Applying at 11 bonus points Arizona Bull rifle Suggestions? Unit 10

[kentuckynet]

Hello, ...short notice for help but after applying for 10 years for unit 3a 3c im told to apply for unit 10 (rifle) early season, from friends who elk hunt for 400 class bulls.

Will be applying monday evening so that gives me a little time to receive info from you guys as well.

I have elk hunted colorado with friends and killed a 350 class bull and hunted my entire life of 53 + years. Im aware of the sheer amount of labor involved from the hunt setup, scouting and hopefully after the kill.

Im not familiar with this unit 10 is it easy to hunt..mostly private? Will it be possible for me to have a sucessful good hunt without paying $5000 for a guide?

Im self employed and for the $5000 guide fee i could go out two weeks early and do a lot of scouting for $5000, i wouldnt have made $5000 in those two weeks anyway.

Im also a pilot and could borrow a friends plane a couple of weeks early.

Is this unit hunted off horse back? 4 wheelers? Or compleltly by foot?

Thanks for your input if youre familiar with this unit and the early bull elk rifle season.

mack

 

[Big Fin]

I drew the Unit 10 early rifle tag a while back. The hunt is all it is advertised to be.

But, with your points, you are statistically removed from any possibility of drawing that tag. The 10% non-resident quota is filled by guys with far more points than you, thanks to the 20% pass that AZ implemented about four years ago. 20% of the tags go to applicants with the most points. There are a lot of non-residents with 16+ points applying for that tag, and very few of them draw, due to the 10% NR limit being reached so early on these high demand hunts.

Unfortunately, it will be years before you draw that tag. None of the other questions you have are a concern for that early hunt, which is leads to even more demand.

Good luck in the draw.

 

[JohnCushman]

There are plenty of OTC units in CO, or low point NR draw units that will provide good bulls. For a couple of deer points, you could make yourself a combo hunt.

 

[kentuckynet]

Is there a second or third choice worth pursuing?
for an good ealry season bull riflle hunt?

 

[Big Fin]

Is there a second or third choice worth pursuing?
for an good ealry season bull riflle hunt?

AZ looks at your first two choices, before going on to the next application. Make your first two choices count. No early season bull rifle hunts will be available for the third choice.

There are a lot of good elk hunts in AZ. If you are looking for early rifle seasons, you are gonna be in the waiting line a long time. If you are willing to go archery, the line is shorter. If you are willing to hunt the late rifle seasons with a large number of other hunters, you are already at the front of the line.

 

[havgunwilltravel]

Good luck drawing a tag, although as has been stated, it might be mathematically out of your reach to draw an early rifle rut tag for those elk with 10 points. Here is some reading for you to have a look at how your points stack up against other applicants.

http://www.azgfd.gov/eservices/documents/bonus/8-2013/Individual Bonus Points Totals by Species.pdf

http://www.azgfd.gov/eservices/docu... - Bonus Point Report - 1-2 Pass by Genus.pdf

 

[WapitiBob]

As Randy pointed out, you have a near 0% chance at an early rifle tag. There were no hunts you could draw with your points in the Bonus Pass, and only 4 tags available to a NR in the 1-2 pass for all the early rifle hunts.

 

[sbhooper]

Sorry to hear that you cannot have a chance with all those points. Arizona will be happy to take your $175 bucks for another six years! Terrible.

 

[chuckyd313]

My son was drawn last year on his fifth choice for deer. I dont know if elk is only the first two choices or not. Ive heard mixed comments about this issue.

 

[MtnWest]

I'd head right back to where you killed a 350 bull in Colorado if it were me.

 

[Big Fin]

I'd head right back to where you killed a 350 bull in Colorado if it were me.

I was thinking that exact same thing. If anyone has a place to kill a 350 bull, they are best served to hunt that spot like a rat looking for a Taco Bell dumpster.

 

[jryoung]

I guess I should read the AZ regs more carefully. I'm only in for 2 points so far, this year would be #3. For $320 for me and the wife I might look elsewhere where my money might be better leveraged.

 

[dustinf]

I guess I should read the AZ regs more carefully. I'm only in for 2 points so far, this year would be #3. For $320 for me and the wife I might look elsewhere where my money might be better leveraged.

On a positive note AZ archery deer tags are OTC.

 

[Biscuit Hunter]

I guess I should read the AZ regs more carefully. I'm only in for 2 points so far, this year would be #3. For $320 for me and the wife I might look elsewhere where my money might be better leveraged.

Just pretend that the early rifle bull hunts don't even exist. The unit I hunted last year during late rifle had twice as many NR tags available as all of the early rifle hunts combined.

 

[The Hedgehog]

I snagged points only and will have 17 next year- my son 5. What's it going to take for me to draw 9 or 1 for archery? Might actually apply in 2015

 

[Umpqua Hunter]

I snagged points only and will have 17 next year- my son 5. What's it going to take for me to draw 9 or 1 for archery? Might actually apply in 2015

Greenhorn, I am one point behind you with 16 points so I have been watching this. You would likely be in the draw pool for Unit 9 archery. On the other hand, you should easily draw Unit 1 archery. If you apply for Unit 9 first choice, and Unit 1 second choice, you should be going elk hunting in 2015.

As far as your chances for Unit 9 archery, we will have a lot better idea after the 2014 draw. Here are the numbers of applicants for Unit 9 archery that had the same or more points than you:

2009: 179 applicants
2010: 112 applicants
2011: 64 applicants
2012: 57 applicants
2013: 42 applicants (of which ten drew Unit 9 tags)

 

[MtnWest]

I snagged points only and will have 17 next year- my son 5. What's it going to take for me to draw 9 or 1 for archery? Might actually apply in 2015

Best thing going is AZ points for kids and it got even cheaper this year. My son has 4, #5 will be awarded in Kingman next Jan.

I can't wrap my head around how high the archery success is in 9 for 100 hunters in a two week span.

 

[WapitiBob]

This would have been a good year to apply.

 

[Umpqua Hunter]

Best thing going is AZ points for kids and it got even cheaper this year. My son has 4, #5 will be awarded in Kingman next Jan.

I've been applying my kids for points for ten years, and this year it will actually cost me a bit more to apply when applying for four species (deer, antelope, elk, sheep). Even though the youth hunting licenses went down from $26.50 to $5, the app fees went up from $7.50 to $15.

Last year it was $26.50 for the hunting license, and $7.50 per application, for a total cost of $56.50 per child.

This year it is $5.00 for the hunting license and $15.00 per application, for total cost of $65.00 per child.

Also, the cut-off for youth licenses 17 years old, where it was 20 years old last year, meaning a full priced adult license now has to be bought at a younger age.

 

[havgunwilltravel]

Is there an age limit for building points for kids in Arizona?