The first of the two Arizona Special Commissioner Tags was sold at auction during the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society Banquet on Saturday. I'm not sure who exactly purchased the tag, but I do know that Larry Heathington was the man doing the bidding and that the tag sold for $42,500.
Last year Denny Austad and John Gisi purchased the two Commissioner Tags for $61,000 and $65,000 - and they both harvested giant pronghorn!
Larry has guided a man named Robert E. Petersen (yep, the magazine guy) on many of these Commissioner Tags in the past and has done fairly well. The biggest buck taken by Petersen on one of these hunts was 92 4/8 (according to my records) and was taken in 1997.
I'm not sure if Larry has a particular buck already picked out for his new client or not, but I think this year will produce several really big bucks that he'll be able to choose from if he can find them.
I've heard word that some hunters are worrying about the lack of moisture and what that might do to the horn growth. I'm not too happy with it myself, but I have to remind them that in 2002, one of the worst droughts in history, we guided David Meyer to the current B&C World's Record (and we saw two other bucks that were nearly just as big!) Will the dry weather somehow, counterintuitive to conventional wisdom, produce monster antelope once again? I don't know, but I'm going to find out very soon...
The second of the two Commissioner Tags will be auctioned during the Arizona Antelope Foundation Banquet on July 14th - in case anyone is interested in bidding. Haha. I dare ya!
Tally Ho!
13 comments:
I will bid!! Yeah right!
Hopefully you will get a hunter interested in the second tag. Have you heard if Denny is going to be interested again?
I think I have to agree with you that this year will be a good year for big bucks. So far I haven't seen any evidence that the lack of moisture affects the antelope horn growth like it does deer and elk.
Denny may be interested - he hasn't said conclusively one way or the other.
I can't wait to get out and scout! Gonna get some AWESOME photographs this year!
Hey Eli,
This is Jeff, from Desert Bull. We've exchanged a few emails over the years. BTW, You have a great website. Good work.
I lucked out and drew a ML'er tag in 18A.
I've booked a lot of scouting trips this year so far. I probably won't get much time to scout for my self. How's horn growth in 18A this year?
Good luck on your hunts this year.
Jeff
Thanks for the compliments on our website and congrats on your 18A tag!
18A always seems to be an every-other-year kinda unit and last year it was down, so this year it should be great! Haha. Not a lot of science in that analysis, but it might be right. I haven't been out yet to scout, but I assure you that there is always at least one great buck in 18A somewhere. The fun thing about 18A is all the different areas you have to look!
The scouting trips you've booked so far - are many of them for antelope? If so, what units?
One of our guides drew Unit 10 rifle! It's his second one - he had one in 1997, too! Lucky dog.
Oh, yeah - the story about Thor posted right below this blog - if you haven't read it yet is about a buck we took in 18A! Crossed the road from 19B.
No, we have not booked any antelope scouting as of yet. Hopefully, after the tags are mailed out, people will start inquiring. That's how it usually works.
My luck, I will probably get a unit 21 tag holder. I hate that!
By the way, I noticed you mentioned that Mr Peterson might have purchased an auction tag. I just read that he passed away within the last few days.
Sad to here that about Petersen, although I never said anything about him purchasing an auction tag - just that Heathington, an outfitter who has guided Petersen in the past, was bidding on the auction tag for a new client of his.
Unit 21 sure does stink!
Eli,
At what time of year is horn growth far enough along to start some serious scouting? I have always waited till July to start focusing on individual bucks but most of my free time is going to be in April and May. Is this too early?
Thanks!
The month of May shouldn't be too bad. April is still a little too early. I'm going to start scouting in May sometime this year. The bucks aren't completely done then, but you can definitely tell which ones are the big ones. Actually, some of the time it's hard to tell that a buck even grew from May to August even if they grew two inches.
Eli, Since the tags have came out for AZ, How has business been? Anybody book with you yet? Do you think with the extra time people have to scout it might hurt your business? People have time to do it on their own, stuff like that
One archery hunter and a 2x1 in Unit 13A is all we've booked so far. Would still like to book a Unit 10 hunter (or anywhere really.) Got a lot of potential big bucks from last season in several different units!
I do kinda think that business is slower because of the early draw based on the fact that we haven't received nearly as many calls as usual. Of course, maybe I'm wrong and other outfitters have already been booked up and we just forgot to advertise or something.
Hopefully we'll get booked up for this year in Arizona.
Also, surprisingly, no one has called to book for New Mexico archery! I say surprisingly because we hunted two bucks last season that would have been new P&Y World's Records (we know because we ended up killing them with rifle hunters.) Weird!
Which reminds me...if anyone out there wants to book an archery New Mexico hunt for this coming season let me know ASAP. Apps are due within the next few days. The draw, with our outfitter number is almost guaranteed.
I'm getting ready to forget all my recommendations on waiting to scout until May...I want to get out there and find some big bucks!
Well good luck with the hunters, I will be up in Unit 8 this weekend camping and fishing, I will let you know what I see.
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