Unit 4a late rifle Elk

Pcjr21

Active Member
Messages
171
Been hunting Mule deer and Blacktail deer my whole life and finally drew my first elk tag.I'm super excited!!! I have no experience elk for the most part. I chose this unit because I figured I would have a decent opportunity to draw a tag. I'm not trying to kill a trophy my first time out. A trophy to me is going to be filling my tag!

I hunt extremely hard and I love to glass. Obviously this unit has a lot of flat country, so it's going to be different for me.

What is the best way to hunt this unit?

Should my e-scouting be focused on creeks and deep ditches?

The northern part of the unit has more open country, but does it hold populations of elk?

Not looking for any secrets, just looking for some information so I can better understand how to hunt this type of country?

Thanks
 
Congrats on drawing your tag. Hunting elk in AZ is unique in many ways. Coming here without prior experience may be beneficial.

The best chance of success will be with a guide. Guides in AZ are affordable. Most guides will put you on elk. It takes years of experience to know these units well.

If you go it alone spend lots of time researching in front of your computer. Remember it's dry as hell here (usually). When e-scouting think water, water, water. Where there's water? There's the game.
 
LAST EDITED ON Mar-09-19 AT 09:53AM (MST)[p]>Congrats on drawing your tag. Hunting
>elk in AZ is unique
>in many ways. Coming here
>without prior experience may be
>beneficial.
>
>The best chance of success will
>be with a guide. Guides
>in AZ are affordable. Most
>guides will put you on
>elk. It takes years of
>experience to know these units
>well.
>
>If you go it alone spend
>lots of time researching in
>front of your computer. Remember
>it's dry as hell here
>(usually). When e-scouting think water,
>water, water. Where there's water?
>There's the game.

Thanks,
I have been hunting mule deer in Arizona for a couple of year now so Im starting to understand the importants of water.

I know if their is heavy snow on the ground they might not be in the creeks if the snow gets deep, but if their is little to no snow do you think they will be down in the bottoms of the creeks or will they be using the springs?
 
The elk should be moving towards the southern part of the unit with snow. The types of water sources they hit probably depend on where they feel most comfortable. Primarily they will be hitting water in the dark. Arriving a couple days prior to the season helps a lot to figure out how far off their summer range they've come.
 
The weather will be the wildcard. That time of year you could have a foot of snow or dry, warm conditions. Also, that time of year the big bulls will be recovering from the rut. They?ll be holed up in the deep, thick drainages.

If it snows, the southern part of the unit will have the most snow.
 
Find every stock tank you can on Google Earth. Sit the one with big tracks on it, you will kill a bull.

"You can fly a helicopter to the top of Everest and say you've been there. The problem with that is you were an a$$hole when you started and you're still an a$$hole when you get back.
Its the climb that makes you a different person". - Yvon Chouinard
 
>Find every stock tank you can
>on Google Earth. Sit the
>one with big tracks on
>it, you will kill a
>bull.
>
>"You can fly a helicopter to
>the top of Everest and
>say you've been there. The
>problem with that is you
>were an a$$hole when you
>started and you're still an
>a$$hole when you get back.
>
>Its the climb that makes you
>a different person". - Yvon
>Chouinard


Will the deep creeks/canyons have water in the bottom of them if it has not rained?
When I look on google earth it looks like almost all of them have water in the bottom. The water I'm seeming could have been from an image after a rain event.
 
You will need to walk those place to be sure of the water, because google earth isn't like up to date on the image they show a lot of times.
Plus you will get see foot prints in mud and see if they are using the water source before you hunt it.

I try and rake out any earlier prints then check the next day or two to see if there are fresh ones even if it just cow elk prints is a good sign.Plus now you see if a blind will work or if its going to be a spot and stalk or tree stand(if you can find a tree that you can use)
IT seem like a hotter then H#ll summer is headed that way so finding a water hole that is getting hit by elk is like winning the lotto during those hot days and nights.
Got to walk it to find them.

Good luck hope u find a good bull.

"I have found if you go the extra mile it's Never crowded".
>[Font][Font color = "green"]Life member of
>the MM green signature club.[font/]
 
>You will need to walk those
>place to be sure of
>the water, because google earth
>isn't like up to date
>on the image they show
>a lot of times.
>Plus you will get see foot
>prints in mud and see
>if they are using the
>water source before you hunt
>it.
>
>I try and rake out
>any earlier prints then check
>the next day or two
>to see if there are
>fresh ones even if it
>just cow elk prints is
>a good sign.Plus now you
>see if a blind will
>work or if its going
>to be a spot and
>stalk or tree stand(if you

>can find a tree that
>you can use)
>IT seem like a hotter then
>H#ll summer is headed that
>way so finding a water
>hole that is getting hit
>by elk is like winning
>the lotto during those hot
>days and nights.
>Got to walk it to find
>them.
>
>Good luck hope u find a
>good bull.
>
>"I have found if you go
>the extra mile it's Never
>crowded".
>>[Font][Font color = "green"]Life member of
>>the MM green signature club.[font/]


Thanks for the info
 
Considering this post is from 2019 and he hasn't posted in a year and a half, I doubt you'll get an answer.
 
@Pcjr21 how did your hunt go? Considering this hunt for myself.
It went well, I managed to kill my first bull. We pre scouted before the hunt and i was able to kill a bull that i located before the season.

the real challenge with the unit was that the gates to the national forest were locked the day before opening morning. I think it was because of the storm. It cut off most of the unit and forced the hunters down. The problem was that the snow melted quickly and the elk never moved down. We only seen 4 dead bulls the entire time we were there.

We hunted 8 more days and never found a bull.
If the gates were open and the weather was better I would know more
6FAE3DE5-11DA-4C44-ACEF-9085A3052B79.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Great job! I was helping 2 friends on that same hunt. That snowstorm screwed everything up. We hunted the northern part of the unit. Still over 2 feet of snow at 6,000 feet. We filled 1 of 2 tags.
 

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