AZ OTC Elk

[Tsherwood65]

Thoughts & experiances on Arizona OTC Elk hunts?

 

[65swede]

Locals have hammered them down to nothing in most areas. The hunt around Winslow/Holbrook is going to be your best bet. You'll probably need to get permission to hunt private or get lucky hunting them in the Little Colorado River channel. The LCR in that area is basically a Tamarisk jungle, as close to unhuntable as it gets. The Verde Valley elk are pretty much gone from what I hear. I don't think any elk have been killed on the Alamo hunt in many years. I have done some work in the Gila area and saw elk but they were always outside the hunt area. If your a NR and considering it an option; you would be far better off going OTC in CO or ID.

 

[rustednuts]

Better off trying for a leftover tag.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/azgfd-portal-wordpress/azgfd.wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/13113242/leftovers-antelk-Mar11-Rev6.pdf

 

[Griggs]

Necro-posting...

So I’ve hunted the verde valley OTC since about 2010/2011. I still buy the OTC tag every year because why not?

I’ve only done the verde valley hunt. I’ve taken a small bull and a cow from there. That’s it in that whole time. And I would go allll the time.

I’ve bumped quite a few, and spoiled one hunt because I was waiting on a clear shot on a cow and forgot to turn off my cell and my wife called me. The elk somehow knew that a cellphone wasn’t a bird... long gone.

It’s a fun hunt because I usually do rifle hunts, but you get in nice and close, fresh sign, the smell in the air, you can hear them, but the bush can be thick enough that they’re only 20’ away but you can’t see them.

Necro-post because of this:

I was hunting VV right before deploying again a couple of months ago. I checked my usual areas that have some sign on a regular basis (rare sightings, basically a jungle), and decided to drive to one of my other areas.

On driving there, time stopped. I was going about 20mph on the gravel road and looked over to my right, just in time to see a massive bull making eye contact with me as my jaw hit my knee. He was about close enough to my vehicle to lick my passenger window. At least in the area of a 320 bull, made all the bigger by his laughter at my inability to possibly take him and close proximity. Since time had stopped utterly and completely, I was able to memorize every bit of his mocking face bowing his head down to see inside my vehicle as I passed by.

As obviously I decided to come to a slowed stop up ahead and see where he was heading, he had lazily crossed the VV hunt area into a no hunt zone that the road designated. So I watched him meander up and across the hill while I wept for the next hour or so. Knowing that I had just witnessed the last bull in the VV hunt leave for good.

Since I drew a unit 10 this year, I won’t be hunting anything other than lion in that AO (had one jump out of a tree 15 yards in front of me). But every other year I’ll continue to hunt it. Gives me practice with the worst possible hunt, to get better at tracking, glassing, stalking, etc.

 

[backcountry_sassn]

I’ve heard all the negatives about the nonpermit elk hunts. What I have discovered is the elk are there, of course not in high numbers, but there’s always a chance. A couple years ago I bought the $50 nonresident elk tag for the 13A/13B. For them to pretty much give the tags away I knew the pickings were slim but have heard of people getting them on trail cameras in the past. Took a lot of looking around online before I got a very small tip. The “I saw 2 cows cross the road once” kind of tip. That was all I had so I went for it. I decided to wait till 3rd week in September and only had one day. I figured it would be a shed hunting trip with my rifle. Did some google earth scouting and found an spot near where the guy saw 2 cows that looked decent. Started my hike in the dark and did a locator call. After a 30 sec pause I had a bull respond. This was before light and ended up following the group all day catching a glimpse of them a couple times. He wasn’t as vocal mid day but I could see their tracks. The trees where thick and it was tough to see. No idea how big the bull was but he got very vocal the last hour of light. I Headed back to the truck with the bull still bugling.

I know I got very lucky that day, but you never know when you’ll get the same luck. I know there is one guide who’s been 100% the last couple years on public land in one of the nonpermit units. So they are there.

 

[Bigjay73]

Necro-posting...

So I’ve hunted the verde valley OTC since about 2010/2011. I still buy the OTC tag every year because why not?

I’ve only done the verde valley hunt. I’ve taken a small bull and a cow from there. That’s it in that whole time. And I would go allll the time.

I’ve bumped quite a few, and spoiled one hunt because I was waiting on a clear shot on a cow and forgot to turn off my cell and my wife called me. The elk somehow knew that a cellphone wasn’t a bird... long gone.

It’s a fun hunt because I usually do rifle hunts, but you get in nice and close, fresh sign, the smell in the air, you can hear them, but the bush can be thick enough that they’re only 20’ away but you can’t see them.

Necro-post because of this:

I was hunting VV right before deploying again a couple of months ago. I checked my usual areas that have some sign on a regular basis (rare sightings, basically a jungle), and decided to drive to one of my other areas.

On driving there, time stopped. I was going about 20mph on the gravel road and looked over to my right, just in time to see a massive bull making eye contact with me as my jaw hit my knee. He was about close enough to my vehicle to lick my passenger window. At least in the area of a 320 bull, made all the bigger by his laughter at my inability to possibly take him and close proximity. Since time had stopped utterly and completely, I was able to memorize every bit of his mocking face bowing his head down to see inside my vehicle as I passed by.

As obviously I decided to come to a slowed stop up ahead and see where he was heading, he had lazily crossed the VV hunt area into a no hunt zone that the road designated. So I watched him meander up and across the hill while I wept for the next hour or so. Knowing that I had just witnessed the last bull in the VV hunt leave for good.

Since I drew a unit 10 this year, I won’t be hunting anything other than lion in that AO (had one jump out of a tree 15 yards in front of me). But every other year I’ll continue to hunt it. Gives me practice with the worst possible hunt, to get better at tracking, glassing, stalking, etc.

This is the first time I've heard from someone that's had success with an OTC tag. Thanks for the story.