Deserve2beworked

Since I'm a nonresident and from a state where everything is eventually against some law I thought best to get feedback on this subject from you. Two years ago I was filling up my guzzler in Flagstaff when a camo clad guy pulled up next to me. The back of his truck was full of these huge bags of salt. Since he was in camo I didn't think he was a rancher but I inquired any way. "Man, that's a lot of salt. Must have a bunch of cows. Why do you use bagged salt instead of blocks?" He looked at me and said, "It ain't for cows. It's for elk!" He then proceed to tell me he had a hot water hole and had been packing salt to it for years. Said he would kill a monster there. I've since then asked around about the use of salt when hunting in Arizona. An outfitter told me it borders on the unethical to use salt. On the write up for 12A deer hunt by the G&F Dept it states "Salt licks are a great attractant for deer and provide the same opportunity as waterholes." But, section R12-4-303 states "An individual may not use edible or ingestible substances to aid in taking big game. But, Part 6 lists water and salt not included. Is putting salt out near my ground blind or tree stand to attract big game legal or illegal in Arizona? Is putting salt out near my ground blind or tree stand ethical or unethical in your humble opinion?

Yep. Really stacked up with hunt prep though, leaving in two days. Will send some droolers along asap.

Interesting and honest dialogue, thanks. I think as a non resident I'll put my energy toward scouting to locate bucks and bulls rather than "hauling thousands of pounds of crap" out into the woods as though it is going to draw animals from miles away. But, if I was a resident hunting the same honey hole year after year I see some advantages, if nothing more than cool photos, to putting some minerals back in the soil. I have some remote property in Northern, YES, NORTHERN California where I kept my horses in the summer. They are now gone to the pastures in the sky and their wood corrals have been mostly taken down. The exact spots where their mineral blocks used to be, there are now huge holes in the ground where all sorts of critters continue to dig for the sweets. Thanks again for your input. Not many sites I would even pose this question or any question.

I hear ya on the second question. Never have done it so it seems unethical. But, if I was born and raised in Arizona hunting over salt might not seem so.

Finally! ! Posted this am using a Cabela's card. But, transaction date listed as 7-11-15. Bab here I come! Thanks for the support on this one guys. Best site for sure. p.s. Oh, by the way, now where do I hunt on the plateau? lol.

Unit 12A and 12B Archery only August 21 to Sept 10.

It is easy to feel stupid sometimes, but this is what I applied for. 1st Choice: Hunt 1184 No second choice

I still hope I burned them! Have been burning points state by state since retirement which was ten years ago. Have the loyalty and hunter ed for AZ so it has been eight years of accumulation. Each year I apply for the elk tag so with license in hand figured may as well get a deer point. Last five years did CA X5B, Utah Book Cliffs, NV Unit 6, Colorado 21/30, all archery deer hunts. This year it was to be The BAB. but . . .

I am a Cabelas card guy. It has worked well for years. Hopefully it works one more time. Can't believe I wont draw a Kaibab archery deer with 10 points when it usually only takes 3 or 4. Got to keep the faith. Stars are just lining up now I think. Got to go back to the Cabelas site and manage my account!

Applied for Kaibab archery mule deer, non resident, 10 points, no cc hit here yet. Will wait through weekend and then change the cc hit to Canadian Club!

System fixed.

Just tried to apply. System did fine, knew me, license number, all the data, etc. It even took the data for the permit I wanted. When it asked if I wanted to add another applicant and I said no, it crashed and went to unexpected error! Tried again, same results. It is the little things in life that really piss you off!

There was so much road traffic even the mosquitoes hide out! Really not a bad year for bugs last season.

