oldboar

My personal opinion.... I had that hunt 5 years ago. You can get away from people if you want to. I never saw another archery hunter on my hunt. That's what made it so great for me.... Not that there isn't plenty of elk just off the roads. Just not my cup of tea. In my opinion scouting trips in early to mid August, aren't going to mean much. Find the cows and your bulls will be there. Concentrate your scouting on the week preceeding your hunt if you want quality info. I found bachelor groups of bulls all the way up until the first week of September, then they broke/and joined up with the cows. One bull with distinctive antler formation. moved 7 miles as the crow flies, from where he summered. Intially found him at 6500 feet, and I saw him 9 days later, at almost 10000 feet.Those bulls move ALOT, the week prior to a normal opener, and being as your hunt is even later this year...I'd spend my gas money on scouting later. They will be vocal, and it should really give you a leg up. I was in dang good shape, I'm a marathoner...blah, blah, blah. This unit will humble you, over the course of 6 days before I killed my bull.... it broke me down, day by day, little by little. Prepare to roll each ankle repetitively...skirting side-hill when working those herds of elk. I chuckle remembering packing out 80 pounds of elk meat, legs quivering on those sidehills, stepping over rocks, down timber. Muscles losing coordination, starting an Involuntary twitch...exhausted. That night I literally felt as though I passed out from fatigue. Hands down the best hunt I've ever been on. But, I love remote, rugged, and am somewhat crazy. Enjoy it! To me, this unit is the most gorgeous blessed elk hunting in the state. Regards, Jim

Due to some work obligations, my daughter's hunt had to be moved closer to home 4B vs. our usual turkey hunting grounds in Unit 27. A couple members calmed my fears about working out some new territory, and the hunt was on April 18th. Windy, tough conditions...and we got into birds. They were in the canyon bottoms, and we were on top...they eluded us on Saturday. Unfortunately, I had one heck of a flu bug. So bad that her second day of hunting (Sunday) I couldn't leave the tent for fear of crapping myself of vomiting every time bent over. Opening weekend of youth hunt came and went, and feeling guilty...and more than a bit sad. I told her we could go back the weekend of May 9th. Saturday May 9th, two inches of snow, and again birds a lot less talkative...and again in bottom of canyon...hard to approach without them busting us. Sunday, she bounces out of her sleeping bag...and I remind her we need to leave by 9:30...as it is Mothers Day. First set-up...in usual spot is inundated with 2 hunter friends owl hooting, and coyote yipping trying to stay in touch with a lone gobbler on our ridge. They literally must have hooted and yipped 50 times in an hour and half. Nuff for me...we bailed to my secondary spot. With an hour to go, I called this time Big Tom up and out of a canyon. With a well place shot, Alyssa had her second bird in 2 years. Great kid, great hunt....great eating! Good luck to all those left turkey hunting! Also attached is a picture of her Jake from 2014 in unit 27. You can see how much she's grown from age 11 to 12.

Food for thought....some guys think that one pellet will kill a turkey. That is 100% true, if you hit it in the skull from a side profile. I've skinned an inordinate amount of birds and evaluated the performance of shot on the vertebrae. If you want something to blow your mind, take a look at the size of the neck vertebrae and what your shot looks like when it hits it. A lot of shot..(Copper plated lead for example) simply flatten out, without breaking the bone! More than one bird shot at long range has staggered, ran, or half-heartedly flown after pushing the envelope of launching shots out past 50 yards. Yes, the new heavy shot has helped, A lot...but really what fun is it shooting turkeys at 50 60 70 yards? When you see them blink...chootem', they're close enough:) And, that is fun:) Callem close...Most any shotgun works. Simply advertising selling all the camo guns, and fancy ammo. Just stirrin' the pot...a little.

Hi all, Just putting a feeler out for good old fashioned advice. Willing to share my knowledge on units 23 and 27 turkeys, elk etc. in return. I've never hunted these units, and probably won't again...I have a penchant for getting as far away from humans as much as possible. Therefore love Unit 27 for birds and rough country:) FYI. I will be driving up this weekend...starting in 4A and scouting for birds, will do as much as I can before next Thursday night when I head up. I do as much "homework" as I can. But, this is a fly in the ointement...so to speak. Here is my situation. I have a 12 year old daughter who has been accompanying me hunting in Unit 27 since she was 5 years old. She shot her first jake Turkey there last year on her first youth hunt. We were going back there again this year, but work obligations have crushed that idea. I can take her Friday morning, then have to be back in Fountain Hills by that afternoon. I can go back up Saturday after noon, but its about a 8 hour round trip to go back to Alpine... So, I have been considering hunting over the counter youth season Unit 4A or 4B with her this year, as I can then get back up there...on Saturday afternoon, and Hunt Sunday as well. I am not looking for a honey hole so to speak, but a finger in the right one square mile area would be nice.... I know...any place with water available, and green forage should hold birds...but my time is limited, and this hunt is all about her, and continuing the turkey killing tradition:) Message me if you feel generous...I will be most appreciative!....very!!! Thanks much! Jim

