daverp

You can't access the ranch without paying the fees. I don't like it, as I believe that with the "recreational impact fees" to offset "damage" by hunters, the "damage" done on the ranch by hunters has been hugely over exaggerated. I've spent a lot of time on the ranch, and it is consistently much cleaner than nearby NF lands. This was little more than a means to make money off the many hunters who use the ranch. A bad precedent. But, this year, I will be paying the fees again, and doing my best to be a good and careful visitor during my deer hunt, and my son's late rifle bull hunt. If you tire of ATV'ers running cross country, and big crowds, this is a good place to be. If you want to use an ATV, or don't care about the crowds, then there are other options outside of the ranch. But I personally don't let the $60 sway me because I prefer the type of hunt I can get there versus the NF areas. Congrats on a good tag. The late rifle hunt is not the sexiest hunt in U10, but it is still a U10 elk hunt...nothing to sneeze at! Hopefully it's not as tough of a hunt as last year's was. As for advice....come up with a good solid "Plan A" hunt plan, AND a solid "Plan B"....and be ready to move if you aren't seeing the elk / signs of elk the first couple days of the season. Made that mistake last year on my newphew's hunt. Scouted a few days prior, and saw little. Stayed through day 3 before we moved off to another area with loads of elk sign. Then the fog hit and we lost more time. Everyone was saying the same thing...."they were here last week / the other day" etc., "and now they're gone". No matter how much I love my "go to" areas, I will move in a hurry this year if we encounter the same thing as last year. My summer / fall scout plan revolves around one thing...finding good "Plan B" and "Plan C" areas. Scouting the week before the hunt will make the final decision for us on where we start out at come opening morning.

Congrats to you both. Sounds like an amazing hunt. Most impressive (more impressive than the bull itself) was her calm in the heat of the moment, and holding off on the shot when she was not ready for it. There are not many adults who could do that - let alone a such a young hunter - with such an awesome trophy in their scope. Sounds like she's been taught well, and had the discipline to do what she knew was right. Congrats as well on the Eastmans' story. Great magazine, and it will mean a lot to her now, and when she gets older. My boy and I took this buck... <<<<<<< a half dozen years or so ago. Nowhere near the class of animal your daughter took, but it was an amazing hunt, and when it came time to look for a magazine to publish the story, there was only one choice for me (and only one submission), and that was Eastmans'. The accepted it, and as with your daughter's story, published it in the Public Land / DIY issue, which meant just that much more. A suggestion....do as I did...and get a couple dozen issues of the magazine now. The first dozen I got went fast to family and friends, and when I went for more, they had to search their shop, and came up with just 10 back issues. Those now reside in the safe for him to give to people important to him later in life. The hunt sounds amazing. Amazing animal, amazing young hunter, amazing father / daughter hunt. The magazine is a very sweet icing on the cake. Hope you both enjoy the memories of this success for many years to come.

Hunted U10 last year for late rifle with my nephew. Tough hunt. I got there about 3 days before the season...the night it snowed. Hunting about 6500 feet. The storm put anywhere from 2" to 6" on the ground. And the elk vanished. All my usual glassing hot spots were coming up empty, with the exception of a very broken up 5x the day before the season. Kicked another nice 5x up on the road after dark driving back to camp a couple days later. Only bulls I saw in 7 days. Was seeing very few tracks in the fresh snow or mud. On the way to one point I like to glass, I had a 3.5 mile round trip walk. I cut one single elk track. Was seeing no bulls, and seeing no cows. Everyone we talked to said the same thing...."they're gone. They were here last week, now they're not to be found". Opinions on why ranged from the snow, even though it wasn't much, to helicopter herding on Babbitt Ranch a few days earlier spooking them out of the area. A guide my brother knows said they took one bull all season, a 340" bull, right about where my favorite spot is that I glassed up that 5x, but they were otherwise having a terrible time locating elk. Not sure what happened, but here are my thoughts....there was that inversion layer that hit the area about day 2 that had the area (and the canyon) socked in with fog. Once in a 10 year or so event, to have the canyon completely socked in with fog, or so I'd read. Thinking that weather weirdness may have had something to do with it. That, and I've read a theory on elk....they don't like snow from the trees melting and dripping on their heads while they bed (annoying, and noise) and will move lower to avoid it. Not sure about that, but, while we did have 2 to 6 inches on the ground, it warmed up the day after the storm, and snow was melting pretty good. I don't think the pressure (at least where we were) was that bad. I usually walk a mile or more in, and with a couple exceptions (a couple guys who beat me to a spot very early), I saw almost nobody once I was on foot. I was at one glassing point...too close to the road (1/2 mile), and some guys started up until they saw me, and left. Some pressure, but not terrible, IMO. So, this year my son has a U10 late rifle tag. We will be spending our next couple trips scouting out alternate locations in lower elevations and even less accessible areas as our backup plan in case this happens again. I still feel very confident in my trusted spots, but will abandon them in a hurry and move to the spots we're scouting now if we see the same thing we did last year. Think we waited too long to move. Once we did, I saw more elk tracks in one hour of walking up a hill to glass than I'd seen in the previous 5 days combined.

