Alpinebullwinkle

Great job Aaron!! That is a bull to be proud of forever. Was it a unit #27 bull?

I've been hearing bugling pretty routinely for almost 2 weeks now in unit 27. Yesterday I got into a large herd that was very vocal again but surprisingly I heard glunking and witnessed wallowing. This is the earliest in history that I can ever recall. Is this suggesting an earlier rut than normal this year? What are people observing in other units?

The elk seem to have entered into their annual "quiet time" which ususally lasts about 5 days. Started two days ago. They were going crazy all day but the last two days they have cut off communications by 8:30AM and haven't really cranked up until after dark. This quiet period is also earlier than normal. Still say this year will be the earliest rut in history but we just have to wait and see how it all unfolds. Everything has been different this year with the only explanation that the Wallow Fire has impacted both habitat and animal behaviors. Good luck to all hunters. You should have a blast this year based on what I have seen.

I have used Rusty's and had no problems and been happy with his work. Heard of one other hunter that claims he ended up with someone elses bull but I can't verify that and not sure he could either.

Took a remote trip past Hannigans today. When I left after 11:00 AM the bulls were still bugling and begging for their cows. Never seen what I am seeing daily this early.

Without question animal behaviors have been changed significantly by the Wallow Fire. We now see about 1/10 the amount of game that we used to see prior to the fire. But if you get out and walk you will find they are very scattered and do not have to travel the distances they used to prior to the fire for food and water. Bottom line the animals are more reclusive and nocturnal. On the other hand I am seeing probably 5 times more bears minimum than ususal. The elk rut definitely has started two weeks sooner than normal and even soon than last year. Will be interesting to see if the rut is lengthened more than normal or whether it will just start earlier and finish earlier than all prior years.

All year long the elk have been doing things out of character. Might be Wallow Fire consequence. The last three days have been especially different. Lots of bugling starting by noon, bulls glunking and wallowing, cows quacking with extreme excitement like they are in rut and the greatest surprise is finding the bigger bulls already with the herds and totally in charge. Everything seems two weeks premature. Never experienced this soon in 40 years for some reason.

Game cameras are considered abandoned after 72 hours???? Surely the Forest Service gests!!!. How about if you don't see a forest service truck drive down a legal road within 72 hours they no longer have authority with their goofy rules of mismanagement? The USFS is out of control and we need to get rid of Obama and Salazar to reclaim what we all used to own!!

My preference is to leave the bull overnight to stiffen up when bedded and then find him dead the next day or walk up on him for a closing shot. My experience is the elk will quit bleeding externally very soon after the shot but continue bleeding internally over nite which usually leads to success if patience is shown.

Only thing I will add to the above great advice is don't be afraid to hunt in the elk bedding areas mid day. Most of my bulls the last 20 years have been taken in bedding areas between 11:30-1:30. Wayne Carlton is the only one I have heard to acknowledge this and only in the last few years. Understand that you will not see the elk again if you bust them out of their beds in Colorado but not the case in Arizona. Instead of taking a nap in mid day go shoot your elk at noon in their beds!!! They will answer your light quack timidly at first and after 15-30 minutes come in to investigate.

I had a data card stolen out of one of my cameras two years ago. I confronted the individuals but couldn't prove it. Told the youngsters (24 years of age) that if I had another problem in the area I would turn them into AGF and they could lose their hunting privileges. Haven't seen them in the area since!

Also Freeport has mining sites outside of Tucson, Bagdad, Globe, Safford and Morenci if you are willing to locate anywhere in the state

The music has started!!! Got into 3 aggressively bugling bulls today with the cows quacking their appreciation.

Got into a nice herd of cows today and enjoyed their quacking while three bulls on the surrounding hills bugled aggressively trying to make believe they were someone. The music has started. What a blast. This usually happens annually about August 15-17 and then they go quiet until the end of August. Bring it on sportsfans!!!

Good answers above. My experience is elk do not like cattle and prefer to avoid them if adequate food supply elsewhere. Now that almost everything burned we have the most food supply in history and the elk are therefore more reclusive then ever. They just don't have to move far now for food or water. That should change soon though as we get closer to the rut and the bulls start to lay out their rubs. I have noticed finding deer, elk, and cattle together more than 20 years ago. Suspect that could be more for a collaborative effort on predator control.

