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Hello all -

My brother drew this tag and has asked for my help. I have hunted mule deer out west and some archey elk, but this one will be new to me. Best part is the largest thing my brother has hunted is a duck.

If anyone can give me any advise about the unit or how late season elk act I would really appreciate it. My plan as of right now is to find a high spot a couple miles off the road and start looking. I am getting either Conquest HD or Razor HD for this hunt. My brother owns a small piece of land almost dead center of the unit according to him and he has a waterhole half a mile away. I don't know if elk will come to water in November like they do in September, doubt it.

Anyway please fire away with tips or ideas.

Anyone know of a good "oh [bleep]" sleeping bag? I an thinking something like a panco and liner but I don't know if this technology has been up dated.

Thanks


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I don�t much about unit 10, but I have hunted late season elk near by.

#1 After the rut, bulls will scatter, find a place to hide and recuperate.
Find the roughest, nastiest canyon you can, a place where no human in his right mind would go, and go there.

#2 Glass, glass, and then glass some more. Spend hours behind quality binoculars. If you don�t find a good bull, move to another location and do it again.

Be prepared to cover lots of ground, lots of different locations. Sooner or later, you will find elk.

#3 Weather. Late season can be cold and snowy, but it can also be warm and dry. ( keep in mind, warm to an elk is anything over 50 day time high). If it�s warm and dry, they will go to water daily. Sit water holes in the afternoon/evening. On my November hunt, lows in the 40s, highs in the 70s. It felt like mild summer weather. I found lots of elk hitting water holes.

Sleeping bags, really depends on the weather. If you don�t �need� a good cold weather bag, you should probably wait and watch weather forecasts. A few weeks out, if it�s cold and nasty in Arizona, get the bag.


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It is a big Unit. Much of the Unit is part of a ranch (Boquillias) that limits off road use. They have a fee (I think $60) to hunt their ranch property.

Bring optics and a tripod. Bring optics and a tripod. Only one big canyon (Cataract) in the Unit. But you can find ridges and hills in the Unit enough to glass from. The southeastern part of the Unit is pine, that transition to pinion juniper country, then flat antelope country as you go northwesterly.

Winter temps will be highs in the 40's, lows in the upper teens. There can be snow. You will be hunting in the 6,000 foot elevation. Roads can get bad in inclement weather. Be prepared for cold and snow. Your water bottles will freeze overnight.

Some big elk have been taken from the Unit but the Unit is in decline IMO. Bulls will be fairly solitary. Cows will be in small herds. Elk don't water a whole lot that time of year, so sitting tanks won't be a tremendous help.

Plan to walk quite a bit from your rig. Get in shape. Get in shape.

Have several different hunting spots in mind. Be mobile.

Shots will be in the 150-400 yard range.


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I've hunted 10 quite a bit, and I'll be back out there this fall and season for my son's U10 late rifle bull hunt. Here's about the best advice I can give....

U10 can be a boom-bust type unit, especially if you scout and remain in one area. The elk will move here just all of a sudden like. Oftentimes not too far (5-10 miles), but when they vacate an area, they really seem to vacate it, leaving nary a straggler. Last year we saw 2 broken up bulls in my 5 days scouting before the season, and during the season. Was a tough hunt for most I've talked to or heard of last year. Snowed a fair amount (for the area) a few days before the season, and the elk seemed to of boogied to lower elevations right before opening day. You wouldn't think a mere 4" to 6" of snow would do that, but in this unit, the elk have the option of going a few miles to get out of it, and it seems they do.

There was a once in a 10 year inversion layer in the area last year as well that had the canyon and unit socked in with fog for a couple days. This weather weirdness may have had something to do with it as well. Not sure, but a lot of U10 seasoned people I talked to were pretty flustered trying to locate elk. I have heard since from G&F and a guide a couple areas they seemed to have moved off to, but can't verify how accurate that info is.

