A3 Trophy Hunts "The New Reality"...

Howdy everyone! Well we survived another year on the Strip! I honestly don't even know where to start. Maybe with the fact that we had the greatest year in our history! Or maybe that we accomplished feats that have never before been accomplished by ANY other outfitter in Strip history? Any way you cut it, A3 Trophy Hunts has defined the new reality in Arizona outfitting. We have taken our job to a level that no others available can match. We are constantly working on refining our system, targeting the best guides in the industry and adding them to our personnel, finding new ways to be more effective, and overall demanding that we hold ourselves to the highest level possible. It shows in our results every year and in the smiles on our clients faces. What follows below is the result of a long year of very intense scouting, planning and executing our hunts as professionally as possible. Every picture below is an A3 client that booked with us in 2014 in either 13A or 13B. Enjoy the pictures...




Brent Curtis with his unbelievable 40.3" wide, 240"+ gross super giant! We followed this buck all year even though he was very hard to find. A3's Bryon Goswick lived with this buck the final week leading up to the hunt and Bryon, Jay, Luke and Brent had a perfect shot opportunity on opening morning. Congrats Brent and crew!! Thank you to Brent, Bryon, Jay and Luke. Unreal!!

 

 

 

 



Brent's buck drew so much attention that it was almost a non-stop line of people stopping into camp to see the huge deer. This continued the entire week!



Jason and John Gisi

Longtime client and good friend John Gisi hunted with A3's Matt Schimberg. The buck above was living in a tough area that we knew would be hunted by others as well. John decided to "roll the dice" and hunt this giant despite the fact we had some other 220+ type bucks that would have been easier. It paid off with a mid 240's mammoth!



Matt Schimberg and John Gisi

John brought some excellent help along with him. His son Jason, Mark Van Wormer, Ben Wells and Tom Alvin. Good friend Cole Gould was also along for the hunt. Friends Larry Bundy and "Tim" also volunteered to help after their client killed a buck. Jason and Mark glassed this buck up opening evening. We did not find the buck again until the 3rd morning.

 

John's incredible buck is an 6x8 that gross scores 244.6" and has more palmated mass than any buck should ever have!!



Matt Schimberg and Cole Gould

On the early morning of day 3 we spotted the buck right at daylight. We held our breath as a grey Suzuki Samurai drove right past the buck as he stood motionless 40 yards off the road! Very unfortunate for the guide and hunter in the vehicle and a very lucky break for us!  As soon as the Suzuki was out of sight the buck tore out of the area at high speed!
 

 

We tracked this buck nearly all day out into open Antelope country. After a long tracking job we deduced that the bucks must be bedded in a draw that was ahead of us. We circled, glassed and ultimately shot this buck at 240 yards as he rose from his bed in the late afternoon. I want to thank everyone that was present. I want to especially thank John Gisi. It is always a pleasure my friend. This one was extra special and always will be...



Brent's son Chad Curtis also had a Strip tag. He hunted hard with A3 guides Jeff Row Sr. and Jeff Row Jr. After 6 days they encountered this buck while looking for a bigger one. Chad decided that he was big enough and killed him. We agree Chad! your 208" 5x5 is a true stud! Good decision and a huge congrats to all involved!



Mike C. and Jim O. were hunting with A3's Landon Sherwood. When Mike took one look at this ultra-heavy old buck he wanted him immediately! He made a perfect 330 yard shot to anchor this awesome buck. Can anyone guess what the score of this old bruiser is? Hint- He was waaaay better scoring than we thought he was! With 28" beams, 47" of mass and extra eyeguards he surpassed the benchmark that Mike had set. Congrats to Mike and Landon!



Cole Gould holds Mike's giant rack!



Mike's huntin buddy Jim hung in with style as we pounded the ground looking for one of two different bucks we hoped to find. On the morning of day 9 we glassed up one of the huge bucks rutting does at over 4 miles away. After a lengthy stalk and some nail biting moments with fickle winds, we topped out on a small mesa 250 yards above the deer. Jim made a perfect shot and dropped the mega buck in his tracks!!

