Arizona unit 23 rifle elk hunt

[JColony]

Alright, I'm throwing out a life line here. My nephew was lucky enough to draw a rifle tag for unit 23 her in AZ. I have spent a number of days up scouting for him and did find good sign, just not as fresh as I would like. Here's the kicker. He's a senior in high school and has his mind set on going to either West Point or the Air Force Academy and found out last week he has his an interview on Saturday 12/1. So, what was originally going to be a 4.5 day hunt (1 scout day on the 29th) has now been shrunk to a 2, possibly 1.5 day hunt. He's hoping to get to camp mid day on 12/1, but is unsure if he'll be able to get out of town early enough.
Any help would be greatly appreciated! This is his first hunt, our only goal is to find a bull, and I really want to help him be successful. Thanks in advance for any info you're willing to share

 

[PAGOAT]

No help, but good luck. I hope he finds a good bull.

 

[Howdy]

Look in the old burn at the upper canyon creek area.
Far NE corner of unit.

Down south of Young too, Less elk down
n there But saw some nice bulls.

Christofer cr.
Mescal ridge area

 

[JColony]

Thanks, I'll check those areas out.

 

[Bigjay73]

2nd the burn area. West of the creek by the C&R area can hold a lot of elk also. It's a great turkey area also if you hunt gobblers in the spring

 

[SHEDZILLA]

I just got back from the archery hunt in 23, PM me if you would like

 

[JColony]

PM sent Shedzilla, thanks!!

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Good Luck!dirtclod Az.

 

[JColony]

Update on the kids hunt!
First off, I want to thank everyone that shared info. Its great knowing there is a community like this one that is willing to provide so much help!

Despite the extremely small window of time we had to hunt and the horrible weather encountered, I did manage to find my nephew a bull! The wet weather early made many of the roads I was pointed towards nearly impassable and not worth the risk of getting stuck while solo. The areas I was able to get to for glassing were either so socked in that I couldn't see 50' or loaded with cattle. Saturday night, we made a move to the north end of the unit with the plan to hit the south side of Christopher Mt. But when we got to the rim we were met with blizzard conditions and again, I feared we wouldn't be able to get to where we needed to be by truck. So at this point, we're on about "Plan Z", which was no idea what we were going to do. In a last ditch effort to find something to do, I poured over the maps and found a drainage that had a decent amount of space between roads and threw a hail mary. Turns out it was a good plan after all. Spotted this guy and his buddy as they crossed a burn area and watched them bed down. At that point, it was game on! We had about a mile to cover and with the way the weather was going it was a crap shoot if they would stay bedded. Lucky for us they did! Got across the canyon and after sitting on them for an hour, I decided to give them some help standing up. I threw rocks, broke sticks, but they just didn't care! So in a last ditch effort, I let out a Whoop, Whoop! That did the trick, up they stood, then down he went. One shot, high shoulder, and he the hunt was over. Well, the easy part that is.

Thanks again for all that offered info!!

 

[rmyoung1]

Congratulations! That's really awesome.

 

[dididraw]

Good for him! Hope he did well with his interview as well.

 

[WapitiBob]

Congrats that's awesome

 

[Bowhuntrben]

Very nice! Congrats to you guys!

 

[GAbearclaw]

Very cool indeed!

 

[Gr8bawana]

Well done! Congrats to you and the young man.

 

[JColony]

Good for him! Hope he did well with his interview as well.

Well, apparently it went well! He already heard back and got the appointment for both West Point and the Air Force Academy. No he just needs to get accepted into the school