AndrewJ

About a year and a half ago (pre hunting times) I was reading about Arizona wildlife and came across the famed coues whitetail, and how you haven’t truly hunted until you have been on a coues hunt. I thought to myself this thing looks tiny, and who would actually want to hunt near Mexico, isn’t that kind of dangerous? Then one morning I woke up and decided I wanted to learn how to hunt. I had been hunting as a kid with my dad but it never really passed to me. I wanted a true Arizona experience, and started reading more about the coues whitetail. It looked very hard to hunt, and people called it the “grey ghost”. I studied the units and saw that there was an inverse relationship between the distance from Mexico and your chances of successfully drawing a tag. I wanted to hunt now and wasn’t interested in collecting bonus points, so I picked what looked like the most obscure unit with the highest chances of getting drawn- the early November hunt in 36C. After I applied the weeks seemed to drag on with an agonizing, lethargic crawl until one day I noticed a strange charge on my credit card- it was a success! Then I spend the next weeks stressing out about supplies and realized I had a lot to learn. II was able to get to the unit around noon on opening day. I turned on a dusty road and found an appropriate pull-out on state trust land and parked. I surveyed the hills with my binoculars for a good 15-20 seconds and didn’t see any deer. I thought hmm, I'm not so sure about this glassing thing, the real way to find deer is by marching through the hills!! I decided it was time to go for a hike…my feet are still sore! Even though it was November and supposed to be cooling off, it felt like an oven… Hades’s Oven where all of the bushes try to rip your clothes and stab your legs and a wrong step could send you twisting to the ground in agonizing pain. The cholla cactus were the worst- once they stick to you they are very difficult to get out. I noticed some small trails all throughout the mountains. I thought that perhaps they could have been created by some deer or javelina, but it appears they were made by another animal- the coyote. I found trash everywhere- spent water bottles, candy, and discarded pieces of clothing. I never saw anyone, but I always had the feeling I was being watched, as if someone knew I was there. I can’t really explain it, it’s kind of like a long-forgotten sense kicking in you didn’t know you had. I did kick up some deer the first day, but only does. There were also these giant rabbits- about the size of a sheep, and a few times I thought it was a deer jumping out of the bushes. I am still shocked at how big they get. I got back to camp all hot and sweaty, and as soon as the sun went down the rigid, cold fingers of the night came drifting off the hills into camp like an uninvited guest. The temperature swing is almost instant; it is amazing how quickly the desert can change. After I was long since asleep, I woke up to the screaming engines of a Blackhawk helicopter 50 feet above my tent. Perhaps I was dreaming but I thought I saw a doorman shining light down on me. With the thrust of its engine the chopper ascended the nearest hill and vanished into the cloak of darkness, gone as quickly as it came. Couple of the hunts I ventured out with some of the expert glassers….it is one thing to read about glassing, it is another to try and execute on it and actually spot deer. It was impossible. It was like looking for tiny, camouflage ants that are not moving. Also should have brushed up on my botany before the hunt- they would guide me in my saying “look at the Prosopis velutina, go down to the rock next to the Parkinsonia florida, then go over to the Carnegiea gigantea next to the other Opuntia and you will see the deer bedded down”. Even when I knew where the deer was I couldn’t see it. One time they spotted a buck and let me go after it. The buck bedded down and we got as close as we could and laid down on some cactus to prepare to take a shot. I knew exactly where the buck was and I couldn’t find it in my scope. It was impossible to see. When the buck got up I had a clear shot but was shaking really bad and hit a dirt mount to the right. Then two more bucks and a doe got up out of nowhere and walked around my buck and I couldn’t tell what was what, and they all went over the ridge into the setting sun. I stayed a few more days after the glassing experts left. My dad was with me and he did not like camping out there alone. One night there was a creature rustling in the bushes right next to the tent (maybe a javelina?) and it made just enough noise to keep you in an uncomfortable state of alert. Then in the middle of the night two men were walking along the perimeter of our campsite and stopped just before they got to us. They were surprised we were there and turned around and walked away. They were speaking English, but I still wonder what they were doing. They weren’t using lights, just walking by the eerie illumination of the moon. Could have been BP or ranch hands, but due to the late hour my imagination thinks something else was at hand. One of the mornings we went out and saw a soft light high above the ridge, it was moving slow at first, almost floating, then picked up speed and vanished over the horizon. It wasn’t a helicopter and wasn’t making noise, so we decided it was a drone. We managed to spot a few deer, but didn’t see any bucks. On one of the last days I went a little further south to try my luck in a new area. I was getting ready to hike up a big hill with a vantage point when I heard the thud thud thud of a helicopter in the sky. In the distance I noticed a white speck and it kept growing bigger and bigger. It was coming right for me. I don’t know if I trigged a remote sensor or if they spotted me through some other method, but they came to check me out. They circled around me for what seemed like an eternity, and then finally decided I was of no interest and left. I hiked up the big hill and scouted for a few hours but didn’t see anything. As I was getting ready to leave a giant scout aircraft flew over the top of the nearest mountain and flew right over me. I was really surprised it was flying so low and just barely cleared the top of the highest ridge. I wonder what the plane was doing and where it was going. Came home empty handed, but it was a successful hunt. It was a great experience, and learning the basic properities of glassing was invaluable. Met some awesome hunters and made some new friends, and I'm looking forward to more hunts in the future.

I was looking to get a hunting knife for my upcoming coues hunt. Which one is your favorite? Should I get two different knives? Do you ever use a bone saw or is it ok to go without?

Sounds like havalon is the way to go (I'll buy from CW). Any preference as to the specific type (edge, zytel). How often do you change the blade, and is it easy to do while in the field?

