Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Treating Your Elk Hunt Like One of Our Own.




Well it has started. Arizona started charging the cards of the lucky individuals that beat the odds and drew a tag on what is shaping up to be a flat incredible year. Amazing things are going to happen in the hills this season. Its virtually guaranteed with the amount of precipitation we are getting. Some areas in Arizona are 300% above average. Every drop or flake that falls grows antler. If you drew this year, you are indeed blessed. Portal account results are expected anyday now...


2017


2017

2017

We have been talking to several potential clients that have credit card charges. Many book a hunt with us instantly because they have either hunted with A3 before or have a trusted confidant that has hunted with us. They know what we are about and there is no hesitation. After all, we are a finite company and we will reach our max capacity sooner than later. In fact, let me talk about our capacity for minute.

Some of our new potential clients that call are talking to other Arizona outfitters as well as to us before they make their final booking decision. This is good due diligence and helps ensure a good decision is made. Some of the fine people we talk to have expressed concern about the size of our operation and think they might potentially not receive the individual attention they are are seeking for their hunt. We wanted to explain exactly why we feel our service is large, while at the same time being small. That confused me as I wrote it also! My apologies, let me explain...
2018

2017

2018

2017

When the three of us started guiding in Arizona we were all part of a small operation. Our camps were personal and intimate affairs that often were only made up of one or two hunters. We took pride in our work and did the very best we could. We slowly and steadily etched out our place in the Arizona dirt one hunt at a time. We are proud of that. It helped make us who we are today. We struggled to pay the bills while doing what we loved but we made it work. When we came together and formed A3 we founded it on a promise to one another. We would build and keep this company at the top in Arizona and there is only one way to stay on top. Consistency...

Eastern Arizona

Eastern Arizona
One of the advantages that we get to utilize within A3 is the fact we have access to an adequate amount of scouting funds. The level of scouting that we enact statewide every single year costs a lot of money. But the level of scouting we enact every year is the fundamental reason we maintain our high level of success. When we were small individual outfitters we had to stretch every last dollar and it was common for us to regularly scout ourselves into a financial hole. At the end of the day we barely scraped by guiding hunts. No regrets here though, every day and every valuable hunt was gold in the form of experience. With our current growth, size and ability, we are truly able to pull out all the stops when it comes to scouting, and scouting is the ticket to cashing in on your once in a lifetime Arizona bull tag.
Eastern Arizona
We guide and outfit hunts in every top unit in the state and many of the second tier units as well. More often than not we kill the best bulls in every unit in the state that we guide. The reason we do this is year in and year out is 100% due to the guides we have chosen. They live locally to the the units they guide. They guide the exact same units, year in and year out. We remember when we were a small operation trying to make our mark in the business. We would book the first hunters that called, regardless of unit drawn. First come and first served. While this kept us busy and gaining experience, we found ourselves jumping all around the state, seldom if ever hunting the same units two years in a row. We hunted as hard as humanly possible and ground out success on many a tough hunt. In the end we made it work and we became better for it, but years of experience have taught us the hard way. If you hunt the same unit year in and year out you become a 110% more effective killer and guide than if you bounce around yearly. Being able to focus on one to two units allows you to learn every fold in the country, every water hole, wallow and bedding area in the unit. You learn where the elk live when they aren't pressured and, more importantly, what they do when they are pressured. You learn where no one else hunts at all and the elk receive no pressure. You learn the habits by following individual bulls over the years as they grow into giants. In short, you learn how to become a well tuned killer in your own little world. This was the first building block when A3 was born. We slowly built a family of guides that lived in or near the units they guide and then we booked our valuable clients with them. Same guides, same units, same consistency...

Eastern Arizona

2017
A decent number of our potential clients express their concern if they are unable to be assigned one of the A3 owners as their guide. We wanted to explain in depth the true nuts and bolts that we operate with. One long look through our picture gallery (Instagram @a3trophyhunts is the most complete) show not just  a few pictures of trophy quality animals. It shows literally dozens of every species in our state. Not the same recycled photos from years gone by but all of the most current animals from the most recent hunts. This alone proves the value of our guides and shows first hand that our incredible success is not gained by a favored 2 or 3 guides or by solely the company owners. In fact, the owners will be the first to say that our guides are vastly superior to us in the units they guide in.

Eastern Arizona

Eastern Arizona

Unit 1

 Every member of A3 has their strong points and we build on the that and operate within them. We are surely not to proud to admit that our guides are better than we are! One of the best pieces of business advice I have ever received was this. "Surround yourself with people better than yourself and you will always succeed." We have based our entire company on this belief and we are beyond proud to say that we have done just that. Our guides are the best available within our state, within each of their units and within each of their spots they are anxiously waiting to show to you this coming fall. Feel free to call around, but then call and book with us. We guarantee you will not regret it. Our camps are still intimate and personal in each unit. We truly are large while at the same time staying small...