Close Range Hunter

Once again I've been too long in getting an episode out.  It's time to catch up and talk about Arizona archery deer season.  In this episode I talk about my daughter's bison hunt, other cool stuff I've been up to and go in depth about my approach to the early season archery deer hunt in Arizona.   I give some of my stories and tips about hunting tree stands and blinds, mostly geared towards coues deer in Arizona, but applicable no matter where you are.   I even throw in a story about my recent death march hike.

I have been planning to do another episode for a while and really wanted to do one specifically on my daughter's bison hunt called The Truth About Hunting Bison in Arizona.   I needed some time to reflect on some of the drama from that hunt and finally decided to hold off on that.  Since then I've encountered several people who have said how much they have enjoyed my previous podcasts and wondering what I was going to do next.  I'm really quite flattered and surprised by the positive feedback I've received.  Getting  weekly emails from my podcast hosting site  telling me how many more downloads it receives each week has been prodding me to do another.   I really appreciate the fact that people are listening and reaching out even though I haven't uploaded an episode in almost four months!  Thanks for listening.  I don't make any money doing these and don't intend to, but I do enjoy sharing some of my thoughts and experiences to people who want to hear them.   Please feel free to contact me through my Instagram at Closerangehunter or by email at [email protected].  I hope you enjoy this one.  

Thanks, 
Chris

It's been quite a while since my last episode, but I'm back! Since Christmas Janice and I have been pretending to be retired, not just from our regular jobs, but also our pack llama business.  No social media, podcasts, or YouTube videos.  Just fun enjoying the Arizona backcountry. 

In this episode I first catch up on some of the adventures we've had and tell a couple of hunting stories.  After that I go into an  analysis of the data from the first year of the Arizona archery deer hunt quota system.  I get into some of the questions I've had like: How did it work out?  Which hunts closed and when?  What are some of the problems and solutions?  (Hint: It's not all bad.)  I also go into the proposed changes for the upcoming 2023 Arizona general deer hunt tag numbers and how that compares to changes to the archery hunts for the upcoming seasons. 

Thanks to all the people who have continued to download and listen to my past episodes and have encouraged me to get going again.  If you enjoy them please share with your friends.  

Thanks, Chris

Josh has a wealth of knowledge, and more importantly, experience with backcountry search and rescue, whitewater and technical rescue, wilderness first aid, exercise physiology, and lots of other interesting and useful stuff.  He's a family man and very accomplished hunter, college professor, SAR and SWAT team member, and all around good guy.  He's one of the very few people I will hunt with anytime anywhere.  Even when things are rough he has a positive attitude.  He's also the guy you want backing you up if a mountain lion is about to jump on you!  In this episode we tell some hunting stories and talk about the simple things you can do to decrease the chance that you will need him to come rescue you.   Lots of useful information.  Let me know if you want Josh back on another episode or on a regular basis.   Message me on IG @closerangehunter.

Sorry but there is a bit of bleed over between the two microphones.  While recording it sounded great, but after downloading from the recorder it has a little excess "stereo" sound.   This is the first time I've used this particular recording setup and I'm still learning. 

For this episode I took my recorder into the field to document my 2022 rifle coues deer hunt.  I packed into the Arizona desert wilderness solo, but with a couple of my llamas carrying all my food and gear.   It was a great time to be hunting in the desert.  I go over some of the gear used as well as tactics I typically use for this type of hunt and recap the hunt as I go.  For the first time I ran into some other guys hunting in the area and one of them, Alex, shot a real nice buck.  Listen up to see how it went down for me.

I also talk a little about the AZ OTC elk hunt and my hopeful guest/co-host for the next episode.

I apologize for the slightly blown out audio for the second part.  I set the recording levels properly and it sounded fine in the headphones while I was recording so I'm not sure what happened, but I didn't want to wait until I had the time to redo it.

They say the first step is admitting that you have a problem.  In this episode I do just that, and talk about my debilitating addiction to archery hunting for trophy coues deer.   

