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What I suspect this will do (for the time being, until they feel they need to "renegotiate" access terms again so they can soak hunters for even more money) is leave a few more big bulls for the late rifle hunt guys. But that seems like the only real positive.

Brother and I were talking about just this in elk camp last week. Tinkering with or trying to steal a vehicle in the woods should be dealt with as horse thieves were allowed to be dealt with back in the day, and for the same reasons. In some areas in AZ, or in your case with a diabetic friend, the disabling or loss of a vehicle could put someone in a serious survival jeopardy if they aren't prepared or if there is a medical emergency. I sometimes leave things of value in a tent or camper (laptop, spare binos, etc) if I'm pretty remote, but never a firearm. I get nervous leaving the AR or a backup rifle locked up in the truck when out scouting or hunting, but never leave a firearm unsecured. Things are getting to the point these days where I will start running a sturdy cable and lock through trigger guards or mag wells and around a rear seat mount when leaving a firearm in a vehicle for the day. In a remote area where it is "just hunters" about, I don't worry too much, but when you've got other "recreational users" or potential opportunists in the area, things change. One reason I guess I'll never own a Yetti cooler!

From my understanding it is not the owners (Navajos) but rather the lessee. Probably splitting hairs though. I don't believe for one second the ranch is trying to "provide more in the way of a quality experience to the hunters that access the ranch", and seem to recall that they were making a push for landowner tags in the past. My guess is they want to jack up the access fees, and will probably continue to do so until they begin to see a reduction in revenue from the higher fees. I do believe this is all about one thing, and that is making as much money off of hunters as possible, and profit in some manner from the state's (our) wildlife. If their ultimate goal (and it seems it is) is to close off the ranch completely except for leasing out hunting rights to outfitters or rich hunters, my hope is G&F closes that section of the unit to all hunting, and decreases the U10 tag allotment accordingly. Let the lessee deal with the overpopulation of elk, and deal with the coyotes, lions, etc. That would, however, immediately spur the ranch into action to demand a legal method to control wildlife population on the ranch that is impacting their cattle operations negatively. In other words....landowner tags. And I imagine they'd ultimately get it, other ranchers would follow suit, and we'd lose a good chunk of hunting areas in this state. I personally do not have an issue with paying the current fee. It seems reasonable to hunt this area I love. Damage is undoubtedly done to their road system by hunters during the wet months, and certainly much more so than they would have if there were no hunting on the ranch. There are costs involved for them to maintain some of these roads and keep them passable for ranch vehicles and equipment. The problem I will have is if they start jacking up the costs to profit off of hunters. I do believe the "damage" and incidents reported over the years on the ranch have been over exaggerated by the ranch, and have been used at leverage in an attempt to first obtain hunter access fees, and to now attempt an increase in those fees. A cleaner, more well kept non-national park, "public access land" area in AZ, would be hard to find. The vast majority of hunters accessing this area seem to do an exceptional job of keeping it clean and leaving minimal traces, especially when compared to adjacent NF areas. I personally make an attempt to always leave with more trash than I brought in, and I know others do as well. But in the areas I hunt, there just isn't a lot of trash to be found. I've seen more beer cans and trash tossed on the side of the road in a single season of hunting 7W than I have seen in 10 years hunting the ranch. Ironically enough, many of those beer cans I often found strewn about 7W, were tossed from the window of the local rancher's truck as he made his rounds. As the ranch has exaggerated hunter impact on the ranch in the past, I would be highly skeptical of any "transparency" they're offering regarding their costs here.

Casey's in Flag. Have used him several times now, and have never been anything but happy with his work. Worth the trip.