Hello all, I'd like to preface this post by saying, I'm not looking for a handout. Just something to help sway me where I set up my base camp during my archery elk hunt. Here's my situation. I pride myself on scouting on my own, and getting away from the crowds. I don't own a quad, and I don't want one. Normally, I walk until I get blisters, then walk some more. I am hopeful that some of the road closure in the Nat'l forests will actually make for a better hunt...even given my current situation:) My scouting consisted of picking out 5 different areas to walk through. As of last week, I'd already thoroughly walked three of them. The areas themselves are 3 miles by 3-4 miles wide. If you know anything about this unit....Thats about as big an area you have without hitting the unit border, edge of town, or major highways. That leaves me with 2 area's (that I felt would be good) that are unknown to me, which I can live with....even if I can't get into them before the hunt. Here the "difficult" part of the story. I talked my Dad into coming out here for my hunt, he's from the Midwest and never seen/nor hunted an elk in his lifetime. He's never heard an elk bugle in the wild. He is elderly, and some days are better than others. For his age he is in reasonable walking shape, and has been walking 1 1/2 miles daily. This will likely be the first and last time we hunt elk hunt together. Sad but true. As for myself, bad luck requires me have surgery on a badly torn MCL (knee) this coming Wednesday. I should be walking OK on it for my hunt (my opinion...even if I have to use a cane:), but obviously it curtails my ability to scout some of what I would in the next 3 weeks. With the help of a friend of mine, I still plan on setting up my base camp, a 1/2 mile to mile deep in whatever area I hunt. I can use my game cart to wheel my tent, food, and gear in over numerous trips. In all seriousness, I'll probably strap my Dad to it on the way in. And....take lots of pictures:) We as a family have a good sense of humor:) This should allow us to hunt as close to possible to the elk. Here is my question.....without a time frame closer to my hunt...where do the bulls customarily rut in these areas? I have seen old sign (rubs etc), have nice places to wallow.... but have low numbers of elk at this time. Is it likely the bulls will push cows into these areas in the next 3 weeks? If this unit is anything like other units I've hunted the bulls I'm seing now will likely be somewhere else in a month...so it doesn't concern me greatly...other than positioning my camp so my Dad is close to the bugling/action. I'm seeing cows, but not in numbers like I'm used to seeing in other units (22, 23, 27). If you'd care to PM me I'll tell you my areas, and what I think are the core rutting areas. Not looking for hand-outs...just confirmation. Any help anyone wants to throw out there would be awesome. LIkewise if anyone has questions on 22,23,27 I'd be happy to share with them my experience. Thanks much! Jim

Hello and Congrats to all successful Turkey Hunters! Like many others, I absolutely love Unit 27 and count the days between outings with our kids. We don't have a lot of extra cash these days, though we always prioritize family before anything. Waiting for the Turkey/Camping extravaganza turkey calls were practiced with the kids nightly, and a couple visits to Cabela's were in order. Enjoy the following pictorial.... Gas prices at $3.80 a gallon, and 250 mile drive to camp). SUV and trailer are loaded for fun, bringing all the gear and creature comforts required (if my fiance' is happy...."I'm happy" ) We roll into turkey camp (Serpentine belt making bad noises:)....Set up tent at 10:30 pm. Freezing/breezy morning, hear gobbles...unable to work birds...quite windy. Drive into Alpine for gas, and breakfast, Vehicle barely makes it (Air conditioning clutch freezes belt burns up). Unable to bypass AC ...2 kids, Female Dog and 3 week old puppies, and Fiance are dejected...... By grace of God, I get a ride from a kind Samaritan into Showlow-1 1/2 hours away to rent the one and only rental car available for the weekend! Back in action! Watch out turkeys, this hunting rig rocks! 4:00 am, and the Ford Fiesta speeds to the turkey woods! Karma comes around, and after working two gobblers and a hen...I win the battle and kill the (strutting) dominant bird. Yahoo! The family that "hunts together-stays together". ] Adventure Frolic Fun $750 vehicle repair, $180 rental car...worth every penny...and simply priceless!!! :) Jim

Its a Bighorn III from Cabela's. 12X14...absolutely love it. Yes, it was a bit stressful, but a fun trip. Thanks for all the comments! Jim

