AZ Ground Pounders 100" Club

Draw results are out!!!!!!! The AZ Ground Pounders can't wait to start hunting. Looking back over the years we were putting together the AZGP 100 inch club.  If you like looking at big coues bucks as much as we do, you will love this post. Its almost time to get real Couesy again this fall.

ELK, ARCHERY DEER, LION AND BEAR HUNTS WITH THE AZ GROUND POUNDERS OUTFITTERS

The AZ Ground Pounders Outfitters have guides and fully outfitted hunts available for the upcoming Elk and Archery Deer Seasons.

AZ Ground Pounders are looking to guide any Elk Hunt in units 22N, 22S 23N, 23S, 3A/3C, 4B and 1. If you are interested in hiring a guide for your hunt please call 928-517-1337 for more information. Your hunt can be tailored to your needs and budget.

We still have openings available for the August Archery Deer hunts. With the season fast approaching be sure to give us a call as soon as possible to hold your spot. We have ground blinds and tree stands set up and we do offer spot and stalk hunts.

Bear opens in August in select units and we have spots available for spot and stalk bear hunts on some great bears. We do have long range rifles availible if needed.

We are always booking lion hunts and we usually start hunting around the first week of October until the end of April. We specailize in DRY GROUND LION HUNTS and have been sucessful on 49 out of the last 54 Clients.

Give us a call and we can get your spot locked in today.

AZ Ground Pounders Coues Deer Management

Many successful Coues Whitetail Hunters will tell you that the keys to killing good bucks are great optics, a sturdy tripod and many hours in the field behind their set up. While that is true many hunters do not manage the areas that they hunt. A Coues Deer Management plan allows bucks to grow from good into trophy class, 110 plus.  A Coues buck management plan consists of two key elements, buck selection and removal of predators.

Mature Coues deer have two categories of predators, hunters and natural predators- lions and coyotes. Hunters pressure the bucks a combined three months out of the year while a lion will kill a deer sized animal every week. Lions will travel great distances to find food sources. In order to maintain a healthy deer habitat lions must be hunted continuously throughout the season.  Lion hunting with a good pack of hounds is a great way to pass the time in between January and August Coues Bucks Seasons. Lion hunting is an adrenaline packed thrill ride that will provide excitement every step of the hunt and also relieves pressure from the main Coues Deer predator. Active lion hunters will also learn the area that they are hunting, revealing water and cover that cannot be found from a ridge, miles away.  Coyote hunting on the other hand does not take much by way of preparation or cost. A hunter can go anywhere in the West, set up a spot and call until a dog comes in. Coyote hunting is a very good way to practice hunting situations while increasing the chances to allow bucks to mature.

Buck selection, although not as time consuming as lion hunting is very important to Coues Deer management. By making a commitment to taking either a trophy buck or management buck, hunters will allow bucks to mature into the trophy class. This part of the management process can be controlled, to some extent by the hunters and requires a great set of optics and knowledge of bucks in the area. Many hunters feel that a shooter buck is any buck in the 90 inch class. In some cases a mature, big bodied buck may only have a 90 inch frame and would be a great management deer to take on an early hunt.  In an area with good genetics a 2 ½ year 90 inch buck may turn into a 110 inch+ trophy deer within a couple years if given the chance to mature. Not all bucks will become 130 inch giants with a management plan in place but many bucks have a great chance to reach that 100 inch mark that most Coues Hunters strive to kill.

By using the Coues Buck Management plan, the AZ Ground Pounders Outfitters have killed many great bucks in areas where the principles were applied. In October of 2010, Steel Armstrong took a 120 3/8^th inch buck within a mile of where a large Tom Lion was caught just five days before the hunt. The impressive 3x3 with eye guards was followed for two years and could have been taken when he was first located in 2008 as a 100 inch buck. In October of 2011, Bill Armstrong put the hammer down on a typical framed 131 1/8^th   4x4 buck in a location where four lions have been killed in a mile radius over the past 3 years. In these same areas bucks have already been located that possess the same genetic traits as the trophy bucks that were taken. In January 2012, AZ Ground Pounders Outfitters located the biggest Governor Tag Coues Buck in AZ History, a 133 inch monster in the same area where three lions have been killed in the past two years.   In October 2012 Levi Armstrong killed his 117 Coues Deer in the same canyon that Cash and Steel caught a  Tom 2 weeks before the hunt.

