A once-in-a-lifetime bull elk hunt on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation

By Jared Canty

There is an elk hunt on the White Mountain Apache tribal lands – AKA the elk capital of the world – that usually goes for around $20,000. In July of 2020, I heard that this hunt had been canceled. The tribal council had decided to do a special once-in-a-lifetime hunt for its tribal members, allowing us to hunt during the peak of the rut and giving us the best opportunity to harvest a bull elk scoring over 400 inches.

Hearing this news got me very excited, knowing I had a chance to go on a once-in-a-lifetime hunt. I’ve always dreamed of experiencing this trophy hunt, but until this year, that’s all it was, just a dream. I killed my first cow elk in November of 2000 when I was 19. That was the day I knew I loved elk hunting – the excitement and the joy of being out in nature, not knowing what new adventure each day would bring. Ever since then, I’ve been hunting bull elk on the WMAT, Zone 1. The biggest bull elk I’d killed before this hunt was a 350-class 6x7.

Getting Lucky

The next step was getting drawn for a tag. There are four zones for this hunt; Zones 1, 2, 3a, and 3b. I decided to put in for Zone 2, because over the past years Zone 2 had produced the biggest bull elk, many of them scoring over 400 and making it into the all-time record book. So, in my opinion, this was the best zone to try to get drawn for.

There were two different hunts for each zone. For the first hunt, Sept 12-18th, there were three tags available through the draw. For the second hunt, Sept 20-26th, there were four tags available through the draw. I put in for both hunts. There are unlimited entries for this draw. Each entry was $5, and I put in $300. That came out to 60 entries each. The day of the draw finally came on August 26th. I got the best news a bull elk hunter could ever ask for. I’d been drawn for special bull elk, Zone 2. My elk hunting dream had finally come true. There were so many entries, and I was lucky enough to get drawn for one of the four tags; I got my golden ticket. I would get to hunt during the peak of the rut. It was an unbelievable day – so exciting! I finally have the opportunity to go after a true giant. After getting drawn, the tag cost me an additional $500, but it was well worth it. I posted the exciting news on Facebook, and later on that day I was contacted by my friend Boyd Tate. Boyd is a well-known veteran elk guide on the WMAT with over 20 years of trophy hunting experience, harvesting many bulls over 400. He offered to help me out. I asked him how much he charged per day, and he told me he didn’t want to get paid, he just loves trophy elk hunting and he didn’t want to miss out that year. Without hesitation, I accepted his offer. I’ve never hunted Zone 2 before, so I didn’t even know where to begin. This worked out perfectly. The week of the hunt finally arrived and on Friday, September 18th, my dad, Scott Canty, and I were headed up the hill to set up camp. On our way up the hill, we were stopped by a ranger. He checked our tag and asked where we were going. He wished us good luck on the hunt and told us he hadn’t seen any big bulls out there this year. That didn’t discourage me though, I wanted to see for myself. After setting up camp, we met up with Boyd and made a game plan for scouting in the morning.

September 19, 2020

That morning, Boyd and his son Dale arrived at our camp around 4:30 AM. We all set off down the road. This was a scouting trip to locate bulls. Right at first light, we pulled up to an open field just east of a tank, stopped the truck, and listened. There were bulls bugling all around us. This got me very excited for the days to come. We checked a few areas that morning, all with promising signs.

There wasn’t too much action that evening, but we did manage to bugle in a nice 6x6, 350-class bull. That was pretty much the only bull we heard or saw before it got dark on us. We returned to camp and got ready for opening day. At camp, I could hear at least three or four bulls bugling. I knew this opening day was going to be a good one.

Opening Day

It was 4:30 AM and Boyd was at camp right on time. We headed to the area we had scouted the previous morning. Right as we parked the truck, we had one bull bugling about 50 yards from us, but it was still too dark to see anything. The bull began to move off to the north, away from us, so we decided to go ahead and follow to see if we could get a look at him. This bull went up a ridge and circled right back around to the creek. This was a little valley where all the action was that morning.

