lugnuts

My group was lucky enough to draw NM Archery Elk tags in Unit 23 this year. I have horses and am interested in the Blue Range Wilderness. We have the gear to pack in for the week, but I am wondering if it is worth it. I can see from the maps that I have that there is water in there, but can anyone confirm that we will be able to count on it being there in Sept? What about horse feed? I will be going up there over the long 4th of July Weekend and was wondering if anyone has any info on this area. Thanks.

Alpinebullwinkle, I thought you were going to be in Unit 1 this year? You aren't doing some trickery are you? I haven't seen a bull with a cow yet in 27. Still in bachelor groups like usual. Might be a little early, but not like your advertising.

Rustys is good. They packaged mine and my wifes bulls. Our meat turned out great. Dont forget to add pork fat to your hamburger. They wont just do it or even ask. I will say they packaged my buddys bull and the vaccum bags didnt seal. He ended up getting a lot of freezer burned meat. You could catch that when you pick it up as long as your looking for it.

Big Bug Mesa is very crowded/waste of time and there are no deer around Crown King. Thats all I know about 20A. I am going up there this weekend for the opener but not taking it too serious. I went up there and looked around Crown King and didnt see even a deer track. I think those local mountain men might be living off the land (ie deer). Either that or the fires have moved the deer out of there. I am mostly going up there because the heat in the valley is driving me crazy and one of my friends just bought a new cabin.

I just thought I was their favorite! I know wyoming and idaho do the same.

Sorry you lost your job, but it doesn't cost anymore to be unemployed in the woods. Hunting season is a long ways out. If you really want to go you can figure out a way to make it happen.

Mechanical blades are for rookies. If your going to be doing run and gun, draggin on you belly stalks, and creepin with an nocked arrow you dont want a mechanical. They shoot great out of the box but snag on anything and everything when your stalking. I dont want the bull or buck of a lifetime to be right in front of me and im screwing with the rubberband on the mechanical. One less thing to worry about.

4 blade wack ems or 4 blade slick tricks kill elk and fly great. I like to paper tune my bow first with field points, then put on the broadheads and see what happens. They may group a little different than your field points, but paper tuning it first dramatically reduces that.

Man I just read through that whole post and dang that is funny. Here's to jumping to conclusions in 2012!!!

Thanks for the pointers. That will give me enough to get started with some scouting.

I have the option of taking horses on my Unit 27 Archery Bull hunt this year. I have two tags this year so I am looking for a big bull only. Does anyone have any experience in the Wilderness Areas with horses? AZGFD website mentions Rose Peak, Alma Mesa and Red Mountiain on the Blue. I have all the gear to get it done, just dont know if its worth it. Keep in mind the horses need lots of food and water. We usually stake them out while we go hunting or hunt on horseback. I have scouted the Blue on the NM side in Unit 23. We heard there were big bulls in there, but that particular year they werent in there. I plan on scouting this summer off foot and would like to check out Alma Mesa and the Red Mountain Area, but its a pretty good hike. Does anyone access the Blue from Glenwood, NM? PM me if you want. I would love to hear some feedback.

I was in there at the tail end of last years archery hunt helping out. I actually end up doing more hanging out because the hunt was disheartening. There were camps every 50 yards. You also have a lot of people in that unit just camping and riding around on atvs. So yes, it is very crouded and even though its a big unit, it seems very small. They are giving out way too many cow tags let alone bull tags anymore. You can tell the numbers are down just by checking out the size of the herd that hangs out at Mormon Lake. I would suggest checking out the nasty canyons like Fossil Creek, Clear Creek, Jacks Canyon, and Beaver Creek. Thats where I would hide if I was a big bull when the unit turns into a zoo. You could also check out the canyons south and West of Clints Wells. Also check the cedars closer to the I-17. There are spots along the I-17 where you can set up on a hill and glass for days. PM me your phone number and I can explain where they are. Mormon Mountain used to be an awesome area but I heard last year it was full of hunters tripping over each other. We used to have bulls walk right through camp there but thats a thing of the past with all the tags and combined units.

Jesus thats a tough unit for a cow. For archery I would look around the golf course and Kiabab Lake. If you want some other areas PM me and I will give you some other areas to look. I dont know if your talking rifle or archery.

You also need GPS with maps and the National Forest Map for Unit 10. Some maps show details that others dont. That Unit is very tricky to navigate. When I had that tag I spent over $3000 on fuel and tires scouting and still didnt cover half the unit.

Unit 27 Archery Bull!!!

Looks like we drew the same unit. Congrats. I cant wait to get up there and figure out the road situation. I looked at the azgfd website and it looks like they closed a lot of it down after the fire.

Finally got through. Unit 27 Archery Bull. Cant wait to get started with the scouting.

Service Temporarily Unavailable The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Apache/2.2.15 (Red Hat) Server at azweb3 Port 81 I got drawn on the Apache Rez in Red Hat Canyon hunt # 81!!! Woohoo!!!

Hunt Draw System: Error Unexpected error, please try again We are sorry about the inconvenience The application has encountered a problem. Please contact support at azsupport@nicusa.com to report this error. Return to AZ.gov or go back to the previous page.

I dont see them online yet and the land line is busy. I guess it being lunch break doesnt help my chances of getting through.

Nice video. Thanks.

Right now I have been chasing Gambels around Roosevelt/ Tonto Basin. Its been pretty hot so the birds are obviously flushing further and sooner. I use high brass #8's with a Modified choke for my first shot and a Full choke for second. As it cools off and the birds hold tighter i will go to IC for first shot and Mod for follow up. That seems to work pretty good for me on Gambels. For Mearns i love using high brass #9's. You can get them up here in Mesa at Bear Mountain. I use either Skeet chokes in both barrels or skeet in one and IC in the other. If you havent used the #9's with skeet chokes for Mearns, dont knock it. You hardly need to aim when your shooting under 20 yards and it takes them straight down.

Drew the second season. PM me your number and I will give you a call.

Lark, Thanks for the advice. I am being told I need to be mobile for this hunt from pretty much everyone, so I should probably listen. I am thinking we will camp outside the wilderness area. From there we can ride horses into that area or go check out other country. That way we dont have to worry about water and feed. Hopefully I can post up some pictures at the end of September!

You know what pisses me off? Seeing this identical post every couple months on every hunting forum. Put this one up there with famous posts like: 1)How Far is Too Far? 2). Darn Road Hunters Make Me Angry 3). Game and Fish Pissed in My Wheaties.