Couple years ago on the U10 late rifle bull hunt, the bulls disappeared after that first good snow a few days before the season. Everyone was saying the same thing "they were here yesterday, now they're gone". A lot of conjecture about the "why" of it, but one sure thing remained...they just were no longer there. (As a side note, the following fall when I was scouting and hunting for deer in the same area, we only picked up a couple small sheds, where in previous years, we were picking up multiple, nice sized sheds in the same areas. Some years they stay in that area, and some years they don't). I got stubborn continuing to scout my go to areas for 4 days before the season, and into the 3rd day of the season, and was coming up nearly empty. Glassed up one broken up 5x and a few scattered cows the entire time (kicked a couple more up driving back to camp at night, but that was it). Walked into one "hot spot", almost two miles, fairly fresh snow. Saw ONE elk track on the 4 mile round trip. (This area, BTW, is the same area we hunted for my son's bull hunt last year. Elk...big elk...up the wazoo, the entire hunt, and scattered over a pretty wide area. Difference? Only obvious one...no snow). Back to two years ago...Knew we had to at least try to make a move. As soon as we dropped lower, started seeing a lot more sign. Unfortunately the fog then rolled in for a couple days, and we couldn't get the kid on a bull. But we were seeing a ton of fresh elk sign, and spotting some elk. Lesson learned. They are either there, or they aren't. If they aren't, don't waste time hoping they'll magically appear, or thinking that you've just had a bad couple days of glassing. Go somewhere else. I am half way convinced U10 bulls are spoiled wimps. The first sign of significant snow (a couple inches or more), and they can easily drop to lower areas, and seem to do so. I'm not positive about that yet, but that's been my experience so far, with 3 late season elk hunts (and four or five deer hunts) as a spotter or hunter under my belt there. I agree that scouting bulls this far ahead of the season is nearly useless (some years), and is best left to scouting out areas you'll investigate and glass from the week before the season. Plan A's, plan B's, and hopefully plan C areas. Scouting this far out could work...if nothing pushes them out of the area for whatever reason, but that seems to be a fairly sizeable "if". I'm headed out to U10 again in 10 days to scout for my nephew's second bull hunt there (and our 3rd bull hunt there in the last 3 years). I won't make the same mistake twice as I did a couple years ago. I'm going to hit my "go to" areas in the first two or three mornings, and my butt will be somewhere else, far from there, glassing in the evenings, pretty much regardless of what I see in the mornings. If after a few days of our best spots, we don't see anything, they will be all but abandoned and the mad search for the bulls will commence, hopefully finding them before opening morning.

Have that sinking feeling. Thinking it's over save for the last few who are going to be the recipients of CC hits due to cards being declined with other hunters. Doesn't seem like as many are posting up about CC hits this year and was hoping for another rash of "I got hit!" posts today, but doesn't seem to be happening. If you have a CC hit today, post it up and give those of us looking at BP soup again a little hope!

Heads up...the Duratracs are good in the snow and mud, I'll give you that. But throw in some rocks and they are incredibly weak tires. Lost three of them (C rated) on one elk hunt in U10. I have never had another tire fail in the rocks, but these were horrid. Lost one to a 3/8" wet stick that went through the sidewall, and the other two were lost to sidewall gashes. Not sure if the E rated Duratracs are any better. Have run those same roads and same type of terrain for years with BFG's, Bridgestone MT's, Firestone MT's, and my latest tire, the Goodyear MTR's Kevlar without a failure. When I got them years ago, they were a new tire. I did not get a chance to check sidewall thickness before they went on. When they came off I sure did, and was surprised they lasted as long as they did.

Last year I used the Cabelas "EWCS Polartec" stuff in medium and polar weight. To date it's the best I've found, and I plan on sticking with it. I put on a medium weight layer, a shirt, and a lightweight fleece vest for walking to and from. Once I'm where I need to be and will be sitting, I'll add a polar weight base layer and a outer breathable but "rainproof" shell. Keeps me warm and dry in all but the most miserable weather.

I've done the late elk hunts with a good sized Cabelas dome tent, good cot, big buddy heater (bring along a couple 30lb bottles) and a decent sleeping bag, and have been very comfortable. Enough so that I don't bother dragging my pop up camper out on the hunts anymore. Make sure you've got some good outside air ventilation in the tent. I run a hose to the heater from the 30lb bottle that stays outside of the tent. I also run a combination smoke / co detector at the top of the tent, and a co detector clipped somewhere in the tent about head level. I sleep like a baby. I'd personally not run anything that creates CO inside of a tent or camper without CO detectors. I start up the heater up on medium about 30 minutes before bed time, and drop it to the low setting once I go to sleep. Keeps us pretty warm all night, and a couple 30lb bottles will get us though 10 days to two weeks. Last elk season I picked up a Zodi Hot Tap single burner hot water shower. Would not be without one again. Very nice to be able to get under a bit of hot water with some soap, get the stink off, and jump into some fresh clothes.

I shot a cow about 10 years ago. Figured if I left "evidence of sex" on the carcass, I'd be good. Left a mammary gland attached after skinning. Took it into the processor, and he said G&F could probably cite me for this (though unlikely) as the tag is actually for "antlerless elk" and not "cow elk". He said that the skinned skull cap, from ear to ear, forward and back of where antlers would be, would be sufficient. It does not need to be attached to the animal...just in your possession with the carcass.

