t believe I just wasted all of my Arizona elk bonus points for this. This has to be the worst elk season of all time.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |