3C?

[Good]

Hello all, got a quick couple questions for you.

 

Wanted to put in for elk the same units as my uncle this year as who knows how long we'll be able to hunt together. He usually hunts cow in 3a-3c. So I put that as first pick and got it in October. Unfortunately, my uncle got 2nd pick unit 27 so we will not be hunting together anyway, unless one of us tags out early, then we'll crash each other's party.

 

Anyway, can anyone recommend a good place to set up camp? I've never hunted this 3c unit before, but we tent camp so if you have experience with the area and would like to help a fellow hunter out, I'm all ears!

 

It's pretty far from home base so we'll probably scout in September (just for the bugling ).

 

I'm really excited for the hunt, it's been a while and it's been even longer since filling the freezer.

 

Thanks in advance for your compassion.

 

Tim.

Micah 6:8

[cohntr6]

My inlaws are very familiar with 3a/3c and I have been able to see some of the country

with them. PM me

 

jeff

[jboots]

My daughter has the jr. hunt that is the week before yours and I also live in 3c so if I would be glad to offer any assistance you might need. As far as where to camp, it would depend on where in the unit you want to hunt. There will be elk scattered throughout the unit during that hunt.

[Good]

Thanks guys. I really look forward to getting out this year. Work has prevented me the last several years. Last year I drew a whitetail tag and only got out for 1 day. Couldn't put horns on anything!

 

As far as area, I was eyeballing the area straight south of the Overgaard area on Google Earth. Looks like a lot of it burned though, and it appears there are a lot of downed trees. I'm wondering if there were any good camping sites in the mountains down that way for a tent or two.

 

Something else, is the Mogollon Rim Rd the Southern border of the unit? It appears that way and I don't have a map for the area yet to more accurately determine it.

[bonecollector777]

PM sent, but the southern border is the White Mountain Apache Reservation fence.

[coueser4]

Best map to see unit boundaries as well as private vs public land is www.azaccessmap.com.

So great that they put this map out there to clear up a lot of questions. You will see the border being the fence line and not the rim road as bonecollector mentioned.

As far as that burn south of overgaard there is plenty of camping spots because its all open from them clearing burnt trees in that area. I would suggest to get into the unburnt trees though because it will provide some shade and cover as well as put you closer to some elk.

[Good]

Best map to see unit boundaries as well as private vs public land is www.azaccessmap.com.

So great that they put this map out there to clear up a lot of questions. You will see the border being the fence line and not the rim road as bonecollector mentioned.

As far as that burn south of overgaard there is plenty of camping spots because its all open from them clearing burnt trees in that area. I would suggest to get into the unburnt trees though because it will provide some shade and cover as well as put you closer to some elk.

That is an excellent resource! Thanks!

[AZkiller]

The 51 road is nice and fast to the 300 and kinda in the middle of the unit. Lots of places to camp. Just stay away from the decker wash, lots of yahoos. Drive around the unit this summer with the fam and you will figure it out quick. you don't need 4x anywhere unless its muddy. have fun and good luck

[Good]

The 51 road is nice and fast to the 300 and kinda in the middle of the unit. Lots of places to camp. Just stay away from the decker wash, lots of yahoos. Drive around the unit this summer with the fam and you will figure it out quick. you don't need 4x anywhere unless its muddy. have fun and good luck

Thanks man. I'm really excited to get out and scout. I would like to stay away from the yahoos so thanks for the heads up on that. Hopefully we can scout up a good place to camp from all the recommended areas and we'll have a successful hunt. Seeing all the downed trees though, I'm not so sure, but just getting out in the hills with the fam trying to find some elk for a week will be awesome so a successful hunt or not, I'm way excited!

 

Getting some work done on the rifle- ordered a new laminate stock and a brake for it, getting ready for load development. Need to find a gunsmith to screw the brake on for me.

[Good]

Had a fantastic hunt! It was tough though. Although there were a few, not many cows were taken while we were there. We had a shot early in the hunt but had some scope difficulties and couldn't close the deal.

 

After those shenanigans, we hunted hard putting in mile after mile hiking all over the mountain. Although we didn't see many cows, there are definitely elk in the "green" areas and timber and our bull count was up to 17 with one monster we named the "Wrangler". He definitely had good jeans.

 

It was warm and it seemed that the elk were mainly up in the higher areas off the 300 towards the West, but you never know.

 

We also had the pleasure of seeing many deer on the hunt with one group of around 18. The dominant doe in that group was chewing on little bones. Wierd. All told, we saw more does than bucks, but we definitely saw a few nice bucks including a real nice 4x4 standing broadside just looking at us from ~100yds one day.

 

Finally, on Wednesday, the day before last day we were able to shoot a nice cow that was 284lbs hanging on the scale at Malapai Packing in Taylor- we worked the math backwards and estimate 530-540lbs on the hoof. Thanks for everyone's help.

 

Not the greatest shot, but:

[az-6.5-284]

good job. fill up your freezer

[capoeirajosh]

Congrats! Good meat there!