I've hunted Big Bo a lot. I've never run into a guide giving me crap. Have run into a few idiots out there...but just a few. Did hear some years ago about USO putting up "Road Closed" signs in areas they were hunting and wanted to themselves. No idea whatever came of that. The biggest issue I've had was last year. Getting to a spot about a mile from the road at 4am to wait for daylight, only to have some jelly roll wander his way up through prime glassing area during prime glassing hours a half hour after sunrise. After seeing our truck parked in the obvious jump off spot, and admitting he thought we were up there. Same lard azz then stayed up there all day, and walked out...again....during prime glassing hours, a half hour before sun down, again, right through prime glassing area. Guess dinner or the donuts were calling, or he was too afraid of things that go bump in the dark to actually walk in or out of an area at an appropriate time so you could not jack it up and actually hunt it during prime hours. But, rant over. If you go a mile or more into a spot, you usually won't have much competition and won't run into idiots, and should have a great hunt. If you hunt the flats, you can expect several people running to make stalks on the same bulls you glassed up. Get in the thick stuff, the rougher terrain, away from the roads, and you shouldn't have a lot of problems. Last year (late rifle bull) was an epic hunt. A lot of clean, unbroken, nice bulls. Plenty of opportunity. My boy was holding out for a 350'ish type bull, and we had four or five stalks on those kind of bulls but just couldn't close the deal. Not for lack of opportunity or trying. Had some very close encounters with bulls (got to within 5 yards or so of a NICE bull on the other side of a juniper....he was coming to us after a stalk and as we waited for a shot opportunity hoping they'd show themselves) we were stalking in the thick stuff, just couldn't catch the single little break we needed to get a shot off. Stalked another group with a nice 6x7, and sat a shooting lane we expected them to cross. Shooting lane out to 135 yards. Yep, dang things crossed at 137 yards through a 3' opening. No time for a shot. Five yards closer, the kid tags a heck of a bull. That was just a couple of the four or five stalks we made on NICE bulls. Clean and unbroken bulls. Did not see a lot of busted up bulls last year. Passed on lesser bulls probably 8 or so times right up until last light of the last day. Amazing hunt. The year before was polar opposite. Could not find a spike for the nephew to stalk let alone a nice bull. Biggest bull I saw during daylight hours was a badly broken up 5x a couple days before the season. The snow came in a couple days before the season, and the elk vanished. Walked for miles in fresh snow without crossing but a single track. By the time we figured out where we thought they'd gone, the fog rolled in heavy for a couple days and we couldn't see 50 yards. Season over. So there you have the tale of two consecutive seasons hunting the same areas. Could be epic...could be crap. Good luck!

Five days after the draw starts. Checking for hits on the credit card for the tenth time today....

Have a sinking feeling this is going t be a short thread. Unfortunately. When's that deer draw again?

Not quite last minute, but was cutting it a little too close for my comfort. Put in on the 6th. Had a to wait to coordinate a meet with a couple guys for our elk party app. Put my son and I in for antelope the day before.

Received an email from G&F that they are trying to reconcile the elk / antelope draw between the online applications submitted and the payments received, and to "call Barbara Parrish ASAP to discuss the applications". I've tried calling a dozen times today, and all I get is the answering machine. Anybody else getting this? Or know what it is about?

Finally got in touch with them. Seems as they were reconciling the apps and charges, they found I had $30 in charges they could not reconcile. As it turns out, while I applied for the antelope draw for my son and I, and I was emailed the receipt complete with hunt numbers, they had no record of it other than the charges being processed. She submitted the app again for me, and said it is now all taken care of. Guess we'll see when it comes time to draw those bonus points!

*cough* Uh, Whut?!!! 20 bp's? And you're putting in for cow hunts? Is that a typo? You must have my old man's luck. Guy could not draw an elk tag it he had photos of the G&F commissioner with Obummer's wife....and 10 bp's! If you draw that 7W tag, give me a shout. Home unit. With 20 bp's, you deserve to get on an elk! Personally, I'm in for 7W or 10 bull 1st (will decide with the guys tomorrow) and U10 late cow 2nd. The draw gods have been especially kind to me over the years. Am hoping for a little more of the same for 2k15.

