AZ juniper hunt

[SunsFan]

Wondering what effective tactics AZ hunters use for the cedars and open juniper country for elk (sitting and glassing, stalking, making drives through the junipers).

Hunted cows this past weekend and had extreme trouble finding elk except at first light. We were able to take one cow but one tag will be going unfilled this year.

 

[sancarloshunter]

I had that same problem this past weekend. I was hunting in Unit 10 for cow elk. I have been drawn in that unit for the past 3 years. We did not see any elk. Might of jumped two, a cow and calf, but they didn't slow down for me to get a shot. Saw a lot of deer though. Some big bucks too.

The tactics that I use when hunting the PJ thickets is slowly walking through the thick stuff. I take 25 steps then I stop and look around and listen. Whenever I get to a good vantage point I stop and glass. These two methods worked last year and the year before for me.

 

[SunsFan]

Sancarloshunter,

The stuff we were hunting was noisy to walk through, too. It was lava rock with lots of dried branches/ twigs. A lot more difficult to hunt than I anticipated. Also, when the elk bed for the day they must nestle into the brush because they are hard to glass up.

 

[jasn]

Sancarloshunter, I sent you a PM!

 

[SunsFan]

By the way, guys on ATV's were driving off the road through junipers. Is that legal?

 

[daverp]

Nope, not legal, unless they're retrieving a downed animal.

What unit were you in? I've got a rifle bull hunt in 7W coming up soon, and am hoping to not run into a lot of ATV problems. I sure love the "fair chase" part about hunting public land, but man, the lazy slob hunter factor sure can kill the fun sometimes. I was scouting an area a couple weeks ago that looked just great. Nice roadless area that had an old road through it that had been closed years ago. Was looking for areas on the side of the mountain to glass from, when an ATV came through on the old and obviously closed road. No hunting season was open, so he was not retrieving downed game. Man that really gets my shorts in a twist!

The cows I was scouting up a couple weeks ago were visible and feeding their way back to their bedding areas well after sunrise. A couple evenings I got busted by cows who were up and feeding two hours prior to sunset! Figured I gave myself plenty of time to set up before they got up and moving, but that wasn't the case in the area I was scouting, which suprised me. Bulls were out pretty late and early as well.

I expect the current rifle cow season may get them changing their habits a touch though.

 

[SunsFan]

Thanks Daverp.

We were in 7W as well last Friday and Saturday. Maybe the ATV's we saw were retreiving downed game (I'll give them the benefit of the doubt). There were a few bulls with the cows we encountered but nothing of size. The biggest was a small 5 point.

During bull season I will be hunting with my elderly uncle in 7W as well. My uncle would be happy with any bull so we'll probably stick to the junipers. Who knows maybe we will bump into a big one.

From what I've heard the archery hunters had a tough year around Flagstaff. There seems to be a lot of animals so the conditions must have been against them this year. Antler growth seems okay to me.

Good luck on your hunt. Hope you harvest a big one!

 

[270longshot]

I was in 7w last weekend with my first and last rifle cow tag. I witnessed some of the worst hunting ethics ever. We get up high and glass but i am also in pretty good shape to do so. Opening morning, if there was an anti with a camera, they would have had some great footage. 2 miles away from where we were I could see a heard of about 200+ elk being chased with quads. And every second a shot. Now I do not know if the poeple on the quads were hunters or not but all these idiots we could see shooting at the running heard of elk made me sick. I shot my cow on sat night but I really felt a sickening feeling in my stomach. Animals just running scared is not hunting to me and I will bypass that tag on the application next time. Back to archery bull or cow. I have no problem with spot and stalk but come on man that was a joke. Saw 5 GIANT bucks though. Holy shmooly! I dont have a deer tag there.

 

[daverp]

I know ATV's are useful and fun and all that, but the few slob hunters using them will ruin it for the guys who use them responsibly. I'd like to say I'd love to see them "banned", but that line of thinking goes along with the "ban guns" because of a few turds acting irresponsibly or illegally.

Just like the anti gun argument, I think the FS and G&F really need to get SERIOUS about enforcing the laws on the books. Start handing out some huge fines and confiscating ATV's for flagrant violations, and this crap will stop. They keep turning a blind eye to it and insisting that road closures are the answer, and all it's going to screw it up for all the decent people. The jo's on the quads will still be doing their thing, destroying environment, chasing game, driving closed roads and cross country, and screwing us in the process.

I hope I don't encounter this on my son's bull hunt. It would really ruin the atmosphere. I have a contingency plan if it is too crazy in the accessible areas, but based on my scouting to date, I'm more confident in getting him a shot in some of these areas that are pretty ATV accessible for those who chose to abuse and ignore the laws.

In the mean time, it will be really hard to resist the urge to put a 150 grain Nosler Partition through a stinkin' engine...