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After hunting a specific buck For 3 days with little to no deer to be shown for it I switched hunting areas and met up with my buddy Todd who had found an area in his scouting that had a few mature bucks in it. It payed off and that evening we killed this solid buck. I’m beyond thankful for friends who are willing to grind out the crappy days and come through when I needed it! Thanks fellas!

Yes I am going to draw this out on you folks, no single sit down read thru and be done. You will get just enough to pique your interest but leave you wanting more with one post a day for each day of the hunt. I will give the 1st two in one big start post though. Each will be edited as it is easier to post pictures via tapatalk from my phone and text from my laptop... Photo's are not cooperating with my poor internet connection, i will get them added as soon as I have a real connection. Pre hunt Like anyone else that hunts out of their home state, the build up and prep is often longer than the actual hunt. Planning starts months in advance guessing at weather, gear needed, scanning maps for hunt locations and game plans. Working up a reliable accurate hunting load for your rifle. Changing options on the gun and verifying and re-verifying that they are good and how each change affects your point of impact. Making sure that your gun is dialed in and ready for the hunt. Packing, repacking, getting new gear from recommendations of others that have hunted the area and packing again. Realizing that there is no way on earth you are going to fit it into two checked and two carry on bags. Plus the fact that if you did you would have no room or ability to bring meat back without dropping serious coin on shipping meat overnight, or paying baggage fees ($75 with 50# limit). So that means finalizing the gear and shipping it early enough to get to your hunting partner in their hometown at least a week before the hunt begins so that they have time to load in their rigs for the drive to camp. It had everything in it except for one full set of hunting clothing, my primary glass and of course my weapon. Multiple sets of hunting clothes and options for expected weather, sleeping bag and pillow, kill kit, bags, backup bino's, spare rangefinder, radios, solar panel and batteries, etc, etc. With the hunt rapidly approaching I shipped my 45# box of gear down 3 weeks before the hunt. Whew, one thing done. Now on to pack the carry on's. T-2 Days to hunt I wake up at my normal 5am since it is a work day and realize the backpack with laptop and some gear in it is just too big to fit under an airline seat, and my hunting pack is already maxed out. I panic and try some reshuffling but to no avail. The only option is to ditch the second set of boots, I will have to hotlap the one pair on this desert hunt, Ohh goody! I arrive at SEA airport with my hunting pack, laptop backpack and rifle case @ 830am for the 11am flight to Phoenix. I go to the ticketing agent who gives me the proper firearm declaration forms and points me to the TSA area. TSA goes smooth, the agent was a nice guy who actually caught that the ticketing agent had not tagged my rifle case, so I had to boogy back over to get that done. The middle (biggest and busiest) security check point was closed with a line going all thru airport. I jammed down to A gate check point which was open and shorter line but still had a 45min wait to get thru. Waiting in the gate charging my phone and dreaming of Coues deer makes the time waiting to board fly by. We take off a few minutes late, but the flight was shorter than expected, either the pilot had a date tonight or the jetstream was in our favor We landed and I hustled off to baggage claim, then had to wait 30min for them to bring my case up a special elevator. I called Ben (step-dad) and he arrived shortly and we loaded my gear in the truck. I hopped in and we started heading south. After "quick" stops at In-n-out, his buddies house for a tent, and Sportsman's warehouse for my last tag, we left Tucson heading south! We get to camp around 8pm and have the privledge of setting up the tent by truck headlights before rolling out our sleeping bags a crashing out for the night. To be continued...

I found some really nice bulls in the desert, a lot of them were broken up, but good bulls none the less. But, just in case, I had several blinds built and stands hung at remote water holes. So opening morning, i glasses up a nice 6x6 in the desert, with 9 cows. I was by myself, but gave chase anyways. I ranged them at 1200 yards, and took off. When I got over there, the elk were gone, and I have no idea where they went. I may have gotten picked off, or maybe they just moved on. But without a spotter, there was no telling. I looked for them till noon, walking and glassing. Nothing. since it was warm, I thought I’d get on a waterhole early, and try my luck. It was a long rough ride in, and then a short hike. When I got all settled in, I realized I had no water. I got out of the blind to hike back, but decided I better get right back in and tough it out. An hour later this guy came in, but from a direction I wasn’t expecting. He wasn’t a big bull, but I wasn’t gonna be choosy. I had to move my chair to the other side of the blind to draw. I had him at 35 yards. I settled the pins, and let one fly. To my disappointment, I could see blood dumping out of his brisket. I hit a solid foot low. But when I shot, I heard the arrow or the cam hit the blind, which really messed up the shot. Re adjusting my chair nearly cost me. I tried a few quick follow up shots, but blew them. The good news was that this bull was pouring blood. I’d spent the previous night hand sharpening the shwacker broad head, and that was critical. I could see he wasn’t going far. I dug in my pack for some stalking slippers, and slid them on. I snuck to 50 yards, from where he was standing, and had a small window in the trees that I could send an arrow. I figured I could hit liver with the shot I had, so I took it, and nailed him. At that point I backed out and called pwrguy, who brought another friend for the pack out and meat cutting. He expired shortly, with very little of a tracking job. He was probably less than 75 yards from the initial shot. Both shots were complete pass throughs. I was really thankful to take him on opening day. God certainly answered that prayer.

