AZ 7E Kachina Peaks Wilderness Hunt - Springs, Trailheads, etc

[Shoffy7]

Hello Fellow Hunters,
I drew a 7E Wilderness (9/27 - 10/4) tag this year and this will be my first year hunting AZ. There will be 3 in our party this year. Im excited as my daughter is coming along with me for this hunt and it will be her first elk hunt. I've researched various threads through this forum on the area and have a few concerns with what to really expect for water and our options for the best trail-head to use for entry into the wilderness area. Regarding water, it seems like your options are using the various dirt water tanks in the area as your only bet (otherwise we need to pack it in). But which springs or tanks will be the most promising this year, and will standard purification systems work well enough to extract water from them? A few I would like to make it to are: Jacksmith, Raspberry, and Doyle near the inner basin. If I come in from the South, there is Aspen Tank and High Tank.
Im also looking at several trail-heads to walk out from and am thinking about Locket Meadow on the North East side. Anyone have any feedback on that trail and that side of the peaks walking in? Of course this is all dictated by my scouting results closer to the season. I appreciate the feedback and look forward to sharing a successful hunt story with all of you!

 

[BlakeA]

Does talking about specific trailheads, basins, and water tanks on a public forum online seriously seem like an intelligent thing to do?

 

[Addicting]

I think I will put in for that tag next year, thanks for the help!

 

[arwhntr]

PM sent

 

[JohnCushman]

welcome

 

[rustednuts]

Hello Fellow Hunters,
I drew a 7E Wilderness (9/27 - 10/4) tag this year and this will be my first year hunting AZ. There will be 3 in our party this year. Im excited as my daughter is coming along with me for this hunt and it will be her first elk hunt. I've researched various threads through this forum on the area and have a few concerns with what to really expect for water and our options for the best trail-head to use for entry into the wilderness area. Regarding water, it seems like your options are using the various dirt water tanks in the area as your only bet (otherwise we need to pack it in). But which springs or tanks will be the most promising this year, and will standard purification systems work well enough to extract water from them? A few I would like to make it to are: Jacksmith, Raspberry, and Doyle near the inner basin. If I come in from the South, there is Aspen Tank and High Tank.
Im also looking at several trail-heads to walk out from and am thinking about Locket Meadow on the North East side. Anyone have any feedback on that trail and that side of the peaks walking in? Of course this is all dictated by my scouting results closer to the season. I appreciate the feedback and look forward to sharing a successful hunt story with all of you!

Dirt tanks tend to be nasty. Sure if you filter they might be safe to drink but that water is funky!

 

[Bigjay73]

Dirt tanks tend to be nasty. Sure if you filter they might be safe to drink but that water is funky!

Seriously, I would have to be on the brink of dehydration before drinking even filtered water from a tank. Cattle bathe, poop, and pee in them. Nasty stuff

 

[Shoffy7]

Yea I would have to agree on the tanks. We were able to pack about 5 gal of water and stash for our future hunt. I appreciate the feedback as a few of you reached out privately. Good luck to everyone this year!

 

[Gr8bawana]

Yea I would have to agree on the tanks. We were able to pack about 5 gal of water and stash for our future hunt. I appreciate the feedback as a few of you reached out privately. Good luck to everyone this year!

Welcome to the forum. Hopefully we'll hear back from you after your hunt because I know you won't be one of those guys who comes here and has a couple of posts asking for info only to never be heard from again.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Yea I would have to agree on the tanks. We were able to pack about 5 gal of water and stash for our future hunt. I appreciate the feedback as a few of you reached out privately. Good luck to everyone this year!

Be careful about relying on that 5gal of water,mice and other critters
will chew thru your containers and leave you high and dry.Plan accordingly.
Good luck.

 

[2rocky]

Be careful about relying on that 5gal of water,mice and other critters
will chew thru your containers and leave you high and dry.Plan accordingly.
Good luck.

So how would you rodent proof them? Gopher basket?

 

[dirtclod Az.]

So how would you rodent proof them? Gopher basket?

Bury it wrapped in a tarp or mylar to deter them from chewing.
Mylar is like .99c a blanket...I was Deer hunting once in 6A and had
a mouse walk right up and start chewing my pack with me sitting next to it!
I opened my pack,pulled out an apple and shared it with him.