 



Matt Schimberg and Cole Gould
Jim's unreal buck gross scored 223.3" and had a 212.5" typical frame! We had a blast hunting with Mike and Jim and we can't thank them enough! Great attitude, great shooting and great bucks made for a perfect hunt!



Huge frame on Jims monster!

 



Kirk H. and his 195" typical buck taken after a long and grueling hunt with A3's Trevor Davenport. Thanks for the great attitude Kirk and congrats to you, Trevor and Landon on a true stud of a buck!



Trevor Davenport and Kirk H.

 

Kevin R. with his sweet typical buck! Kevin hunted with A3's Casey Carr and took his buck after some unfortunate events that prevented him from killing their #1 buck. Your buck is still awesome Kevin. Thanks again man!!

 



Chad Rhoton holds Kevin's buck!

 

 

 



We want to close with this. When we started out in this business, well over a decade removed, we didn't truly know where it would lead us. As we packed up our camp to leave the Strip a few days ago, I was struck with just how fortunate we really are. We have sacrificed much and poured our lives into building a new kind of hunting company. An outfit that sets the new bar as far as integrity and quality is concerned. We keep our focus on the results of YOUR hunt. In an industry where trust and commitment define your reputation, we wanted all of our past and future clients to know where we still stand. To assure them that our name may have changed and we may have grown, but we still take every hunt on as our own and put everything humanly, yet ethically, possible into getting a trophy animal in front of your weapon. Our results speak for themselves...

 Much gossip has been passed around our hunting community regarding the new partnership that was formed when A3 Trophy Hunts was conceived. People said we were getting too big and that we were choosing the money over the personal quality that had built our reputations. This is not true, never was, and never will be. Our goal has, and always will be, to build the greatest hunting company that has ever been created. To change the game and set the standard that others must try to compete with. I think this past season is a testament to the fact that we are the standard changing company we set out to be. A3 clients harvest bigger animals, more often, than any other competing outfitters available. This is fact. Our growing size is actually a benefit to our clients as we have access to greater resources when it comes to scouting and guiding your hunt. Our scouting program is the reason our clients find more trophy success than other outfitters and have been doing so for several years. We scout harder, hunt harder and have the best guides in the business, period. Don't let anyone tell you different, A3 is here to stay!


 If you are interested in hunting with A3 next year or in the future, the time to call or email is now! We still only take a limited number of clients each year and our spots book fast.

We want to thank each and every A3 guide and client that poured their heart and soul into being successful on our Strip hunts this past season. You guys are the reason that we are where we are and we can't thank each of you enough. You are the foundation of this outfit and we are proud to be with all of you as we move forward. God bless!

A3 is truly the "New Reality" in trophy hunting!

Matt Schimberg
Jay Lopeman
Chad Rhoton



 

LETS GO KILL A HUGE DEER! 2014 A3 TROPHY HUNTS

"OUTWORK EVERYONE!"

Arizona Strip Bucks + Mossback Arizona = A3 Trophy Hunts LLC



The application period for AZ Deer and Sheep are open and the online feature should be up within the week. As we roll through spring, our thoughts turn to the massive scouting operation that is already in full swing. The plans we have put in place for A3 Trophy Hunts are going to be nothing short of epic! With the weeks flying by, we wanted to detail exactly why we know A3 Trophy Hunts is the best outfitter available in Arizona to help you reach your trophy hunting goals.

If you are one of the applicants that is considering a outfitter for your once-in-a-lifetime Arizona deer hunt, we want to convey some thoughts about researching and selecting an Arizona outfitter. As we have stated on this blog before, we are good friends with many of the outfitters that compete with us. The tough nature of Arizona hunting creates great hunters out of people that are smart and have strong work ethic. Successful, top level outfitting in AZ takes tremendous work, skill and time. We have long lived by the motto of  "He who works the hardest does the best." This is very true and over time the hardest working outfitters rise to the top of the pool and are revealed by their consistent success.

