Arizona Elk Scouting

[Danson In The Desert]

A friend and I were blessed to draw Az late rifle elk tags this year. As Az residents, but from the other side of the state we think we'll only have time for four 1-2 day scouting trips.
Saturday was our first foray into the unit and it is beautiful country. We focused on familiarizing ourselves with the topography, roads, trailheads, and burns throughout the unit and at various elevations so we have options depending on snow, road closures, and hunter pressure.
We saw a couple dozen elk, about 75 deer, a bighorn, a few turkeys, and lots of small game. Even though we prioritized scouting the area and not looking for elk we were a little concerned that we didn't glass more elk. The elk we did see were not where we expected. Almost all of them were down around 6000' instead of being up in what we expected to be normal summer range. We did see sign up high, but it was not as fresh as we were hoping for.
We are thinking that maybe they were staying low for water or that we just happened to see a couple resident herds low and missed the rest up high.
We are both fairly inexperienced elk hunters and are worried that we are missing something.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
In the mean time, here are pictures as a thank you for reading this far.
*I didn't take them, the guy I drew with did.

 

[Valgrego]

A friend and I were blessed to draw Az late rifle elk tags this year. As Az residents, but from the other side of the state we think we'll only have time for four 1-2 day scouting trips.
Saturday was our first foray into the unit and it is beautiful country. We focused on familiarizing ourselves with the topography, roads, trailheads, and burns throughout the unit and at various elevations so we have options depending on snow, road closures, and hunter pressure.
We saw a couple dozen elk, about 75 deer, a bighorn, a few turkeys, and lots of small game. Even though we prioritized scouting the area and not looking for elk we were a little concerned that we didn't glass more elk. The elk we did see were not where we expected. Almost all of them were down around 6000' instead of being up in what we expected to be normal summer range. We did see sign up high, but it was not as fresh as we were hoping for.
We are thinking that maybe they were staying low for water or that we just happened to see a couple resident herds low and missed the rest up high.
We are both fairly inexperienced elk hunters and are worried that we are missing something.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
In the mean time, here are pictures as a thank you for reading this far.
*I didn't take them, the guy I drew with did.
View attachment 182350View attachment 182351View attachment 182352View attachment 182353View attachment 182354View attachment 182355View attachment 182357

I drew a November muzzleloader bull tag in 3B. What area are you hunting? Great pix, it's beautiful country in N AZ

 

[ImBillT]

Why would they be in summer range? it’s almost 50 days until summer.

 

[Danson In The Desert]

@Valgrego we'll be over in eastern Az.
@ImBillT The best grass we saw was up high and it's been up in the 80s. I figured that was enough to get them moving.
But, I should have worded my summer range statement differently. We were hiking in summer range and glassing into sanctuaries and transition. That's where I was primarily expecting to see bulls.

 

[coleslaw]

How's the drought factor? Is it as bad as they are saying? Drew a tag for 6A and I've been keeping an eye on the drought monitor ever since.

 

[Danson In The Desert]

@coleslaw I had never set for in the unit before Saturday, so I can't speak to what it normally is like. That being said, many areas up high had so much grass it looked like an overgrown lawn. Some tanks were dry, some tanks were full, and there were multiple streams were running. There was a small rain/snow storm the week before, but I don't think that caused all the greenery we saw.

 

[The_Hunter_Dave]

@Danson In The Desert I just moved to Alpine about a month ago. Elk everywhere.... Crazy enough, we are already seeing antler growth on our trail cameras. I have been spending an egregious amount of time in Unit 1. Not sure exactly where you are going to be spending your time, but the really large elk are already showing. Something to get excited for!

 

[HalfAce]

It’s not Arizona, but southern Utah was stupid dry this weekend. Both low and high elevation.

 

[Danson In The Desert]

@The_Hunter_Dave Nice picture, I love when their racks are almost flat like that. The one confirmed bull we saw had 6"-8" browtines already. At first I saw him head on and thought he was a spike, but when he turned his head I got excited quick.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

The Elk are going to be where the the water is...
Monsoons this year? I think not.
Areas 6a - 6b look in the creekbeds and springs.
By season start I predict all the water holes will be dry.
Good luck to all who drew tags this year, it's getting harder to draw
every year.

 

[KDCBowhunt]

I drew a November muzzleloader bull tag in 3B. What area are you hunting? Great pix, it's beautiful country in N AZ

How did you make out on your late muzzy hunt?

 

[kevinbethje]

How did the hunt go?

 

[Valgrego]

How did you make out on your late muzzy hunt?

We got skunked! Very strange hunt. We only saw one small herd just before sunrise on opening day, and some other hunters walked right into them and poof! They were gone! Nothing after that.

 

[KDCBowhunt]

We got skunked! Very strange hunt. We only saw one small herd just before sunrise on opening day, and some other hunters walked right into them and poof! They were gone! Nothing after that.

That's interesting. I've heard mixed reviews on that hunt. Either absolutely nothing or killing branch antlered bulls after seeing a ton of spikes.

 

[ericlpd7]

A friend and I were blessed to draw Az late rifle elk tags this year. As Az residents, but from the other side of the state we think we'll only have time for four 1-2 day scouting trips.
Saturday was our first foray into the unit and it is beautiful country. We focused on familiarizing ourselves with the topography, roads, trailheads, and burns throughout the unit and at various elevations so we have options depending on snow, road closures, and hunter pressure.
We saw a couple dozen elk, about 75 deer, a bighorn, a few turkeys, and lots of small game. Even though we prioritized scouting the area and not looking for elk we were a little concerned that we didn't glass more elk. The elk we did see were not where we expected. Almost all of them were down around 6000' instead of being up in what we expected to be normal summer range. We did see sign up high, but it was not as fresh as we were hoping for.
We are thinking that maybe they were staying low for water or that we just happened to see a couple resident herds low and missed the rest up high.
We are both fairly inexperienced elk hunters and are worried that we are missing something.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
In the mean time, here are pictures as a thank you for reading this far.
*I didn't take them, the guy I drew with did.
View attachment 182350View attachment 182351View attachment 182352View attachment 182353View attachment 182354View attachment 182355View attachment 182357

How did your hunt go? Looks like maybe unit 10?

 

[Taxidermy Services Tucson]

Awesome picks! Good luck on your adventure.