I have put in well over 30 days of scouting. I've found sign almost everywhere I look but not much and not for long. It seems like when I find some fresh sign and return to find the elk they have moved on. It is like these elk are totally nomadic. I have tried almost all the areas that everybody knows about and plenty that I think don't get much pressure. I have seen sign from what must be good bulls but I have yet to lay eyes on one. I know there are some out there and I know of some seen already this year but I'm beginning to think it is just luck if you run into one.
I've got one more three day weekend to scout before the hunt starts so if anybody has any tips I'll be happy to listen. If you want to flame me for e-scouting go right ahead because that is exactly what I'm doing but keep in mind there is probably no place anybody is going to tell me that I haven't already been to at least once on my own. I really don't like chasing other people's info most of the time because I get so much more out of doing the work myself and then seeing a plan come together. Right now I already have plans A, B & C but they aren't great plans just because the elk seem to come and then go for days at a time. I have one little spot where I haven't seen a bull yet but I know there are at least two good ones there based on the sign. I hoping they will start talking this weeked so I can find them for a look. That's plan A.
I'll humbly and gratefully accept any tips however.
Thanks Chris
I'll start by saying that I really can't help you on your hunt.
Don't worry about the e-scouting thing. I think the ill feelings generally root from folks that are complete strangers coming to the forum with a request like "I put in for unit 11M by accident and drew. Does anyone have a honeyhole to recommend?", not the regulars that are working hard, just not finding what they're looking for. After all isn't that what forums like this are all about?
Have a great hunt!
Nick
Thanks for the info. I made this post last night mostly just to vent my frustrations while I was studying maps and aerial photos trying to figure out where to scout this weekend.
I have been all over 17A, 17B, N part of 18B, and 19B. I haven't really scouted 18A but I was thinking about heading up there this weekend. I have checked probably 75 tanks etc. I'm sure I'm just expecting too much from this hunt. There are just so few elk compared to the amount of area. Like I said, I can find elk almost everywhere I look but they just don't hang around. I'm used to finding a big bull and just "camping out" on them for days or weeks until the season opens. Every time I find a good looking spot and go back it just gets deserted.
I dont remember the name of the ranch that charges $5000 access fee, but they kill bulls there just about every year that break the 400" mark. If I had yer tag, I would be hunting the fringes of that ranch. Someone here will know the name of the ranch, I just can't think of it.
I started my first post by giving some qualifications just so people wouldn't assume I didn't know jack about elk hunting or didn't get out and scout. I'm not trying to brag although I am proud of how hard I've worked for my success. I sure wouldn't mind just getting lucky this season though.
11 points,
That is probably the ORO ranch. I've been all around it and it is the same story. Just not a lot of concentrated sign. Mostly just a few here and a few there and not all the time. I think a lot of guys hunt around it. It is really good looking country. In fact that is where I first started scouting last spring. Reminds me of 6A or 22. Man it really looks good now. The rains have been great all summer and the juniper hills look like Montana with grass 3'tall. Should be elk all over it. There is another ranch off I-40 that I haven's scouted around because there is so much private land to deal with up there.
Bubbas,
Thanks for the advice. You are right that I have been planning for them to bugle. I have some experience keeping track of bulls too. Back in 1997 I spent thirty days in a row scouting for one bull. Yes, everyday, by myself. I was driven. I spent the last two weeks of that time following him every day and night. Killed him opening day. In 2001 I spotted my bull over 40 days before the hunt started. I wasn't able to follow him everyday but I was able to find him every day I looked for him during that time. Probably over 30 different days. Killed that one opening day too. Spent 25 days scouting for my wife's hunt in 2002. That was a bad drought year and it was tough finding a good bull. Finally the day before the season opened they started to really rut and I found a bull for her. She killed that toad opening day too. So, yeah, maybe my expectations for this hunt are too high. I'm just not putting THAT much effort into it. But you are right, following bugles all night is probably what I'll have to do. I'm just worried about finding the bugles. So much country out there.
Unfortunately, now I have a real job (and two kids that I don't want to abandon)and I just don't feel the need to kill the biggest bull in the unit or some particular bull because I know how much work it takes. If I found a 450 bull out there for this hunt I'd sure try to find him again but I wouldn't work as hard as I did for those other hunts. I just don't care that much anymore either. If I can get in an area with some action I can make the rest happen. There is nothing sadder than being out elk hunting during the rut and not hearing a bugle. The way things look in these units that is a real possibility if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. The problem is finding an area where the elk seem to stay around or figuring out where they go when they are gone. From what I can tell these bulls walk THROUGH areas but don't stay around.
Like I said, I'm probably just expecting too much. I'm hoping the few bulls that I think I can find will be calling this weekend so I can get a look at them. I'm sure it will get better once the rut starts.
Actually, I am confident enough in my hunting skills and scouting that I think I have a pretty good chance on this hunt as long as the rut gets going. I'm just frustrated compared to my scouting in other units. I have a couple areas that I've never heard anybody mention where I have found some good bull sign and I'm hoping nobody will be hunting there because there are only one or two bulls to go after. I'm not going to be too picky and (since it is an any elk tag) if a cow walks out in front of me late in the hunt she might be in trouble.
Thanks again for the info.
Anybody out there hunt this last season? Did it come alive?
This is the information on the ranch that 11 points mentioned. For what it is worth, there is a substantial fee for hunting the ranch, Primos and others have paid it and done pretty well, a couple years ago a father son team from Bullhead area each took 400 class bulls. There is public land bordering the ranch but I don't know any more than that.
I can see paying for a guided hunt where you get some service and professional skill and experience but I do not like the idea of paying huge fees for access. I guess I'll just have to find someplace else in the 1000's of square miles available to me. Plus that ranch is in checkerboard lands so about half of the land they are selling is really state land that they lock up. I'm not buying.
In our conversation he said finding elk on his (he manages the ranch for a female owner if I remember correctly) ranch would be no trouble at all. He estimated there were 600 elk on the ranch also known as the Baca Float. I was really surprised to there that many elk were in the area.
I have seen elk in two places. One was just north of the 7-up ranch and I saw a herd of about 25. The other place was back in the mid 80's and I saw them up on Juniper mesa. We were riding horses up there and we rode right up on them.
As you probably know, there is sign all over the western third of 17a and eastern 1/4 of 18B. Rubs and sign everywhere but rarely an elk sighted. I have never been there when the elk are rutting but I always wondered what it would be like.
Good Luck on you hunt. I know of a guy who has an archery cow tag in there this year too. As I recall, he has not had much luck finding them either.
Make sure you have a lion tag. Chuck said they were doing a number on the deer herds.
I had a lion walk across the road in front of me a couple months ago up there. Too bad AZGFD gve into the antis on the season. It is really weird that there is elk sign everywhere (but usually not a lot) but you hardly ever see an elk. And glassing them up is almost impossible in that country.
Juniper mesa is the first place I saw elk in that area probably 15 years ago. Great looking habitat but they seem to come and go a lot. I think that 7 up area gets hunted pretty hard and I bet a lot of the elk get pushed onto the baca. I'm not sure since I've never been there during the hunt either. I'll still probably hunt near there if my other spots don't produce.
Thanks for the tips.
Chris