 

2010 started well for A3 with John harvesting this 241" giant!

 

 

Larry booked with A3 and killed his ultra heavy 212" in 2010.

 

Michael was also a lucky 2010 tag holder and that hunted and killed his 224" buck with us.

 

Leisa booked her first ever 2010 deer hunt with A3 and killed a 230"+ on opening morning!

Consistency is the key to selecting your outfitter. There are so many outfitter and guide options available in AZ with all of them trumpeting their success and making the claims of being the best at what they do. Talking on the phone is little help as most will tell you exactly what you want to hear. None will tell you things that may deter you from booking a hunt with them. So how do you determine who the consistent legitimate producing outfitters are when feeling overwhelmed with options? Look for consistency...

 

Mark booked his 2011 archery hunt with A3 and killed a 226" freak! Marks buck was the largest AZ archery buck killed during the 2011 season.

Jeff also booked A3 for his 2011 bow hunt and killed this unreal typical!

Gayle booked one of our scouting packages for his 2011 bow hunt and harvested a stud 199" 4x5.

2011 was good to A3 clients. John and his monster 5x5 scoring an unreal 239" and was the second largest buck killed in AZ during the 2011 general season!!

Long time A3 guide Casey Carr killed the BIGGEST buck to come from AZ during the general deer hunts in 2011 with a whopper non-typical grossing 260"

Michael with his 2011 206" gross, net book typical guided by A3.

 

Mike also hunted with A3 in 2011 and smoked this 34" 230"+ gross stud on opening day!

Kelly killed his 205" buck after a tough 2011 hunt with A3.

The fact is this. Whether it is a Strip tag, a Kaibab tag, or an elk tag, most every outfitter can and will show you pictures of happy hunters holding a big animal. Most hunters are dreamers and can envision themselves as the one in the picture. This is effective marketing and it leads MANY clients into booking a hunt, only to live out a nightmare experience that was oversold and under delivered. When looking at pictures and considering an outfitters services, ask yourself these questions. How old is this picture? Is it current or recycled from the distant past? Is the hunter in the picture a legit client that booked a hunt, or is he a friend or acquaintance that agreed to let the outfitter use the picture on their website? It is fact that some Arizona outfitters are currently using pictures in a very deceptive manner to book hunters. While considering ANY outfitter, ask him questions about his kill pictures! Ask to speak to the hunters in the pictures as references!

 

Another subject to be aware of is marketing with trail camera pictures. Everyone uses trail cameras these days and their effectiveness cannot be denied. But I will say it again! "A trained monkey can set up a trail camera and get big bucks pictures!" But so very few actually convert those pictures into dead bucks for their clients. Do not just book a hunt based on big trail camera pictures. Getting a camera picture is an entirely different game than killing a huge deer in his home territory. My 4 year old daughter can show you trail camera pics of big deer.

Fraudulent use of pictures is rampant in this business! After all, anyone can post anything on the internet and some AZ outfitters are very effective at tricking clients and getting them booked.

 

Gary hunted with A3 in 2012 to kill his 220" gross buck archery buck. 2012 will go down in history as one of the worst drought years in AZ history. Big bucks were nearly non-existent, yet A3 still managed to harvest 2 bucks grossing over 220"! Consistency baby...

Fighting the droughted antlers of 2012, Rick still killed a 220" gross buck with a 212" typical frame with us and was the largest buck killed in unit 13B that season.

We are proud to state that we have guided our clients to the biggest bucks to come from Northern Arizona in the last 12 years. We invite you to call us and ask for our reference list of hunters that have hunted with us in 2013, 2012, 2011, 10 and so on, not some distant recycled go-to references that are guaranteed to give a glowing example. We invite you to ask for our unsuccessful references as well(although we have very few!) and ask them exactly why they were unsuccessful. We stand behind our service 110% and have nothing to hide. Every picture we use is a client that picked up the phone and called us just like you. We don't need to use misleading pictures. Nope, we just go out every year and work our tails off scouting, finding, and guiding our valuable clients to the biggest animals this state has to offer.