Was going to start a new thread, Rubs, but still feel remiss because I never got back to the people on this site that helped me last season. I feel like a welfare e-scouter! So, I'll start Rubs as a separate thread and deal with my remiss here. First, thanks to, and a sincere thanks it is to; 6ANut, stanley, cmbbulldog, ruthunter, azelkhunter69, cutthem, and wildwoody for your help on this site last season for my archery bull elk hunt in 6A. Everything you said was true. And more truthful after I actually experienced the Unit. Thanks again. I think with sites like this, and advice from people like you, there really is no such thing as a completely "unguided" hunt! Here is a reprint of our 6A hunt for 2014. Some of you have seen it. Went to 6A in August and came home on Sept. 26th. We had a good trip, with lots of grand experiences, but even at my age, I sort of expect to harvest, and when I don't, I guess my ego still brings in a negative slant. I am trying to stop it, but with even the best trip, I still want to eat game in the winter months. We spent two days in the north part of the unit scouting, ie Morman Mt. Then, two days looking for a good camp spot in the south part of the unit. Too big a Unit IMHO. Way too big. Plus, as old folks we set a permanent camp. Takes two days to set up and two days to strike the camp. We settled into Rd 229 just before the second cattle guard, right before the roads turns nasty. We scouted every possible area from there, ie all the mountain peaks, ie Horse Knoll, Rds. 83, 214, 213, 305, 229, 230, etc. etc. etc. ten full days of scouting. We saw elk, antelope!- in the pines?, deer-some great bucks, tons of turkeys, and javelina. We found a waterhole with no blind on it! So we put up a tree stand and set two cameras on it. It was a small waterhole. From my tree stand I could shoot the whole waterhole, longest shot = 35 yards. Trail camera before the season loaded with elk photos. One sweet bull. Will post a photo of him if I can figure out how to do it. Then, came Labor Day Weekend and the end of the world as we know it. It is hard to articulate just how many people drove past our camp in every kind of off highway vehicle you can think of. The natural animal world vanished from the Earth. The day before the season, Houndsman pulled into the junction of 229 and 305. Four horses, 13 dogs, road all day in the search of cats. Also, the day before the season a giant fifth wheel plus three trucks and campers pulled in on an old beat up road and set a big camp with a huge generator 100 yards from the waterhole. On a road closed to vehicles. Obviously less than the 1/4 mile from a waterhole, and on a road closed to camping. I talked with the guys, nice guys, I left the cameras up, and throughout the entire season not one animal visited that pond again. Duh. The road closure, designated camping area, map is a total joke! I was the only person who followed the rules there. The token citizen! Even forest service personnel just laughed at the situation about the waterhole campers! By the last week I just ignored the road closure map. So tired of walking up a closed road as people drove past me. The first week of season, no elk sighted. No bugles heard. None. Never heard one bugle at our camp all night long. EVERY area was crawling with hunters, Every area. We befriended some great locals. They had hunted the area for years. They had two tags for bulls, so we communicated daily. Their season turned out to be the worst on record. They never shot once. They had two to three people helping and their season was so bad they packed up their camp the day before the last day of the season. I talked with most people in the area and got the same report from them. All residents. One morning I did the 3am drive around. Only bugle I could raise up was on the Highway and he was in Unit 5. Only bull I saw was a road kill and F&G cut his head off. Some positives. The last tens days to week of the season the wildflower bloom was off the charts. Hard to describe such beauty. A beautiful area to camp and hunt. I hunted the first 6 days of the season, then took one day off, and then hunted the last 7 days. Hiked many miles. Lost 5 pounds. With 6 days left in the season people started to leave. ? ? ? The last 4 days of the season the switch flipped! The elk just caught fire. Bugle on bugle. I "chased bugles" for 4 days. 6miles, 7miles, 8.5miles, and finally 4 miles. I knocked an arrow for 62, 72, 50, and 50 yard shots. I never loosed an arrow. Each time a great bull, 6x6 or better, each time I was just not comfortable with the shot. My range max is 50 yards. I still shoot fingers, make my own arrows, etc. One 50 yarder was broadside, but sooooooooo intense. 12 cows and calves and him just going crazy. Just couldn't get closer. One time I had rags and spikes close but the 6x6 was too big to loose an arrow at a rag horn at 20 yards. The last day was my best opportunity, and I made an error, a serious wind error. I wanted to stay the next week after the season was closed. I spent so much time and so much money, I thought, stay the next week, hunt, shoot a nice bull, tag it, and on ward. But, that dang conscience. So, now I have the same tag for 2015 and a lot more knowledge about the area. I could tell you to go hunt a specific spot, but knowing an area like the elk know it, is the key to the harvest, plus some good old lady luck. 6A isn't "paved in elk" like Unit 1, but you would be hard pressed to find an area devoid of elk! And, yes I changed my photo, to a turkey I shot this spring. They deserve to be worked!

If people followed the MVUM roads open/roads closed, problem solved for you. Or if the MVUM was actually enforced, problem solved for you and many others. With so many tags and so many roads, and such a great place to off road for non hunters, isolation is an issue. This just ain't a wilderness hunt. Elk adjust and we need to do that to be successful on a great bull there. There are great bulls there. IMHO

Let's do a Rub thread. I've got a photo of Rub you can't believe! I'll post it last.

I have the tag again because I was a slow learner last season! It is an opportunity tag and I'm thankful for that. The Unit is awesome because you can hunt a variety of habitats. The Unit is also enormous in size. I drove the perimeter of the Unit and still can't fathom how big it is. It does have elk in almost all areas in the entire Unit. My honey hole is called ______________ Canyon if you want to check it out. We all, will have a great hunt because we have an Arizona bull elk archery tag!

It is a good Unit. But, when people say "get away from the roads" that can't be emphasized enough! So many folks I ran into said the road closures are a bunch of %$#@^&*(. But, without some closures I found myself walking from the road to "get away" only to walk into another road. And it is amazing how far vehicle sound travels out there on a windless day. My best encounters animals were in areas where the name of the place ended in "canyon".

Check out this Rub! One bad bull!

And,

Next one,

Website said results coming soon! Wonder what coming soon means? A few minutes? A few hours? A week?

As usual this site is showing itself to be head shoulders above any other hunting site I've seen. You guys continue to help. You helped me last year in unit 6A and I appreciate it. I feel like a smuck because I did write back to you. I didn't loose an arrow. But, my hunt was a great experience from, the rode show over Labor Day weekend, meeting locals there who checked on my wife and I daily to be sure we were ok, to the last four days of the hunt when the bulls just went crazy. Arizona is a great elk state. The environments second to none. A two week season that will definitely include some aspect of the rut. Great locals. I loved my 6a hunt and I ate the tag, by choice. I could've killed rag horn bulls, but an Arizona archery elk tag makes it hard to do. You can't kill a big bull if you shoot a small bull first. But, at 66 years, it ain't just about killing a bull. It's about the hunt. I've guided. Guided hunters are more successful at the harvest. Unguided have a different experience, more individual, more independent. I've had friends hunt Unit 1 guided and unguided. Both had great experiences, just different. I respect both the guides and the unguided hunter. With a Unit 1 tag it would impossible not to have a great experience if you hunted the two weeks. No guide needed being my vote.

First, thanks for your advice on this website. Much appreciated. Going into the final week! Pressure is on. I hate deadlines when hunting. Am thinking of taking one of the last days and hiking in and around Rattlesnake Quiet Area. Got to be a horny bull in there. I got bit once by a timber rattler and the treatment wasn't much fun. Are rattlers a serious, moderate, or not, a concern in the Rattlesnake Canyon Quiet Area this time of year? Since I got bit, rattlers tend to seek me out. Is it all its name implies?