az_runner

My oldest (12) jumped through all the hoops and did the Hunters Education course with AZGF, put in for cow elk as an “it will never happen, but why not try” thing. The kid actually landed a dang cow youth tag for 7W in mid-October. I’ve never been drawn for elk and haven’t even attempted for rifle or OTC deer that far north. I’m not much help to the kid besides just pounding him with my boots on the ground and this shoot aint going to come easy warnings. heck it took me 3 years to get my first AZ deer, so the kid knows he’s going to work for this opportunity. We’ve been making the haul up there the past few weekends and have camped out a few times and also made some long butt day trips. So far, we’ve been all along the base of Kendrick coming off of the 245 hitting the south side pretty dang hard and sweeping our way to the west side all the way out to the Pumpkin trail. We also started pushing north up some of the goat trails like roads to higher elevations though we’re not seeing the expected sign up higher during hikes. Yesterday, we made a day trip and hit the lower areas away from Kendrick and found some pretty recent sign where we literally pulled over and started hiking back trying to stay away from any trails or roads. I’m finally starting to feel good about some of thick areas that we recently came across. I’m guessing elk are like deer and what stands for today doesn’t mean anything tomorrow much rather 4 months out when temps drop. I’m thinking that the Kendrick area is going to be a circus come opening day and that the lower areas are going to be more productive for us to focus on during our next trips up. Not to mention the lower areas seem to make more sense to me from the idea of if the higher elevations are starting to get any early or decent snow. Do you guys have any thoughts or experience in 7W and what to expect in mid-October? Am I way off on my thinking to stay a good bit south of Kendrick or even away to focus on the lower forest?

Yeah. Got a few spots marked around there to hike, just ran out of time last weekend.

What do you guys think about pop-up campers for family camping and hunting? I’ve always been a tent guy and normally drag the family of four out to slightly remote areas for a night of dispersed tent camping. I’m big on the no maintenance and weight of a tent though these past few years have been a struggle jamming in a tent with the wife, two young boys, and 90lb dog. I end up sleeping like crap and waking to feel like someone beat the shat out of me all night. I’m just wondering if things would truly be easier in a pop-up and make for a better time for the family. I’ve slept many-many nights in the back of my old Tacoma or 4Runner while hunting and doing backcountry trip. As for hunting, it seems like it would be nice to have a solid, yet mobile base camp with a few partial luxuries. I just don't know at this point, I’m still tossing around this pop-up trailer idea and have been looking at used Forest River- Rockwood ESP models.

Thanks Creed. I'm going to start trying to piece together a canvas tent setup... it just makes sense to me more and more as you guys suggested it a few different times. As for the pop-up or (maybe even a travel trailer if I can figure out the storage), I know what I need out of it and what I want out it. Unfortunately those two things don't always match up when you start tossing around the idea of letting go of so much cash in these jacked up times. I'll keep an eye on things and see what used options come on the market over the next year or so before pulling the trigger of anything. Very much appreciate the input from all you guys on this.

Maybe I'm just getting old and my cha-cha's are shrinking but got to figure something out. You guys got me reading up on Alaska bush tents now.

All good stuff here and I can certainly appreciate the wide view of perspectives and honesty. I would love to jump from tossing air mattresses in a tent and go to a 5th wheel, but it’s not going to happen for some time or unless I can sell off my kids. My buddy had an old travel camper, but then I start looking at storage cost, so that turns into a deterrent for now. I’ll probably keep looking for a decent used pop-up and even toss around that idea of a utility trailer with a solid canvas tent. Yeah, some of the prices in Arizona are just way out of whack by a few grand. Utah out to the Midwest have prices that are a little more in line with the majority of the US market. I was told that the manufacturing plants were shut-down for a few months, so new is few and far between and used gets grabbed right away.

Thanks for the info guys. The one I keep going back to is lifted so I can still get to a few decent spots. Just thinking of waking to warm water and a heated bed when it's in the 30s outside, is nice too. Most are even prewired for AC and heating to some capacity with a shower hookup outside or the without taking room up from using those goofy shower/crapper cassettes inside.

I'm kind of in the same boat, I have a 11yr that will be putting in with me this year for deer. I was recently in 20a near Prescott on the way to a hiking trail and saw no less than 30+ does and 10+ fawns within a two mile area. I'm not too familiar with the unit for deer, but I'm seriously thinking about it and ditching my faithful 36 unit that my buddy turned me on to. I did a solo hunt down there last year and harvested a little 6-point, but man my heighten awareness was getting out of control knowing all crap that goes on down there... not certain that i want to bring a little one to that mess just yet. I'm trying to get out a bit more in 20a and my son has a youth cow tag in 7, so I'm trying to look at that for a deer option while we learn the area over the next few weeks. Well heck... that is 20a. I always flip those units around.

My oldest son just took the AZ Hunting-Ed course, so now he can legally hunt big game out here. The deal was for him to study, come out with me regularly and get a high score for me to buy him his first big game rifle. Well the short story is he studied for a few months, came out with me most times and got a 100 on the final test. Yeah, so now I’m looking at a rifle for him. The boy is 11 and about 90lbs; I would like to find something that he can use for Elk and Deer. I’m looking at a Tikka compact in a 7mm-08, 30-06 or .308, though I wonder if the .308 will be a bit much for him right now. He’s been shooting .22s and a 20g for a few years now, so I’m trying not to cut him short on what he can handle. Any lessons learned or suggestions when buying a rifle for little ones?