After being flooded out for 9 days by torrential rain, Todd killed a huge 34" wide 229" buck hunting with A3. Todds buck was the largest buck to be killed in AZ during the 2013 archery season.

Billy wanted to kill a big typical with his 2013 tag and that is exactly what he got. Billy's buck had 48" of mass!

Shane was laser focused on his 2013 hunt with A3 resulting in the LARGEST buck killed in AZ with a general deer tag! 35" wide and 246"+ gross!

Some fun facts about A3 Trophy Hunts and our history.

 

A3 clients have killed 14 bucks grossing over 220" inches.

 

A3 clients have killed the highest scoring general season bucks in Arizona with both archery and rifle 6 times in the last 5 years.

 

A3 clients have harvested 7 bucks over 230" since 2009.

 

These records are unmatched by ANY other outfitters available in AZ.

 

We can not stress enough the importance of consistency. Choose an outfitter whose clients get it done year in and year out. Trophy hunting is an odds game and choosing a quality, consistent outfitter will put the odds steeply in your favor.

 

 

No matter which outfitter you pick, make sure you do a thorough research job on them! AZ tags are truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Do not be one of the many hunters every year that makes a regretful decision and sadly watches their dream hunt slip through their fingers. Call A3 and let us explain in detail exactly why we are the best at what we do.

2014 Elk Hunts with A3 Trophy Hunts

Mossback Arizona + Arizona Strip Bucks = A3 Trophy Hunts LLC.


Ladies and Gentlemen it is that time again. The 2014 Elk and Antelope draw results are due out any day and the chaos has begun! We love this time year. Talking to excited hunters that have finally beat the long odds and drawn an Arizona permit! All those years, all those bonus points, all those decisions?...

We Dream Big at A3! Sheri did too and look what happened!

 A3 is here to help! If you have done any sort of research on Arizona outfitters, then your head may be spinning wondering what to do? So many outfitter options, many of which are good quality people that offer a good quality service. How do you choose? Well, let us explain a little about Arizona outfitters and Arizona hunting.

Is your dream to kill a 400" 6 point? Jim Sr. and Jim Jr. booked back to back hunts with A3 and both killed a 400"+ 6 point!

No secret that AZ tags are hard to come by and hence the value and expectation is at a premium. You invest the money and years and you rightfully expect a top quality hunt. When you book a guided hunt this expectation triples! When you begin talking to outfitters you need to be aware of how this game works. Many outfitters that you call will tell you exactly what you want to hear. "Yes we scout a lot". "Yes we are highly experienced", "Yes we are very handsome and are masters of our trade", etc.... So, how do you distinguish who is consistent and legit and who is just great at salesmanship? Easy answer, references and pictures.

Dreaming+Drawing+Booking with A3= 407" Bull for Manny!

Believe me, in today's world everyone has a guide license and big bull sticker on their truck. Internet marketing is bigger than ever before. Competition is fiercer than ever among AZ outfitters and ethics and morals often get thrown out the window in the battle to book clients. Some outfitters have evolved into "sub specialists" This means they will book your hunt and then "sub" it out to another guide service. You book with one outfitter only to find out that you are hunting with a completely different one! This is bait and switch. Be aware of it and ask about it to make sure it is not going to happen to you.

We take a different approach to booking our hunts. We believe that if you offer a superior service, and do it honestly, your service will sell itself. No tricks, gimmicks, lies or anything else needed. The foundation of A3's success record is firmly rooted in our guides. A3 Guides are the best in the business, no exceptions. They are honest, hard working and are as determined to succeed as you are. Our guides are exclusively A3 guides. They are unit specific and specialize in the same units every year. They are not individual guide services that we sub hunts out to. They are proud card carrying members of A3 and we are darn proud to have them with us! We will NEVER sub out your hunt just to get you booked and take your money, EVER. Our yearly capacity is preset by the number of quality guides we have and when our spots are full, that it is. We don't continue booking hunters and worry about finding guides later. EVERY hunt we book will be treated as top quality and you will never be just a face in the crowd. Your hunt will be a pre-planned, personalized effort, tailored to you, with the objective being to maximize your tags trophy potential.

