I hope you guy's do well ! go prepared as I know you will. How far do the elk migrate in this area, do they hold tight at elevation for awhile or all drop down in smaller groups or all at once ? Our elk Migrations where we mostly hunt in AZ travel routes are usually pretty short from our higher elevations to maybe a couple thousand feet lower which may only be 10 miles depending on exact location , but those 10 miles might be pretty vertical and bad canyons with access in and out if you are dropping down from the top or climbing up from the bottom can be a real pain. about the only thing we can do in heavy snow conditions is find choke points and hope we catch them when they are moving so we can try to get to these locations., in that sense we look at the lower areas and how to get in and set up. late season hunts in our area are harder to find real trophy animals , but every now and then especially in good early year monsoon times & wet years antler growth can be substantial which means the chances of getting a very nice bull odds start rising. one of our biggest problems in the area known for trophy class bulls is one road in and one rod out, it's huge area and miles of steep winding tight corner blacktop with a lot of hidden ice, just to get to dirt side roads, so if it snows 8 " or so forget trailers and even then really good 4x4's are iffy at best, most guys won't go in from the top down in bad snow it's not worth it. it's not plowed no cell phone service, could end up in a ditch or down a canyon or worst, if you come in from the south it's a few hundred miles to even get to where you start really climbing to get to where the elk are are wintering and then they usually jump the fence and go on the Reservations. they ain't stupid. I like hunting the late hunts but the older I get I'm more inclined to try and hunt early if I can get drawn or we have other options if i get really hard up.
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