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Found this southern az buck today

Wanted to share my sons first buck he took the opening day in 22 on the jr deer hunt.

mearns are pretty simple once you figure them out. Most guys will pile in on each other in a few "hot spots". Personally, I think the spirit of mearns hunting is to explore new country with your dogs and enjoy the experience. Here is what you need to know about finding and killing mearns. Typically they will be found between 4000-6000 feet of elevation. The canopy should be about 50% oaks and if you aren't happy walking up and down the sides of the hills then that is even better. Grass is a huge key for mearns. The taller the better. If cattle have it chewed down then move to a different location. Moisture is your friend. If it would rain on a Monday I would plan on hunting on Tuesday. The wetter the better for scenting conditions. I would never start hunting mearns before 9am and later is better. If your dog (or you) can only handle half a day then start at noon. Look for scratching. If you see leaves all turned up everywhere then there are birds in the area. Mearns will hang out in the same area all the time. If you find a covey in an area one weekend they will be within 25-75 yards the next weekend. I have had dozens of times where I've shot at birds standing in the same exact spot more than once. Lastly but really important. learn to shoot your gun. You walk to far to miss mearns and with all honesty. Mearns are very easy to hit if you flush them in front of dogs. You should kill birds with the majority of the shots you shoot. If you don't then you need to learn to shoot the gun before you spend all day walking up and down hills to only miss birds constantly. Plus, your dog will not think kind things of you if you can't do your part. I would shoot a 20 gauge with #8 or 9 shot and the most wide open pattern I could get. There were many times where the gun would go bang, bang, bang and 3 birds would hit the ground. I know it seems obvious that shooting is important but most guys don't kill mearns because they can't shoot their gun. There is an old saying. "Go to Gardner Canyon and look at the mearns country. Then go somewhere else and find the same country and hunt them" The point being is Gardner has some great country and WAY to many people. Typically the places I would hunt birds would have no hunters. I would keep searching areas until I found good country and no people. Once you get away from all the people and learn how to hunt mearns they are a ton of fun. We would easily shoot limits of mearns with 3-4 guys every time I would go out. The amazing part......I have many places where I've never seen another hunter after hunting the locations for more than a decade. Learn to hunt them and get away from people. Once you find YOUR honey holes it will be a blast.......and don't tell a single person where you went.

Well, not much of a story on this buck. Didn’t have time to scout much this year and didn’t really see anything when i did. My brother took a friend on the youth hunt a couple weeks ago and kicked this buck up in one of our old honeyholes. Went in this morning and killed him at first light then spent the next several hours packing him out. Lots of mass, blades and stickers on this one. He was an old dude

FJB nice buck I’m still out here, getting a giant is still not out of the question. Chances are slim, but the bucks are around. I can’t ask for much more. And I’ve killed 15 beers a night, one coyote

I hunt and work down by the border. Generally down by the border is safe, I work down there and see it all and still hunt down there and camp alone. With that being said there is illegal traffic. As a general rule you leave them alone they will leave you alone. Do not leave any valuables in view. Often times camps will be gone through as they will be looking for water or food. Anything north of Tucson should be pretty safe. Depending on where you are hunting on the border there are some common drug and human trafficking routes taken. I would not be too worried about the traffic. Enjoy your hunt and don’t keep anything in camp that you can’t handle losing.

This month has been hard, wife’s birthday, our anniversary, and 6 month anniversary of her passing was yesterday. I’m getting stronger and more leathery with every passing milestone. Today I decided it’s time to get back to meal prep. I started it last spring and dropped 50lbs by last years elk hunt. Currently I’ve gained that back and then some. Not easy being forced into the single life! Fast food is food and easy when you throw yourself into work to forget. Anyways, today I made lunch for the week... breakfast is oatmeal with dehydrated cranberries, cherries, and blueberries. Topped with cinnamon. Lunch is Frank’s red hot marinated chicken breast with broccoli and sweet potato. Haven’t been eating supper for awhile but I’ll figure that out.

So I wanted to wrap up this thread, I hate a thread with no ending. I wound up getting Covid in September and so did my wife. She actually spent 11 days in the hospital including 6 in ICU (I stayed with her for the last 9) and got out the last week of September. I had decided to not come to the Kaibab as she came home on oxygen and was still weak. Well we have two adult daughters at home, and she said bull-sh&#, you are going. You might never get this tag again. So Tuesday afternoon, 2100 miles later, I landed in Jacob Lake in my maroon Ridgeline with the white cap. Several members were kind enough to offer some advice and one even tried to go along with me for a couple days, but it just didn't work out. I spent a few days driving, scouting, glassing and talking to some other guys. Friday AM found me high in the burn along with what seemed like the other 374 tagholders. I saw some smaller bucks on Friday and a ton of people. Saturday was more of the same, and by Sunday I was pretty discouraged. The burn was producing a lot of hunters but based on the shooting, not many bucks. I had continued to check in with one other AZ hunter I had met on Tuesday and he wound up tagging out Sunday afternoon. With weather on the menu for for Monday night, I was feeling a little discouraged but my new friend offered to help see if we could find a buck on Monday with his friends who were glassing for him. I jumped at the opportunity. We checked out several places, found a few bucks, but still hadn't connected until I got an opportunity with this guy mid afternoon. My first mule deer, and I was tickled! We all went to the Inn for dinner afterward the I spent the night in the tent before heading home Tuesday. I made it home today. A few comments for other nonresidents - first, I way underestimated this hunt. I was too one dimensional, thinking only of the burn. What else was there? While I did see bucks there and up high, there are deer in the whole unit, and my deer did not come from the burn. Without my AZ posse, I would have been completely lost (and probably still there). Second, mule deer are huge. I'm 6'5" and 280. The buck I got was huge bodied, at least 50-75# bigger than me or the biggest IA whitetail I've taken - the pic speaks for itself. Third, as is always preached, be prepared for anything weather-wise. Fourth, bring extra gas cans for sure - unless you want to spend all your time running for gas. I camped close to Jacob Lake to get cell service so I could check in on my wife, and I put on a lot of miles every day. AZ hospitality was really nice - as a NR, I never felt like I was out of place, didn't belong, or was looked down upon. My AZ posse was just so welcoming. Helped me glass, extract, cut up, etc. It was like we were friends who hadn't seen each other in 25 years, not guys who only knew each other for 5 days. In the end, I had a great time, and thanks to the posse and all the CW members who helped me.