Unit 10 confirmed. Not a big surprise, only unit I put in for since I'll be scouting my boy's late rifle bull hunt during that time, and it was the only unit I put in for. Would love to pull another buck like this.... <<<<<< out of there again! But if I can't, at least I'll be able to have the ol' .270 slung over the shoulder and "hunt" while I'm scouting out bulls for the boy! AND, the bro texted...he drew same tag, and will be signing over to his boy. Going to be a good hunt, and try to get the kid's tag on a buck.

Very cool picture, but I'd have been doing a 180 with pee running down my leg. Got caught on top of a small mountain one time in 7W about 8 years ago in a very fast developing lighting storm. Have never been exposed to anything like it before. By the time I got packed up, it was too late. That thing hung over head for 45 minutes, and was firing off bolts in rapid succession striking all around me. I took refuge under a ledge near the top. Not the best place, but every time I tried to run off the mountain, it seemed as though a bolt of lighting was striking right in my intended path. Ridge, draw, didn't matter. Must have had a dozen lightning strikes within 100 yards of me that day. Same storm took out 3 trees in camp a half mile away. I'm the biggest lighting baby to this day as a result. Nothing sends me running off high ground or into a vehicle the way a lighting strike within 20 miles can as a result. Left an impression on me I'll never forget. Funny story...about a few weeks later, was out scouting with my son. Sitting around the fire one night, and unbeknownst to me, went to take a picture of me. The flash from the camera made me jump so hard that I had a serious crick in my neck for a month afterwards. Lighting = Me somewhere else...fast.

Hit for U10. Will have an opportunity to put a shot on a nice buck if I can glass one up while I'm out scouting my boy's U10 rifle bull hunt.

I'm HIT! Looks like I get to have that U10 deer tag in my pocket when I'm scouting for my son's U10 late rifle bull hunt! Suhweeeet!

Man, 15 years, give or take, without hunting elk? No way. Years 1-4 would be 1st choice early rifle, 2nd choice late rifle. Years 5-7 would be early rifle only. Years 8 plus would be back to early rifle 1st choice, late rifle 2nd. I love chasing elk too much to not do it for 15 years. I also like the strategy of following up a successful bull draw with a cow 2nd choice for a year or two max.

Well, that's gotta feel like a kick to the nut sack. I have no problem hunting cows, and have done so when I feel the need to hunt, but using 8bps to get there would not be a good feeling. If it makes you feel any better, I completely MISSED the elk draw last year. Never understood how anyone could "miss the draw" until I did it myself. Son had 9bp's. Lost his loyalty point. How in the WORLD I could have been so dumb is beyond me. Got busy at work, and in personal life. One day I thought "hey, it's gotta be about time to put in for elk" and pulled up the website a week after the deadline. I was in shock, and a deep funk for weeks after that boneheaded move. Thankfully my nephew drew and I got to go help out with that, but my son wasn't too pleased with me! As it turns out U10 was a tough hunt last year, work was heck, finances tight, and I'm a bit thankful he drew this year instead of last. You never know when a bad thing can turn into something good.

