2008 AZ. ELK ANTLER GROWTH

jrgur4343 · Nov 4, 2008

Units,8,9,and 10. What do you all rate this years antler growth? Did we get the rains at the right time? I have only made one scouting trip this year and was not overwhelmed with quality of antler growth. With three tags to fill this late season I hope somebody has some good news? I seen some six points on my scouting trip but they were average at best. Does anybody have any good news?
For me it has been 6 years since I have had a tag so I am holding out for something special.

And what looks like a new Obama president boy do I need some
good news because with this freak as president we are looking at rough four years!

Looking for some good reports!

azcouesandelk · Nov 5, 2008

LAST EDITED ON Nov-05-08 AT 12:11PM (MST)[p]Alot of bulls in 7 an 9 this year had above average mass, alot of big thirds, and alot of good top ends. Was able to see several bulls over 370 go down and most had over 60 inches of mass!

BGbasbhat · Nov 5, 2008

LAST EDITED ON Nov-05-08 AT 12:13PM (MST)[p]The growth I saw didn't blow me outta the water this year. I had a buddy hunt 10 in the first rifle hunt and bagged a nice 6x7; but nothing too crazy. He did scout a big 6x6 in that unit that had ginormous swords; but he never found him during the season.
I also had 2 die hard elk hunter buddies in 8 early in the season. After 10 days of hunting they managed to poke a medium massed 6x5 with a broken fourth.

Overall, I haven't heard much so far. I know the rut hunts were screwed up because of the full moon, so you might be able to find a monster in there somewhere. Good luck.

huntandfish · Nov 5, 2008

I saw very good horn growth on my Dad's archery elk this year.Last year it was about a 340 bull and this year he scored 370.We also saw a bull opening day that went about 390 and we figured he was about 350 last year.Both bulls had put on a bunch of mass.This was one of the units south of Flagstaff.There were not as many big bulls shot on the archery hunt because of the hot weather and full moon.

jrgur4343 · Nov 5, 2008

Wow I have not heard of any bulls of that size being shot. Especially in that unit. That is some good news. I was up in unit 10 & 8 in late August and early September the feed and growth looked good, but as I said earlier I did not see any great quality.
That gets the blood flowin knowing we got some quality out there. I have hunted unit 8 for the last 18 yrs. and I know each year varies in quality it is amazing one year to the next the difference in quality you can see.
I will spend the whole wk before the season in search of my monster I hope with a little luck we can find him. It will be a family affair so I hope it turns out special.
Thanks for the info.

jrgur4343 · Nov 5, 2008

Hopefully the archers did not take my trophy bull. I have not heard of any monsters being taken on the early hunt. With my experience there is always a couple of boomers that escape the archery hunt and are left for the late hunt. I hope with a little luck I can find one.
Thanks for the info.

stealth_archer · Nov 7, 2008

I helped on a 7w hunt and we came across several good bulls (ranging from 330 to 350), I even saw a 5X5 that would have pushed 320 up by 9. There were 4 bulls that were taken off of the res that went over 400, I have personally seen one and it was well over 400. I know that there was 390 bull taken in 10 and a 395 in 9. So the rains helped, just got to hunt hard.....

BUGLELK · Nov 7, 2008

Hey Stealth,

How did you guys do in 7W? Do you have any pictures of the bulls you guys saw?

Many thanks,
Corey

wingit72 · Nov 7, 2008

>I helped on a 7w hunt
>and we came across several
>good bulls (ranging from 330
>to 350), I even saw
>a 5X5 that would have
>pushed 320 up by 9.
>There were 4 bulls that
>were taken off of the
>res that went over 400,
>I have personally seen one
>and it was well over
>400. I know that there
>was 390 bull taken in
>10 and a 395 in
>9. So the rains helped,
>just got to hunt hard.....
>
Man, have been watching that gene of elk in unit 9 with only 5x5 that scores in the high 300's. I love those ! I would take them over a in line 7 x 7 . But, I think in Arizona this year has sucked butt! It has been really tuff to turn up some very good. And not to mention there was a lot of hunters.