Is your dream to watch your daughter kill a 400"+? Ashley's dads dream came true with A3.

So how do you know that the outfitter you are considering is not running a game on you? Again, references and pictures.

References give you the real story behind an outfitters name. The guys that were in your shoes the year prior offer the very best insight into the real workings of how an outfitters operates and hunts. I am not talking about some distant references that have been used for the last 10 years. I am talking about specific references that are from the prior year from the exact hunt you are considering. No BS allowed, just the straight story, straight from the horses mouth.

Next pictures. Pictures complete the story. After all, you are searching for an outfitter that will maximize your odds of success, not just feed you well and tell you stories. Pictures are the truth tellers behind the success claims. On the phone any outfitter can throw out big numbers about 400 this and 420 that. How many pictures from the prior years hunts can they produce that back up their claims?

New Mexico outfitter GT Nunn trusted the best outfitter in AZ to help him harvest his 414" giant!

A3 Trophy Hunts has set itself apart as the top producing outfitter for giant bulls in Arizona. This is undisputable. In 2013 alone, our clients harvested 4 bulls that grossed over 400" inches and several more 350"-390" as well. Here are some pictures to back that up. Over the last 5 years our clients have harvested 23 bulls that score over 380"! We invite you to call us and ask for our reference list from 2013. We have nothing to hide and no gimmicks to run at you. We know that the previous clients stories are all we need to provide to sell our service. We have dedicated our lives to your success. We have built a model that flat produces giant animals for our clients, year in year out. Many others are copying it, but they don't have the golden key that we have. We know we are the best at what we do and we want to offer that to you at a competitive price. Give us a call, you will be glad you did.



 

Anthony dreamed for 20 years before killing his huge bull. Do you want to talk to him about our service?

Private Land-

Do you want to hunt unpressured bulls and not have to worry about encountering other hunters while you stalk your Arizona Giant? We have exclusive hunting privileges to over 80,000 acres of Arizona private land. These ranches are located in unit 9 and unit 10. They are premium rutting areas for hundreds of elk every year. This makes for extremely action packed hunting with many close encounters and fantastic odds of killing your dream bull. Our unit 9 ranch is the only private land hunt available in unit 9! It is simply unreal! Our unit 10 ranches sit squarely in the middle of some the best big bull habitat in the entire unit. These hunts are as premium as they get.

Scouting Program-

Every last hunt we book is backed by our extensive scouting program. Besides the quality of our guides, our scouting program is the single biggest contributing factor to our uncontested harvest record. Our scouting coverage is year round, thorough, and absolutely unmatched in the units we hunt. Every year our hunts are planned around specific targeted bulls that are chosen as the biggest available in your unit that year. Book a hunt with us and you will be blown away by the scouting pictures and video that will fill your inbox. Guaranteed!

 

Jeff maximized his tag by booking with A3 . Make SURE you book with an outfitter that truly cares about your success.

 

This post is not meant as an attack on other outfitters in Arizona. Quite the contrary actually. The fact is that several of the best guides and outfitters in the U.S. operate in AZ, but unfortunately there are a few "less than desirable" outfits that are active and trying to book hunts. The good ones work hard and provide an honest service. We are great friends with many of our competitors and I know we all agree that every year we receive calls from gravely disappointed clients that booked with some other outfitter that fed them all the right lines over the phone, only to arrive on their hunt and find that guides were inexperienced, scouting was minimal or non-existent, and the hunt started bad and ended worse. By this time it far too late to press rewind and start over. DO NOT make this mistake. Do your due diligence and make sure that you are booked with an outfit that undersells and over delivers, not the other way around. Good luck!

PS- Here is a link to a video of some of our highlights exclusively from 2013! Unreal!-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODAJAcZW4_w

Also- Check out our brand new website here!- www.a3trophyhunts.com

Should you dream big on late hunts also? Ron did!