unit 16 c elk

[tooele]

So here is a question, if it is too specific then PM me, but if you were hunting the 3rd season archery in 16 C. Would you focus on the Southwest or the Southeast part of the zone for the bigger bulls. Also, if you find the bulls in the summer, do they move quite a bit once they gather their cows or do they stay in the same general area?

T

 

[rutman]

I wish I had some info for you but I have never been there. I have the first rifle in 16c and have heard good things about the unit and am going guided. Good luck and hopfully you can post some pics. before I go.

 

[tooele]

Thanks, I hope to have a few photos myself. I will let you know how things go. I will be heading out there in a couple of weeks and plan on making 3-4 trips between now and the hunt. I have a few areas to check out from friends who have hunted there in the past, have maps, etc. Should be a good time. Figured that people can't really hunt that often in the unit due to draw odds, so they may share some info, but then again, maybe not.

T

 

[mano_a_mano]

Elk generally scatter into smaller herds during the rut so you find them in more places not less. My experience in this area was no different. There are a few significant differences in this area that I found different than elk hunting anywhere else. The herds are bigger (boat load of elk)so there are fewer herds (not as well scattered as in other areas I have hunted) and they tend to move around a whole lot more and with less predictability. One day canyon X next day 3 miles away.
Because it is the rut, you should be able to find them daily by following the nightly bugling (and they were abnormally quiet during the day).
The bigger bulls reportedly are in the SW part of the unit i.e. hang out on Black Mountain (that's actually a really big area with tons of dense forest (east, west, north and south) with plenty of outfitters on horse back in there. The access and hunting is easier in the SE part of the unit but if size is what you are after go SW.
You will see tons of elk in the praries during your summer scouting and there will still be plenty there during the hunt too.

 

[tooele]

Thanks Mano,
That is where we are spending some time, down on black mountain. From what I understand, it is a lot of country and there are less roads in that area. Right now I am setting up a few trail cams, and just getting familiar with the water sources in the area. As no one seems to have much information to point me in the right direction, I am just going trial and error.

T

 

[maxxbob1]

There are big bulls all over 16C. I like the SE area that is only accessible by foot & horse. There's plenty of big elk and very few hunters.
-- Bob

 

[tooele]

I am trying to get over to the south east area to look around. This weekend I will be in the middle south and southwest areas of the unit.

 

[tooele]

Got up there scouting this weekend. It is unbelievably dry. The southeast area was in very bad shape, with a small fire burning. Larger fires burning in 16 B. I was able to locate elk on a big canyon going out into the flats, north of black mountain. I also got into Elk in the North East part of the unit up toward the Adobe ranch. Those two areas are now my new focus. Anybody on hunting the fence by the Adobe ranch?
T

 

[WapitiBob]

you'll have company now.

 

[whuppinstick]

Just want to say thanks to everybody posting on here about 16C. My dad has a tag for the second rifle season and we are closely watching your updates. Would love to hear what you saw/killed after your scouting trips/season are over. If you have information you'd rather not put in the public forum please feel free to PM me.

 

[whuppinstick]

Are there any updated archery or scouting reports out there for 16C?

 

[rutnbull]

Any stick and string luck? Lets see some pics.

 

[tooele]

I would be glad to update you.
I arrived for further scouting during the 1st hunt. There was no bugling activity and very poor success. I arrived for further scouting the first and last several days of the second season. The elk were not bugling, very low success, and by the end most hunters had left early due to poor hunting. I arrived for the third season. We had scouted from july to the beginning of the hunt. We covered most of the unit in our scouting. Our third hunt in the rut was difficult. The animals were scarce and were not vocal. To say the least the prime rut hunt was not very good quality. Lack of vocal animals and animals in general was surprising. I am not sure if it was due to the number of wolves, which were howling throughout the unit or the drought, but I would reason to guess that success rates were probably lower than in past years as per our conversation with many hunters. With our extensive scouting we did end up getting into some bugling bulls. General report disappointing. Hopefully, more elk will appear from somewhere in the unit for the rifle hunt. Sorry I am a little down on the unit, but it sure isn't what people made it out to be in the past. With over 2 months of trail cam pictures from 4 cameras=several thousand pictures of elk, not one bull over 330 was photographed. Best of Luck and I sure hope your hunt is better than ours. Please let us know.