Just want to verify my understanding is correct. Putting in 3 or 4 of us on a party app tomorrow for a late cow hunt. I have 2bp's, other applicants zero. Either way, those 2 bp's are averaged and rounded up, right? 2bp's ÷ 3 applicants = .66 bp, rounded to 1 for the application. 2 bp's ÷ 4 applicants =. 50 bp, rounds up to 1 for application.

Just returned Monday night from spending 10 days hunting U10 on the Boquillas with my brother and his son, and wanted to share a very nice success story. This is the boy's first buck, and first filled tag. He's a U10 veteran, having had had two U10 deer hunts (to include this one), a U10 rifle bull hunt, and a javelina hunt in another unit. The stars just never seemed to align, and we've had a heck of a time getting him on an animal during previous hunts. This young man hunted hard, day in and day out, despite suffering from debilitating chronic migraines and other ailments that make it such that his even being able to get out of bed and camp for a day's hunting a hit or miss proposition, and a very real struggle for him at times. The boy was up and climbing hills to glassing points in the dark of the morning each day he was able, and walking out in the dark each night after the evening's glassing. He was finally able to close the deal on this buck on the afternoon of the last day of the hunt with a difficult but perfectly placed shot at 80 yards to close the deal on a beautiful and hard to come by U10 buck. The buck's lower half was obscured by brush, and he was able to maintain focus and composure to sneak a round in just over the brush into the top of the buck's lungs, making a heck of a shot allowing him to tag this handsome buck. He and his father followed the blood trail for less than 100 yards, leading him to his hard earned trophy. The smile on this young man's face in the fairly crappy "sunset photo" tells the story. A smile ready to explode his face. Not the best picture, but my favorite of the bunch. Enjoy.

The ranch will have some people on it. If you don't like walking more than 1/2 mile, expect some competition for glassing spots. If you don't mind walking a mile or more, don't expect too much. I was out there for the deer hunt. Now, granted, it's not a deer hot spot....but I saw three other vehicles in our general hunting area the entire 10 days, and nobody on foot. Pretty much on par with previous deer hunts, with the exception that this time we didn't even run into anyone scouting for elk at some of the easier glassing points. Last elk season, I had one guy beat me to a spot I wanted to glass opening morning. He earned it. I was pulling up to my jump off spot to hike in from, and his vehicle was there...at 3:30 in the morning. I later heard they were already up on top of the hill at 3am that morning. I saw his vehicle parked on the same side of the road leading to the obvious glassing point a mile away, and just kept going to my plan B spot. Was up on a hill about day 4 last year, and saw some other guys start up. They didn't see my truck parked down the road. About half way up they noticed me, and turned around and left. But I was within 1/2 mile of the road scouting out places my nephew wouldn't have too much trouble getting into. Other than those two times, I had zero competition for a spot, and saw nobody on foot in the areas I was scouting for my nephew. My brother had his son out, who has some physical ailments, so he was limited in how far he could hike with his son. They had a couple problems with people "invading" their glassing spot despite knowing someone was up there. But they couldn't get much further than 1/2 mile from the road due to the kid's condition. And in general, they had a very high quality hunt (despite the lack of elk sightings last year). Yeah, you'll see some people. May even have some people interfere with your hunt or push some elk around. It will be nothing like it is hunting the NF in other areas...as long as you drive a ways from town....and hike a ways from the roads. If you stick close to town, or close to the main roads, expect to see people though. One thing about the ranch...No ATV's. Seems to weed out a lot of guys who are out there to be lazy, play on their toys, and road hunt. Oh, it still happens, you'll see guys creeping along in their trucks occasionally, but the frequency is much less. And won't be anyone driving an ATV through the area you hiked a mile into to glass. For the most part (sure, there are some exceptions) the people I see out there are there to hunt, and hunt hard. My first time out there 10 years ago or so, I wore a camo orange vest while walking to and from glassing points. Haven't felt a need to wear it again since out there. My advice, park your vehicle at your jump off point on the same side of the road you'll be hunting on. Most of the crowd that hunts out there seems to respect that, and move on. If you see someone's vehicle parked on the same side of the road of the point you want to go to, you might expect someone is already there, and you should be courteous and move on to your plan B spot. To me, if I can't get up early enough to make it to a contingency spot in case my Plan A is taken, that's my problem, and not the guy who hauled his butt out of the sack at 3 am to get there, and I won't interfere with his hunt because the only spot I had planned for that morning is taken. Having said that, I have accidentally bumped into people where I didn't expect to see them. And have had a great time chatting and glassing with them. General rule is if he minds me being there after asking, I'll leave. If not, we'll glass, share information, help each other out, and the first on the hill gets first rights of refusal. Have I run into azzhats out there? Yeah, a couple. One in particular. He was lost, and then with righteous self indignation tried to correct me when I went to orient his map to North, 180 degrees from how he had it oriented while trying to help him out with his "which way is north" question. He asked me what we were there for. Told him scouting for deer. He said he was there for elk, and proceeded to question me on just what we had seen in the way of deer. A little strange. I didn't give anything up. Just had a bad vibe. He stopped by camp one night to "chat". Again, I just got a strange vibe. Anyway, he knew we were there for the deer hunt. Arriving at "our" camp (the camp he knew we were using) a week before the hunt, there was a tent there. A tent that remained unoccupied until the evening before opening morning. Well...guess who's truck was in it that night? Yup...the same guy. Was trying to weasel out information and took our camp by staking claim to it (and the nice stack of firewood I had going) 2 weeks before the hunt. I know he was deer hunting because he and his buddy were flailing helplessly about "still hunting" the area we were glassing about day 2 of the hunt, rifles slung, without a deer within a mile of them. Think I rushed to help them when I saw his truck die from my glassing spot a mile away a couple days later and watched them walk out? Still know the truck. He'll still be wearing out boots walking out before I give him a lift. Anyway, I'm leaving in 5 hours, and will be out there through the end of the hunt. If you see a silver Tacoma double cab with an ARB bumper and winch on the front, flag me down, or stop in camp for a beer, and we'll chat.

