27 archery antelope

[capt88]

I was fortunate enough to draw a 27 archery antelope tag. I have scouted Upper Eagle Creek and saw a couple decent goats. I am sure there have to be more antelope out there but I have no idea where to look. Not looking for secret spots and I am willing to do the time scouting but any pointers on where to start looking would be great. The hunt area is limited to more or less the southern portion of the unit. I have scouted Eagle Creek and went down the Juan Miller road and a little bit on the East Side of the Blue River.Any help would be appreciated!

[.270]

only place you're gonna find any goats in that hunt is where you said you found them. sometimes you see a few around sprucedale, coyote creek and williams valley, but i don't think any of that is in the hunt. i've never seen a real big buck down there, but there are quite a few. saw 18 together not too long ago. any of the prarie country from hardy hole north and east has a fair number of goats. they run back and forth from down on eagle up to point of pines. i have seen some incredible bucks north of point of pines. saw one about a year ago that i think was a 90 incher. so maybe every once in awhile one of those really big ones will wander down there. but the biggest one i ever saw down there was probably a high 70's buck. sometimes you see some in the big canyons that run from mud springs down to eagle and up on the big prarie on the south east part of the 7 cross a. good luck, Lark.

[capt88]

Thanks for the info! This helps out a great deal. I am really looking forward to this hunt. It might be a tough hunt but it is better than being at work!

[.270]

have fun. should be a good hunt. Lark.

[mxslaugh]

I was also lucky enough to draw that tag this year. I am glad to see that another coueswhitetail member drew one of the other two tags. I will be down on eagle creek a couple of day before the hunt starts to do some more scouting (will be the one in a red dodge mega cab). The Arizona Antelope Foundation is having a work project day at double circle ranch on August 13 if you are interested. Unfortunately I have to work that weekend and will not be able to attend. Here is the link http://www.azantelope.org/Events_Calendar/Double_Circle_Ranch_Project/double_circle_ranch_project.html

[AZLance]

Antelope mesa!!!!

[mxslaugh]

Antelope mesa!!!!

 

Too bad that is not in the designated portion of the unit for the hunt! I would of love to had an excuse to learn that part of the unit.

[cdenton]

I was also lucky enough to draw that tag this year. I am glad to see that another coueswhitetail member drew one of the other two tags. I will be down on eagle creek a couple of day before the hunt starts to do some more scouting (will be the one in a red dodge mega cab). The Arizona Antelope Foundation is having a work project day at double circle ranch on August 13 if you are interested. Unfortunately I have to work that weekend and will not be able to attend. Here is the link http://www.azantelope.org/Events_Calendar/Double_Circle_Ranch_Project/double_circle_ranch_project.html

Slaughter,

 

Yea that sounds about right. You usually don't get out of your truck much. Ha. Just kidding. They've actually finally been getting some rain down there the last couple weeks. They've ran those longhorns pretty hard down there recently and it has seemed to move those goats around a bit. There's some places that are pretty overgrazed and the antelope don't seem to be right where we usually see them. Hopefully the moisture will help. Maybe they moved in the trees some. Give you a little more cover anyway. Good Luck

[200"mulie]

Before the fire (MAY) there was a small herd of antelope just outside of sprucedale just feeding in the trees. I figured since it was so dry that they had to come in to get water...since me nor my buddy ever seen them that far in.

[capt88]

Too mxslaugh, I will be there the day before the hunt. I will be the crazy person to drive his motorhome in there! The first couple days I will be driving my Ranger until some friends make it up late Saturday. I am looking forward to the hunt. I sure hope there will be enough rain to green things up and get the antelope back into the valley. Maybe the pears will be ripe by then too!

[.270]

if you don't see any in the prarie down by eagle creek, go up the mud springs road and take a right at the first green gate and go back up on that big open mesa. we see them all the time in canyons that run from there back to eagle. if you take that road as far up as it goes there is a fork that comes back to main road. several other roads fork off all over in there. a lot of the time they wander back over on the rez too. maybe look down by hardy hole. but you should find them. i've never been in there without seeing them somewhere if i was halfway looking for them. i'm thinking you're gonna hafta injun up on em tho. i don't know if sitting water is gonna do much good in there. have fun. show us a photo. that is some great country. get a lion tag before you go. Lark.

[rugermack]

Go north about a mile or two past upper eagle/blue turn offs, G&F transplanted some in there a few years back. We talked to the game warden when we were on a turkey hunt and he confirmed it.

[mxslaugh]

Too mxslaugh, I will be there the day before the hunt. I will be the crazy person to drive his motorhome in there! The first couple days I will be driving my Ranger until some friends make it up late Saturday. I am looking forward to the hunt. I sure hope there will be enough rain to green things up and get the antelope back into the valley. Maybe the pears will be ripe by then too!

I went down on Monday and there were no pears at all but saw one good bruin. I'm heading down tomorrow. Can't wait.

[capt88]

What a disappointing hunt! 2 herds of antelope and a total of 4 bucks to choose from on opening day. The biggest buck was taken opening day leaving three small bucks. There was only so much pressure they were going to take before they high tailed out of the area. I went three days without seeing any bucks. Finally the last day I had to try to make something happen but unable to take the second herd buck. The herd that was widowed split up and wasn't picked up by any other bucks which leads me to believe there weren't any! I am very disappointed I used 7 bonus points to draw this tag.

On the bright side it was great to finally be out hunting and watching all the other wildlife. Plenty of bears and deer to help ease the frustration of this hunt.