I've hunted this unit for elk three times in the last six years and put in a ton of scouting hours. My dad, brother and I had all put in together and drew this same late rifle hunt as your daughter.
The first time my brother shot a 5x5.
Second time I shot a 6x5 probably would have been a 6x6 but he was broken off. It didn't really matter though because he was barely a six. He was the size of my brothers five. Don't have a pic sorry. My brother also shot a Spike on that hunt. It was kind of funny because we try to let the spikes live another day but it was getting towards the end of the hunt so my brother shot the Spike because we were worried we would go home with out any meat. Then about a half hour later I shot my bull in a different part of the unit. Talk about work.
We have a running joke about all the monster spikes in this unit. we probably pass up on 5 or 6 spikes a hunt. I hope you don't have visions of 400 in bulls running around. This is not a trophy unit. I think you have a pretty good chance at a Spike an okay chance of shooting a rag horn and slim to none chance at a 300 or better. I hope I'm not being too much of a pessimists and damping your excitement. Just trying to give you an idea of what to expect. If I were you I wouldnt hold out for something bigger I would shoot the first bull I saw. With out any preseason scouting it will be tougher. Create a memory with your daughter by getting one down. There are some good hills to spot off of, but there are so many tags in this unit that there is usually a crowed. You will have a better chance if you can hunt all week. Be prepared for either really cold or pretty warm weather. The weather can change in a hurry. The one tip I will give is get a coconino national forest map and mark all the suggestion from the g&f web site those are all really good spots to hunt. Stick to the west side of the unit it holds your best chance of seeing elk. This is a very big unit if you try to cover it all you will run out of time. I think the east side has some bigger bulls but hunting will be much harder. The elk won't be buggling and they will be in there bachelor herds except those delicous spikes will be running with cows often times.
Our third and final Hunt there was our best. I had hunted hard for the whole week, I finally had the most time off of all three hunts, I passed on several rag horns and was holding out for a solid six. The last day came and we hadn't got an elk so I told my dad to come on out because he had gone back to work and I would take him to a spot where some rag horns had been coming out and he could shoot one since he hadn't shot an elk in that unit yet and he really wanted the meat. So we got all set up and sure enough they started coming out. He got down on a dead rest to shoot one about the size of the ones we had shot before when I spotted this one bull. I could only see the the fronts. About this time they had spotted us and started back for the tree line when the one I saw rolled out and I got a good look at him and I said there goes a big one.(I was set up with bino's with my gun laying next to me) Then boom! The last hour of light of the last day and four hours of tracking in the snow in the dark. We killed our best bull to date. Best hunt I've been on! Even if my dad shot the bull I had been searching for all week. I was so excited for him. This is the biggest bull I've seen killed in this unit during this hunt.
(He's not a monster but we are proud of him scored around 305 if I remember correctly) I heard earlier in the week some one had killed a little bigger bull than this in the same area but I never saw it. Of all the bulls hanging in camps that I've seen in three years none were bigger. I only mention this to give you an idea of what to expect. I know some bigger bulls have been killed during the archery hunt in the rut. I don't know if they all get shot during the archery hunt or what but we have never even seen a glimpses of a bigger bull during the hunt. I'm sure there are but good luck finding them. Sorry I didn't mean for this to turn into a novel just got writing and this is what came out. My dad and brother are off to unit ten late rifle hunt this year finally got their first choice. Hoping to see some bigger bulls!
One more pic to get you excited!
