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Does anyone have any information on the Three Bar Animal Enclosure? I was curious about hiking this area and was surprised to find hardly any trails on HAZ. Google doesn't have much info on it and from what I can tell enclosure is not currently in use.

Lot of Bears.

and lions and tigers, oh my!

Have you checked AZGF's Website? I know years ago, the public was not allowed inside the enclosure itself. I got to go in with the Biologists as a volunteer when we did a Wildlife Survey and Count.

Outdoor Lover wrote:Have you checked AZGF's Website? I know years ago, the public was not allowed inside the enclosure itself. I got to go in with the Biologists as a volunteer when we did a Wildlife Survey and Count.

From what I've read they doing studies on what effected Mule Deer population declines most, habitat quality or predation. I am not looking to be inside the enclosure. I am more wanting to know if it is worth heading out there? How big it is, because it didn't sound like it was big enough swallow up the whole east side of Four Peaks base? It sounded like might be over too, but I don't see too much current info available. I've never been out that way so I am curious.

It's not big at all. It's one square mile. When we did the count, there were about 30 of us. Talk about off trail work, lol! We formed a line at the west boundary and walked a straight line all the way across to the east boundary. And this area was anything but level. By the time you went up and down all the drainages and gullies, it ended up being about a 3.5 mile hike, lol! If an animal passed to your left between you and the next person, then you were the one that "counted it". I counted 3 Mule Deer and 6 Javelina, I don't remember what the totals were, that was a very long time ago....Lots of Mule Deer in that whole 3 Bar Ranch area. I have never seen just exactly how much area that entails, but I know it is off limits to hunting and it goes as far down as the north side of the main part of Apache Lake. There is a 4x4 road on the back side of the Four Peak area that we took to get to the Enclosure itself.

I will be passing through the 3 Bar this weekend, coming in from Apache Lake. The Three Bar Wildlife Refuge is quite big: it follows the county line on the west end from Four Peaks south to Apache Lake; the eastern boundary from Roosevelt Lake.

Three Bar is in Unit 22 and open for hunting, except for the fenced-in Walnut Canyon enclosure (the fenced-in area is a square mile). I traveled through there four trips last May, shaking the bush, found a few things but not what I was looking for. There are quite a few deer on the grassy, south slope, some sheep near the lake, and a million quail along 3 Bar Road. The manzanita has been burned back to a manageable level, though it is growing back rapidly, some areas escaped the flames and make rough going.

Planning on walking Ash Creek, Bronco Creek, and the Buckhorn Ridge.

@Outlander
Please let us know how you find things there, I'll be looking forward to your triplogs. Not sure when but I will probably checking out parts AZT #19 Cottonwood. May perhaps participate in the effort to clean up the trail on the 26th, I believe.