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17a etc... Early Archery Elk ???

Any of you guys familiar with this (these) units for elk during the early archery season?

Trying to get a feel for the type of terrain you'd find them in during that part of the year. If you have any pics or video's of exploring any of that elk country, I'd love to see it.

I drove by there after taking the hunter ed class with Don earlier in the month, but got snowed on hard and couldn't see a thing and headed toward 22N before I had to head home. I'm still a few years away most likely, but would love to go scout something different with way fewer possible hunters and posse's in the field.

Cheers, Pete

Hey there Pete, I chased elk around in that group unit with 17B, 18B, 19B, 20A and 20C last September. My hunting buddy drew that 3 week hunt, was up there about the entire time, and ate tag soup. He got with a herd and a big bull for a couple days, but them bulls know where that Baca Float ranch is, and hop back and forth with any pressure. As you could expect, lots of private land to navigate, so those other tags are skirting the few public places as well. Prior to the late Sept storms, it was pretty dry, so we sat water from time to time as well. Landscape looks like ranch-land in most parts, with open flats, rolling PJ areas, with some typical timber sections in others. Not a ton of places to climb up and glass, so terrain isn't bad for footwork, if that is an issue.

It would be a cool place if the rut was hitting hard. We would hear bugling early on, but they all seemed to shut up or jump to private as soon as it was 5 or 6a.m.

Not what most would consider the best elk habitat. The elk concentrations are low throughout those units. Hard hunts, but can be done if you are in the right place at the right time. Coming from out of state I would recommend skipping these unless you just want a tag or are willing and able to spend a lot of time scouting to find the herds and can stay on them. In a unit like 1 or 3C, you could probably randomly point at a spot on a map and find some elk nearby. These, not so much!

Agreed Heat. As a resident, my buddy just wants to hunt every year if he can, even if the populations are low. With Pete being a non-resident, I wouldn't waste my points.

I would not burn points to hunt in those units, just sayin.

They are called "limited opportunity" for a reason. Giant bulls that require inside knowledge or private to access.

Thanks guys !!! I still plan to go scouting there, but until I get more time to really know it a bit better I don't think I'll pick it to try to win the lottery on :) I'd still love to see if there are any youtube vids or anything with some scenes of the area? Cheers, Pete

There is a video of a late rifle hunt there I saw on u tube

Mostly rolling P&J country, with some areas of pines and some rugged areas. Very low elk densities, and G&F is trying to keep it that way. I wouldn't waste my points as a NR.

It's interesting that Toprut shows 17a as the third hardest unit to draw behind 9 and 10 in AZ for early archery ??? Someone drew in 2018 with 18 points. Hope they got into some elk Cheers, Pete

If someone applied for that hunt with 18 points that is where a fool and their points parted ways. Unless you got some big bucks to hunt some of the private

That's odd. I wonder if it has to do with how the non-resident draw system works for AZ, since there are so few tags. Hunt AZ 2017 edition says only around 100 people/year applied for the early archery hunt in those units.

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