I am looking for someone in the Tucson area that is looking for a job/career in the construction field. We do commercial work only. We install commercial overhead doors, dock equipment, and a slew of other specialty products. Must not be afraid of heights, mechanically inclined is a plus, and welding experience is a big plus. We are willing to train without any experience. Must have an insurable drivers license, be able to pass a drug test, and be able to pass state and federal background check for some of the areas we work in. This is a full time position, with benefits, vacations time, paid health care after 90 days for an individual, vacation after one year, and uniforms after 90 days. As well as a matched 401K plan. If interested please dm me for any questions or to schedule a time for filling out an application. We are a small business and all work very hard. We average around 50 hours a week with overtime paid over 40 hours. Must be willing to work hard as this isn't a job that you will be sitting around waiting on other trades. Occasional Saturday work does occur but we try really hard not to have to work weekends.

Day 1 Morning We decided to do a traditional opening day hunt and hunt the draw right outside of camp. We walk up and get to our spots just as the sun crests the mtns. Have I mentioned how cool desert sunrises are? There are some cattle on the right side of the slope we are facing right at 1st light. After 1.5hrs we finally see a pair of does off on the left, then a 3rd joins them after about 20min. They are in the tangles of Ocitillo, just relaxing and oblivious to our presence. After 45min a large solitary javelina shows up. He was a big fatty that could have made great eating, but it was not Javelina season. Around 10am we break from that spot we are in and join back up with the other hunter and make a plan to walk/push to the head of the draw and then rest in shade having a snack. We bust one doe out on the push up the draw, but nothing else. After our snack we push the next canyon over back toward camp. We make the push and saw a whole lot of nothing. The one moment of excitement was a brief drive by from border patrol who got out to get a better look at us and I could hear them say, "It's ok, just hunters." This was a long morning and we are all beat and exhausted when we reach camp for lunch. To be continued...

T-1 day to hunt There is just nothing like sunrise in the desert, the day broke clear and bright, a good omen for the hunt to come. We started off the morning with a quick tour in the ranger (side by side utv). The first spot we sat in to scout is one that looks way out in "The basin", it is an area the group hunts every year and it always has deer in it. We settled in and at around 10am and saw 3 does out feeding. Def a good sign there were deer in the draw, but our spotting location was not a place we could shoot from (1000yrds) and, we saw no bucks. Weather was nice and clear, but "hot" The Desert rat I was hunting with thought it was perfect, but being a WA guy, the 77* and blazing sun was like walking in an oven and I was glad to sit in the shade of the Side by side for the ride out. We left that spot and ran back past camp and up into another spot much farther back. We spent a few hours there and glassed up more does in the afternoon. Great news they are up and they are moving outside of twilight hours, not so much luck that not a single buck was seen. We made our way back to camp and another member of the group had arrived. We spent the remainder of the afternoon setting up camp, then had dinner and relaxed by the campfire talking about the plans for the next morning. To be continued...

Good deal

Thanks everyone! Missedagain, I will pm you my phone number and we can coordinate me picking this up from you at your convenience. Make sure to include what you drink so I can return the triclawps properly!

Long read but revealing. Desert muleys are bean eaters, except when desert finally gets some rain. Mule Deer Food Study.pdf

Flat stuff is really tough to hunt. I personally prefer the hilly stuff.

Desert muleys are where you find them. Patterning them is like trying to pattern a cloud. They seem to like creosote flats. They eat Cholla. Sometimes they bed at the base of little nobs or hills. Sometimes they bed in washes. Sometimes they are on hills or saddles. One thing that is for certain... watch out for snakes.

Great set up for the money. I'm 6'2" and can stand with mine.

Great job! Congrats on some awesome bucks.

If you guys get serious I want in. I'll do one tag and mule for you guys the rest of the time. Awsome looking animals. Big congrats on a great trip.

Take your point, square it.

WOW, Awesome opportunity!

That's pretty cool, but dang I wouldn't even consider shooting that without a muzzle brake.

We have 3 tags for unit 23 for Spring. Never hunted there before, need to start taking trips up there to scout. But have also never Turkey hunted before. Care to share a little from your experiences last year?

My friend Jorge and I got drawn for 37B HAM hunt. While that in itself isn't particularly impressive, how about tag #1 and tag #2 out of 500!

So some other friends we always hunt with in 37B also got drawn. There was 4 guys that usually put in together, but 1 guy has given up on hunting due to health reasons, but the 3 guys that did put in got tags #497, 498, and 499!

Probably to get ahold of the guy, find out his hunting plans for the spot/area. So he can be courteous and potentially try to coordinate around each other. I've dropped my business card with an note that I'm hunting an area also and to give me a call to share info/coordinate in a couple cameras I've found in pretty remote areas I hunt. Unfortunately no one's ever called 😪

One thing to help make sure it's a good experience for a new hunter is to remember to not pressure them to shoot. Let them decide if they are comfortable with the shot or not. If you pressure them to shoot and the person makes a bad shot, it may turn them off from hunting all together. Make the hunt about learning and not necessarily about killing something. Your ultimate goal is to foster a desire to hunt, that may mean passing on a shot that you might take, but that the person doesn't feel comfortable with. Sometimes it's hard for experienced hunters to remember what it's like to never have hunted.

Who lets female lions walk? I shoot lions that are not spotted kittens and are not with spotted kittens. My compass is not tilted by guilds or podcasters.