huntlines Report post Posted July 5, 2012 My 17 year old has an early rifle bull tag in unit 27. I have not had time to get up there yet and do any scouting. Looking at hitting it hard starting in August but am curious to know if large portions are still closed? Has anyone been up there recently? Would like to know how it looks up there and what the road conditions are like. Anyone been down in the blue river area? I know the rains have started in and it should be greening up....... Thanks in advance for any information, Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alpinebullwinkle Report post Posted July 7, 2012 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. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Snapshot Report post Posted July 7, 2012 Awesome tag. I have not been up there yet to see the fire damage, have only seen photos. I do most of my hunting below the rim in 27. Even thought the majority of bull's migrate off the top by mid November, there are resident bulls down in the canyon country year round, as wells as groups of cow elk. Tough to hunt down there, but there is always a chance of a really big bull. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
huntjunkie Report post Posted July 7, 2012 I'm up there every other week or so. The blue is extremely dry! Obviously the monson will change that. Alpinebullwinkle is right. I'll also add that because of all the barely the FS dropped to prevent erosion has seeded again. So the elk have unlimited feed. They don't have to feed in their "usuall spots" the just feed anywere. good example are the resident bulls they come for a few days and leave for a week or two. The antler growth should be pretty good. The good news is glassing opportunities ate much better in the really bad burn areas. Good luck that is a great tag! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
huntjunkie Report post Posted July 7, 2012 I'm up there every other week or so. The blue is extremely dry! Obviously the monson will change that. Alpinebullwinkle is right. I'll also add that because of all the barely the FS dropped to prevent erosion has seeded again. So the elk have unlimited feed. They don't have to feed in their "usuall spots" the just feed anywere. good example are the resident bulls they come for a few days and leave for a week or two. The antler growth should be pretty good. The good news is glassing opportunities are much better in the really bad burn areas. Good luck,that is a great tag! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
huntjunkie Report post Posted July 7, 2012 Sorry for the double post. My phone posted it twice. "smart....phone" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cohntr6 Report post Posted July 9, 2012 Good luck to your son! Hopefully there will be one less bull for your son to choose from though! LOL I have the archery hunt in 27 right before your son. This weekend I will be up there. We'll see what happens. jeff Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cmc Report post Posted July 9, 2012 Only high traffic road that's closed temporarily is along the black river because of rock slides and the chance of getting stuck in between at one of the camp spots. A few other roads are more or less permanently closed because of major wash outs because of the fire. I don't see those opening up anytime soon unless someone ponies up some money to the FS to fix them. You can get a current road and FS closure map off the A-S forest service web site. Oh and congrats to your son on the tag. It'll be a lot of fun. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
