Dave Windauer's Arizona Bull

[GMMAT]

I hope you know I was kidding, Beth!....lol

NO HURRY!  I have one to shoot, til that one gets here!

Congrats, again, Dave!

[Tim]

Hey Dave,

Looks like you and the family had a fantastic time!  

So what do you think buddy.....Sure is a lot easier walking around the mountains in that particular unit of Arizona versus what you're use to at home.      

Don't forget to apply again next year     You do know Bill drew two years in a row, so it is possible!  I can't wait for the day I can go back!

Enjoy the rest of your season at home!

Tim

[Kyle Lancaster]

Nice job guys. Can't wait to hear the full story. It's nice to see Matt Riley. I haven't seen him since he was traveling around with the "Ramblin' Rednecks". Didn't he run around (also) with some guy named Schafer?

[northener]

WOW!!  many memories made here!!! Congratulations guy's

[Tyler Carlson]

Dave shooting a longbow!!!??? Hell has frozen over! Haha. Probably very few people on here have ever heard of Matt Riley, but the man is a killing machine with a recurve and has accomplished far more than most of us could ever dream of bowhunting wise. I'm glad Arizona treated you guys better than the South Fork did! Congratulations!

[Kyle Lancaster]

Story time?

[Beth Windauer]

Dave wrote.....
I have been putting in for AZ with my buddy Matt for about 10 years. My brother Mike and my brother in law Beau Snyder have also been putting in but for a year or two less. As luck would have it we all drew in the same year and in the same unit. What's even more ironic is that Matt and I drew our first choice unit and Beau and my brother drew their second choice. Needless to say we were all very excited to have drawn at all and to be able to all go down together was something we really looked forward to.
  Matt opted to take an early scouting trip in June and then the four of us went back in August to learn the unit.  A customer in Flagstaff (Victor) got us in touch with a couple key people that gave us a huge head start ( Oscar   and Jay ). The season is open for archery for just two weeks and Beau, Matt and I planned to be there for as long as it took. My brother Mike cut his trip a little short on each end due to other hunting trips he had planned. We  left   Montana on the 9th, drove straight through to AZ, and hunted the opening on September 11th.
 In addition to the four of us, my dad also came along and was a huge support.  We  had a 14 x 16 wall tent set up with sleeping tents outside of that which made for a really comfortable camp. My Dad mainly stayed at camp,  cooking meals, washing and drying clothes  and as it turned out helped pack a ton of meat out! He was not far from a small town where he could get in and socialize some with the locals. I should also add that he spent much of his day keeping the mouse population down. They were thick down there.  He played such an important role, making it possible for all of us to spend more time hunting elk. Thanks Dad!  
There were several different terrains we hunted in and it was amazing how quickly they changed in short proximities. Thick forests of spruce and fir made up the high elevation landscape. If you drove 5 miles to the south, losing about 2,000 ft of elevation, it was much drier with juniper and oaks. Five miles in the opposite direction you were in wide open ponderosa forests. The elk seemed to like all of them but there were pockets where there were definitely more elk. We were hunting at about 8-9,000 feet elevation. It took about a week to get used to that. Because their monsoon season was late we had some spectacular lightning and thunder storms almost every day. At 9,000 feet you are pretty much right in the storm so it made for some pretty wet afternoons.  Temperatures got up to around 70 during the day but cooled to about 40 at night. The nights were the biggest starry nights I have ever seen. We saw all sorts of other wildlife, including Black Bear, Mule deer, Cous Whitetail Deer, Wolves (better draw the tag before there gets to be too many) Coyotes, Bobcat, Turkeys, Mountain Lion and lots of other small animals.
    The elk were not in full rut while we were there but we still had exceptional hunting hearing bugling everyday and seeing great bulls almost every day.   We chased bugles in the morning and sat tree stands or blinds in the evenings when the elk were quieter. We all had close calls on the ground but for some reason or another that didn't work out. We ended up killing each of the bulls in the evening from tree stands over waterholes.  I enjoyed my time in the stand watching the elk. Watching an elk wallow is quite an experience. The bulls act like little kids in a pool splashing, rolling and kicking around in the mud and water. They really get into it. When they drink it sounds like a kid slurping up the last of a milkshake with a straw.
  As I stated, my brother Mike hunted eight days and did not take an elk. He did have a great hunt with a lot of close calls. Matt shot his bull on the fourth day. It was a perfect quartering away shot through the top of the heart, 50 yard recovery. Beaus's and mine were almost mirror images of each other on the 11th day of the hunt, each sitting waterholes on opposite sides of a ridge. Beaus' bull came in following a cow and gave him a 25yard broadside shot placed right in the pocket, about a 50 yard recovery. My bull bugled his way in following three cows and turned broadside at about 15 yards in the middle of the water hole. Double lung hit, about 50 yd recovery.
  The only down side to the trip was that I didn't have my wife Beth there. Trying to catch up on a few more points! Good luck to you all this season.
Dave

[Eric in FLA]

Congratulations Dave, it sounds like you guys had a great time. My best to Beth & your dad.

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Good on ya, Dave!

[Pegen]

nice  

[limbow]

Great read Dave, thanks for sharing  

[Goke]

Thanks Dave. Congrats.

[Terry Green]

Congrats Guys!!!...looks like ya'll were sho-nuff serious!

[Nook]

Dave Great Hunt...  I hope to break in my new longbow in a couple of days.  Thanks for the story.  It was great meeting you folks at Denton Hill.  Jeff Harper

[PBNJ]

Hey Beth or Dave,could you remark on Dave's and the other hunters bow setups if it's not a big deal to do so? Hope you are all doing well this fall in Montana. Thanks, Paul

[Carcajou]

Excellent!! Way to go, Dave, Matt, and Beau!! Thats gettin it done!! Howdy Beth and Bob! Better luck next year, Mike!

Wow! Thats fantastic!!              :D

[Steve O]

That Dave is such a butt kisser   :D  

When I found out they finally drew AZ, I knew there was going to be lots of elk leaving the state.  It is just not fair to send in 4 experienced Montana elk hunters down into AZ!

The season is earlier and shorter than when I went a few years ago, but I knew that would not really matter with that crew.  Great job Dave!

How's your dad doing on that Schafer book?

[Beth Windauer]

Dave's set-up; 62" Silvertip TD Longbow, 64# @ 28", FF, Shooting off a rest, 2020 shafts, feathers, 4 blade zwickey

Beau's set-up; 60" Silvertip One-piece Recurve, 65# @ 28", FF, Shooting off a rest, Gold Tips,vanes, 4 blade zwickey

Matt's set-up; 60" Silvetip TD recurve, 70# @ 28", FF, Shooting off a rest, carbon (can't remember which, carbon express?) feathers, 4 blade zwickey

Mike's Set-up; 60" Silvertip TD recurve, 63# @ 28", dacron, shooting off a rest, 2018 shafts, feathers, Rocky mountain blades (again not for sure on that)


Here goes some more butt kissing Steve.....

Dave wanted me also to say that Steve Osminski helped get them all set up with some Sitka gear before their trip  and all of them were very pleased with them and appreciated his efforts. Here are some things they all noticed mainly with the Ascent pants.

- Un-restictive and very comfortable for hiking
- When they were wet, they didn't feel cold
- Good on odor. Dave wore his for 10 days straight and finally on the 11th day thought it might be time to change.   Very pleased with them.

[highcountry]

Pictures of the bows??    Like Dave's longbow?

[gregg dudley]