# First full day hunt of the season...



## Mark Steinmann (Jan 28, 2014)

As I scanned my weather and moon phase app I got excited for hunting this past Saturday. First off, archery deer and dove season came to an end on Friday so that meant way less traffic on the back roads...always a welcome sign! Also there was finally a big cool down hitting AZ which would be the first of the season and with the dark moon that basically means a guarantee for success right?! Haha. We all know that's not the case all the time as there are zero guarantees in the hunting world. I picked out a spot that I had found last year and knew it was a promising spot with a lot of sign. So we packed up and were headed out of Phoenix at 3:45am!

As we cruised past a ranch right before sun up 4 Mule Deer bucks slowly walked off the road right in front of us. Good ones too, not a spike in the bunch! We made the turn for our slow going rocky road and only a quarter mile in we had already seen 10-15 piles of Fox and Coyote scat on the road. First stand yielded nothing other than a beautiful sunrise view. On the second stand I started off calling with one of my hand me down calls my dad gave me many years ago. An old blue plastic Thompson Wildlife Call. About 10 minutes in I heard Tim lip squeak to me letting me know that he has something coming in. I blew the call softer a few times and then went quiet. A crack from his suppressed AR-15 hit my eardrums and then silence. I peered around the bush at Tim but he didn't give me that smile and nod that meant predator down. We ended the stand a few minutes later and he went to check to see if he hit it as he wasn't sure. No blood in sight. What happened is that Coyote came in and just sat down at the top of the hill 200 yards away and wouldn't move so Tim tried to take him there. After getting up on that same hill Tim knew what went wrong. He could see the top half of my truck shining in the sun. So we cut our losses and moved on.

Two stands went by and then we had another run in with a predator, but first we spotted an animal that shocked us both. As we were driving to our 4th stand I spotted antlers but those were no Deer antlers....a 5x4 Bull Elk at 4,500 foot elevation! He was 40 yards off the road and could care less that we had stopped the truck and were watching him. We cow called a few times and he stepped towards us...looks like the rut is starting.

This next stand put us at the base of a rocky mountain filled with scrub oak, manzanita, and cat claw. After our walk in we found ourselves swallowed up by the brush. My only tactic now was to call and hope to see, stop, and shoot a predator coming down from the opposing hillside. I had called for about 10 minutes and then I saw a Grey Fox disappear from a boulder pile into the brush slightly uphill from me on that mountain at what I was guessing to be 200 yards. I blew the call until I saw him clear the brush and then paused. He proceeded to jump into another rock pile and that was when I realized my shooting sticks were just a couples inches too short! I quickly moved from my chair to the ground and got settled in. As I got the Fox back into my scope he was about to jump down so I did a loud lip squeak and he immediately looked back my way. I let my breath out and squeezed the trigger on my Savage Model 25 chambered in 17 Hornet. POP.....Thwap! I watched as that 20 grain bullet drilled him and sent him flipping off of his rock perch to the ground. I got back on the call hoping to see another Fox appear and after a couple minutes I turned on the FoxPro Fox Distress at 80% volume and let it sing into the valley. Not 2 minutes after I turned on that song is when another Fox came running through the brush right at me.....and then disappeared never to be seen again. Should've brought that shotgun as well on this stand! Tim was perched above me a ways and had seen that second Fox coming towards me but had no chance for a shot. The shot on the first Fox turned out to be 185 yards. I circled the rock pile he was on in the picture.

I was planning to skin the Fox out so we found a nice tree and Tim headed off to do a stand as I worked on it. About 20 minutes after Tim left I heard the report of his rifle and then all went silent again. I gave him 5 minutes and then started walking the road towards where he was calling. As I made my way towards him I heard another couple shots ring out so I sat down to wait him out. Not a minute after I sat down I heard something hauling towards me from the thicket! I drew my pistol right as a Grey Fox exited the brush and was running right past me! I sent 3 rounds his way and it looked just like the old cartoons. He was dancing around as my bullets were hitting within inches of him. That one got away. After a few laughs we made our way toward more open country.

The clock hit 10:30 as we made our way to the 6th stand of the morning. We left the truck on the backside of a hill and walked around it. Tim sat just inside the thicket while I watched the more open country to his right. After a bit of calling I heard rustling behind me to our right, directly where we walked in from. As I turned to look I saw a large dark reddish Coyote running zigzags through the brush and out of sight. I couldn't even get my rifle up before he was gone. Must've hit our scent from walking in! As I'm sitting there frustrated at our approach Tim has no idea and is still hard at calling. He pauses for a minute or so and then out of nowhere I heard a couple shots. A WAHOO from Tim and we had a Coyote down at 11am. He had a pup come directly in and he shot him as he turned to leave.

After cooking up an Elk steak and Ranch Bean lunch we headed to a new road....which turned out to be a mistake. Almost zero sign and not a single predator responded on the evening hunt. At least we know now where to put in the stands on the next trip up to this area! A great day in the cool weather hills. Saw 3 Fox, 3 Coyote, 30+ Deer, and 1 lone Bull Elk!

- Mark























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## Larry (Dec 2, 2010)

great story....the last photo made me hunt-gry!


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Nice write up Mark. Congrats on your success'


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## Mark Steinmann (Jan 28, 2014)

Larry said:


> great story....the last photo made me hunt-gry!


 Thanks Larry....man those steaks hit the spot!

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## Mark Steinmann (Jan 28, 2014)

youngdon said:


> Nice write up Mark. Congrats on your success'


Thanks Don. Looking forward for the cold temps to finally come!

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## prairiewolf (Feb 19, 2012)

Congrats to you and Tim ! Sounds like you had a very good day out calling. When ever you guys get ready to come back toward Roosevelt or the Rim let me know, I will meet up with you guys.


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## azpredatorhunter (Jul 24, 2012)

Nice shooting Mark... Great write-up until I saw the words FoxPro ????


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## Mark Steinmann (Jan 28, 2014)

prairiewolf said:


> Congrats to you and Tim ! Sounds like you had a very good day out calling. When ever you guys get ready to come back toward Roosevelt or the Rim let me know, I will meet up with you guys.


 Thanks Ed! We will definitely let you know when we plan a trip up that way.

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## Mark Steinmann (Jan 28, 2014)

azpredatorhunter said:


> Nice shooting Mark... Great write-up until I saw the words FoxPro


Haha right? We have decided to mix back in the e-caller a bit this year since PVCI changed their rules and allow e-callers now. At this time we are only using it at the end of stands to blast the fox distress to see if we can get any extra showings we would've lost with only hand calls.

- Mark

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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Mark Steinmann said:


> Thanks Don. Looking forward for the cold temps to finally come!
> 
> Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk


Boy I hear that......


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## azpredatorhunter (Jul 24, 2012)

Ok now I get it... They changed the rules otherwise you wouldn't get any points


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