Get topo maps of the area. Start looking for bits of high ground away from the roads. Get some elevation and glass. Once you spot something, plan your stalk. I like to look for high ground that others miss (not easy to do). You don't need a lot of elevation, but enough to get you to see into the junipers, little draws, and open areas. Look for areas like this on the topo maps, mark off a dozen or so of them, then get out there during scouting and go to them. Chances are you'll come up with a couple spots you'd really like to hunt. If not, get back home, and repeat the process for your next scout trip. If you've got areas you can glass from in your unit, I'd forget the mid day still hunting of the bedding areas. I've watched guys still hunting through prime areas, and there wasn't an elk within a mile of them on that particular day. I prefer to get a good vantage point, and be ready when the guys still hunting the bedding areas kick elk out towards me. Happens every single season I hunt elk. Some of my best opportunities during a rifle elk hunt were being in a good "spot and shoot" spot from 11 am to 3 pm, as big bulls were being pushed out of their beds and fled to other areas. Forget hunting water. Too many people do, and so many that don't want to drive up to it and look for tracks. I can't think of a truly great spot I have that isn't at least a mile from water. You may think you've found an out of the way "secret tank", but I guarantee that 20 other guys have found that "secret tank" as well. As long as there is water within a couple miles of where I hunt, I don't worry about it. Find your prime spots during early season scouting, settle on a few of them, and hit those every morning and evening for the week before the hunt. If you see elk, you're good. If not, make adjustments and look at other spots you've scouted. By opening morning you should be in a spot you've seen elk at the week before. Late rifle bull is a spot and stalk and spot and shoot game. And for the most part, you won't be spotting them at water (they've already left if it's morning, and aren't usually close if it's evening). Get your butt up at 4 am, and get to the spot you want to glass well before first light. In the evening, do not leave until after last shooting light. You'll need to get used to walking in the dark. Get a headlamp. Get good 10x binoculars and a good packable tripod to put them on. Then use them. Take a class on how to glass if you are not sure. Some guys offer them up from time to time. If you can't afford really good binos, look at the Nikon Monarchs. Reasonably priced, and I glassed up a ton of animals with those before I got better glass. If you go cheap, you're going to feel like the binos are trying to suck the eyes out of your head after a couple hours glassing. Eye strain is not a good thing. I spend minimum 6 hours a day with my face glued to the binos when scouting or hunting. After a week, you'll wish to heck you got decent glass. If you make it 2 weeks with crappy glass, you'll never repeat the mistake again. Get good boots. You're going to put a lot of miles on them. Then waterproof them the right way (beeswax...the real stuff bought in block form, not the stuff in the tube that says it has beeswax in it). It may not rain or snow, but if it does, and your feet get wet walking to and from your glassing locations, they're gonna get damned cold. Find out what works for you for cold weather. It gets dang cold sitting on top of a hill in the wind, exposed, after you've been sitting still for a couple hours.

If the hunt numbers on your receipt are what you thought they were, I imagine you'd have a good shot at if nothing else surrendering the tag and getting your bp's back, if not best case of getting the right tag. Worst case, the numbers don't match and you may have made a typo when entering them?

Check your email. G&F should have emailed you a receipt showing your hunt numbers.

My home unit. 7W is one of the best units EVERY year. Only reason I prefer U10 over 7W now is it is easier to get away from the crowds. Congrats on the tags guys!

Just got the results online! Son got permit #37 Unit 10 Rifle Bull!

Tucson should stop answering their phones. Some poor woman is now fielding non-stop calls because people are impatient and would rather inundate some poor woman with phone calls when she's probably got other business to tend to. My guess is she's going to stop being so nice and polite here real quick.

"No results found for DOB and Hunter ID" is being shown now. Tick Tock. Aaaaannnnyyyy minute now!

I got a new looking page (different design) for entering DOB and hunter ID twice. Entered the info, and once it took me to the page unavailable thing, the other time it took me to existing bonus points. Any time now I'm guessing.

I'd guess about 30 to 45 mins before they're up online. That seems to be the pattern when the page goes "this page cannot be found" or is "temporarily unavailable" mode.

Doesn't sound right. Usually the results page will go down for a while before it comes back up with results, and all results are uploaded and available as soon as they enable the link again. I think your buddy is pulling a fast one on you, or is checking the same results that have been up since last draw. I'm thinking we're not going to see results today.

Last season kicked my azz. Had short notice (2 mo) before I headed out to help the brother on my nephew's hunt, was in pretty pizz poor shape. Didn't realize how bad until I was out climbing and hiking the hills again. I was in denial. Had put on about 35 lbs., and areas I breezed through fairly handily a few years ago were now azz kickers requiring far too many rest breaks to catch my breath and steady my weak legs. By the time the hunt was over, I was SPENT, and barely had energy to get up the stairs when I returned home. Wasn't sure we'd draw a tag this year, but upon my return from last year, decided it didn't matter if we were going deer or elk hunting or not, I needed to get in shape! So, on the "eve" of official results, I know I'm taking the kid chasing bulls this year, and I've already got a decent start to getting back in shape. Started "P90X" a couple months ago, have shed about 10 lbs., and next week I'm picking up running twice a week during the week, and need to find a good, hard hike with elevation I can time myself on during one day on the weekends. Plan on starting out with my usual day pack load, and will keep upping it to 60 lbs or so by the time the season rolls around. This will be in addition to P90X which I will complete 3 times by November. Last goal will be to finally run that half marathon sometime in October that I've had in my sights for the last 5 years...if my knees hold out. Having screwed up a knee running a few years ago, I'm not dead set on that goal, but it would a nice one to reach. I intend to be in phenomenal shape come November. God only knows when a great elk tag will come along again, and I cannot let being out of shape get in the way of a great hunt or possible pack out job. What will you be doing? Anyone ever staged a fitness "comeback" like this for an elk hunt?