My son and I will be sitting in that very spot in less that 48 hours, watching the world wake up, and hoping for our first peek and preview of some nice bulls to pursue come next Friday morning!

Ah yes...sunrise from one of my favorite U10 spots.

Two weeks out. Who's going, where are you going, what are your goals, what will you settle for? Leaving next Friday night for my son's U10 rifle bull hunt. It has taken him 10 years to draw this tag. He's had one previous elk hunt about 8 years ago, when I signed my 7W tag over to him. He missed on a nice 6x opening morning, and decided to take his first big game animal, a spike, on day 3 of the hunt. He was happy, and I was happy for him. Happy for myself that I did not have to walk another step on a severely sprained ankle that hunt. It worked out. Great memories to watch him hang his bull out of the same tree we hung bulls on with my old man and his buddies 25 years prior. Since then, together we've collected the buck in my avatar, and he's taken a few decent bucks on his own, back where he lives in Kansas, using what he's learned hunting with his "old man" back in my home of AZ. Kid is confounding the road hunting Kansas hillbillies with is success with spot and stalk that he's learned in AZ, back in Kansas! We've had some amazing hunts. This time, it's back to U10. Looking to hunt hard, and see if we can wrap his tag on a nice "representative" 6x6 bull. Don't care about score. If he's a nice lookin' 6x, we're going to try to get the boy's tag on it. His other option is a "toad 5x5". We'll talk more over the campfire next weekend, but as of now, he's holding out for a toad 5x5, or a nice looking 6x. Feeling pretty good about the possibilities. The bulls we were seeing a couple weeks ago during the deer hunt were not all broken up. Saw some nice bulls. Actually quite a few nice bulls. Broken up bulls this year were the exception rather than the rule. For a change. Love to hunt in the snow, and always loved that first "Thanksgiving day, elk opener snow" that N.AZ seems to get, but am hoping the current weather holds out. Last year for my nephew's U10 bull hunt, had a heavy snow (by Seligman area standards anyway) and we had 4" to 6" on the ground, and the all to comfortable "wimpy U10 elk" as I jokingly referred to them last year, seemed to scoot to lower ground immediately to get out of it. We were too late last year figuring that out, and by the time we did, the inversion layer and fog rolled in, ruining a couple day's glassing opportunities. After that, wasn't but a couple days left on the hunt, and we came up empty. This year, I believe we're ready for that contingency, however, and have our "plan B" and "plan C" ready should they get pressured or scoot out of the area due to weather. Finally, as to what we'll "settle for"? The son and I will talk. As much as I want...and NEED (okay, "need" is too strong of a word..."overwhelmingly desire" is a better description) some elk or venison in the freezer again, I don't believe this will be a meat hunt, even on day 7. The nephew took an awesome buck last week, and I'm hoping to obtain a few pounds of venison from that. Other than that, the boy wants a decent bull. I believe we'll hunt through evening of day 7 trying to obtain that...and if we don't...still feel incredibly fortunate for the experience and opportunity. If you're holding or assisting on a late rifle bull tag...fill us in.