This quest has caused 30 years years of frustration and unfilled tags not to mention the paranoia that came with finding and pursuing a true world record class buck.  Yes, I spent six of those years attempting to match wits with and obsessing over a giant buck I called Big Fork.  After he died of natural causes in 2013 I was crushed and hit rock bottom.  Because of that I quit archery deer hunting cold turkey for ten years, but this year I fell off the wagon and picked up the bow and the bad habit again, just as bad as ever.  Yet another frustrating early archery deer season, complete with close calls, has me thinking about quitting again.  Maybe I need a Slump Buster and should go after an ugly carp deer.

In this episode I talk about hunts gone by and my eventful 2022 early archery season in an effort begin taking the first steps to kick this nasty habit. 

Archery elk season is right on top of us!  In this episode I cover five big picture strategies that I think are the most important, overlooked, or misunderstood aspects of archery elk hunting during the rut,  especially if you are solo hunting.  This isn't meant to be a comprehensive treatment of elk calling, tactics, and gear.  There are already many sources for that kind of information.   I could write a book about all the lessons I've learned from chasing big bulls, but here I have summarized  an overall approach to solo elk hunting that has evolved from first hand experience and success in the field.   If you are a new elk hunter this is a good primer to get you started in the right direction.  Even if you are experienced I bet there will be something here you haven't tried.  No matter who you are, adopting even one of these strategies should improve your hunt.  
Let me know if you have other questions or topics you'd like to hear about.  Send me a message on Instagram at closerangehunter.  Enjoy!

 As I said in my first episode, I hunt all kinds of things.  In this episode I give a brief introduction to meteorites and meteorite hunting and describe a couple of trips I took in June.  It's been a while since my last episode because I've been out of town and busy with some of the stuff in this episode.  If you ever wondered about how people can find meteorites listen up! 

For this episode I had originally planned to get into the details and pros and cons of changes coming to Arizona OTC archery deer seasons.  At the last minute, I decided to more generally address why they are happening.  Spoiler alert:  It's due to the increasing mainstream popularity of hunting, monetizing hunting, and rapid technological innovation.  These things are putting increasing pressure on our western game species and forcing the wildlife managers to react.  Thinking about these changes reminded me of an article I wrote for the 5th edition of the Bowhunting in Arizona Record Book in 2010 called, "Changes."   Looking back on that I feel that I underestimated the changes coming in the decade that followed.  I thought it was worth reading that article aloud for the listeners, if for no other reason than to make me look like Nostradamus of hunting.  In the end, I make the case for using "traditional weapon" only seasons as a partial solution to preserve or reclaim hunting opportunities.   Let me know if you agree or disagree.  Thanks for listening.

In this episode I talk about the pros and cons of backcountry travel and hunting with pack llamas. (Spoiler alert: It's almost all pros.) 

Pack llamas have become very popular for backcountry travelers and hunters in the last few years, but we've been using them for almost 30 years.   In this episode I share some of our experience and basic info about why they are the ultimate pack animal and why they are a game changer for backcountry hunting. 

We have been packing with llamas since 1995 and have a pack llama business called, Arizona Backcountry Llamas.  You can look us up on Instagram and Facebook under that name and our website is Arizonallamas.com. If you want to go on a pack trip with your friends and family or go on a backcountry hunting adventure check us out.

These days it seems like hunting has become all about the gear and the "Industry"  Gotta have all the cool stuff.  The problem is then you have to carry all that stuff and it can slow you down. Turns out carrying less stuff can make you a more effective hunter.  In this episode I break down what I carry in my pack for a day of hunting.  I wouldn't say it's a minimalist approach, but more about keeping it simple and light enough that I can hunt and hike all day, day after day.   I'm sure there will be some disagreements about it, and some things I left out, but my hope is to help people sort through all of the "must have" stuff to lighten the load and hunt harder and longer.   My philosophy is to keep it simple and light, but make sure the really important things are covered well.   This is about day hunting from camp or truck not about backpack hunting, but this same philosophy can be applied once you get to camp on that backpack hunt.  What did I miss here?  Let me know @closerangehunter on Instagram.