Get topo maps of the area. Start looking for bits of high ground away from the roads. Get some elevation and glass. Once you spot something, plan your stalk.

I like to look for high ground that others miss (not easy to do). You don't need a lot of elevation, but enough to get you to see into the junipers, little draws, and open areas. Look for areas like this on the topo maps, mark off a dozen or so of them, then get out there during scouting and go to them. Chances are you'll come up with a couple spots you'd really like to hunt. If not, get back home, and repeat the process for your next scout trip.

If you've got areas you can glass from, I'd forget the mid day still hunting of the bedding areas. I've been glassing and have watched guys still hunting through prime areas, and there wasn't an elk within a mile of them on that particular day. I prefer to get a good vantage point, and be ready when the guys still hunting the bedding areas kick elk out towards me. Happens almost every season I hunt elk (last year being an exception). Some of my best opportunities during a rifle elk hunt were being in a good "spot and shoot" location from 11 am to 3 pm, as big bulls were being pushed out of their beds and fled to other areas. If you're hunting an area with a lot of pressure, this is a good tactic.

Forget hunting water. Too many people do, and so many that don't want to drive up to it and look for tracks. I can't think of a truly great spot I have that isn't at least a mile from water. You may think you've found an out of the way "secret tank", but I guarantee that 20 other guys have found that "secret tank" as well. As long as there is water within a couple miles of where I hunt, I don't worry about it.

If you're on the ranch, you aren't allowed to hunt within 1/4 mile of water at any rate.

Find your prime spots during early season scouting, settle on a few of them, and hit those every morning and evening for the week before the hunt. If you see elk, you're probably good. If not, make adjustments and look at other spots you've scouted. By opening morning you should be in a spot you've seen elk at the week before.

Late rifle bull is a spot and stalk and spot and shoot game. And for the most part, you won't be spotting them at water (they've already left and are well on their way to their bedding areas if it's morning, and aren't usually close if it's evening).

Get your butt up at 4 am, and get to the spot you want to glass well before first light. Hunker down and let things settle in around you while you wait for the first crack of glassing light. In the evening, do not leave until after last shooting light. You'll need to get used to walking in the dark. Get a headlamp.

Get good 10x binoculars and a good packable tripod to put them on. Then use them. A lot.

Get good boots. You're going to put a lot of miles on them. Then waterproof them the right way (beeswax...the real stuff bought in block form, not the stuff in the tube that says it has beeswax in it). It may not rain or snow, but if it does, and your feet get wet walking to and from your glassing locations, they're gonna get damned cold.

Find out what works for you for cold weather. The ranch area can get brutally cold with the wind coming off the plateau. You wouldn't think so, but the coldest hunt I've been on was a late October deer hunt in that unit. When you're exposed on a point, and the temps drop, the wind coming off that plateau is no joke. Even though it snowed last year, it was sloppy, but was not terribly cold. Then again, a few years ago, a storm moved in, dumped a few feet of snow, and hunters were stranded all over the unit. Most were prepared, some weren't. Be one of the prepared guys.

Congrats on a really good tag. A bull may or may not come easy. Hedge your bets by putting the time in.


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Thanks for the pointers so far. Since I am in Ohio and my brother lives in Arizona, all the scouting is going to be done by him and his son. Good exercise for them, plus I want his boy to see what we are getting into. I will find out where his property is so I can give you some idea of where we plan to start. He has 40 or 80 acres up there.

thanks again.

If all hell breaks loose, I will be one of the prepared ones. I will have spare food, some type of bedroll, the ability to make fire, all the essentials.


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DaveR covered it well. Up early and into a good location to glass. Good boots and good optics. Great unit but can be really tough hunt. Gong rats and good luck.

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Flagstaff,

Why do you feel this unit is in decline? Just asking.