T

 

[rutnbull]

That is too bad. I have heard the archery season in the gila units have been tough from 2 different outfitters. Hopefully it will pickup for us rifle hunters. Thanks for the update good or bad. Will update when we are done.

Gene Garcia

 

[leftturnabq]

Bummer.

I find it hard to believe it was that bad throughout though.

I know of a 390" class typical 6x6 taken from the unit 3 years ago.


We managed to score on 2 bulls out of 5 hunters in B. Should have been 3, but I tried to thread an arrow though a really tight spot at 20 yards and failed. Very thick cover we were hunting in, and I was either too tight to my cover, or just picked bad shooting lanes, or both. Can't complain though, I got a shot, and helped pack out 2 decent bulls.

 

[tooele]

It was that bad.
I am sure some other guys will second me on this one. Definitely not worth the price of the tag, new mexico charges for 16 c. 16 a/d maybe a different story, but C definitely isn't what it used to be.

 

[acafton]

I hunted 16 C this year as well. I hunted every day of the hunt, and only heard of one bull taken off of the unit. I'm sure there were more, but it was definately not a quality hunt this year. Not many making noise in the first few days of the hunt, and then sporadic at best. The last few days of the hunt saw more action, but not what you would expect for a unit like that. I've hunted elk in several states and have to say that the unit was average at best. I hope for the rifle hunters things kick in and they have a great hunt, but for the money and time I will likely not go after an archery tag again. Just my opinion.

 

[leftturnabq]

Sorry to hear that guys.

I can't believe that A or D could have been any different...same country.

B is the same stuff, but maybe a little different being in wilderness with a lot less traffic. I only got to hunt 2-1/2 days (pretty much used 1 full day helping pack out the other guys' elk [not a bad problem to have though]), but they were bugling through the late morning and starting up early every evening...especially between the rain showers on Saturday and Sunday. However, the guys that stayed through the rest of the hunt said they went kind of went quiet during the last half of the hunt.

I'll be taking my cousin back in there on the late rifle hunt. Hopefully, they'll hit the 2nd estrus cycle at that time and make a little noise.

 

[inelligentvernonboy]

I was thar as well! Hunted the sowtheast area. Folks everywhere. Unbelievable how many was in that area. 40 of the tag holders had to be in that area. No Elk, seen dead. Few elk seen on the hoof. Few elk herd buglin. The unit has been goin down hill for several years now. Won't be puttin in for that one for a long-while.

 

[whuppinstick]

Question for you guys who hunted this year: were there elk around but they were just quiet, or were you having trouble even finding sign/animals?

Also, how was the hunting pressure?

Thanks,
Dave

 

[284NM]

I took a friend of mine down for the second hunt. Extremely tough. There were a very few solitary elk lurking in the thick stuff in our area, but seemed overall to be very few elk about. Heard of one bull taken on the first hunt in my area at a tank but the daily deluges this year made water holes irrelevant during the second. We hunted three days before I was finally able to show him a bull on sunday night, too dark to go after him and the four wheeler crowd trying to get there moneys worth out of their elk bugles trashed our program in the morning. Only able to hunt 5 days and saw a total of four elk. Felt like a jerk cos I had an EPIC hunt in there last year same time and I been telling him all summer long how great this area could be. Earlier scouting trips had not seemed especially promising, but in the end you have to show up and try it. Could'nt identify any wolf racket and saw no sign of them but hundreds of cattle where there had been few or none in previous years as well as all of the underbrush and grass having been burned out of a significant portion of my AO had to have an effect. Really like that unit but it seemed like a different place than last year. Timing should be better for the gun hunters but I feel that the elk numbers are much lower than in the past...

 

[tooele]

There were not any elk. Nothing in the parks. Minimal sign. Something has happened to the elk in the unit. On a high note, we did find a dead wolf carcass.

 

[rutnbull]

Leaving in the morning and can not wait till saturday.

 

[whuppinstick]

Good luck rutnbull! Please tell us how it goes. My dad and uncles are leaving this weekend from WA to go down for the Oct. 24th season. I'll be flying in on the 23rd from Japan. Can't wait, though a little depressed by all the archery reports.

Any updates out there?

Should we lower our standards from a 300 bull?

 

[rutnbull]

Tag soup for me and my friend. I passes on a bunch of 300 or smaller bulls in the 5 days. We hunted our ass off from dark to dark the whole hunt and only saw 1 other hunter the whole time. had a great time.

Gene Garcia