Yes I believe it is due to all the burnt trees that the horns are so dark. My bull from last year was real dark which I really liked. Also I ocasionally see elk look up with completely black faces from the remaining soot. My shoes are real black when I return from a hike also. Guess it will take a few more years for the forest soot to clean up.

Have to agree. From my work experience unions are far more greedy than the corporations that seem to be getting beat up so bad by the current administration and their left wing supporters! Unions put many copper mining companies out of business in the early 1980's due to their greed when the economy was down. Amazingly the car company unions did not learn from their predecessors. Due to what I experienced in the mining industry unfortunately I predicted the demise of the auto industry almost 10 years ago. Too bad I wasn't wrong in my prediction!

Congratulations to your son for drawing a very fun tag. It started raining about 5 days ago....finally! It was really unusually green in April and then 9 straight weeks with 0 precipitation turned most everything brown. Just starting to green up again with the monsoons now in gear. Most of the areas have been reopened up to the public to hunt by walking. USFS is leaving many roads closed which they have desired to do for some time now. The elk behaviors have really changed since last years Wallow Fire. They have become more nocturnal and reclusive. Also there is less elk but still plenty to make for an exciting hunt. Horn quality should be very good to excellent this year. Good luck.

Hey Pinedonkey that bull looks exactly like the bull I filmed on May 30. Was he in unit #27 by any chance?

I suggest you buy a good set of snake leggings which will let you hike with less fear. I used to use them every fishing trip to Black River as we would run into a rattler nearly every time on those fishing trips

I have been a member of RMEF, AES and SEAZSC since these organizations were created. SEAZSC and AES have many work projects that are worthy in our state and fun to meet people at. You can find out more about SEAZSC at their website www.seazsc.org

I hear ya loud and clear Snapshot. It is truly very disappointing and very scary to me also!

I remember in the 1960's hearing my grandmother say "what is this world coming to" ? She is probably rolling over in her grave thinking about all these crazy issues that are now commonplace! Any of you folks know what this world is coming to?????

I can support "diversity" in managing our states wildlife. I'll give you two examples from Unit #27 how "diversity" by AGF has had a tremendous negative affect on the unit. Native trout.....AGF originally requested 3 streams in the unit to kill the more prolific but non-native rainbow trout where the fishing was fabulous in the 1970's. The tremendous fishing waters of Bear Wallow, KP, and Fish Creek were originally poisoned about 1980 and native trout reintroduced. They have never taken because they are inferior and can't survive either severe winters or drought. As a result we have not been able to fish for these reintroduced inferior trout in these streams for less than 5 of the last 30 years. But wait.....there is more! AGF was untruthful and then decided to take over almost every stream in unit #27 (not just the originally intended 3) to reintroduce the inferior native trout. Now we have almost no streams in the unit to fish!! When I challenged AGF why they changed the original scope they said they did it to achieve a quota to secure additional federal funds! Same story with the wolves. The program started off with the original intention of a maximum 100 wolves in the state. Now we hear certain groups want 700 more yet we hear no communication on this rediculous request by our AGF. And they wonder why the AGF organization has lost credibility with most of their stakeholders. AGF should not be surprised with the current revolt that is justified by most of the conservation clubs (not to be confused with the "extremist environmental clubs" like Biodiversity).

It sounds like us hunters are co-mingling the issues of ATV abuse and loss of truck access that we have enjoyed for 40 years or so due to the USFS devious road closures. I recognize it is difficult somewhat to separate the two issues because they do overlap. The younger generation and those people that have recently transferred into Arizona from out of state have a good reason to be naive. Especially when the USFS puts out new maps that suddenly omit some of our favorite roads like Bill Quimby so astutely pointed out. Hopefully those that have a reason for being naive will be open minded enough to recognize the big picture and what is happening before their eyes. Hopefully those younger challengers will be lucky enough to live to an older age like Bill and I (and their wheels get a little worn out). At that point common sense usually kicks in. Unfortunately it might then be too late to reverse the devious changes that are currently happening.