AZ bulls talking yet? 9/16

[MJB]

My buddy is in Unit 60 lots of wind today so not surprised they aren't talking hopefully after dark the wind calms down and they start bulging!

Wish I was there........

 

[wapitibob]

Got here a week before season, been bugling their heads off since day one.
Wind app says 36mph.

 

[Ingi?]

Mongollon rim, Sept 5 I got return bugles on most calls. Ive heard they have been quite active these last couple nights.

 

[Trott2478]

Will be in 3b tomorrow afternoon, hopefully they will be active and responding

 

[pjh183]

Unit 60?

 

[canyonhunter47]

Unit 60?

It’s next to unit 14

 

[pjh183]

Ohhh. Over there now I know

 

[canyonhunter47]

I skimmed through social media the archery hunt seems to be struggling this year. It’s warming back up, Flagstaff is going to hit the 80’s before Friday. Curious how the early rifle hunts will do

 

[Ingi?]

@canyonhunter47 That's the general feedback that I have heard as well

 

[hereinaz]

I was west of Flagstaff below Williams, and it was 82 degrees as I finished my hunt and driving out.

It was hot and hard. The elk were not talking much at first, but started more about the 19th. We didn’t get return bugles most of the time. They never came to a call, but would move a little faster if you called to them it seemed. Bugles or cow calls.

The rut picked up the last few days as more cows went into estrus. The full moon had something to do with it too I am sure. We hiked a couple mornings with no headlamps before sunrise as we followed elk moving to bedding.

It was huntable if you worked, but dang my body aches.

 

[canyonhunter47]

I was west of Flagstaff below Williams, and it was 82 degrees as I finished my hunt and driving out.

It was hot and hard. The elk were not talking much at first, but started more about the 19th. We didn’t get return bugles most of the time. They never came to a call, but would move a little faster if you called to them it seemed. Bugles or cow calls.

The rut picked up the last few days as more cows went into estrus. The full moon had something to do with it too I am sure. We hiked a couple mornings with no headlamps before sunrise as we followed elk moving to bedding.

It was huntable if you worked, but dang my body aches.

I’m hoping it’s good a week from Friday

 

[hereinaz]

You have the rifle hunt in Unit 8? PM me and we can talk about some spots to try.

 

[canyonhunter47]

You have the rifle hunt in Unit 8? PM me and we can talk about some spots to try.

No, it’s a muzzleloader tag starting 10/4 in a different unit

 

[ColoradoMac]

I had the Unit 8 Early Archery tag. As most have said, it was hot and hard hunting. First three days was a lot of bugling. Had a lot of close encounters, passed on a lot of small bulls. The smaller bulls were still with the cows. When the full moon hit, there was a 4-5 day period where I did not hear a single bugle during the day, but they were going all night long. Last couple days it definitely picked up a bit. Was able to sneak in on this bull and take him on the second to last day of the hunt.

 

[wapitibob]

Pretty typical morning for us, south of Flagstaff. 80 deg temps, full moon, none of it had any impact.

 

[ColoradoMac]

Pretty typical morning for us, south of Flagstaff. 80 deg temps, full moon, none of it had any impact.

Thats awesome! I had a few days like that. The spot I was into them the most got blown up. Lots of hunters seemed to have the same gameplan on the same day. Can't blame anyone for heading in there. Was Jurassic Park for a couple days. Just got tough to navigate around the pressure until it went quiet

 

[wapitibob]

We lost the hive a cpl times but managed to find it each time.

 

[hereinaz]

Pretty typical morning for us, south of Flagstaff. 80 deg temps, full moon, none of it had any impact.

Boy, I was in the wrong spots if this is what it was like the whole time for you… amazing.

My experience was worse than @ColoradoMac, I didn’t hear anything for the first week. The last week it picked up.

 

[wapitibob]

Boy, I was in the wrong spots if this is what it was like the whole time for you… amazing.

My experience was worse than @ColoradoMac, I didn’t hear anything for the first week. The last week it picked up.

It ebbed and flowed with a cpl mornings pretty quiet but even on the deadest morning we ended up getting on a cpl buglers at about 9:00. Got within 70 but per usual, no shot. They didn't care one bit about other bulls in the herd, the hive would break up one day into a bunch of little single bull 4-6 cow groups, and they would all be within 150 yards of each other, then a day later would all merge back into a single 50+ animal group. Only called 1 bull and he came to the doorway and that was it. Just awful tough to get within shooting distance in the pine/oak or the cedars. Most bulls were shot over water. I had multiple opportunities and it was a great hunt, especially for a low end unit.

edit; I was there a week early for scouting and during the hunt, also covered some different areas. There was a lot of this unit that was recommended to me and I heard nothing in those areas. Areas the Dept says are the places to hunt. Had I heard some bugles I may have hunted there, but that topography is grass and Pine, as open as a golf course. Not the country I like to hunt.