Az Elk hunt This Fall

[leadman]

Well, my son and a friend are supposed to be hunting elk with me this fall. We were drawn for our 5th choice in the lottery. This is an area we never hunted before.
The problem is that immediately to the south of this area almost 600,000 acres of the forest burnt! Don't know if this will hurt us or help us.
We are planning a trip up there in a couple weeks so we will seek out some of the ranchers in the area and see what is up.

Would like to take both of the Rolling Blocks along. One is a Pedersoli in 40-65, the other is a Swedish made in 1876 rebarreled in 1891 to 8X58RD.
Might also take the 71 Mauser in 43 Mauser.

[TCLouis]

That fire on the AZ NM border is bound to affect herds, but I bet it is several years til we know just how buch.

Same with the 133,000 acres in the Jemez area of NM.

MY brother said they have had 0.9" of rain so far this year in ABQ so it is easy to see why fires are so bad.

The states from Colorado up seem to have an abundance of moisture and a more so far this year.

No accounting for weather, it just is what it is.

[elk hunter]

That fire nuked some areas, but spared others, be sure to stop at the Forest Service office nearest to your hunt area and talk with some of the field folks, they should know where the elk are, if there are any left.

An Arizona elk tag above the rim has to be ones of the most coveted tags in the country, makes me jealous. Best of luck to you.

[dk17hmr]

I shot both my deer and elk last fall in a burn area...an older burned area where most of the trees fell down about waist high....that was fun packing them out.

Chances are if they are still in the area the burn didnt bother them and they might be in there eating new growth.

[JIMinPHX]

I would expect that animals from the burn area would now be in adjacent areas. That should increase their population density in your hunting area. It's been my experience that after a big burn, the little critters, like rabbits come back first to start nibbling on the new growth. The larger animals usually wait a little longer, until they have some cover to work with.

[44mag1]

You must have been drawn for a 2b hunt to have gotten a tag on your 5th choice. That area north of the fire will have elk in it due to the fire. If you got the dec hunt then start praying for snow. I hunted in there last season in dec with a friend who had a tag with no luck. Went in the same place after a snow to call coyotes and saw plenty of elk. Good luck on your hunt.

[waksupi]

From my experience in this area, don't pass up the unburned strips of timber in the big burn. Elk like to hang out there.

[leadman]

Hunt is in unit 1, Antelope area just west of Springerville. The fire stopped below our hunt area.
The forest service just opened up the area so in a couple weeks were are going scouting.

We tend to get drawn pretty regular so I've taken more than a dozen elk here in AZ.

Time will tell what our hunt will be like.