mc68

Don't think for a minute you won't run into any illegals. Last year my son had a hunt down there and we were stalking in on a buck and this "guy" came walking up on us. Scarded the heck out of my son. He gave us some crazy story of him and a buddy out hiking and said they had an argument and that he was looking for a road. This was early in the morning and he had come through some of the worst country the unit has. He had no light or anything, had to have been a rough night. I pointed the way to town and he went on his way. As soon as I could get service I reported it and met up later with Border Patrol. He told me that the guy was most likely a guide and had left the people he was bringing across to fend for themselves when the heat was coming on them. The officer also told me that they are using the back country more and more because of the increased security along the roads. Bottom line is be ready for anything and be careful. Good luck. Might see you down there since my son drew that tag again....

We had this exact scenario in my family a couple years ago. My brother hit a bull on the last evening of the hunt. He notified G&F that night of what had happened. They told him to go ahead And go see if he could retrieve the animal the next morning. They also told him not to carry weapons with him, because if it was not dead he did not have the right to kill it at that point. Long story short he found the bull and for both the meat and the horns. A Warden did come by and checked everything out later on. I really think that phone call the night before the close of the season is critical.

Has anyone heard how Scott Adams did on his hunt?

Thanks Amanda. I kinda figured you were up there. Looking forward to his sons pics and story.

One of my favorite bulls I've seen this year! Great job again!

Awesome bull right there!!

Thanks. Looking forward to pics and story...

Hoyt Ruckus...nuff said

Lets see em!!

I've been pushing for this for years and haven't gotten anywhere yet with it. I would like to hear what you guys think about it. My thought is that I would love to see the Archery Elk hunts stratified similar to the way they do the Spring Turkey hunts. I would love to see TWO seperate 10 day hunts. The first one could run like September 10-19 every year then the second hunt run September 20-29th. Then the Early rifle hunt open on the 30th. By doing this the G&F could actually sell a few more tags each hunt because the success rate would drop a little and the people will get drawn more frequently because of the increase in hunt options. Seems to me that this would also work very well for the outfitters. I really don't see a down side to this other than the hunts would start on a certain day every year instead of on a Friday. So what's your thoughts?

That is exactly it rookiearcher. The more hunt choices the better your chances of drawing due to playing odds. That's why I stated that you COULD draw more often but you would DEFINITELY have fewer hunters in the field at the same time thus probably leading to a more positive experience. I have never heard of a hunter coming on here complaining of too few people in the woods but it is very common to hear of too many folks out there. Just thinking it would be a great way to enjoy the outdoors even more and to hopefully offer more hunting opportunity. Thanks for the comments.

Guys these are exactly a couple more of the reasons I like the stratified idea. One of the main reasons that so many people go on an archery hunt to "assist" is because they can't get drawn and when you do you want to take full advantage of it. Stratifying the hunt WILL lower the people in the field during the hunt offering a more quality experience. And if right now there are 20 archery hunt choices in the state, and you increased that to 40 choices don't you agree that you could draw more often? Thank you for your input, I just try to clear things up as to my thoughts....as that's the most important one right?! And, the Cardinals got handled today!!

The dates I propose don't affect those hunts...that's why I chose them. At least not the deer.

Elkaholic you seem to be on the fence with this, j/k. Can I ask why you don't like the idea?

Confused by your comment Outdoor writer. I'm guessing you didn't understand what he said? Now instead of only 1 choice per unit you will have 2. This doubles the amount of choices you have to put in for therefore the frequency that you get drawn CAN increase and it reduces the amount of hunters in the field at the same time.

Want to clear up a couple things. Muledeer33 I am pretty sure they rotate the early hunts between 1,27&3C. On the 3rd year each unit will have the muzzleloader hunt. Also, I agree about 1 & 27 this year being cluster but it happened the same exact way in 3C after the fire over there. Coues79 explained the system very well and I just honestly want to know what fellow sportsman think about it. Please try and keep the G&F bashing out of it...

I don't think I explained this well enough...I will give an example. Say a unit right now offers 200 archery tags. I would like them to break that into 2 different 10 day hunts, each of them with 100 tags. They have already done this with Turkey and the overall opinion as I understand has been positive. I don't want more tags sold either, but they could increase each of the hunts by as small amount and still meet their harvest objectives. Is what I want is for more Hunting opportunity without sacrificing the positive experience. I honestly would think that people with a lot of points would push for a system like this so that we can all get a chance to hunt Elk more frequently. I for one would rather lose a few days on the length of the hunt and increase the number of tags I could have in my hunting career. I hope this explains it better.

Cool that people are willing to help. Doesn't hurt that its an archery tag during the rut...probly have several guys ready to go chase some bugling bulls! Good luck and make sure to post the pics.

Congrats AJ. Great looking bull. A story would be nice. Interested in your shot. Almost looks like maybe a frontal? Fill us in bud!!

Really trphy? I had several things to say but its just not even worth my time. This site is becoming such a joke anymore. But congrats on your bull.

Oops...missed 3 bulls between 350 & 370?! Might want to hang out in camp and do some bow tuning?!

Stalking bulls in their beds can be done but if you blow a big bull out of his bedding area it is a good chance you have just lost your chance at ever getting him. Not looking for a debate on this,I just hope we don't start having everyone pushing elk out of the country because they are trying to slip into bedding areas.

Nice bull Shaun.