My hunting partner left a gun leaning on a fence east of Douglas earlier today. We went just went back and it is gone. If anyone found it please let me know. There was another truck in the area that might if picked it up. Thanks.

I know of two people at my job that are currently doing this in the exact area you just mentioned. One of them showed me the numbers for his airbnb house over the last year and in off peak months he grossed around $6k and in peak months he was grossing around $12k.

Dashboard says pending

Great job!!!! Congrats!!!!

Nice buck Cody! Congrats

I am a huge proponent of using sock liners. On big hunts, I would carry extras and give them to clients when they started hurting. They couldn't believe the difference either.

Nice job, Congrats!

First off, glad to hear your wife is home and doing better. I'm in frontline healthcare and work in a destination hospital. So I've seen the worst of Covid. Hope she's well soon. It can take a while. Congrats on a successful Kaibab hunt! Great buck. I'm an AZ resident and still waiting on my Kaibab tag. 6 points and counting. Hopefully this year. On a side note. My wife and I just bought a property in PA (wife grew up in State College. We are....). I'm 3 years from retirement and plan is to live part time in PA. Hoping to do some eastern whitetail hunting in future.

3 Tasco Bantam 2.5X20 Scopes new in package. $15 each or $40 for all 3. 2-Bushnell Sportview 3-9X32 Scopes $20 each. 1-Bushnell Banner 4-12X40 Scope Ring marks $30 I-Redfield Tracker Fixed 4 Power Scope $20 1-Simmons Fixed 6 Power Scope Free $90 for all. All the above scopes are free to kids. Cave Creek Rd and Carefree Highway area

I've heard similar things. I'm considering doing a couple of houses that way. Typically larger homes with pools, spas work out real well I'm told. I'm fairly slow at entering new areas and do so with great trepidation. I did discover that if any management company does not collect and pay the sales tax that then the Owner would still be liable with penalties. Also, for me, I like the greater likelihood of a steady stream of income and more steady people. I don't have to furnish my rentals and don't include refrigerators. I don't want to get sued if someone gets sick. Same with jacuzzis. If a property has one I remove it due to greater liability. I only have one property with a pool.and it's not in use, needs to be rehabbed. I have two smaller properties but they are located near the Hohokam Stadium that Oakland uses for Spring Training.They are quaint older properties with orchard and land. But I would then also have the added expense of yard and regular cleanup. I'm not sure my net would be any better with the rents the way they are currently. Part of the rent increase, I'm certain, was due to the few dead beats (or potential deadbeats, and I evicted 2 to their surprise during Covid) who didn't pay and caused a greater expense, not to mention increased insurance and property taxes/sales tax. Insurance increases if the use changes. And some neighborhoods are beginning to fight against VRBO's, and cities are passing strict laws. My Rant: I never understood the greed of the cities putting sales tax on regular residential rentals. Why are they extra taxing the poor? Property tax is also higher. That extra $40 to $60 a month can really hurt a poor family, and the property owner is not going to absorb the cost. It is passed on to the tenants. Back to the subject: Everything has its pros and cons. The more knowledge one has on the subject, the greater the chance of success if one does decide it merits the risk. Otherwise, one is just gambling blindly. "A wasted dollar is never regained."

I don’t imagine it took long for them to wise up and get out of the candy cane as it is called.

Get an early coues tag in a southern unit, carry a rifle , and they will fly up your pant leg and cause you to poop your pants. Works every time for me. When I lived in Vail and went after them with my Brit , it was hit or miss for me. Beautiful birds.... good luck!

We always camp in the Elkhorn Ranch area. Often there are other camps around. Never personally had a problem there. Can't really speak to any place to avoid, as I've pretty much always camped at the Elkhorn (even if hunting a different part of the unit). Good luck! S.

I can't ever get a photo of this buck head on, he's always got his head sideways. It's by far the widest and tallest. I'm guessing it is pushing 25-26" wide. This photo was from September 3 so he's grown quite a bit since then. I don't have hardly any photos of him in focus. Everything is blurred or I've got half a rack with nothing to judge against. I know that he will look great in my scope though.

Congrats and how did I miss this thread! Here in AZ? Which unit? Did you have a chainsaw to take care of the tree? Eddie

Well, we hiked 9 miles. Only saw a couple young bucks. I found 3 drop antlers and my brother in law scored on a giant bighorn ram dead head. We eliminated a lot of country and scratched an itch I’ve had for awhile. On to the next.