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Because all the units, from 5A to 10 are. Athough a monster bull can be pulled from any unit, the numbers of big bulls are down from 10 years ago, in my humble opinion, and lots of hours on the ground...Too many bull tags and an opinion of the Game and fish board wanting to reduce the numbers of elk overall..


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I have not hunted elk in this unit during the late hunt. There are a lot of elk in this unit. i saw a lot of bulls there during antelope season. it is a big unit and the elk are scattered by the late season. it is very flat for an elk unit in AZ, very few remote canyons.

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Originally Posted by sgt217
Because all the units, from 5A to 10 are. Athough a monster bull can be pulled from any unit, the numbers of big bulls are down from 10 years ago, in my humble opinion, and lots of hours on the ground...Too many bull tags and an opinion of the Game and fish board wanting to reduce the numbers of elk overall..


Yep, sgt217 said why.

Also, been dry the last several years doesn't help. And the Fish and Game gives out so many tags it seems - so many people moved to AZ and want tags. Quality went down.


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Flagstaff & sgt217,

Thanks for the input. I was lucky enough to draw an early season tag so hopefully I might have better luck finding the bulls than the late season hunters.

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Originally Posted by kjkf
Flagstaff & sgt217,

Thanks for the input. I was lucky enough to draw an early season tag so hopefully I might have better luck finding the bulls than the late season hunters.


It is a good unit, just not as good as it used to be IMO. You got a fantastic tag. You will see bulls. Maybe some big ones. You will have a great hunt.

Wanna trade your tag for the trophy early squirrel tag I drew?


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That's a tough choice. That's my family's favorite weekend because it's the only time we can all get together. If I decide on the trophy squirrel hunt instead, I will trade tags with you since you asked first.

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Early season should be great. There is only one hill in the area to spot from, so I would spend some time learning where the bulls are by picking areas and looking for elk. Find tanks and look for tracks. And if you can't get ahold of Flagstaff in time, I will take the tag...Good luck, I won't sit by the phone...


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Thanks for the input and hopefully I will have a story to tell in about 5 months, not that I am counting.

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Originally Posted by flagstaff


Yep, sgt217 said why.

Also, been dry the last several years doesn't help. And the Fish and Game gives out so many tags it seems - so many people moved to AZ and want tags. Quality went down.



Other than being in a 15-year drought (or theoretically longer) I vehemently disagree with the supposition of a predominate portion of the remainder of that post and especially the erroneous presumption that quality has decreased as a result of all that was mentioned within the post.

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We will be over by round mountain if that matters. I just got a map sent to me of the property. Looks like some good high timber and a few low spots.


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Originally Posted by Maverick940
Originally Posted by flagstaff


Yep, sgt217 said why.

Also, been dry the last several years doesn't help. And the Fish and Game gives out so many tags it seems - so many people moved to AZ and want tags. Quality went down.



Other than being in a 15-year drought (or theoretically longer) I vehemently disagree with the supposition of a predominate portion of the remainder of that post and especially the erroneous presumption that quality has decreased as a result of all that was mentioned within the post.


Number of big elk are down, too many elk being killed to promote better feed for cows, and the board with too many pro ranch people on it...Quality is down, but like I said, big bulls can still be found...


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Originally Posted by micky
We will be over by round mountain if that matters. I just got a map sent to me of the property. Looks like some good high timber and a few low spots.


I have killed big bulls within 2 miles of Round Mountain. Access isn't what it used to be but still decent hunting in that area. Find a high spot and be patient is all I can say. Better get those big eyes and learn how to use them now so you don't waste time on the hunt.


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Originally Posted by dennisinaz
Originally Posted by micky
We will be over by round mountain if that matters. I just got a map sent to me of the property. Looks like some good high timber and a few low spots.


I have killed big bulls within 2 miles of Round Mountain. Access isn't what it used to be but still decent hunting in that area. Find a high spot and be patient is all I can say. Better get those big eyes and learn how to use them now so you don't waste time on the hunt.


Thank you.


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