Late Rifle Elk Unit 9

tesmitty · Mar 8, 2020

Anyone willing to share any general information on the Late Rifle Elk tag in unit 9?
Both my wife and I have tags and will be arriving as early as possible and hunting the entire season. We will also have a few others there to spot and help. We know it's a tough unit that time of year - bulls isolate themselves, not many great areas to glass from, lots of pressure, weather can be be inconsistent, etc. But I am personally stoked to get to chase some of the biggest bulls in the state with family and friends! If you can help great!! If not that's ok too!! Good luck to all!! See you in the woods!!
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: tesmitty30

Setcams4u · Mar 8, 2020

Congrats on your tags. Will this be your first time hunting Arizona elk? What caliber of bulls are you targeting? Are you guys in good physical condition to get off the roads?

tesmitty · Mar 8, 2020

First time hunting elk in Arizona, but have hunted elk in New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Idaho. In excellent physical shape and backpack in during archery seasons in the Wasatch in Utah and the Ruby's in Nevada for deer. Not one to stay on the roads and typically leave camp first and return last. Personally just love to spend time in the outdoors chasing animals with my friends and family. I've only been on three hunts in Arizona - two archery and accompanied my buddy last year on a late rifle in which he harvested a 228" stud!
My wife has never harvested an elk(missed a nice 6x6 last year with her bow - over the counter archery) but would like her to have a chance at a 340+.

UTAHcamp · Mar 9, 2020

IMHO...
Hire Sir Royal - Josiah Scott.

fin little · Mar 9, 2020

How many tags did they offer this year? I had this tag back when it was 125 permits and it was a fun hunt. It's very weather dependent. I hunted the exact same area as my early archery hunt 10 years later. I sat water on both hunts, so warm and dry is good. I helped my cousin on the late rifle in 10 inches of snow and he had a chance early on a great bull and missed. So no snow or alot snow is good.In between is tough.

tesmitty · Mar 9, 2020

fin little said:
How many tags did they offer this year? I had this tag back when it was 125 permits and it was a fun hunt. It's very weather dependent. I hunted the exact same area as my early archery hunt 10 years later. I sat water on both hunts, so warm and dry is good. I helped my cousin on the late rifle in 10 inches of snow and he had a chance early on a great bull and missed. So no snow or alot snow is good.In between is tough.

Looks like 300 permits for 2020 - seems like alot to me. I hear that hunters are pretty well spread out across the entire unit. My gut feel is that most of the pressure is on the north and west side of the unit. But I'll need to verify that. It seems that heavy snow discourages a large # of tag holders. I'm also assuming that many hunters don't venture far from the road similar to what I've seen hunting unit 15 in New Mexico. I have plenty of time to work on planning so thats an advantage. I have also ordered some additional maps but spend plenty of time on OnX and Google Earth.
I appreciate you sharing your thoughts!! Good luck this year!!

Jerry · Mar 15, 2020

Be prepared for cold weather & snow-- also warm weather ! You never know. I hunted there 1 time many years ago & got a decent bull, 300 class, but saw one about 350 but no shot. It's a very tough hunt without much ability to glass. I got my bull on the Far East side of the unit. Not easy hunt for sure. I camped out in a tent. Hunt hard-- anything can happen !
Best of Luck & Good Hunting ! Jerry Gold in Ft Collins, Co ??

CAelknuts · Mar 15, 2020

It’s been a long time since I hunted the unit 9 late hunt, but I’ve hunted unit 9 three or four times over the years, mostly on rut hunts. Feel free to PM me if you’d like some ideas.

tesmitty · Mar 17, 2020

CAelknuts said:
It’s been a long time since I hunted the unit 9 late hunt, but I’ve hunted unit 9 three or four times over the years, mostly on rut hunts. Feel free to PM me if you’d like some ideas.

PM sent

ovis2 · Mar 17, 2020

AZ late season elk

Congrats Randy and Randy!! Best of luck with the knee.

www.hunttalk.com

and there is an RMEF video floating around out there some where.

If the weather cooperates, you'll have a fun hunt.

UTAHcamp · Mar 22, 2020

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

UTAHcamp · Mar 22, 2020

Feel the excitement of taking down a true giant through this Instagram post. Unit 9 experts IMHO

tesmitty · Mar 22, 2020

UTAHcamp said:
View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

No doubt a bull of a lifetime!! Thinking the horn growth will be good this year as well!! Those guys do a great job guiding in unit 9 - best in class no doubt!!

fin little · Mar 23, 2020

Sept muzz hunt ? Awesome bull. 9 is like a whole different unit 2 months later. Tesmitty, I know an opening morning area you need to look at when you get to the unit. I will pm you this week.

tesmitty · Mar 23, 2020

fin little said:
Sept muzz hunt ? Awesome bull. 9 is like a whole different unit 2 months later. Tesmitty, I know an opening morning area you need to look at when you get to the unit. I will pm you this week.

I definitely would appreciate it!! Thank you!!

fullcry · Mar 24, 2020

Pm me a regular email address
And We can talk.

tesmitty · Mar 25, 2020

fullcry said:
Pm me a regular email address
And We can talk.

PM sent
Thank you!

tesmitty · Jul 29, 2020

Super excited for late November to get here! I appreciate those of you that have been willing to share advice and past experience in unit 9. I know it's not a slam dunk and the late season can be tough. But with the current rainfall, feed and antler growth this year, it looks like a great year for giant bulls!
Thanks Again!! I cant wait to see the bucks and bulls harvested in Arizona this year! Good luck to all! See you out there!

AZNATIVE98 · Jul 29, 2020

UTAHcamp · Jul 29, 2020

Beautiful raffle-tag bull...and to think it only took 15 guides to get this hunter on him.

tesmitty · Dec 14, 2020

Update on our Unit 9 Late rifle tags:
Thank you to the few that offered advice and help on the late rifle season. It definitely helped including Setcams4U & CAelknuts!
While the bulls we harvested were busted up it was still a great success without previous experience in this unit. I was able to make a quick redline 3 day trip prior to the hunt which was helpful as well. A big thanks to my little brother & one of my best friends for joining us to help spot.
We did see some good bulls that weren't as busted up but just missed opportunities by seconds. Overall, I would do it again but would expect better opportunities esp with only 2 nonresident points! Thanks again to those limited few willing to share previous experiences!

Ranger1 · Dec 14, 2020

Nice late season bulls.

BradA · Dec 14, 2020

Good looking late bull I have been hearing across the board a lot of bulls with broken main beams good job finding one not to broken, congratulations!