Ben Avery.

That Federal seems to be the winner. We'll start hitting the range a few times a month up until the hunt. Just found out that he got youth cow in 7W, so now to teach him what boots on the ground mean and learning the area. On a side note: I took the kid to the range to get it sighted in we weren't even on paper. There was a guy next to us shooting an AR that I later found out to be some type of MCSO firearms instructor. He saw us struggling a bit and offered to help. The guy spent probably an hour+ of his time with us sitting bench-side showing us tricks and suggestions that I still had no clue of. I couldn't believe what I learned from the guy and how interactive he was with my son... it's just not often you meet people like this. I always stress to my boys the huge amount of respect that they should have for these LE folks (just like military), but this guy set the bar off the charts and my son may even have a new "when I grow up" path! I would be all so pleased to have my kid out there risking his a$$ each day based on this one experience from a guy that we randomly met. Hopefully is recognizes my red eyes each morning from 12-16hrs days and knows better not to get in the FN computer world. Well enough crying, but there are still some awesome a$$ folks out there. I'll shut up now...

Thanks man. I have a Tikka T3 in a 7mag that I went through 4 boxes of different ammo and found the Hornady Precision Hunter to be what the rifle likes best, you would know it's the most expensive crap on the shelf. Right away, I went to that same box for this 7mm-8 and it does not like it at all... I'm kind of happy in a way. I ordered a few boxes for the next time I can get it to the range. Federal Premium Vital-Shok Remington Core-Lokt Nosler Trophy Grade I almost grabbed a box of that Whitetale and the Barnes too over the Nosler. If things don't land where I want them to I'll circle back to those.

Yeah, youth hunt in either 7W or 6A/5B, praying for 7W. I just saw my card was hit, but not sure of the unit just yet. I don't know much about either unit for elk so we're going to due some serious camping this summer to learn the areas.

I did end up getting the kid a Tikka compact in a 7mm-08. Unlike myself, he landed a cow tag this year. I just need to find the right box of over-priced ammo for this thing now.

My kid has one and loves it.

So, I’m looking at an area on the other side of a Conservation, but will have to hike about 2 miles to get through the Conservation and onto National Forest dirt. Do you guys know of any Arizona laws about traveling through conservation land to harvest game? I can’t find anything in the Arizona regs about this. I don’t see this as being an issue besides the fact that some bird watchers may not be too pleased of me hiking past them with a bow or rifle. If it’s legal, l I plan to get to the area before sunrise and try to make it through before people start hitting the trails... the hike out will be a different story.

I can certainly understand that. I'm going to change things up a bit this year since I'm just all over the place. I spent too much time last year trying to focus on a few more areas than I probably should.

I'm sure you guys can provide some insight here... So, I spent he past few days up in Arizona 6A east of Sedona (I-17 and 179) trying to fill a OTC deer tag. We found just an insane amount of recent deer tracks, but only saw one small buck for a few seconds and my buddy almost hit a large doe with his truck. Outside of those two mentioned sightings, we saw nothing else the entire time. We got back about 4 miles from the main road out there and into pretty remote country that no others were even close to or probably willing to hike to and glassed dozens of ridges, basins and flats with nice optics. My question is do the deer out there actually head to lower elevations or move around during the start of an Arizona "cold front"? The mornings started out about 28/30 degrees and leveled off in the 60s each day. I just thought this whole thing was so strange as the tracks were so thick and crossing all over the place in one large area. Hunting up there is nothing like 36C and thought I would try my luck up north a bit, but was left scratching my head on this one.

You're right about that. heck, I didn't have my first gun until I was 18 and had the cash saved up. My boy did opt out from buying lego sets and other crap and just saved enough to get himself a set of Diamondback binos for when he comes out with me. Thanks again for all the suggestions. I picked up a little .22 years back from a gun show for my son, so I may do the same with this spend or at the very least before I hit up Sportman's. I got a heck of a lot of things to think about now due to all these responses.

dang... I missed that. Thanks man, just what I was looking for.

Thanks guys. Yep, it's a 270 and I'm just a huge fan of those wooden stocks. Ha-ha, but to PRDATR's comment, I do remember that little thing being like a small cannon when compared to my Tikka 7mag. I may hit up the gun show in February before I pull the trigger on a new Tikka for the boy. I just put him in for the youth cow elk draw, so I'm kind of putting the cart before the horse since he doesn't have a tag though I'm certain he'll at least land a southern bound deer tag if he doesn't get drawn for elk. Much appreciated guys.

Not State Land. But no hunt and shooting signs. PM'd you the info.

OnX shows as AZ Government land owned by Maricopa. Once you hike the two miles through it's N Forest land.

Well I never got back out to 6a to leave those cams but did put some miles and hours in the very southern edge of the unit and top of 21 last week. I've come to the realization that I’m a magnet for fawns and does. I can’t even count how many I have seen over the past 6 months. I think the buck that I tagged down south last year was gender confused and hanging with a group of does. I’m easily amused and probably shouldn’t have spent an hour on my last glassing session just watching this doe the other day, but then I would have missed a massive bald eagle that came and hung out in a tree just over the canyon I was glassing. I now have two full days this month to fill my OTC or I’ll have to wait until later in the year. I’ll probably spend the last of this month just on short day trips going after one of those fancy city bucks that hide in the fringes just north of Phoenix.

I'll hit them next week and let you guys know what they say.