Unit 27 (Eagle Creek)

Pick your season before your spot

The calendar decides where you start. Archery hunters have an over-the-counter August–September tag, now under a quota with mandatory reporting of any deer harvest within 48 hours. The guide says a January archery hunt may or may not open, depending on harvest numbers. There's also a juniors-only hunt over Columbus Day weekend. General firearms hunting falls in late October and/or early November, and there's no December general hunt anymore. That guide was written in June 2022, so check the current regulations booklet for dates. The rifle success figure in our data is 22 percent. That's a hard hunt, not a gimme.

Early on, we'd work the high pine and the country north of Rose Peak, where the guide says deer concentrate during archery. Come the later general hunt, drop south of the Rim to the pinyon-juniper.

Spot-and-stalk on Foote Creek Mesa

The broken pinyon-juniper there is what the guide recommends for spot-and-stalk. Find a high point, glass the openings early and late, then plan the stalk before you move. Several summits in the unit top 8,000 feet, among them Rose Peak at 8,781, Telephone Ridge at 8,361 and Coalson Peak at 8,057. Any of them could give you a vantage point over the country below. Treat them as ideas and scout the approach before you commit.

Warm weather pushes deer uphill, according to the guide. If it's still warm, glass higher before you walk down.

Beat the crowd at Four Bar

Four Bar Mesa is easy hiking and it's crowded. We'd walk past the easy ground. The deer are there, but so are the hunters, and the two deep canyons on either side are the escape routes. Get into Turkey Creek or Sheep Wash before daylight, and expect the climb out with meat. The same goes for FR 475, which is popular. Push beyond the road edge, or take the Coalson Jeep Trail if you have a proper 4WD rig and good ankle-support boots.

Weather, water and rules that bite

• Rain and snow aren't unusual during the deer hunt. Deep snow is common up high, and extreme cold is possible. Rivers and washes can flood fast, so don't camp in a wash bottom.
• The Blue Primitive Area is closed to vehicles. Plan to pack deer out on foot or by horse. The guide calls it excellent horseback country.
• Camp only on public land. The Blue River bottom landowners don't allow camping or hunting.
• Carry an Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests map. Some camping areas are closed for safety reasons. Call the Alpine Ranger District at (928) 339-5000.
• AZGFD asks, though doesn't require, that you contact them about tissue sampling of harvested deer for CWD checks.

Alpine to Rose Peak along Hwy 191

Start here. AZGFD's own unit guide sends both fall and spring hunters to the high country between Alpine and Rose Peak, reached from Hwy 191. Come in from Springerville and run south through Alpine. If you're driving up from the southern part of the state, take 191 north out of Clifton. Merriam's turkeys are spread through the northern two-thirds of the unit, so this is the country to scout first. Rose Peak tops out at 8,781 feet on the landform data, which gives you a sense of how high the pine and mixed conifer sit.

The Wallow Fire hit the northern part of the unit hard and knocked the birds back. The agency says they've recovered well. Its advice is to look at ground next to unburned patches, because that's where the highest concentrations seem to be. Don't spend a day glassing a burn scar from the road.

The oak-and-pine belt: where turkeys feed

Habitat runs from deciduous riparian through pinyon-juniper and ponderosa to mixed conifer and spruce-fir. The birds you want sit in the middle. In the fall, ponderosa and mixed conifer with Gambel oak in the understory is the target, because turkeys key on the acorns. In the spring, the guide says to work from the pine-oak belt up into mixed conifer wherever snowmelt has pushed new green growth. Heavy scratching in the leaves or needles under oak and pine means birds are using the spot.

Blue River and Eagle Creek bottoms

The guide calls these your fallback if the high country is empty. It also lists Hwy 191 between Strayhorse and Rose Peak. Fall hunters can do well in the big riparian bottoms too.

• Blue River: FR 281 runs south from Alpine. FR 567 cuts east from Hwy 191 at Beaverhead.
• Eagle Creek: take FR 217 off Hwy 191, or use the trails that lead west from the highway between Strayhorse Campground and Rose Peak.