I was looking at applying for a javelina, but you have to buy a 2014 license that is governed by the current rules (soon to be old rules). Looks like the new license fee will be slightly higher and has a better fishing combo. Is there any other disadvantage of getting the hunting license now vs waiting until next year?

I saw a Coast Guard ship three times this last summer. Two times I saw a small Coast Guard ship (more like a fancy oversized ski boat) behind a Coast Guard truck near Tempe Town Lake, and saw the same thing up near Sagauro Lake. No idea where they came from or what they were doing. I just scouted down south for the first time, it is wild!! I had a blast. I don't have a sidearm but would suggest you carry. I didn't see any bad activity but you feel the presence that something is going on. It makes for a strange feeling knowing there could be armed drug runners up over the next ridge or behind the next bush. You won't get that element hunting near Burns or Klamath Falls. The danger, although real, is blown out of proportion (seems to be a lot of legend and folklore) but it keeps enough people in Phoenix away so you can actually get a tag. 4WD is nice to have on some of the rough roads, if you are hunting on State Land then off road ATV use probably isn't even allowed so just use your truck.

Yes the license will be valid Jan 1 to Dec 31 2014. But when you go to apply for the 2015 javi hunt (or turkey or whatever) in fall of 2014, you generally need an active hunting license to cover that period. So you buy a new hunting license for 2015...but wait! The new license is on a rolling 12 months, so the clock would probably start when you buy it. So, not sure on this, but you could end up with a hunting license going from Jan-Dec 2014 and a license going from Oct 2014-Oct 2015. GJ- I believe if you buy the license now it does not come with the 2 pole stamp you still have to buy it if you want it. On Jan 1 it all changes. Could be wrong but that is what I heard (another reason I heard people were waiting to buy the license because of the simplified fishing options). However if you look at the new system, the two pole stamp option doesn't exist. So, is it possible if you buy a 2014 fishing license now, without the 2 pole option, and want to add it in 2014 you won't be able to without buying a whole new fishing license? http://www.azgfd.gov/eservices/documents/NewLicenseStructureandFees_BA_FINAL_Revantelopecorrection_130828.pdf

I wonder what happens next year (so fall 2014) when you apply for the 2015 hunt. If you have to buy a new license then (rolling 12 months) the clock probably starts at purchase which would leave you with a short overlap of two licenses. Not sure how the system will work, maybe it will take this into account.

Visited family up in Oregon, went on a camping trip in the SE part of the state. The terrain is rugged and unforgiving, and the weather is merciless. It was cold, rainy, windy, and then near freezing, but had a couple of days with a few hours of uninterrupted sun. We rode horses all day, really amazing how much land you can cover. Saw many obsidian shards and points, there used to be a substantial native population in the area until the calvary started chasing them out in the 1860s. It's amazing to look at the obsidian and think how another human stood in this very same spot over a century and a half ago...what was their life like, what was the area like, did they have any idea what was coming? Saw two coyotes, 35 antelope, and four deer. The whole landscape is full of plant life, but the deer are gone. One of the old timers who rode with us has been going for years, said the same rides in the 70s and 80s we would have seen thousands of deer. I am not joking, this is confirmed by multiple people. The deer were so thick you had to try not to run into them. Now they are all gone, the land is just empty. Where did they go? The old cowboys say the state killed them- too many tags, focus on revenue and not on herd health. Biologists say it was the cows carrying a virus/pathogen to the water holes that spread to deer and killed them. The new threat to the deer- cougars. A cougar eats one deer a week, a nursing cougar eats two a week. A few years ago Oregon banned hunting of cougars and bears with dogs as it is unsportsmanlike. The result- no one hunts cougars and their populations explode. In that extended area the state killed off 40 cougars in the last year as part of population management. The state uses dogs to hunt the cougars (it is exempt from the law as it is for population management), but the irony is not lost on those who see it. Some pics below, hope you enjoy-

When I was a kid we were at our cousin's cattle ranch out in the middle of nowhere. Went with them to feed the cattle with the stock truck. We were out on a sagebrush covered hill and the saw some HUGE bucks feeding and watching us. They had landowner deer tags and left me in the truck. I had to scoot over from the passanger seat to the driver seat so they could get their guns. They jumped out and began to crawl towards the bucks. I was really tired and in the meantime fell asleep. 20 minutes later I woke up to the sound of a blaring horn. My forehead was resting on the steering wheel and it engaged the horn. They were closing in on the bucks, but the sound of the horn spooked the bucks away. I was in big trouble when they got back to the truck.

Hello, I went hunting a few times as a kid, but it never really stuck with me. I wanted to get back into it and drew a whitetail tag for the November hunt in 36C!! Now that the excitement has subsided I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed/ full of questions. I am going to try and scout the unit in September just to see what the area looks like. I also bought a State Land permit just in case. Camping- is it pretty easy? What is it like? Does it fill up or is there plenty of space? Is it worth camping at Buenos Aires NWR? Gear- right now I have nothing. My grandpa had a .243 WInchester, I am working on getting it sent down. Should I get a canopy for my truck? Any other gear that is a must? If anyone local (Phoenix/Tempe) has hunted this unit and knows about the area, I'd love to meeup to talk about the area, where to camp, and general hunting preparation.

I wasn't sure if you were allowed to scout outside of hunting season, so wanted to be safe. Do you have to have your hunting rifle on you at all times to use your hunting permit for state land? I have hunt 1146, Nov 8-14. Great, sounds good! I don't mind getting off the road and walking around, actually prefere it. Have you been successful these last years? Do you bring a bunch if ice with you to preserve the meat?