“BODACIOUS ARCHERY BULLS” DVD:Release June 2010
January 15, 2010
John McClendon:
June 2010ARCHERY ELK HUNTING AZ, MIKE AND CHRIS MILLER, Includes elk hunt video
October 8, 2009
2009 was tough on us, on the archery elk hunt. Both Mike and Chris had great tags and hunted the whole two weeks. Chris shot a nice bull with his Mathews Swtichback XT and Shuttle T-Lock broadheads, and did it on the second to the last day of the hunt. Where we hunted there was not a lot of intense rutting, more like the bulls had a relaxed hunt. We videoed only one broken bull by the end of the hunt. Mike waited and waited,
and tried to get on one really good 7×7 bull. We saw him, took some video of him at a distance but never got close enough for a shot. We did get some great video of bulls, mostly on water, some of those hunting shots for our DVDs are going to have to be Mike’s trophy this year.
ARCHERY ELK HUNTING, AZ 2009, ELK VIDEO
August 11, 2009
Mike Whelan, 7-2009
Even though we have begun to get a little rain, it is still hotter than hell as I sit here at home in Arizona. Yesterday it was 105 degrees at three in the afternoon. It helps a little bit to look at some of the elk video we took almost three weeks ago on our first scouting trips for archery elk. It was a bit cooler and we got some spotty rain while we were scouting at a higher elevation in elk country. A good friend of mine Mike Miller and his brother Chris somehow managed to draw archery elk tags in one of the best elk units in Arizona. So we have started our scouting, hoping to find a good bull or two. This time of the year, along with glassing, you have to check waters. Traditionally we have looked for tracks around these waters, many of which are trick tanks. For those of you who are not familiar with trick tanks they are constructed water catchments, built by the Game and Fish Department to supply water to game and non-game animals when water is scarce or far from feed sources. Now days more and more hunters are using trail cameras to scout these waters. This year, I don’t think we went to one trick tank that did not have one or more cameras on it. We also use cameras and they do work remarkably well but I personally still like to look for tracks, sit the waters and glass the areas, to actually see what bulls are there. So far we have seen a couple hundred elk, filmed about forty bulls, saw one really good bull ( no footage) and found tracks of three other bulls that we would really like to see. For us that is a pretty good start for our 2009 archery elk hunts.
AWESOME BULLS: Elk Hunting video, velvet bulls
February 10, 2009
Elk hunting video previews of Giants On The Ground
We have a new elk DVD coming out this spring, and we are going to post some elk video of the hunts. These short video clips are of some giant bulls we saw while on these elk hunts, over the last few years. Click on the video link on this page. This is video of a some great velvet bulls.
AWESOME BULLS: Giants On The Ground, Video Clips
February 8, 2009
Elk Videos, Bull Elk and Bugling
As we finish up the editing on our new elk hunting video/DVD, we some times put together short clips. This time we were looking at bulls and how there bugles can be so similar at times and at others so different. Take a look and a listen.
AZ ELK 2008: ELK HUNTING VIDEO/DVD
January 5, 2009
Glenn Heard and Travis McClendon
Glenn Heard finally drew his coveted early muzzle load elk tag in Arizona.
Glenn booked his hunt through Mick Chappell, who contacted me ( Travis McClendon) with hopes that I could guide Glenn in Eastern Arizona. I haven’t guided much in this part of the state but I quickly said yes when I found out it was an early muzzle load hunt. After checking on some tips from a friend of mine, who had an archery tag just days before this in the same unit, I met with Glenn at the hotel and soon. Early the next morning we found ourselves in the middle of bugling bulls and we were able to get very close to 9 different bulls but none that would crack the 350+ mark. That evening we returned to the same area in hopes of finding one to harvest. Before we even stopped the truck, we were in elk and spotted a big 6×6. Glen said “I’ll shoot that one right now!”. We followed close behind for about a mile but the bull never gave us a shot. With his 20 plus cows always in the way, I didn’t think it was going to happen. Right before dark, I cow called and stopped him broadside in an opening 170 yards away. Glenn with a solid rest on a pine tree pulled the trigger. The primer fired and a second later the powder lit. Kudos to Glenn for making a great shot, the bull stumbled 10 yards and fell to the ground. We scored the bull right at 365″ making this a very fast but Awesome hunt.
