Was really looking forward to getting out this holiday weekend for some great predator hunting. Wanted to take out a fellow PM member and show him some great AZ hunting.
So Joe and I took him out on Black Friday up into some areas I know are great for predators. I really wanted to get us into some bobcats. Sadly, it was Noisemaker Friday!!! At my first areas there were no less than 5 camps of noisemakers, with as many as 10-15 trailers and more trucks and UTV's/ATV's than any of us could shake a stick at. So I decided to go up into the mountains to try and get back into some harder to reach areas to try and keep the noisemakers away.
On our first stand, on a hillside overlooking a flat, brushy area that had a canyon feeding up into it we managed to call down a bobcat. It came in behind all 3 of us and circled but never gave us a chance for a shot. But it was a great sign after seeing all the noisemakers.
Then the fun began. I have never been burned on so many stands in one day. The very next stand we got busted by a truck driving down a dead end road and then got blown out by 6-10 UTV's ripping along the road just after sun up.
From then on it was all we could do to just get a quiet stand in. Once we figured that the area was going to be as productive as scorched earth, we decided to pull up stakes and run for a new area. Sadly, the noisemakers had other ideas.
We had to wait for lines of noisemakers and wanna be campers making their way up the one lane road. It took us an inordinate amount of time just to get off the mountain. So much so that we had to go back down toward those noisemaker camps and try to find any kind of quiet areas we could. Unfortunately we found many tracks from UTV's and jeeps that we were sure that the areas had all been burned. So sadly our good hearted trip ended in utter failure.
So Sunday I was ready to purge that trip from my memory with a successful trip with Smooth. We went up into a really great area that I have had my eye on and the Mule let us get way back into some prime looking areas. This time, no noisemakers. But sadly, after 10 stands, no predators either.
So by 3pm it was looking like another bust. But we crossed the highway and went back past the truck where we came in. The next stand wasn't but about 1/2 mile from the truck and in an area that I had previously called. It was thick and brushy. Smooth set up down low with the caller and I went up high on the hill. After 14 minutes of calling I shut the caller down and noticed that Smooth was fixated on this bush. Then I see him raise up his shotgun and slowly circle the bush. I come down and he tells me that he saw a bobcat standing at the edge of the bush but that it stepped back just out of sight as I shut the caller off. We scoured the area and then heard a noisemaker in the distance. Either it was the caller shutting of or it was the noisemaker but the cat was gone. At least something came in again.
So we went up the trail about a mile to another area that I have called before and set up on a small wash. Smooth was watching the backdoor and about 5 minutes in he fires off two Specialized Dynamics #4 buckshot loads. I look over and see a fox laying on the trail off to my right. Finally, after 27 stands we had scored.
Our success continued as we called in another fox on the next stand and a double on the stand after that. Then just as quickly the well dried up again and our last stand was a goose egg. But I am not complaining.
My faith in the hunting gods has been renewed, and hopefully our sacrifice satisfied them and we won't have another outing like Noisemaker Friday. I am hoping that this discovery from Sunday will be our next success:
So Joe and I took him out on Black Friday up into some areas I know are great for predators. I really wanted to get us into some bobcats. Sadly, it was Noisemaker Friday!!! At my first areas there were no less than 5 camps of noisemakers, with as many as 10-15 trailers and more trucks and UTV's/ATV's than any of us could shake a stick at. So I decided to go up into the mountains to try and get back into some harder to reach areas to try and keep the noisemakers away.
On our first stand, on a hillside overlooking a flat, brushy area that had a canyon feeding up into it we managed to call down a bobcat. It came in behind all 3 of us and circled but never gave us a chance for a shot. But it was a great sign after seeing all the noisemakers.
Then the fun began. I have never been burned on so many stands in one day. The very next stand we got busted by a truck driving down a dead end road and then got blown out by 6-10 UTV's ripping along the road just after sun up.
From then on it was all we could do to just get a quiet stand in. Once we figured that the area was going to be as productive as scorched earth, we decided to pull up stakes and run for a new area. Sadly, the noisemakers had other ideas.
We had to wait for lines of noisemakers and wanna be campers making their way up the one lane road. It took us an inordinate amount of time just to get off the mountain. So much so that we had to go back down toward those noisemaker camps and try to find any kind of quiet areas we could. Unfortunately we found many tracks from UTV's and jeeps that we were sure that the areas had all been burned. So sadly our good hearted trip ended in utter failure.
So Sunday I was ready to purge that trip from my memory with a successful trip with Smooth. We went up into a really great area that I have had my eye on and the Mule let us get way back into some prime looking areas. This time, no noisemakers. But sadly, after 10 stands, no predators either.
So by 3pm it was looking like another bust. But we crossed the highway and went back past the truck where we came in. The next stand wasn't but about 1/2 mile from the truck and in an area that I had previously called. It was thick and brushy. Smooth set up down low with the caller and I went up high on the hill. After 14 minutes of calling I shut the caller down and noticed that Smooth was fixated on this bush. Then I see him raise up his shotgun and slowly circle the bush. I come down and he tells me that he saw a bobcat standing at the edge of the bush but that it stepped back just out of sight as I shut the caller off. We scoured the area and then heard a noisemaker in the distance. Either it was the caller shutting of or it was the noisemaker but the cat was gone. At least something came in again.
So we went up the trail about a mile to another area that I have called before and set up on a small wash. Smooth was watching the backdoor and about 5 minutes in he fires off two Specialized Dynamics #4 buckshot loads. I look over and see a fox laying on the trail off to my right. Finally, after 27 stands we had scored.
Our success continued as we called in another fox on the next stand and a double on the stand after that. Then just as quickly the well dried up again and our last stand was a goose egg. But I am not complaining.
My faith in the hunting gods has been renewed, and hopefully our sacrifice satisfied them and we won't have another outing like Noisemaker Friday. I am hoping that this discovery from Sunday will be our next success:
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