What's your Thanksgiving Day routine when you're on the late rifle bull hunt? We're usually up the week before (as we will be this year), busting azz scouting all week. Exception is Thanksgiving day. After Thanksgiving day morning glassing, we will get back to camp in time to listen to the Lions vs. Whoever (hopefully Packers) game on the radio (may not bother this year....it's Lions / Bears, and I don't need to listen to the Lions win another game), and have a hot lunch for a change. After that, we're back for an evening of glassing. Thanksgiving day is typically the only evening we're not out glassing until the last hint of light. This night, and this night only, we like to leave about sun down, with about 30 minutes light left, and get back to camp for an early dinner and an early in the sack night. The pre-season scouting is complete, and if we haven't done our homework in the months, days, and hours before this, the last 30 minutes of this day will likely not help much anyway. Somewhere along the line over the years, biscuits, sausage (elk or venison sausage if we have it), and sausage gravy became my son's and my elk camp Thanksgiving Dinner of choice (maybe about the time I bought that Coleman oven and made our first biscuits in camp!). Quick, easy, filling, satisfying, and a "taste" of Thanksgiving almost. A real nice, heavy and warm "gut bomb" to go to sleep on. Sleeping pill on a plate. That will be followed up with a glass or two of Amaretto around the fire with talk and eager anticipation of the following morning, then early to bed. Wake up about 0230 to 0300 and out of camp soon thereafter to get to where we're glassing and claim our opening morning spot and let the area settle in around us after the hike in. A little snooze while huddled in the jackets and trying to stay out of the weather as we attempt to maintain some semblance of body warmth, and wait for the first crack of light. Of course snoozing is almost always impossible when you're peeking out every 3 1/2 minutes to make sure you don't miss first light! Hunt hard all day (and each day following until that tag is wrapped around bone, or we're left to ponder what could possibly make evening seven "tag soup" just slightly more paletable). Return to camp after stumbling over AZ's rocks by the light of headlamps powered by batteries that probably should have been changed the evening prior...had the biscuits, gravy, Amaretto, and opening day excitement not conspired against us to make us forget that little mundane task. Opening day dinner always consists of "Gunpowder Stew", a very spicy concoction of pork-n-beans, kidney beans, ham, bologna, fried Spam, onions, and a whole lotta "La Victoria Salsa Jalepena" that will leave you wiping sweat from your brow, stripping off outer layers and backing away from the campfire... and sniffling like a 2nd grader just coming in off the playground in January, no matter how low the temps. Heaven in a bowl. (A couple ice cold beers to "keep the heat in check" is the rule here.) An elk camp staple for us for 35 years now, borne out of a "what's in the chuck-box that we can throw in this pot" moment while taking a break during a day of predator calling in Ash Fork on one brutally cold January day many, many years ago. Just the smell, taste, and fire in the back of the throat brings back so many (but sadly too few) fantastic memories of hunts with the old man and his buddies. What are your meals / traditions / routines?

Fill your tag with a bull that won't disappoint you. Be it a spike, or a 350 incher. I believe there is no greater disrespect of a big game animal than putting one on the ground, and being disappointed when it doesn't "measure up" once you walk up on it. When and if you get to a point that the time in the woods means more than putting something..."anything" down, and you won't be disappointed going home with an unfilled tag and freezer, THEN it is time to perhaps concentrate on getting a big one. I have some regrets...minor regrets...on a few animals I've passed on. But it's not much more than a passing thought. I enjoyed the hunts, and generally really liked being able to "extend" my hunt by passing on smaller animals, and had no real regrets with the resulting unfilled tags on some of the hunts. Having said that...I was just up in U10 for the deer hunt that ended a couple weeks ago. Will be back up there next Friday for my son's U10 rifle bull hunt as well (getting there a week early to scout). We were seeing some nice bulls almost every day we were in areas I liked for elk. Some nice solo bulls, some still pushing cows. Some raghorns. I think IF this weather holds, and a heavy snow like last year does not push them lower....and if they don't get really harassed with a ton of pressure (people pushing them out of bedding areas the week before the hunt), I'm liking the way things are looking for the opener. A lot of "IFs", but things seem a little more favorable so far this year. But, I won't be completely shocked if the bulls up and disappear like a fart in a windstorm come opening morning either. A lot can change over the course of days or weeks.