There were at least 10 bulls and 20 cows in this valley. From the top of the ridge, we had an amazing view of the tank. At sunrise, we watched several cows and one bull playing in the tank, 1000 yards out. It was a beautiful morning, a perfect day for hunting. We glassed up and sized up all the bulls in the valley but didn’t see any shooters. We then returned to the truck to go check out another area. On our way there we heard a loud bugle not too far off the road. There were at least three or four bulls bugling. Boyd and I decided to give chase to see if any of these bulls were possible shooters. My dad waited at the truck because everything was happening so fast. I grabbed my .270 Weatherby and headed out. Boyd and I finally caught up to the first bull about 500 yards from where we heard the first bugle. Boyd called this bull in with a few cow calls. He finally stepped out from behind the Juniper tree. He was a nice 6X6, 340-class bull. Boyd said, “Don’t shoot, he’s just a little guy.” So we quickly moved off to the next bull. We encountered another similar bull and decided to pass him up as well. As we reached the top of a hill, we saw movement coming towards us. It was a bear and her cub. It was an exciting moment, and we watched the bears eat acorns from an oak tree for a few minutes, then we finally went back to the elk hunt. After chasing down another small bull, we decided to head to a new spot. We almost caught up to another bugling bull, but never got a good look. It was around noon now the temperature was pushing 90 degrees – too hot! We passed the same ranger on our way back to camp for lunch, and he informed us that there were several other hunters in the area. He also let us know of a place where he had heard some bulls going crazy.

After lunch, we decided to give it a chance and headed up to that area. As we arrived, we jumped a 6X6 bedded down near the road. We were able to call in another decent 6X6 340-class bull. The rest of the afternoon was quiet for the most part.

It was nearly dark with about 35-40 minutes of light left. About a mile down the road to the north, there was a little Cienega I wanted to check out. I got out of the truck and let out a bugle. Right off the bat, we got an answer. After about 10 minutes we had three other bulls bugling and coming in; a small 5x5 and two nice 6x6 bulls. On our way back to camp, we spotted a nice-sized, cinnamon-colored black bear just minding its own business, looking for food. That pretty much concludes the excitement for our opening day.

This Could Be It

It’s 4:00 am we’re getting an earlier start because we are checking out a new area that is further away from camp. Unfortunately, right as we got to the turn-off to that area, another hunter beat us to it. Boyd knew of another good area with a tank to hunt. As we arrived near the tank, we stopped to listen. Right away, there were bulls bugling all around us. We crossed the drainage past the tank and got up on top just to the east side. There were at least 10 different bulls bugling. I thought to myself, “This could be it, I might get my bull today.”

As we approached the action, we could tell the rut was heating up. We could hear the bulls rubbing their antlers against the trees, breaking branches, and bugles all around us. The first bull we saw, I thought, for sure, was a shooter. He was a 380-class bull, probably the biggest bull elk I’ve ever seen out in the wild. Boyd, however, knew he wasn’t the one. We had our minds set on a 400”-plus bull, and we weren’t going to settle for anything less than that. We passed him up and worked our way towards the other bulls. These bulls were already on the move. We walked up to the edge of a canyon and glassed several bulls going up the other side with a few cows. There were some pretty nice bulls going up the other side, but no shooters. We continued on down towards Pine Flat Tank. We parked the truck to glass around and listen. Right where we stopped the truck, I looked down on the ground and found a perfectly shaped, unbroken arrowhead. It was the first one I had ever found in my life. At that moment I thought to myself, “Hunters from the past have also been here. Luck is definitely on my side.” The tank was also pretty quiet – not one bugle. So, we decided to go check out another tank. On our way there we stopped the truck to listen. We heard a bugle not too far off the road, down in this little drainage. We glassed around and noticed a pine tree top moving side to side. From where we were standing, we could not see the bull, but we knew exactly where he was. It was a waiting game, for the time being. We knew that if we tried to go down there, he’d bust us before we could even get a good look at him. We waited and watched for about 10 minutes. Boyd decided to start cow-calling to see if he could get him to come into the open. It worked and the bull began heading our way. You could hear branches breaking as he walked towards us. He finally stepped into the open, and I had a clear shot. He ended up being a 370-class 7X7 – an amazing-looking bull that anyone would be happy with taking, but we weren’t going to give up on our goal. Boyd didn’t waste any more time. He said, “He’s not the one we want. Let’s go.” So we started heading back to the truck. My dad said, “What, he’s not big enough for you?” I said, “Nope. We are after a big 400+, so we will keep looking.” We chased bugle after bugle that day, and although we saw some giants, none of them was the one. We were amazed at how many big bulls were in the area. None of the bulls we saw that day had any broken points, as the ranger had told us they would. We were a little worried about the days to come. Boyd’s last day of leave from work was Tuesday the 22nd.