Ruger #77 MkII in .270 shooting handloaded 130 gr. Barnes TSX. Leupold VXII 2-7 with low profile elev turret. It's dropped 2 so far...hoping for #3 in November.

Son: Unit 10 Late Rifle Bull. 8bp's. This will be his 2nd elk hunt, first drawn tag. Gave him my 7W bull tag when he was 14. He missed a 250 yd shot on a very nice 6x6 on opening morning that year, and he ended up taking a spike on day 3, as my severely sprained ankle sustained during scouting the week before the season became almost too bad to stand on and he became worried I couldn't continue to hunt. There will hopefully be no injuries this year, and he can finally get that bull of his dreams he missed many years before.

So, the "official" results aren't out yet, but the charge is on the card I put my son's tags on, and he has finally drawn his bull elk tag...the only hunt I put him in for with 8bp's...Unit 10 late rifle. I've hunted and scouted this unit a lot. I took a nice 180" buck out of there a half dozen years ago after patterning him over the summer and fall, and a cow elk 2 hours into my hunt during the Dec. late rifle cow hunt shortly thereafter (so never had a chance to see what the bulls were doing that late in the year). I imagine I've got at least 80 full days in that unit, on the ranch, over the last half dozen years or so, scouting for deer and late rifle cow. BUT, prior to last year, I've never been able to be around for the late rifle bull hunt (never drawn for that hunt). Last year I assisted my brother with my nephew's late rifle bull hunt. Got out there 5 days before the season, hit all my usual places, and saw ONE small 5x5 out of my favorite "super secret spot" 2 days before the hunt (and another 5x5 driving back one night). Did not see another bull. We saw some cows on day 3 of the hunt. Only heard two shots the course of the first 3 days of the hunt before I left to return to work and leave them to finish the hunt alone. There were days I'd walk 4 miles to a spot round trip, and cross but one elk track in the fresh snow. Seeing little sign and fewer elk, after 6 days and on day 2 of the hunt, I decided to more or less abandon this area and headed north a little bit, more toward the flats toward / west of long point. Saw more elk tracks in a day than I saw in the previous 7 or so. Looked like we had a spot. Got completely fogged in one morning, but got 2 days of glassing in, and saw a few cows. Brother and nephew spotted some guys after a bull on an adjacent ridge day I left, but that was it. Wondering if we were a day or two late in that area and the elk had already moved through. Everyone we crossed said the same thing "they were here last week, now they are GONE". There were a few theories....helicopter herding on Babbitt Ranch the day before the season (though still a good ways from us), the snowfall higher up, and the fog and inversion layer that had us socked in for a couple days that had not seen fog like that in the area for 8 years or so. One of the ranchers told my brother a G&F guy had told him they'd headed off toward the flats more N/W from where we were at. For those familiar with the late rifle hunt, is this a usual pattern, or a rare event? I'm already going over maps, buying new maps of areas outside of my usual area, researching and formulating a scout plan. I find it a little hard to believe 4 to 6 inches of snow drove them out of the area that quickly, and there wasn't a ton of pressure up there (though there was some). But something moved them. All that brings me to this....Has anyone observed this there before? Rare, or common occurrence? My plan is to spend Sept thru Nov getting a few solid weeks in scouting out new contingency areas in case my usual spots come up empty again in the scouting the week before the hunt. Should I possibly start scouting way the heck out on the flats? Or just get even more rugged areas? I was extremely confident in my usual areas...moderate terrain, good glassing, usually 3/4 mile to 1.5 miles from the roads, until they came up empty last season. Going to need a plan B in case it happens again.

It's all "luck of the draw", and the luck comes and goes. I've drawn 3 elk tags the last 10 years, and one year I didn't even apply (2 bull tags, 1 cow). Never reached more than 3bp's before I drew a tag. My son on the other hand has just drawn his first elk tag in 10 years of trying for the same hunts. There's often no explanation for it. My old man put in for 8 years before he pulled his first elk tag. Us kids each pulled 2 in that time. It sucks while you have to wait and aren't drawn, but when you are it is oh-so-sweet!

Time to pray for RAIN! And LOTS of it! A nice wet year would be phenomenal!