Hi everyone, I got into a "spirited" discussion with my hunting buddy during my archery elk season about pushing into a herd of elk regardless of our scent blowing into them. I would back out and come in from a different direction (this usually mean't climbing a mountain:). I can't bring myself to just barge in....regardless of wind direction. I've hunted the wind my whole life, and simply can't understand a mature bull actuallly smelling you....and allowing you to put an arrow in his chest from 30 yards. Tell me your opinions. Are elk that much different than deer? I'm a primarily a whitetail deer hunter from the midwest originally. I did kill a nice bull....and, no he didn't smell my sweaty stench after hiking 8 miles that morning:) Thanks much! Jim

Hello all, First of all I'd like to say I lurk on this site daily enjoying the read and pic's but contributing little Having waited 9 years for my Unit 27 archery bull tag, I did alot of scouting in August and into September. As with most hunts successful, and unsuccessful I learned alot! This Unit is off the charts when it comes to beauty, and some country that will test your shoe leather and resolve. One thing I will say (after the fact), is there is no substitute for experience. I would say this unit holds some whopper bulls, in my opinion very much comparable to any other unit (9, 10, etc). The problem I found is they are not easy to glass up as easy (due to heavy timber), and once the first week of September rolls around those bachelor groups of bulls you've been watching scatter like a covey of quail. Its not like you won't find good bulls, but it was hard for me to find some of the bigger bulls that went on tour once the rut started. Having the ability to hunt only 1/2 the season, I elected to hunt the first 7 days, as I had 2 lifelong friends who were driving out from Wisconsin to enjoy this venture, and this was worked out for all our schedules. On opening morning we slipped into a mountaintop saddle 2 miles from camp, this led to some dark timber two bulls in the 350 class were using for most of the first week of September. The bulls each had herds of cows of around 25-30 cows and tolerated each other very well, although always kept a 1/2 mile between herds morning and night when they came down to a meadow to feed. By daylight each day, they were already a mile from the meadow and headed up high to bed. Setting up and calling subtly to the herd moving my way, the plan worked perfectly, and the herd was about 200 yards away and moving quickly towards me. Cows were mewing, bull was bugling. Suddenly I heard hoove beats, and the herd spooked up and west of my position, I could not figure what could have spooked them so badly. Long story short 2 Mexican wolves interupted a first morning certain shot opportunity for me....but I guess they have to eat too. I got into bulls every day, and called in a couple smaller bulls that lived to see another day. There wasn't any true rutting activity, and moving in close to bugling bulls before calling did little to interest them (100-150 yards). Rake a tree, cow call, bugle, all the same response. They'd bugle, bugle, bugle, rake a tree back...then move off again. I guess in retrospect I should have sat water, or a wallow in some of those areas. But.......the hook for me is calling and bring in an animal. Just too much fun, and addicting!!! On Thursday the 17th, we worked bulls all morning, within 100-125 yards a multitude of times. Within an hour my comrades were to be leaving at 9:00 am. With an hour to go I got between a satellite bull and the herd bull/cows he was tailing. Perfect situation...and a few cow calls later a 25 yard shot netted this bull for me. He piled up within 50 yards, blood trailing was not necessary. My friends videoed the whole thing w/two different camera angles, so it will be great to reminisce about this hunt for many years to come. The bull is (as my finance' says) "downright handsome", and hard earned....though on the smaller scale compared to many on the monsters on this site:) I hike ALOT, don't own a quad...and by the time I killed this bull we all had blisters, and bruised ankles galore. I've already begun praying to draw again soon! 9 years is just too long to wait to have this much fun! Special thanks to the kind gentleman who gave me his e-mail address 1bighunter@live.com (it didn't work, so maybe I got it wrong?). If you frequent this site, I never got your name, and want to thank you for the 4 mile ride back to my camp after I shot my bull. I'd already run 8 miles in the mountains that morning, as was out of water. You were a life saver:) You saved me some time, and I packed my bull out a mere mile to the forest service road from the other end where I met you. I had him out by 4:00 pm. Also thanks to "Catclaw" for all the enlightening conversations we've had. Congrats to all the other successful elk hunters! Sincerly, Jim Great Friends! Good eatin'!

You bet!

Thanks for all those who posted....very kind of you...and just the confirmation that I needed. I am a bit of a sadist when it comes to rugged country, and getting away from people. Can't wait, will post some pic's if/when the time comes:) Sincerely, Jim

Hi all, I've drawn a Unit 27 archery Bull tag, and my main concern is to get away from other hunters and enjoy the hunt....minus the infringement of other hunters. I plan on hiking this area in a few weeks....but thought I'd query and get some others opinion. Does anyone have any input regarding the quality/number of bulls in this area? And....will I truly be any better off hiking/hunting in there....than packing in a mile or two of other parts of Unit 27? Thanks, sincerely, Jim