GIANTS DO EXIST!

It was the morning of September 22, at about 4:00 AM. It was still dark out, and I looked up into the sky and the stars were shining bright. I said a prayer to ask for blessings for the day’s hunt. Just as I said amen, at that exact moment, a shooting star flew across the sky. It put a smile on my face knowing that my prayer had been heard.

That morning Boyd wanted to go back to an area we had been to before, near a butte. As we set off down the road, we noticed that one of the other hunters that were camped to the west of us, about a mile away, had gotten in front of us once again. We followed them for about six miles to the turn-off we wanted to take, and sure enough, they headed down that road. We had to come up with a new game plan, so since they were headed to the east side of that area, we decided to go check out the west side. We spotted the next bull about 500 yards out as he was coming across an opening, bugling away, looking for cows or other bulls. He was a nice 350 class 6X6, but he wasn’t the one either. So we passed him up too. We then headed on towards another bugle. There was too big of an opening between us and the bull so we couldn’t get any closer. He was in the cedars about 200 yards out. We could not see him but we could hear him. Boyd tried cow calling, the bull would answer back with a bugle. We continued to call for about 10 more minutes before the bull eventually went quiet and never showed himself. We took a break on the butte before we headed down. There was an amazing view, you could see for miles. I could only imagine how many elk were down there that we couldn’t see. I was a little discouraged at this point, thinking that the morning hunt could already be over, but it was only 7 o’clock in the morning. It was still early, we just had to find a new area with more action. We drove around to the east side of the butte and stopped the truck to listen – not a sound. I decided to bugle with my power bugle and immediately got an answer. The bull was a long way off, so we got back in the truck and started heading his way, to the north. We drove about 1/4 mile up the road and parked the truck. I bugled again to locate him, and he immediately answered once again. We were close! All three of us headed towards the bull to set up. I bugled again, the bull answered, and this time he was even closer. He was coming in and coming in hot. He was ready for a fight. As we waited for him, Boyd began to cow-call. We could hear him coming through the trees. I was set up, kneeling on the ground with my elbow resting on my knee for a steady shot just in case this was the one. We all watched and waited, and it wasn’t long before we had a visual. I could see his rack even before he stepped out from behind the cedars, into the open. I thought to myself, “That’s a huge bull coming our way.” I was ready. He stepped out bugling. I had my crosshairs on him the whole time. He stopped, and I whispered to Boyd, “Should I take him?” Without hesitation, he answered, “Take him.” Not even a split second later, BOOM! He was hit and hit hard. He hunched up but didn’t go down. I quickly jacked another shell in the chamber and BOOM! again. He dropped right there in his tracks. He was dead within 30 seconds. We were all very excited. My hand started shaking, but luckily I didn’t get the shakes until after the shots. The bull lay 50 yards away from where I shot. Seeing no movement, we started walking towards him. About halfway there I said to Boyd, “400.” He replied, “We gotta look at it. We gotta look at it. He’s got extra points on there.” About 20 feet away now I said, “Holy smokes, dad.” He said “Yep.” When we were 10 feet away, Boyd said, “Well, I think you made it to the 400 club.” I said, “400 club. Look at that!” We were all amazed at what had just happened. I asked my dad what he was thinking when he first saw the bull, and he said that if this wasn’t the one, he didn’t know what was. He was huge. This bull ended up weighing 506 pounds hanging on the bone at White Mountain Meat Packing. After a 60-day drying period, his antlers ended up making the all-time Boone & Crockett record book with a final net score of 443 2/8” and a gross score of 452 4/8”. We named him “Goliath,” after the one true giant. This was one of the best hunting experiences of my life. I made the best of my once-in-a-lifetime hunt, harvesting the bull of a lifetime. I didn’t just make the 400 club, I made the 450 club – something very few hunters will ever have the opportunity to do. I’m very proud of this accomplishment and the team I had with me during this hunt – Boyd Tate and my dad Scott Canty. I’m very glad that my dad was there to witness everything. He’s been my hunting partner for 20 years, and we finally got it done. I’d still have to say that my most memorable and favorite hunt to this day was when my daughter Alyssa harvested her first bull elk, three years ago when she was 12. I look forward to many more hunting adventures with my daughter and my dad. We’ll see what new adventures the future will bring.

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