Expect private in-holdings along the Blue River and lower Eagle Creek. We'd study a map before committing to any bottom stretch.

Skip the southern third of the unit for turkeys. The guide describes distribution in the northern two-thirds only.

Know which tag you're holding

Unit 27 has fall and spring limited-weapon, shotgun-only draw hunts. There's also an over-the-counter archery-only hunt in both seasons, and a spring Junior's hunt that's over the counter too. The Junior tag is good for either the spring or fall hunt in the same calendar year. Spring is bearded birds only. Fall allows any turkey. The agency's data lists shotgun success at 35 percent, which is a solid number for a draw hunt.

Spring: roost them at dark, call them at dawn

AZGFD's guide is blunt about the method. Find a gobbler on the roost after sundown. Set up on that roost the next morning. Then call him in with a variety of hen calls. Do your evening listening in the Alpine to Rose Peak country off Hwy 191, where the guide says to begin scouting, then slide toward Strayhorse if you don't hear anything. Snowmelt drives where birds are in spring, so we'd follow the green-up and the scratched-over oak and pine floors instead of sitting at one elevation.

Camouflage matters. The guide says full camo, face and hands included, is a must because gobblers see well. That means gloves and a face mask, not just a jacket.

Fall: still-hunt the Gambel oak

The agency's best fall method is still-hunting. Walk slowly through feeding areas in the early morning. The alternative is to set up near a heavily used water source. Put your steps in ponderosa and mixed conifer with oak underneath, since turkeys feed on acorns there. The Blue River and Eagle Creek bottoms are good fall options when the oak flats are quiet. Move a few steps. Stop. Listen. Don't hurry it.

Private ground and safety

• It's unlawful to fire within 1/4 mile of any house or outbuilding without the owner's permission. This matters on the lower Eagle Creek and Blue River in-holdings.
• Never hunt private land without the landowner's okay.
• Arizona has had turkey-season hunting accidents. Be sure of your target. The agency also says to avoid red, white and blue clothing, since those are the colors on a gobbler's head.

USFS maps are available from the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests at (928) 333-4301. Get one before you go. The packet lists FR 111, FR 232 and FR 4083 as high-clearance, so don't take a low car off the pavement.

The guide is blunt about where the difficulty lies. Sheep here are usually highly visible. Finding the rams and then dealing with the terrain they live in is the hard part. Hunt like that's true.

Get the Foote Creek logistics right

Foote Creek is wilderness, so access is foot or horseback only. Hunters usually go four to six miles from the trailhead to reach the core of the range. AZGFD strongly encourages horses and mules and recommends a spike camp inside the primitive area. If you don't have mountain-seasoned stock, the guide advises booking an outfitter-guide. The Alpine Ranger District, (928) 339-4384, and the Clifton Ranger District, (928) 687-8600, can supply lists of licensed outfitters.

Plan the pack-out before you plan the stalk. Boned meat, head and cape on a ram commonly top 200 pounds. Vehicles, bicycles and chain saws are banned in the primitive area, so you'll be moving that load on hooves or on your back.

Glass first, then commit

The guide's gear list is plain: good hiking boots, a spotting scope and binoculars, a flat-shooting rifle with a scope, and plenty of help. The packet shows a 75 percent rifle success rate, with no year attached, so treat it as a rough marker. The Upper Blue herd is only about 50 sheep, down from a historic 150, and the guide says sheep are harder to find than a few years ago. We'd expect long glassing sessions. The guide gives no timing advice, but we'd be on a glassing point at first light each morning rather than walking blind through canyons.

Use the points the guide names. Horse Ridge and Sissy Point work for Foote Creek. At Bear Canyon, glass from the road near the KP Creek and Blue River junction before you drop into the rough stuff. That's a cheap way to locate rams.

Respect the water and the private ground

The guide warns that floods down the Blue River are frequent, and flash floods are highly likely in KP Canyon, which was hit by the Wallow Fire. Be ready to wait out high water. Don't cross a flooded river. At Bear Canyon, stay off the private land at the end of the Blue River Road and walk around it.

Check-out rules

Every hunter, successful or not, must check out through a Department office within three days of the season's close. Success