My first hunt!

[wifininja021]

I put in for Elk and got drawn! I'm so excited. I have never been. Fortunately my father in law has been hunting for 25 years or so. He also told me today we can put in for deer. My son and I took the Hunters' safety course provided by AZGF. He is 10 right now and if I get a drawn and he doesn't, like this time, I will be giving it to him. I am also building my rifle for the hunt. I am using a Palmetto PA-10 Lower. My brother and I bought the anniversary set with the PA-15 & PA-10 lower. I'm wanting to build it into a .308 and do some camo cerakoted and the PA-15 lower into a close match 6.5 grendel. I thought it would be fun since they are a set.

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[Joe Link]

Congrats man, that's awesome! Keep us updated on how you do.

 

[nvshooter]

I am using a Palmetto PA-10 Lower.

Here's a .308-caliber AR-type that's already assembled. Just waiting for you to customize it...

Smith & Wesson M&P10 Sport 308 Win Semi-Automatic Optics Ready Rifle

 

[targetshooter]

gee, I thought he already had a frame to work with?

 

[wifininja021]

Here's a .308-caliber AR-type that's already assembled. Just waiting for you to customize it...

Smith & Wesson M&P10 Sport 308 Win Semi-Automatic Optics Ready Rifle

Thanks I like building from parts. It gives me something to do. I'll post it when I have it finished. Also my thought process is that this is my first hunt. I have three boys. So I want to build a rifle that I can tell my boys and my grandkids, hopefully maybe a grand-daughter will be in the pack, that I built this rifle for my first hunt and when it get passed down that it doesn't go to the pawn shop. Maybe it can help one of my kin who can't afford a rifle at the time and come with a cool story?

 

[nvshooter]

. . . when it gets passed-down, that it doesn't go to the pawn shop.

OMG! I cannot even imagine a son who has gone hunting with his dad would ever sell the father's rifle. I have my dad's 1946 Model 70; he bought in 1952 and shot a ton of four-leggers in Alaska between its purchase and 1956. He made rugs from the pelts of at least one black bear (I think), one mountain goat and one bighorn sheep. He has a picture of a log-built hunting lodge that has eighteen deer hanging from the front porch. I asked him about that picture. He said a bunch of well-heeled "Lower 48ers" had come up there to hunt. They didn't know from which end of the barrel the bullet exited (couldn't hunt for sewage), so my dad shot all the deer for them.

It was like that in Alaska in the middle 1950s. A hunter could shoot all the game he wanted. No limits, no draws, no fees, no nothing. Just hunt your game, but do not waste what you kill. He, my mom and my older sister left Juneau in 1957 so my dad could start school at the University of Minnesota at Duluth in Summer 1957. They lived in University Village, in steel Quonset huts. My mom once told me that the sweltering summers in those things were brutal. I wouldn't know; I was born in Minneapolis in December 1957.

 

[wifininja021]

OMG! I cannot even imagine a son who has gone hunting with his dad would ever sell the father's rifle. I have my dad's 1946 Model 70; he bought in 1952 and shot a ton of four-leggers in Alaska between its purchase and 1956. He made rugs from the pelts of at least one black bear (I think), one mountain goat and one bighorn sheep. He has a picture of a log-built hunting lodge that has eighteen deer hanging from the front porch. I asked him about that picture. He said a bunch of well-heeled "Lower 48ers" had come up there to hunt. They didn't know from which end of the barrel the bullet exited (couldn't hunt for sewage), so my dad shot all the deer for them.

It was like that in Alaska in the middle 1950s. A hunter could shoot all the game he wanted. No limits, no draws, no fees, no nothing. Just hunt your game, but do not waste what you kill. He, my mom and my older sister left Juneau in 1957 so my dad could start school at the University of Minnesota at Duluth in Summer 1957. They lived in University Village, in steel Quonset huts. My mom once told me that the sweltering summers in those things were brutal. I wouldn't know; I was born in Minneapolis in December 1957.

This is the type of stories I want with my guns and family. My dad died when I was 2, he was 20. Any psychologist will say that I over compensate for not having my father. Its plain and simple though. I know how it feels when people talk about doing things with their dads, asking them questions, all the small things. So for me I want my boys to remember when I am gone that I loved them and for them to love their kids. I am fortunate to have an awesome father-in-law who likes to take newbies out hunting or even showing me how to change oil in a car. I can't wait for the hunt!

 

[nvshooter]

My dad died when I was 2, he was 20.

Oh, wow! I can't even imagine something like that happening to me. I can't imagine not having a father to keep me on the straight & narrow as I grew up. My dad is 88 and a few months, and still very much active. He loves to go into the woods, saw down a nice tree, saw it into fireplace-lengths, split it down to smaller pieces for easy throwing into the fireplace and then stacking it into his small Toyota pickup. When he gets home he immediately stacks it into our garage so he doesn't have to go outside during the winter for wood. We've heated with wood since 1979; have two fireplace inserts (upstairs & downstairs) that he keeps running until later May. He's going to provide post-operative care after I have my kidney removed in the next 60 days, or so.

Be a good father for your kids. They'll thank you when they become old enough to understand why you told them No when they wanted whatever they wanted so badly at the time. The trials of parenthood will all come back to you one day as a blessing beyond measure...

 

[landon]

Congrats on the tag man! What unit and what month?