ARCHERY ELK 2OO8: ELK HUNTING VIDEO/DVD
January 1, 2009
Danny Pareja and Levi McClendon
Danny Pareja and Levi McClendon have been waiting ten years for an Arizona Archery Elk Tag. 2008 turned out to be the lucky year. The spring was wet and the horn growth looked like it would be good, they both hoped for a strong rut. They wanted to be calling bulls in September. They hunted hard for seven days and passed some small bulls but were unable to get on the big bulls they were looking for. The afternoon of the eighth day, the wind was howling and this makes for difficult calling conditions. Then they heard and located a deep sounding bugle. Luck was with them, the whole herd was moving right at them. As the herd moved quickly by them, they saw only glimpses of a bull with no shot opportunities. Levi finally spotted the bull moving away and behind a cedar, he whispered to Danny that he was a shooter. The bull was blocked by the tree but as he moved, Levi called and the bull turned broadside. Danny had a difficult sixty yard shot opportunity through a small opening . He made a great shot on the bull and they filmed the whole scene. The bull is a whopper. Congratulations to Danny Pareja….. great first bull. Levi never saw a bull he wanted and he went home with out a bull, he is going to have to wait awhile for another one of those lucky permits.
Archery Elk 2008
December 19, 2008
Mike Whelan, Travis Whelan and Brad Parker hunting from one elk camp. We were calling a bull early on opening morning and when he came in, Brad took his first shot at a bull elk. The shot looked good and we had it on film. The bull was a 6×6 and it seemed that opening morning couldn’t have started better for Brad. It took us all day to recover his bull. We should have known we had been snake bite, it would be 14 days before we would shoot at another bull. For a year in which we saw an enormous amount of good bulls, we had a fairly tough hunt. I was able to take and film a nice 6×6 on a trick tank the evening before the last day of the hunt. We called and followed bulls almost every morning but rarely were we able to get them to where we had a good shot opportunity, and it seemed when we did get them close, we couldn’t film them. Travis filmed and passed a number of nice bulls and went home empty. He even passed a pretty nice bull the last night of the hunt. 08 had turned out to be a tough hunt for him. These hunts will be in our 2009 elk DVD.
Archery Elk DVD - Hunting Project
August 13, 2008
Goliath - Levi McClendon
In 2005 I was fortunate enough to guide former Green Bay Packer, Shawn Patterson, in pursuit of Goliath. Goliath was a huge typical, 7×7 bull with incredible tine length. Goliath was spotted about 30 days prior to the hunt. After watching him several days, he disappeared into the thick forest not to be found until the night before the hunt. As opening day would have it, we were able to get within a couple hundred yards of Goliath just as the sun was rising. With little interest in adding more cows to his herd, he headed for his bed. We followed him into the thick bedding grounds, made a few cow calls and were able to get a couple responses from him. As we snuck toward Goliath, Shawn spotted him sneaking toward us. With just a slight opening in the thicket, Shawn made a superb shot as the bull was quartering away. Taking no chance of pushing him, we left him for several hours. After returning to track and find Goliath, we were excited to see him just 80 yards from where he was shot! It’s OFFICIAL! Shawn Patterson’s bull is the New Pope & Young World Record, scoring 432 gross and 414 5/8 net. You can see this entire hunt in Awesome Archery Bulls 2. Watch out Shawn… I drew an archery tag this year and if there’s one person I would like to see beat the record…well, need I say more? Good hunting to everyone! Stay posted for another blog post after my archery elk hunt in September.
Archery Elk DVD - Hunting Project
July 24, 2008
Northstar has a year into this elk hunting DVD project and we already have some great elk footage. Todd Ostrum’s bull elk is a giant, filmed in Arizona in 2007. Todd and Travis McClendon put in a lot of time filming and hunting this bull elk last year. Travis will be in Arizona this year looking for another giant bull elk on his own tag. As a group we have some great elk tags this year, we intend to film these hunts and with some luck, we will have good hunts and finish this bow hunting only DVD for release in the spring of 2009.