huntlines

I have attached the FS mailing address and phone number below. I encourage everyone to write letters and/or call to demand the forest service reconsider the closure until next year. Again this effects all of us! P.O. Box 640 (mailing address) 30 S. Chiricahua Dr. (physical address) Springerville, AZ 85938 Voice: (928) 333-4301

I have attached the FS mailing address and phone number below. I encourage everyone to write letters and/or call to demand the forest service reconsider the closure until next year. Again this effects all of us! P.O. Box 640 (mailing address) 30 S. Chiricahua Dr. (physical address) Springerville, AZ 85938 Voice: (928) 333-4301

Got off the phone with the FS rep listed on their web site and she confirmed they will not open any more than the lakes and what is currently opened until next year. Some of you may think this isn't a concern for you since you don't have a tag but the greater issue here is the FS over reaching and closing entire forest. This will affect you one day. We all need to band together here and start protesting this. If we dont then they will continue to close off areas for years at a time. With all the rain they are getting and all the time they have had this shouldn't be closed. People always know the risk of entering the forset at any time. Even if they open the forest but have some areas that burned severely closed that would be understandable, however to just close the entire area for a year is unreasonable!

Hunting the other side of 260 isnt an option if the entire forest is closed. They don't care if some areas didn't burn....they are closing all of it period. Got off the phone with the FS rep listed on their web site and she confirmed they will not open any more than the lakes and what is currently opened until next year. Some of you may think this isn't a concern for you since you don't have a tag but the greater issue here is the FS over reaching and closing entire forest. This will affect you one day. We all need to band together here and start protesting this. If we dont then they will continue to close off areas for years at a time. With all the rain they are getting and all the time they have had this shouldn't be closed. People always know the risk of entering the forset at any time. Even if they open the forest but have some areas that burned severely closed that would be understandable, however to just close the entire area for a year is unreasonable!

Just finished speaking to a biologist who works in the Alpine area. Sounds like they are being told no access for at least a year.....wonderful. If they wont let biologist into the forest then they will never allow hunters in. Sounds like we must push the FS, Game and Fish and whomever else we can to get access. Either that or we are eating our tags............

Lots of areas in the state are opening due to the rain we are getting. However unit 1 and 27 are still closed. Some of the areas that are opening have not got near the rain that unit 1 and 27 has recieved. I think it is going to take pressure from hunting groups to get these guys to open the area before the hunts start. I know they are removing hazardous trees from near the roadways but thier other excuse is due to flooding hazards. The flooding hazards will be there for at least three years according to other big fire assessments I have read. I think it is time we start pushing the FS to open it up. Any ideas?

All the information given has been great. I agree with all of it and respect everyones opinion. Years ago, mid 1990's I was shooting a fixed blade broadhead and thought people were crazy to shoot mechanical broadheads. However I missed a nice buck at fourty yards one day. The shot felt good and I know I didn't jerk it but the arrow flew low and left. A few days later I was reading an article about practicing with your braodheads. I was using hay bales to shoot into with my field tips which obviously are not good on braodheads so I went out and bought a braodhead target. What I found amazed me. At twenty yards everything was fine but at fourty yards and further the arrows flew low and left. After speaking to others I was told multiple things from tunning issues to different fletchings and even adjusting my sights when it came to hunting time. None of the above interested me at all after finding my bow was tuned fine. I wanted to shoot the same as my field points when I went out hunting period. I was speaking to a guy whom has a lot of knowledge when it comes to archery gear and he suggested trying mechanicals. I never thought this guy would suggest suck a thing. All the stories I had heard about bad things happening with them and all. He said something that has never left me and that was "try it, doesn't mean you have to hunt with them". So I did and have never looked back. Since then I have harvested five nice whitetail bucks, a mule deer, three bulls, a turkey and a bobcat using the same mechanical broadhead. During this time period I have only lost two animals and they were to poor shot placement and had nothing to do with the gear. Some of the animals listed above were long range shots and the arrows flew straight. The broadhead I have used has had a recent modification that I think has made a great broadhead even better. I hate to tell people which broadhead I use because if they start selling to many the price will go up on them. However I know people will ask if i don't so....they are the vortex broadheads. I shot the mini max up until last year and now am shooting the new vortex inverter. The last buck I shot, which is the profile picture, is my biggest yet and he only went fourty yards with a huge blood trail. My biggest point in all this is practice with your broadhead! Find one that shoots straight without a lot of changes from the practice field to the hunting field. When you find something that works....use it.

I have a reative who just went to Alpine to check on their cabin. Said there were elk every where and they looked healthy. They also said it was raining that evening and rain was in the forcast for the next few days. Sounds like things are looking up.

