Arizona Late Rifle

[Minimalist_Hunter]

Hey everyone, I have drawn a late rifle tag in 3A/3C. I know these units are more known for their archery and early rifle hunts, but I was curious if anyone could give me an idea as to expectations for this hunt. I've only shot a cow so I would be thrilled with any bull. I know there's going to be a good number of hunters, and a lot of the elk will have probably made it on the reservation by this hunt. I look for the elk that are still in the unit to be in the worst terrain I can find. It looks like there's a lot of roads according to onX so it could be a task getting away from people. I've heard mixed opinions on this hunt. Some have said its a pretty good hunt, and some have said to it's awful. I'm hoping the ones that have said it was awful were just lazy during their hunt or had too high of expectations. Does anyone have any thoughts on expectations and elk numbers during this later hunt? I would appreciate any information you guys have.

 

[Blackcats06]

You're correct on there are roads everywhere. And that's an understatement. I don't believe you can get a mile from any road, and people will be driving every road. As for terrain, its not rough at all. Its pretty flat. Your best bet is to hunt the junipers north of hwy 260, most hunters will be south of the hwy.

An honest opinion on the hunt. Shoot the first thing with antlers. In my opinion, its one of the toughest late bull hunts in the state.

That being said, its been a great year for moisture and any AZ bull tag has the potential to be filled with a monster.

 

[88man]

My cousin had the tag 6 years ago and I helped him on his hunt. We saw bulls every day but they were small and he ended up passing on everything we saw and he didn't fill his tag. If you never killed a bull you should have a good time and a fun hunt. My worst memory of that hunt was I lost my leica 1600 rangefinder! The belt strap must have torn and it broke loose of my belt in the Junipers. Feel free to Pm me if you want some general info I can look at the maps and see what I remember. However, I am by no means an expert on the unit as we only hunted it one time.

 

[danr55]

We've had luck in 3C by hiking along the Reservation fence and finding a place where the elk were crossing. Then setting up an ambush and waiting. There were not a lot of people down there that year..

 

[Gustovich]

Get the onx chip. Id watch all of randy newbergs videos on late season/ post rut elk. As well as his videos on hunting boundaries. When it came time to hunt id be hunting that reservation boundary as far from a road as I could get.

 

[Minimalist_Hunter]

Thanks guys! I appreciate the insight. I'll let everybody know how it goes.