NeckRoast

Put in for multiple units. It forces you to look elsewhere. Coues deer are everywhere now. I force myself to hunt them in different habitats. Oaks, mesquites, creosote. Makes it a lot of fun. Learning what coues deer eat has helped me a lot too. Some years the browse of a certain type is poor so they will move just a bit.

I was double charged and can confirm they did have to refund people. My parties tags were still issued.

I’ll pay the double charge if I get two tags.

I’ve got my original hit and the same hit tonight.

The real question is will they restart the draw, and refund those people already hit?

On a positive note everyone in every western state has these gripes. All the big ones are gone, there are no tags anymore, too many hunters in the field. With all the negative. The hunting still seems great to me when I get tags. Makes drawing a tag special and I make sure to get the most of everyone I get. Look at the hunter statistics of days spent in the field. I’d say 5-10% of tags never see a person step foot in the unit. That’s my only complaint. With turn in opportunities every tag should be in someone’s pocket with their feet on the ground in that unit for as many days as possible. Do the tag and folks who didn’t draw justice.

I got my hit 30 minutes ago. It’s definitely not over.

Results are posted for me.

Dinosaur eggs

When the deer draw results came out I was super excited to see I was able to draw a 36c late rifle hunt with my dad, tag 124 and 125 out of 125 permits! We have been in this unit many times in the past and have seen great deer. A little pre-season scouting turned up some bucks. Including a group of 7 bucks in a small rolling canyon that is hard to glass and gets overlooked by most over the years. We chose this to be our opening day starting point, which turned out to be the perfect plan. On opening day before even legal shooting light I was able to glass up deer across the small canyon and as light approached I could tell it was one of the nice 3x3s that we had encountered on our scouting trip. Once it was light enough to shoot my dad was able to drop his buck in its tracks at just under 200 yards on his second shot after narrowly missing just over the deer on the first shot and having it come 50 or so yards closer (he has done this several times over the years and calls it the “Alan method”). After several more days of hunting and many many days passing deer and a few really large deer narrowly avoiding getting shot at, me and my dad headed back to where he was able to get his shot. Almost in the exact same manner I was able to glass up another buck standing no more than 20 yards from where my dad’s buck had been. I wasn’t sure if I was quite done having the fun of chasing these little guys around but the buck just presented too good of a target to pass. After one shot he crumpled up without taking another step.

In my zone it looks like the bucks are behind in growth of what they were doing last year. Picture is from July 27th

Don’t look now but goldy has hit home runs in 5 straight. The diamondbacks gave him up for almost nothing. It’s unbelievable. Walker has played well but he is not goldy.

All roads into this unit come off highway 286 and head west into the babos. Drive back until you can hike up into some elevation and glass. You’ll find deer. If you’re looking for something big at that time of year find a thick thick thick hill and stare at it the whole hunt. You’d be amazed what some of those hills can hide.

Found these today. Had one coues buck on camera that had dropped 3/31. Seemed really early saw one buck today with one side still on.

Got a few pictures of small wt bucks that had dropped one side.

I was out today and the rut was still going strong near the border. I was in 33 on saturday and saw more solo does in there but bucks were cruising necks were still ultra swole and noses on the ground.

36c which we have been trying to get for 4 years, because the rut is usually late there so the deer keep their normal patterns. This year it was on from day one oddly. Glassed my target buck 2 miles from home chasing a doe.

We filled 4/4 late rifle tags as of today. Everyone shot following a doe. Today I shot my buck by getting him to stand up and come out of thick cover using a bleat. Come on Jan 1!!!

Deer sat down really early this morning. A lot of wt bucks with does at first light.

I’ve been in 36c 5 days so far. I’ve seen a lot of bucks with does. One lunker of a buck on the 20th I got to 80 yards on but he didn’t give me a shot. Most of the rutting activity I’ve seen has been going at first light. I’ve been seeing a lot of deer.

I don’t know anything about photoperiods, but I watched a mature buck chase two does vigorously this morning for over an hour. Sniffing and never lagging too far back. This was in unit 36 c at under 4000 feet.

I have been a STL Cardinals fan my whole life, getting Goldy is awesome! I also follow the diamondbacks and I think it was a semi fair deal. Carson Kelly will be a average to above average catcher. Weaver has good upside that he showed in the first half of the season but I would be surprised if he becomes a top of the line pitcher. Goldy is a beast though I am excited to see him play for my #1 team!

I have the same tag along with several other folks I know. I hunt down there a lot and there is a lot of good country in there. Usually see a few illegals here and there but never been bothered. If you are going to camp out there alone the elk horn ranch is probably the road I’d camp on. A lot of other camps in there that time of year and it’s fairly close to the checkpoint. I always keep my water and cooler in the bed of my truck just in case some illegals roll through, rather have water or snacks taken than my truck broken into. I’d recomend to be aware but wouldn’t consider it super dangerous. Good luck!

I can’t get over how green everything is in this photo. Southern AZ? A few months ago?

Great buck there idgaf. Nutty morning here in the blind I am sitting a saddle criss crossed with trails I’ve 14 does and 3 bucks. I’ve got a December tag though so looking for a big boy. The crazy part is squirrels keep running straight into the blind and about ten minutes ago one busted his way into the blind. The buck I’m after came through last night so I’m hoping he swings back through