Live Hunts - Arizona Archery Elk Hunt - September 25

Live Hunts - Arizona Archery Elk Hunt - September 25 - Day 4

Sunday - September 25 - Day 4
Arizona Archery Elk Hunt

Sunday P.M. Hunt
This evening we went to a completely different area than where we've been. The terrain was a little different than where we've been. Not as many meadows, but a lot of elk sign, and more oaks than where we've been. Little benefit, though, since they don't currently have any acorns. We still-hunted along the side of a long draw with excellent visility beneath the trees. Maybe that's why we didn't see anything. We saw lots of good sign, trails, rubs, tracks and such, but no elk. About a half hour before dark we found a small tank with some water that had some good elk traffic, as well as turkey. We sat in some brush near the tank until too dark to shoot, but didn't see anything. On the way home in the dark we saw a very nice 6x6 in the truck headlights as he headed off the road into a meadow.

A shot of the draw we still-hunted through.

Another shot of the same draw.

The tank we hunted at last light.

Monday A.M. Hunt
It got very cold again last night, which was what we were hoping for, to make the bulls more active and excited. It was probably in the low 30's when we got out this morning. Heard a bugle near camp about 4:00 a.m. from the camper. Walking on the road from camp towards our hunting area we heard some deep growling bugles not too far from where we heard them in the pre-dawn yesterday morning. It may have been the same bull, but instead of just bugling once he bugled about 10 times in 15 minutes. We were also pretty sure we heard 1, and maybe 2 additional bulls bugling in the valley. They all sounded like big boys, with a lot of growl in their bugles. Even though they were undoubtedly in the big meadow the next draw over, we decided to get over there before it got light and try to at least see where the would exit the meadow. When we finally got to a vantage point, we could see through our binoculars some elk running from the meadow, so perhaps we spooked them or maybe another hunter did. Anyway, they shut up so we headed back to our original plan. We also heard a raghorn squealing at our bugle.

This is the flat where we saw the 2 cows and a calf.

Here I'm trying to find where they went to.

Here is the draw we think they may have gone to bed in.

We decided to go sit our blind of the last 2 mornings in the hope that the increasingly cool air might have bulls moving about more and bring one down our trail. We had only been settled about 2 minutes though when Bruce heard 3 bugles in succession exactly where we heard some bugles yesterday morning at the same time. We decided to get over there pretty quick and see if we could intercept the bull. It sounded like he was about 1/3 mile away or so. As we quickly got over there, he kept on bugling, but was obviously moving pretty quick, as his bugles got further and further away, towards their bedding area. As we got within about a quarter mile, we saw elk all over the place feeding through a Ponderosa Pine mesa. We didn't see the bull, although we kept hearing him, but we figured the cows and calves were part of the bull's herd. In all, there were probably about 20 cows, calves and at least one spike. We decided to leave them be and come back in about an hour and see if we could set up a good ground blind.

We took a circular walk down a draw, over a mesa and eventually back to where we saw the big group of elk, and while doing that we saw 2 calves and a calf feeding down towards a bedding area, but didn't see any bulls with them. When we got back around to where the big group had been, we saw that there were still elk there. I'm not sure if it was part of the same group, or a different one, but over the next 15 minutes or so we picked out one spike and about 7 cows and calves. They were slowly starting down towards their bedding area, and when they were gone we went to check out the possibility of a ground blind. What we discovered is that the elk were traveling for a good ways along a straight barb-wire fence, and then were jumping over at several low spots along the fence. Keeping in mind that the wind has been coming out of the southeast the last few days, we found a good spot to build a ground blind, between two huge Ponderosa Pine trees. It gives me about a 12 yard shot to the fence, about a 15 yard shot to a trail in front, and about a 25 yard shot to another trail in back. We brushed it up real good and left me a few good shooting lanes, and we'll hope at the least to get a more precise track on where that bull is crossing the fence. I'm pretty excited about tomorrow morning. They are definitely bugling more with this cooler weather, and now we have a track on a herd going through the same exact area two mornings in a row, at the same time, so we'll see what happens.

Check todays P.M. hunt out tomorrow on Day 5 of this Live Hunt.

Perhaps the result of a bad shot?

"Before" view of our ground blind.

Under construction shot.

The ground blind finished. Hope it works! Go to Day 5

e-mail Joshua Flournoy

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