Live Hunts - Arizona Archery Elk Hunt - September 24

Live Hunts - Arizona Archery Elk Hunt - September 24 - Day 3

Saturday - September 24 - Day 3
Arizona Archery Elk Hunt

Saturday P.M. Hunt
This evening we still-hunted along a long series of draws going down into a series of meadows. About an hour before dark we found several trails coming down the draws that were seeing serious fresh use. The real question would be at what time of the evening they were coming down into the meadows. We decided to sit the trail and chance our luck. I set up a blind behind a fallen log, with some limbs beside it to break up my outline. My shot to the trail would be about 15-20 yards. We sat it for the last hour of daylight, and while I thought I heard something several times above me on the trails, we never did see an elk. We haven't heard a single bugle since yesterday morning, and it's getting kind of tough trying to intercept these elk without the benefit of an occasional locating bugle. The wind finally started to calm down this evening while we were sitting. The weather forecast said that tonight was supposed to be clear and cool, with decreasing windiness tomorrow. We did see about half a dozen elk crossing the road on the way back to camp. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Here's a shot of me laying down behind my log blind.

Sunday A.M. Hunt
Last night was finally quiet, the wind had finally died down. It was very cool. I wrapped up pretty good in my quilt and kept nice and cozy in the camper. This morning it was probably in the 30's, and we were hopeful that the new cool air would get the bulls a little excited and more active. On the way to our blind in the dark we heard a bull bugle in a meadow not too far from the road. He had a lot of growl in his bugle so I'm guessing he's probably a good mature bull. A few minutes after we heard him a vehicle came around the corner of the road and stopped. All of a sudden we saw a bunch of elk shapes running to our side of the road in the headlights. We figured that was probably the bull's group. They were headed towards our blind, so we were hopeful that being spooked they wouldn't come by the blind too early. This morning we went back to the blind we made where we had the 2 cows pass at 8 paces yesterday. The trail had fresh tracks all over it. We got set up well before daylight and waited. Unfortunately, the elk never came. We heard a limb crack pretty loud about 150 yards away and expected to see elk any minute, but nothing ever showed. We did see a lone coyote looking for food. I tried to call him into photo range but I think he ran into our scent and stopped. Wouldn't come close enough for a pic. We did hear about half a dozen bugles, though. About 4 different bulls, none of them very close, although from the position of one of them it seemed like he might be moving in our direction.

About 7:00 we left and started still hunting towards the bedding area from which we heard a few of the bugles. On our way we saw 3 cows and a calf, but no bulls. They were headed to bed. While still hunting we saw a single calf, plus some fresh beds. Then a little later we saw a single cow, but again, no bulls. After we left our blind at 7:00 a.m. we didn't hear another bugle all morning. We did see one more Antelope this morning, a decent buck, all by his lonesome running around in the trees.

Not sure what tactic we'll try this evening, but it's only a matter of time before we pattern these elk right coming down to feed in the meadows. Tomorrow morning, if it's cool again, I'm hoping maybe they'll be bugling a bit more.

Check todays P.M. hunt out tomorrow on Day 4 of this Live Hunt.

Hunting our blind again this morning.

Bruce is checking out a trail that has very fresh elk tracks.

A view of one of the bedding areas we still-hunted through.

Another scenery shot. Go to Day 4

e-mail Joshua Flournoy

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