Overview: The opening of the Unit 7&9 bear hunt was moved from late to early October in 2006. This was to be consistent with some other bear hunts and new bear hunt guidelines, but the female harvest objective for both combined units has remained at 1 female.

Units 7&9 do not have large populations of bear. In the last 5 years, 6 bears have been harvested (4 males and 2 females) and the female quota has not been met since 2003.

Areas: In the fall, male bears can range over wide areas and may occur in any forested or woody habitat in the unit. Most bear sign; however, will likely be located near the San Francisco Peaks, Kendrick Mountain, and Sitgreaves Mountain.
Generally speaking, bears in Unit 7 are not tied to a localized food source, but feed over a wide area. The main reason for this is that there are few stands of Gamble oaks. Thus bears often feed on ants, beetles, and grubs in decayed logs and under rocks or on green forbs/grasses that are widely distributed. If you locate an area where a bear is active, try predator calling or sitting at waters sources visited by bears. Also, you may want to buy a bear tag just in case you happen to run into one while hunting something else.

NOTE: ALL ELK HUNTS IN UNIT 7 ARE DESIGNATED EITHER 7W (West) OR 7E (EAST).

Overview: Elk occur throughout most all of the habitat types in Unit 7. Typically, they are not found in open low elevation grasslands north and east of the Peaks. During most of the hunts, elk are on summer range. The highest densities of elk on summer range are usually at elevations above the pinion-juniper habitat type. However, elk are sensitive to food availability and will move to lower elevations if summer rains improve forage conditions there. Burned areas appeal to elk, but the animals usually abandon such open sites after the first day or two of the hunts.

Elk will normally stay on summer range until significant snowfall (18-24”), pushes them out onto the winter range on the western and northern portions of the unit. This seldom takes place before late November.

Due to concerns over aspen regeneration in Unit 7, and particularly 7-E, elk densities have been reduced over the past 10 years. Due to reduced elk densities in 7-E, the lowest number of tags ever given in 7-E occurred in 2006. Conversely, the highest number of tags for 7-W will occur in 2007, because the elk densities have not dropped equal to that in 7-E.

Areas:
7-E: Areas to scout out include the Hochderffer Hills, White Horse Hills, Saddle Mountain and west and north of Maverick Butte. Additionally, elk can be found in areas from Maverick Butte east to O’Leary Mountain. As stated above, with the current lower elk densities in 7-E, scouting prior to your hunt will be key in being successful.

Notice: Archery deer hunters - Unit 7 is not an open area for over-the-counter tag holders as of April, 2008. To hunt Unit 7 you must now obtain a permt-tag through the big game draw process. Click here for more details.

Overview: Mule deer occur throughout Unit 7 except in the lowest and most open grasslands. Since the early to mid 1990’s the deer numbers and hunt successes have declined. However, the 2005 hunt reversed that trend with a more than doubling of the hunt success and harvest. Additionally, the fawn crops in ‘04 and ’05 were over 50% and were the 2 highest years since 1990. Most of the harvested bucks in ’05 and ’06 were 1-2 year olds, reflecting these 2 high fawn crops.

Areas: The first day or two of the hunt, deer densities will be highest on the burns north and east of the San Francisco Peaks like White Horse Hills, Saddle Mountain and the Hochderffer Hills. Conversely, hunter densities are also highest there. The pinyon-juniper habitats at lower elevations throughout the unit contain some mature animals, but their densities are relatively low and the thick brush makes hunting a challenge. Mature bucks also occur at higher elevations on the San Francisco Peaks and Kendrick Mountain, but again, lower densities of bucks and thicker vegetation make hunting difficult. Most years, snow during the hunt will not be deep enough to drive animals to lower elevations. However, hard freezes prior to the hunt normally kills forage at higher elevations and deer will often move downhill looking for better forage.

Notice: The fall hunting season is now a limited weapon-shotgun shooting shot season only. There is still a fall archery-only over-the-counter permit hunt available in fall.

Overview: Wild turkeys occur throughout the ponderosa pine forest, mixed conifer and spruce-fir forests in summer and into early fall (including the spring and fall seasons). Meadows and the edges of grasslands are important to hens with poults seeking insects and for turkeys seeking green herbaceous vegetation when mast is in short supply. The primary mast species in Unit 7 are ponderosa pine, juniper, and pinion pine. Unlike other turkey units around Flagstaff, oaks trees are scarce in Unit 7. When ponderosa pine seed is abundant, the birds can be found throughout the fairly extensive Ponderosa stands in the unit.

The ’03 and ’05 poult crops were higher than the previous 12 years. The ’06 spring hunt saw nearly a doubling in harvest over the previous 2 spring hunts with the same number of tags. The ’07 spring hunt success was one of the higher of the Flagstaff units. These poult crops, higher hunt successes and an increase in turkeys seen by archery elk hunters the last couple years indicate an increased turkey population in Unit 7. As a result, the fall turkey season in Unit 7 was opened in ’06 for the first time since 2002 with 75 permits and had a hunt success of 23%, which was higher than the statewide average. Thus, permits were increased for the 2007 fall hunt to 125 tags.

Areas: Most gobblers will be found around the three dominant mountains in the unit: Sitgreaves Mountain, Kendrick Mountain, and the San Francisco Peaks. Another place to check for gobblers is the southwest comer of the unit near Williams, Slate Mountain, Wildcat Hill and north of Slate Lakes. In early spring, the gobblers will often travel to higher elevations where snow covers more than 50% of the ground. If roads are closed because of road conditions, do not hesitate to park and hike in to hunt in the spring. The closure of roads can improve your chances for getting a gobbler by reducing interference with other hunters driving the roads.