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.

I attempted to upload this episode a week ago, but the upload failed and I didn't know until I was already out in the desert again. Sorry that it is a week out of date. A lot has transpired since this was recorded, but you will have to wait for that. Part 2 of my sheep hunt will follow next week, I hope.
I've been applying for desert bighorn sheep tags for over 30 years and honestly never thought I'd draw one, so never even dreamed of hunting desert sheep in Arizona, but lady luck smiled on me and I'm going sheep hunting! I've never even been on a sheep hunt!
I recorded this episode sitting in my truck out in the desert on my third scouting trip. I talk about the draw and how to play it to your advantage, and how I somehow managed to draw my second choice sheep tag. You'd think I am the luckiest guy in the world, but even when I'm lucky bad luck seems to find me and I talk about that too. Spoiler alert, this is still pre-hunt, so I go over my scouting so far and some of my plans for the hunt, but no sheep have been harmed yet. I've done one more scouting trip since this was recorded and have some things to be excited about, but that will have to wait for the next episode which I will probably record while in my sheep camp. By the time this is uploaded I'll be there and hopefully have a ram picked out for opening day December 1st. At this point I still plan to bowhunt, but that might go flying out the window if I get too excited about a ram! I hope you enjoy this one and are looking forward to the next update. I've got the whole month of December to hunt, but I'll post it as soon as I return. Wish me luck!
Thanks for listening!