 Some may think that killing a great buck may be just luck and a perseverance but if you can find a great area and use the Coues Buck Management principles you will find that year after year trophy bucks will be found in your hunting area.

 

 

October Coues Hunt vs December Rut Hunt

Are December Coues Hunts worth the wait? Over the past 3 years the AZ Ground Pounders have proven that the buck of your life just may be found on the easy to draw October tag.  During the October hunts over the past 3 years AZ Ground Pounders guides and hunters have taken many bucks over 100 inches including a 117, 120 and a 131 inch typical giant. While the late hunt may be the most wonderful time of the year for a coues hunter one AZ Ground Pounder Guide waited 9 years between coues Tags and ended up killing a 125 plus buck. In those 9 years the AZ Ground Pounders killed or guided 20 bucks over 100 inches. You can decide for yourself but it has been proven that if you put the time in (or hire the AZ Ground Pounders to put the time in for you) a trophy buck is possible with the easy to draw October Coues Tag.

Training Day Lion

Cash and Steel were out working the dogs when a fresh track was struck. A couple hours later the AZ Ground Pounders had treed a big female.

Matthews Phillips' Lion

Cash and Steel recently took Matthew Phillips on a Lion Hunt. This is what Matthew had to say about the AZ Ground Pounders Outfitters.
"These guys are the real deal. They are self made. They have 26 of the best dogs you will ever see. They are trailing a lion or looking for one to trail right now. They go lion hunting 6 days a week no matter if they have a client or not. From the second I met them I knew I had to try to get a lion with them. Over the last two years I have spent 12 days on horse back and walking all over with a great Houndsman we just couldn't get it done. The guy has great dogs just having a long streak of bad luck. So elk hunting this year I hunted with Cash and Steel and knew from the first day of hunting not only would I kill my lion with them but I would have two new friends to hunt with when ever I wanted. I signed up for my lion experience and I had to wait for two months because of work. While I was working for those two months it seemed like I would get a picture of another huge Tom with a guy holding it and Cash standing next to him about once a week or a video of them letting a female go, Torture. Then I packed up and prepared for a long 4 day adventure. It turned out 10 minutes after leaving the truck the dogs struck a track and we were in snow (which they hate hunting in snow but knew how bad I wanted a lion) the dogs were gone and they found the track and said it was a nice cat not the biggest but nice and they said we can pull the dogs and wait for a big Tom you have a lot of time and of course after previous adventures I just wanted to see one in a tree. So I said let them tree it and then we will see. 20 minutes later they had it treed. The cat jumped the tree as soon as it saw a human. They had it treed again in 200 yards and Cash and I snuck up to take a look and he looked at it and said its a pretty good cat but its a female, a big female, I asked him you don't shoot females right. He said not usually but we are in sheep country now and you like sheep a lot don't you and thats all he had to say, He started to say something and boom. I had my first beautiful lion. About a 100 yards away we found a coues deer doe she had killed the night before which I didn't like to see but there wouldn't be anymore like that from that lion or from kittens she would have had in the future and their Kittens. Turned out to be a beautiful cat and an awesome 1/2 day adventure (it doesn't happen that way very often no matter who you hunt with). That was a month and a half ago and I still talk to them 4 or 5 times a week about all the lions they are chasing and treeing and videoing with no client on some of them. If you want a great lion hunt with great people and unbelievable dogs, these guys are who you want to hunt with."
Thanks Matthew for everything and we look forward to your Dad's Hunt.