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I was fortunate to again draw a late rifle bull hunt in Arizona’s premier Unit 9. The last time was four years ago for a late bull hunt. In the previous 20 years since moving to Flagstaff, I have enjoyed three archery bull, two late rifle bull and one rifle cow tag in Arizona’s Unit 9. I have also had three other elk tags in other hunt units. Interestingly, this would be my first big game hunt in two years. About 30 years ago, I began hunting after graduating from college and hunting replaced my passion for fly fishing. Hunting became my preoccupation for many years. Burnout or what-not. Four years ago, I took up landscape photography, and now enjoy it more than hunting. I have purchased over the counter archery deer tags, but have not gone afield with bow in the past few years. This year, I forsook a rifle Coues whitetail hunt in late October to go photograph Coyote Buttes in northern Arizona. This spring, I let a javelina season pass as I felt no urge. Now, for the first time in two years, I was looking forward to a hunt and its scouting. What rifle to use for this hunt? I have nicely stocked 6.5 WSM and a HS Precision 300 WSM with Alaskan Walnut. A new scope arrived for the 6.5, so I moved the 4.5-14 Leupold to the HS and sighted in again. Guess these 180 grain Accubonds would work <wink> but are not condor-friendly <roll eyes>. I also have a load with the Nosler 180 E-tips that put 4 shots under an inch, so I would run with those to see their performance on elk. I do like how they worked on the berm behind the target. First Scouting Trip Two weekends before the hunt, I left Saturday afternoon with Rica, my German Wirehaired Pointer, to scout a few places old and new, now that the rifle deer hunters are finished. I have had an archery elk stalk blown by scouters on ATVs once, so I prefer to stay out of the woods while other hunts are occurring and not mess up someone else's hunt. Also, the bulls should now be away from the cows, and closer towards their wintertime locations. To scout for specific bulls before mid-October is somewhat pointless as they leave their cows and migrate toward wintering or post-rut hiding spots, sometimes 25-35 miles away from their rut areas. Probably more than any other GMU, unit 9 seems like home to me. As on heads north on Highway 64, there is the welcome sign. Also, there is the beacon of Red Butte that can be seen as one drives from the south out of Unit 7. I have never hiked to the top, but it may be a good vantage to glass the elk too far way to hike to. Gotta wonder how much water flowed to wash everything else away and leave just Red Butte resting atop all the layers of the Grand Canyon. After a nice slow drive along just a "few" miles of rocky dirt roads, I reached my target spot in late afternoon. The plan was to watch from a distance and hope the dry weather keeps the elk coming to water. Only a young five point appeared after sunset. The earth shadow was rather nice this evening towards the east. Layers of pink and blue with white clouds above the elkless cedars. Sunday morning revealed only a bovine unit near the tank while observing from pre-dawn until past sunrise. Not even a howling coyote was heard. After an ATV and a truck passed by the tank, I decided to head south and find an open draw that I had seen using Google Earth. I hoped its fingers would provide peaceful feeding undisturbed by road traffic. This draw is almost a mile from a road, and has a fence running through the middle. I did find two well-used jumps that both could be covered by a well-positioned rifleman. Wonder which side of the fence will the elk prefer? Most of the tracks along the fence and over the jumps were from cows and calves. But the elk are there. Maybe even a bull mixed in.