I Won the Arizona Lottery

In our state, all big game hunts are done by lottery. Pulling numbers out of thin air, the game management plan for elk may be to reduce the herd by 1000 cows and 250 bulls, for example. They list those as hunt tags, with so many hunts during certain times and in certain game management units. So, a million hunters put in for elk hunts.

Well, last year I drew nothing except javelina. this year, I hit the jackpot!

I was drawn for December Whitetail Deer, December Bull Elk, and September Pronghorn Antelope.

My brother-in-law has my training regimen, our scouting and rancher contact trips, and the various hunt camps scheduled already. He's excited and pissed off at the same time - he's been putting in for Bull Elk and Pronghorn for like 10 years. He has always been very helpful though and he knows what he's doing.

I will be using a .308 I built from an old large ring mauser as my primary and a Sears Model 54  in .270 (which is a post-64 Winchester model 70) as backup. We reload our own rounds and I have nice loads for both guns. I used the .308 to take a cow elk two years ago.

To get a cow elk tag is wild luck. Bull Elk and Antelope in the same year is extremely lucky - I think there were 25 tags for the antelope hunt.

I hope to be putting a couple - four hundred pounds of meat in the freezer this winter - getting kind of tired of that "grey tasting" store-bought beef.

And yes, I am running out to buy a lottery ticket this week.