Mtolliver
Member
Has anyone on here looked into the Arizona OTC hunts. I know they are in areas elk are very limited, was just wondering if it was worth trying?
Arizona OTC
- Thread starter Mtolliver
- Start date
Lv2hnt
Well-known member
Even for us Arizona residents, they can be very challenging hunts! Local knowledge can be your trump card ...
CapWolf
New member
I have hunted them several times. Never was successful. however you are hunting and i had a few close encounters. where are you thinking about hunting?
Mtolliver
Member
I’m not sure yet I just moved to the West Valley so probably closest to the Buckeye area. If their are Elk there to hunt I can see it being worth it, and I understand that’s why it OTC because of the numbers. I just want to know that it is possible. And thank you for the replies!
CapWolf
New member
I grew up in the West Valley. All of my hunts i did on the Kiabab. If you think you might go, let me know and ill tell you what i know.
Mtolliver
Member
Thank you very much
I've done the OTC hunt since 2010, if I remember correctly. It is the only time I have ever gotten an elk, since I've never been drawn in AZ for 7 years or so now. There is a ton of work involved. It used to be an open secret, I'd never run into anyone out there, and saw a lot of sign and elk. Then people "found out" about it, and the last time I went this December, the area I had been using for a long time was packed. Literally every hilltop I checked out had 10-12 people glassing on it. They are there if you know where to find them.... I got two there, a cow and a spike. Years apart, and I'm out there once or twice a month (used to be every week).
If you ever want a lot of hiking and probably not seeing anything, let me know. I'm deployed right now, but I'll be home in April-ish.
If you ever want a lot of hiking and probably not seeing anything, let me know. I'm deployed right now, but I'll be home in April-ish.
Mtolliver
Member
Sounds like every elk hunt iv ever been on. PM me when you're state side I'm new to Arizona and on the market for new hunting partners.
ImBillT
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2018
- Messages
- 4,032
I’ve been curious about this myself. IIRC the refs have a little note saying something along the lines of there being fewer than fifty total elk within the area the tag is good for. If you were a resident and wanted to put in the work it would be hard not to give it a try. At the non-resident price plus travel that’s a fair bit of money for a long shot. If I were to do it, I would have to be in the state already, find the elk first and then buy the tag and go hunt them. I’m not sure if there’s a wait period between buying the tag and hunting. In NM you have buy OTC lion or Audad tags quite a bit in advance of hunting them.
AZBridger
Active member
i hunted one of them the first year they were offered. actually saw a few elk and missed a spike. i've heard they are a bit of rat race now. there is an outfitter that has some private land access and they run near 100% on OTC elk hunts here in AZ. I think they hunt somewhere near camp verde on the verde river. i hunted the winslow-holbrook area. There are a few guys out there that do REALLY well on one of the hunts every year. It is tough country though
In my estimation that sounds about right. I used to see "herds" of about 6-8. Now I see sign of 1-3 at a time, sometimes going a year without seeing any sign at all. I can practically name the single bull in the area I hunt based off of his tracks.... Or the two cows he knows....
My wife thinks that I bought the elk at a store, cause she's been with me and has never seen a single living animal on several trips. I had one hunt that lasted 15 minutes, the only cow I have taken in the area.
I showed up to scout one time, expecting to see nothing, since all the sign the three weeks prior was very old. I drove out there with my Dad I his 2004 cavalier. No coolers, no extra gear, but a rifle just in case. The last day of the date for OTC in that area, end of summer so daytime temps were almost 100 degrees. Parked the car at the end of a trail and walked about 100 feet to an overwatch position to wait for dawn to move down and check for sign. I lay down and check out the game trail that ran through the clearing 100 yards away, 100 feet in elevation below me. Too dark to see if it's freshly used, but wait, there's an elk sitting right there, too dark to take the shot. It gets up and walks away, darn. about 15 minutes later the sun is breaking well enough, and then I hear some crashing, four more cows walk through. I took my pick and shot, she slumped over right there, didn't take a step.
Now the work begins right? Long story short, with me packing her out while my Dad quartered her, we tried to beat the heat, but it was still 90 degrees by the time we were done, even with the vehicle being so damn close. Managed to fit every bit of her in the trunk of the cavalier, as tight a fit as it was without stuffing and mashing anything, a bull, no chance, but I could wrap the trunk in preparation for ice, the back seat I couldn't, and coolers wouldn't fit in the back. Grabbed ice at the gas station on the way home, etc. etc. Nothing was lost or spoiled, but we were lucky in that regard. It took years of going back, weekly, before I laid eyes on the next elk in the area. But there have also been poachings in the area (2-4 bulls IIRC) were killed and left sans heads and hides in that same AO I was scouting, and that was around the time pressure started increasing. Decreased sign ever since.
But you're right, I wouldn't chance the hunt unless I was local, given the amount of time I have been out there and seeing nothing years at a time, if I lived out of state I would rather do a CO OTC. My annual success rate works out to about 20%. But if you actually did it for every hunt.... It drops to a fraction of a percent. YMMV.