For those of you who have tags for either unit 1 or 27 here is a map of the wallow fire. It shows what areas were burned and how badly by a color code. White-not burned, green-low intensity, yellow-moderate and red-BAD. Looks like unit 27 is worse than 1 but still plenty of hunting area if the FS will let us in! https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/ftp/InciWeb/AZASF/2011-05-31-00:57-wallow/picts/pict-20110628-215436-0.jpeg

It was for both units, yes. Unit one sounds like only 20% was burned "Extreme", the other 80% was moderate to non at all. I'm keeping my hopes up as long as the FS don't close access. There is a 30 to 40% chance of rain over the next five days. If it rains hard maybe they will open the area up soon. I need to get back in there scouting!

I believe everyoneone in the state drew a tag for those two units for archery and they are usually all up there during the season!

Well I have got a little information about the meeting. Sounds like 80% of the unit was burned moderately to none at all. If this is correct then the hunt should be fine as long as the FS allows access. They are waiting for the FS to release a report in a few weeks which should give the GF commission an idea of possible closures. If the closures are minimal, which in my opinion they should be, then they will probably do nothing. If they are wide spread then they may allow guys who have lots of points to turn in their tags without refunds to get their points back. I personally dont see them doing this or they will open the door for other situations......

Anyone hear or watch the Game and Fish meeting yesterday? If so was there anything said or done in the fire units?????

Did anyone watch the AZ Game and Fish meeting yesterday? If so can you please tell me what was said or decided,if any on the fire impacts on the up coming hunts?????

I believe there will be some areas where the fire crowned and burned everything but I believe more than half the unit will be huntable. Yes there were 40 extra tags for bull elk this year so there will be lots of people. I think a guy will just have to hike into areas deeper to get away from eachother. I don't see a problem because I like to be as far away from everyone else as possible anyway. I truely believe this is going to turn out to be a great hunt.

I'm new to this site....well at least to being a member of it. Wish I was on here last year...would have been able to give you information. I hunted this unit years ago when it was an archery only unit. Them were the days. It was a great unit back then, few tags, archery only and great hunting. I did well and had a great time. Saw plenty of elk and could have shot small bulls but was holding out for a big boy. Anyway I have heard from friends of mine who still live in the area this is now a crappy hunt due to the number of riffle tags issued. Figures GF would ruin a good thing by giving to many tags for a unit with not a lot of elk in it......

I have also heard the same things about unit 1. Some of my areas should have been mostly ground fire with crowning happening here and there. I truely believe it will be fine as long as the FS allows access. If the FS just didn't allow people to camp in some areas due the falling tree danger that don't worry me at all. I will drive in every day if I have to. Just keep prayin for rain so this thing will get put out and we can start scouting again. Scouting is going to be even more critical this year than any other......

Well I believe probably because I have a tag and can only be positive, that it will still be a great hunt. I have heard from people who know some of the firefighters. They are saying that only the areas where the fire made big runs during the windy days are completely burned out. A lot of the area where the fire has burned slower, there it only burned the under brush and most of the trees survived. I also read on the game and fish web site that they feel it will still be a good hunt. They said most of the larger animals survive these types of fires. I don't think it is going to be as bad as some believe. It just needs to RAIN!!!!! Hopefully in July when the monsoons come and they slowly start to open things back up to the public I will get to go scouting. I will let you know what I find. I had already done some early scouting before the fires. As dry as it was I knew something like this was going to happen. Good luck to any of you who also got drawn. I can't wait......

Well I believe probably because I have a tag and can only be positive, that it will still be a great hunt. I have heard from people who know some of the firefighters. They are saying that only the areas where the fire made big runs during the windy days are completely burned out. A lot of the area where the fire has burned slower, there it only burned the under brush and most of the trees survived. I also read on the game and fish web site that they feel it will still be a good hunt. They said most of the larger animals survive these types of fires. I don't think it is going to be as bad as some believe. It just needs to RAIN!!!!! Hopefully in July when the monsoons come and they slowly start to open things back up to the public I will get to go scouting. I will let you know what I find. I had already done some early scouting before the fires. As dry as it was I knew something like this was going to happen. Good luck to any of you who also got drawn. I can't wait......

I actually hope you guys are right. I'm fine with not closing it if I have access to hunt. GF issued 40 more permits this year in unit 1 and if big portions of the unit are closed by the FS then it is going to be a really crapy hunt. With some good monsoon rain and access to the unit I believe the hunt wont be all that bad.....FINGERS CROSSED!

I have this tag as well and it will be a miracle if we are able to even hunt the unit with this fire. Even if the fire is out the forest service may close large portions due to dangerous snag trees. I'm not keeping my hopes up........

Has anyone contacted game and fish and confirmed they are closing the unit? I heard some guys called and asked if they mailed their unit 1 tag back if they could get their bonus points back. They we told no of course but if they close the unit you would think they would allow the people with tags a new tag next year. No?????

Well I heard the same thing about it being closed. If this is the case I hope they honor our tags for next year. I drew a unit 1 archery bull tag and would love to go next year. If you hear anything new please pass it along. I searched all over the net for any information and came up empty. Man to go from excited to totally depressed is an understatement. All from an idiot that left their camp fire burning.