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varnco

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Posts posted by varnco

  2. Posted · Report reply

    Just finished scouting, having a bite at miz zips.

     

    Saw one 5x5, 24 deer, and a lot of area that are burned and have no trees.

     

    Didn't find a "deep I am not going there canyon" yet. Was on the west side around white horse hills.

     

    Good to get the lay of the land

  5. Posted · Report reply

    Up till now, I've stored my ATV in my garage, but that will come to an end, as I've just bought a boat that will take up an entire lane of my 3 car garage, and cars still get priority, since they're more expensive.

     

    So, I plan on moving and storing the ATV outside in the back or sideyard.

     

    Any recommendations on how to keep the ATV in the best shape possible, given the sun here in Phoenix, or is it a losing proposition, no matter what, the seat and tires are going to get hammered hard.

     

    Any advice is appreciated.

     

    Thanks.

  8. Posted · Report reply

    One thing to remember, although might not be a huge issue....when I hunted 7e in I think 2004 I NEVER saw another sole while scouting, opening morning hour before sun up and there was something like 10-13 trucks parked where I wanted to be!

    Lol, done that before! It's amazing how traffic changes from scouting to opening morning.

  9. Posted · Report reply

    Man some great advise from Nate. Hunting elk in 7E reminds me of elk hunting in ID. Lower densities, highly migratory great variance in terrain and topography.

     

    Glass, glass, glass. Get away from the obvious areas. In Regard to truck vs atv, some of the roads are real bad so an atv will be much faster, but in December you are going to want to bundle up, truck would be much more comfortable.

     

    Oh ya, it's a real winter up there...

  10. Posted · Report reply

    I live, eat and sleep 7e(mainly because I live here so I can hunt every day of a hunt, at least before and after work). 7e is not your typical elk unit in arizona and can seriously break your resolve. Every inch of antler is hard earned but hard work can be rewarded. Your milage may vary but my tips are

     

    1. Don't scout for elk. Learn the unit. 7e has a huge elevation range and weather will play a big role where they will be at a given time of year. Elk have gotten smarter from all the peaks LO hunts and head high at the first signs of pressure. Snow will drive them down, so just get out and learn the unit and develop a plan a-z for different elevations.

     

    2. Don't overlook all corners of 7e. A monster was shot by sunset crater last year and another beast pushing 400 was shot the year before in a canyon by twin arrows casino the year before. All of 7e is elk country. The highest density of elk will be around the peaks but elk can be found throughout nearly every inch of the unit. If you want to get away from the rat race think outside the box.

     

    3. Use glass. Two years ago I drew the late archery hunt in 7e. I thought I might get lucky if I saw one elk during the hunt but I actually ended up being on Bulls nearly every day of the hunt. Never tagged out but I would say I was much more successful than I thought I would be on this type of hunt but following tried and true tactics. Get high early and glass south and east facing slopes, and 7e has a lot of opportunity to glass.

     

    I have the third peaks bull hunt this year and I would be glad to share any info I learn from my hunt.

     

    Thanks... Ya, no problem getting away from the crowds for me, once I know where they are. There's a bunch of roads/trails criss-crossing all over the unit up there, so not sure how "away" one can get.

     

    Got myself a new pair of danner boots I am breaking in on local hikes before I head up to scout.

     

    I figured heavy glassing would be needed for the late as well as looking in "smaller" sections of the unit.

     

    Elk head high with pressure, which I assume means it's a safer-haven as mortal humans have extreme difficulty getting there?

     

    Thanks again for the tips!

  11. Posted · Report reply

    So, after 4 years of no tag, I finally pulled a tag for 7E December Rifle (Dec 1 - 7).

     

    To increase my odds of filling my tag, and thinking I may have to take a long shot, I've purchased a Tikka T3 Lite 300 win-mag with a 4-16x Vortex Viper HS-T scope, temporarily replacing my 1891 Argentine, which isn't capable of longer shots. I have several months to practice - are long shots normally needed in this unit?

     

    I've also started my e-scouting, marking up over 130 water holes, ridges, etc. on 7E on google maps, to become familiar with the unit that I've never hunted, to get ready to go puts some boots on the ground.

     

    So, regarding boots on the ground in 7e to scout areas identified with my e-scouting:

     

    Is it too early to start scouting,say in July?

     

    Given that I have a late hunt, and 320 tags will go before me, and 550 of my fellow elk hunters will be with me on Dec 1, what exactly am I scouting for, as any bull in July will move after snow and 320 previous hunters putting pressure on the elk in Sep, Oct, Nov, not counting the numerous Peaks Hunts.

     

    For the actual hunt, is ATV advisable or better off with 4x4 truck?

     

    Thanks for the help. I figure it'll be 4 years before my next tag, and want to put forth my best effort this year with a hunt that has a 25% success rate according to AZGFD

     

     

     

  17. Posted · Report reply

    Okay, I think I'm almost there... for this one, example, I read it that the top row is the bonus pass, and that people with 5 pts and 7 points made the bonus pass, with just 2 having it as their first choice and then 7 people with 5 points made it their second choice. Of these 9 people, 6 got a tag, 2 first choicers and then 4 of the 2nd choicers.

     

    2nd set of numbers is pass 1 & 2, here. You had 5 people with 4 pts put it down as their first choice, and 16 people as 2nd, but only 2 got drawn out of 5 people with 4 pts who put it in as first choice?

     

    So actually, people with 3 pts faired better than those with 4 pts in this particular drawing?

     

     

    post-12699-0-92643700-1486851678_thumb.jpg

  18. Posted · Report reply

    AZGFD's reports are terrible. The one you really want is Bonus Point Analysis by Hunt 2016 WINTER Bonus Pass. It can be found in the same place as the 1-2 pass report you have.

     

    For that hunt, every resident was successful who had more than 4 PT's. After the bonus pass 24 tags were left for the random draw with approximately 94 remaining applicants. So your odds are on the order of 25%. Slightly more if you have 3 PT's and a little less if you have 0 PT's.

     

    Good luck, I have been on that hunt and I killed an elk. Lots of fun.

     

    I can't seem to find the report you mention. Is it listed here?

     

    post-12699-0-73509300-1486833601_thumb.jpg

  19. Posted · Report reply

    So, I am looking at the report that is put out from last year draw odds, and I having trouble understanding the %. Given the attached chart, if I had 2 points, what was the draw success rate? 38.89%?

     

    If I had 1, it was 16.67%?

     

    How is it that a 6 point had a success of 50% but 5 had 100%?

     

    I'm pretty sure my head is going to explode and I'm just reading it wrong. Any help is appreciated understanding this data.

     

    post-12699-0-48871000-1486698541_thumb.jpg

  24. Posted · Report reply

    Went up today, and it's not that bad until you get to the part where you go left to continue going up the mountains or, you can go straight and get to some buildings at the top of the hill. The GPS coordinate is here, afterwards it gets somewhat nasty. 33.29693, -110.83998

     

    I posted a pic earlier in this thread with the service truck that slid/got stuck last year... I have a pic of the same spot this year.. look similar, but last year was a bit worse.


    33.29693, -110.83998

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