 

[Mrjenkins]

Congratulations on your tag. I have never been large game hunting. I can barely get my girls to go camping. I juggle family work and guns on a weekly basis... Wish I had more time. I used to slaughter cows pigs and bison every few months though so I know my way around a knife. I just have no time

 

[Mrjenkins]

Oh, wow! I can't even imagine something like that happening to me. I can't imagine not having a father to keep me on the straight & narrow as I grew up. My dad is 88 and a few months, and still very much active. He loves to go into the woods, saw down a nice tree, saw it into fireplace-lengths, split it down to smaller pieces for easy throwing into the fireplace and then stacking it into his small Toyota pickup. When he gets home he immediately stacks it into our garage so he doesn't have to go outside during the winter for wood. We've heated with wood since 1979; have two fireplace inserts (upstairs & downstairs) that he keeps running until later May. He's going to provide post-operative care after I have my kidney removed in the next 60 days, or so.

Be a good father for your kids. They'll thank you when they become old enough to understand why you told them No when they wanted whatever they wanted so badly at the time. The trials of parenthood will all come back to you one day as a blessing beyond measure...

My dad died in a car accident in the canyon outside of globe in 2000. I was 10. It was the most devastating thing anyone can go through. Not to mention scarring. I was raised by my mom working 2 jobs... never saw her much after that.

 

[nvshooter]

My dad died in a car accident in the canyon outside of Globe in 2000. I was 10. It was the most devastating thing anyone can go through. Not to mention scarring. I was raised by my mom working 2 jobs... never saw her much after that.

Your story and that of wifininja brings me close to tears. Having lost my older sister 30 years ago come May 19 and my mother in November 2015, I understand your pain. I've known many over the years who have lost parents and siblings. A passing of a family member or of a close friend leaves a hole in a person's life that never really fills. You'll think back many times to when you and he who passed had a relationship, and you wish you could go back to that time. But you can't. That's when you know your friend is gone-- that things are different and can never be as they were in times before.

 

[Mrjenkins]

There isn't much I can say about it. It was the worst thing that could ever happen. He left a note saying he was looking for some camping spots up in showlow to take us. He never came back. 4 days later the search party found his pancaked car at the bottom of the 300 foot canyon. I don't remember much of him besides he loved nature and playing his guitar. There was a news paper he made and the headline was valley man missing. He worked night time security so he could be with us during the day. Took me another 10 years of therapy to accept it. There is alot more to it then that. But some things are better left alone

 

[nvshooter]

. . . some things are better left alone.

I agree. And so we shall not speak of this again.

 

[Bradleystuart]

Wifininja021:

Congratulations on drawing an elk tag. It should provide you with wonderful life-long memories, especially sharing the experience with your young son.

A word of caution, please check AZDOW regulations regarding the possibility of giving your son your elk tag, lest he doesn't get drawn next season. I say that because in Nevada, drawn tags aren't transferable, even to siblings, family members, etc. They're only legal for the individual that originally drew them, e.g., they have the draw recipients name printed on them. So, please look into that to avoid any potential issues with AZDOW.

Also, some states allow hunters to apply in parties, wherein either everybody gets drawn, or nobody gets drawn. I/we did it several years ago and everyone in our party (4-hunters) all got drawn. It made for a memorable hunt. States typically allow it for general deer season, however, I don't know if it applicable for elk season. It's something you might want to look into.

Be safe and best of luck with your hunt.

 

[nvshooter]

My dad found the pictures of the hunt I referenced above. Have resized them down to 300 pixels wide. They were too big at 480 wide; they stacked vertically instead of setting side by side. Just good manners to not eat-up the bandwidth for which we do not pay...

The first picture is my dad in November of 1955. He shot the deer with his 1946 Model 70. The second picture has to be the footprint of a bear. Look at the size of it compared to the man's foot. The third picture is twelve deer hanging on the porch of the cabin. I thought there were 18 there, but my dad corrected my erroneous thinking. The limit was three deer per season, not unlimited harvesting. The three other guys on the hunt were not much when it came to aiming and firing, so my dad shot the rest and the others claimed the deer as theirs. Perfectly legal; the limit per hunter was not violated. The fourth picture is the others on the hunt. The man to the far right is Dick Sniegocki, one of my dad's best friends at the time. Dick was my dad's best man when he married my mom. The fifth picture is my dad the Spec 4, in his uniform, with one of his many kills while he was in Alaska. I am today the proud owner of that rifle. I suspect that deer was taken on this hunt. The sixth picture is the cabin from where the hunt was staged. My dad does not know who built it nor how long it was there before this hunt. The meat from the kills was donated to a government agency which then remanded it to the Tinglit People. It was not wasted; not at all...

 

[Mrjenkins]

Beautiful cabin!

 

[wifininja021]

Oh, wow! I can't even imagine something like that happening to me. I can't imagine not having a father to keep me on the straight & narrow as I grew up. My dad is 88 and a few months, and still very much active. He loves to go into the woods, saw down a nice tree, saw it into fireplace-lengths, split it down to smaller pieces for easy throwing into the fireplace and then stacking it into his small Toyota pickup. When he gets home he immediately stacks it into our garage so he doesn't have to go outside during the winter for wood. We've heated with wood since 1979; have two fireplace inserts (upstairs & downstairs) that he keeps running until later May. He's going to provide post-operative care after I have my kidney removed in the next 60 days, or so.

Be a good father for your kids. They'll thank you when they become old enough to understand why you told them No when they wanted whatever they wanted so badly at the time. The trials of parenthood will all come back to you one day as a blessing beyond measure...

That sounds like an amazing man. My grandpa on my moms side is who I look at when I think about a good father figure. He never stops moving and is always improving his living space or helping his kids fix their houses. I'm glad even though my bio dad isn't around their are still good men in my life.

 

[wifininja021]

Awesome photos!