 

[Shoffy7]

Welcome to the forum. Hopefully we'll hear back from you after your hunt because I know you won't be one of those guys who comes here and has a couple of posts asking for info only to never be heard from again.

Ok “roll eyes”.... of course I will pay it forward but when people like you respond with negative assumptions right off the bat, it makes me NOT want to participate. Next time just say “thank you for participating in the forum. Those that contribute quality advice are what make this forum a great resource for hunters to carry on the tradition.... we look forward to your future contributions and success...”

Don’t worry man, I will be contributing!

 

[Shoffy7]

Thought I would share my experience during last year’s 7E Kachina Peaks Wilderness Hunt from Sept 27 to Oct 4 2019. Hopefully this will help others who may be entering the area for the first time as was my case. A big thank you to those who were willing to give me advice through this forum as it was very supportive and encouraging in preparation for this hunt. Also to note, this was my daughter (12 yrs.) first elk hunt and full pack in/out experience. Although we were not successful in 2019, the memories we shared on the hunt were priceless and I don't regret a thing! Ok, so we hunted the west side of peaks at elevation between 8000 and 10400 ft. A few weeks prior to the hunt we were able to scout the area and located several bulls in the area, all loaners. We were feeling confident that we would catch them in the rut when we returned for our hunt, so hopes were high.

Weather - Daytime temps were in the 50s on most days and the lows got to the mid 20's. The wind was a bit crazy the first 3 days of the hunt and it made it difficult to listen for elk.

Terrain - No elk were in the bottom open meadows at all. No fresh sign either. The wilderness area is thick with dense forest and aspen trees and tons of dead-fall. This was a terrain that made it extremely difficult to walk through and to see any more than 50 yards in front of you. Our scopes never left the lowest zoom setting.

Water/Food - Yea no water to be found. The dirt tanks in the areas below were dry or small mud holes. The water was up top, above 10,500 ft during this time. It was crucial that we packed in water a 2 weeks before the hunt and cached it near camp. We had to solely rely on what we packed in for water during the 5 day hunt. We made it to the last drop and never used my water purifier once. There was no natural water to purifier on that area! So pack in your water! We had no trouble with mice or rodents, but we did hang our food during the day and night. We had a 3pt buck walk through camp the first day we arrived. Itwas crazy...we just finished setting up camp and he walked out of forest, right in from of my tent and into the meadow. We also had black bear come into camp. We saw him a day prior working his way toward base camp. As soon as she saw us she boogied out of there!

Hunt - The shear density of the area caused us to do a ton of walking to at least discover where the activity may be. The elk we scouted a few weeks prior we long gone and probably pushed out by the archery hunters before. No fresh bull sign to be found anywhere between 8500 - 9800 ft. It wasn't until we climbed to at least 10200 ft in elevation that we started to see track and bulls. We spooked up 3 bulls during the trip and never could get a shot. They were all alone, bedded down mid-morning, no bugling, no rut activity, and spooked no more than 40-50 yards from us. The forest was so think with trees and dead-fall you would lose sight of the bull after 1.5 secs and then you were in a stocking pattern. It always amazes me how something so large can move through a terrain that dense so fast! What we ultimately learned is that the elk were primarily staying at elevation above 10,200 ft, would water at the springs above, and then come down for feed and bedding, but never coming down to anything lower than 10,200 ft. I was just not willing to hike up that high from camp, take a bull, and start that extreme process of packing it out 7 miles from the truck, and 3500 ft in elevation change or a terrain this dense...especially with my 12 year old.

This was a tuff hunt. We had 5-6 miles per day of ground cover on average. The landscape is beautiful and we only ran into one other hunter during the week but that was about 5 miles from our camp and there were hunting the opposite side. They also had the same experience but did have eyes on a 6-point bull that week. Overall it was a great hunt that challenged my daughter and I. I wish we could've taken home a bull in 2019 but it was a humbling experience that was well worth it. I have learned that the AZFG have recognized that the goal of thinning the elk population to allow the regeneration of aspen trees to flourish has been recognized as a success and they have backed the tag count off even more. I really think if you could time this hunt and hit it during the rut, you can take a bull home, as long as you are willing to put in the work.

Hope this helps for those of you who drew a tag to the 7E Kachina Peaks Wilderness Hunt and may not know what to expect. Godspeed!

 

[MO Betta]

Thanks for coming back and letting us know how it went, it's great that you were able to share the experience with your daughter. I have no experience with the area so it's interesting to read about a journey into the region.

You'll have to excuse some of the other members, a lot of people show up asking for help and then don't stick around to contribute to the forum or at least share how their adventures went. Glad you weren't one of them.

 

[Roughwater]

Thought I would share my experience during last year’s 7E Kachina Peaks Wilderness Hunt from Sept 27 to Oct 4 2019. Hopefully this will help others who may be entering the area for the first time as was my case. A big thank you to those who were willing to give me advice through this forum as it was very supportive and encouraging in preparation for this hunt. Also to note, this was my daughter (12 yrs.) first elk hunt and full pack in/out experience. Although we were not successful in 2019, the memories we shared on the hunt were priceless and I don't regret a thing! Ok, so we hunted the west side of peaks at elevation between 8000 and 10400 ft. A few weeks prior to the hunt we were able to scout the area and located several bulls in the area, all loaners. We were feeling confident that we would catch them in the rut when we returned for our hunt, so hopes were high.

Weather - Daytime temps were in the 50s on most days and the lows got to the mid 20's. The wind was a bit crazy the first 3 days of the hunt and it made it difficult to listen for elk.

Terrain - No elk were in the bottom open meadows at all. No fresh sign either. The wilderness area is thick with dense forest and aspen trees and tons of dead-fall. This was a terrain that made it extremely difficult to walk through and to see any more than 50 yards in front of you. Our scopes never left the lowest zoom setting.

Water/Food - Yea no water to be found. The dirt tanks in the areas below were dry or small mud holes. The water was up top, above 10,500 ft during this time. It was crucial that we packed in water a 2 weeks before the hunt and cached it near camp. We had to solely rely on what we packed in for water during the 5 day hunt. We made it to the last drop and never used my water purifier once. There was no natural water to purifier on that area! So pack in your water! We had no trouble with mice or rodents, but we did hang our food during the day and night. We had a 3pt buck walk through camp the first day we arrived. Itwas crazy...we just finished setting up camp and he walked out of forest, right in from of my tent and into the meadow. We also had black bear come into camp. We saw him a day prior working his way toward base camp. As soon as she saw us she boogied out of there!

Hunt - The shear density of the area caused us to do a ton of walking to at least discover where the activity may be. The elk we scouted a few weeks prior we long gone and probably pushed out by the archery hunters before. No fresh bull sign to be found anywhere between 8500 - 9800 ft. It wasn't until we climbed to at least 10200 ft in elevation that we started to see track and bulls. We spooked up 3 bulls during the trip and never could get a shot. They were all alone, bedded down mid-morning, no bugling, no rut activity, and spooked no more than 40-50 yards from us. The forest was so think with trees and dead-fall you would lose sight of the bull after 1.5 secs and then you were in a stocking pattern. It always amazes me how something so large can move through a terrain that dense so fast! What we ultimately learned is that the elk were primarily staying at elevation above 10,200 ft, would water at the springs above, and then come down for feed and bedding, but never coming down to anything lower than 10,200 ft. I was just not willing to hike up that high from camp, take a bull, and start that extreme process of packing it out 7 miles from the truck, and 3500 ft in elevation change or a terrain this dense...especially with my 12 year old.

This was a tuff hunt. We had 5-6 miles per day of ground cover on average. The landscape is beautiful and we only ran into one other hunter during the week but that was about 5 miles from our camp and there were hunting the opposite side. They also had the same experience but did have eyes on a 6-point bull that week. Overall it was a great hunt that challenged my daughter and I. I wish we could've taken home a bull in 2019 but it was a humbling experience that was well worth it. I have learned that the AZFG have recognized that the goal of thinning the elk population to allow the regeneration of aspen trees to flourish has been recognized as a success and they have backed the tag count off even more. I really think if you could time this hunt and hit it during the rut, you can take a bull home, as long as you are willing to put in the work.

Hope this helps for those of you who drew a tag to the 7E Kachina Peaks Wilderness Hunt and may not know what to expect. Godspeed!

Thanks for sharing.