Dodger

On our first morning we saw five deer total, two of them were does bedded down around 11:00am. That evening we didn't see anything and the wind was pretty cold. Sunday morning we woke up to a slight drizzle that changed to sleet/snow and the wind really picked up. The snowflakes were "falling" horizontally in my field of view through my binoculars. We didn't see anything while we were hunting, but we did spot five does driving into our area from our cabin and then one crossing the road on our way out. Pretty frustrating, but I usually see more deer on the second weekend and fewer hunters. We only heard three shots the whole weekend and we saw more deer than any of the other hunters that we talked to saw. Hopefully this weekend will bring better luck.

I have hunted unit 32 with my brother for the past 4 seasons and we have been fortunate enough to take 4 coues out of there. 3 of the 4 were glassed up and the 4th was kicked up while my brother and I were setting up to glass. My brother kicked him up I going over to another vantage point and the deer ran out in front of me about 150 yards. My brother never saw him, but he saw the does that he was with. You can imagine his reaction when the gun went off. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!! Anyways, I'll second the "glass and glass again and glass again". I have been glassing a canyon, stopped, said to myself "There has to be a deer in this canyon" and then started the second pass and wound up shooting a buck on the second pass. I shot my buck last year on the fourth pass after sitting in the same spot, glassing the same canyon/mountain for 3 hours. There are good bucks all over the unit. Just get away from the roads and glass, glass, glass....

I went down to 30A on an archery hunt/scouting trip for my November hunt and found a lot of "No Trespassing" signs on Nat'.l Forest land . Turns out the rancher has 260 acres of deeded land in the area I planned to hunt. I guess it's back to the drawing board. I did see a nice muley on some private land. Congrats on the bear Treestand! I have lived in Arizona my whole life and have only seen one bear. I have been in some "bear" units (29, 32, etc.). I guess I just haven't been in the right place at the right time to see one. I've never really been looking for them either so that have something to do with it too.

I have a November 30A coues tag and will be spending Saturday scouting for that hunt. I will have my bow with me just in case I see a good buck while I'm scouting.

You have to pay a $5.00 application fee for each application for each species. This year I put in for deer ($5), elk ($5), and antelope ($5), so my total for application fees was $15 dollars. My brother put in for the same 3 tags and he had to pay $15 dollars as well. Then, if you get drawn, you pay for the tag what ever the price is. So for deer, the total would be $22.50 ($5.00 application fee + $17.50 tag fee).

I was really starting to wonder if I really upset some higher power somewhere since I didn't get drawn until my fourth choice and my 2nd and 3rd choices were both November hunts with draw rates in the 85% range for my 2nd choice and 97% range for my 3rd choice. I must have had a REALLY high number to not get drawn for those choices. Oh well, I'll show them. I'll make sure that I get the most out of my 4th choice as I can. Heck, at least I get to go and you never know...this might be a blessing in disguise ! Sorry I can't help you with your hunt down there. I know the fishing was good at Arivaca on Saturday and it is really green down there, but I don't know anything about hunting down there.

Last year I shot my deer where a navy blue sweat shirt and camo pants, two years earlier I was wearing a navy blue tee shirt and camo pants when I shot my deer and the year before that a navy blue thermal with the same pants. I wear my camo pants for the pockets and because they are comfortable and I don't mind ripping or getting a little blood on them. I really don't worry about being concealed when I'm rifle hunting since I stay pretty still most of the day while I'm glassing. I do carry a blaze orange vest with me that I put on when I have to pack an animal out. I remember in my hunter ed. class twenty years ago that they told us not to wear anything red since it might look brown in certain lighting situations at certain distances. I also avoid anything white since someone might mistake it as a flag. I always get nervous when I have to leave a "deposit" in the woods and have my TP waving around in the wind !

I drew a unit that I have never hunted coues in before, but I have hunted mule deer there. Therefore, I have been going over topo maps and have been looking at the elevation of the areas that I'm considering. I'm trying to stay out of the upper elevations (over 6,000') since they tend to be too thick to glass. One of the things that I have noticed is that where we have hunted mule deer in this unit is about 4500-5000' and we only saw mule deer. When I hunted 32 the last three seasons I hunted at 4500 and saw mostly coues (I think 3 total mule deer in the 3 years) and in 33 I have hunted at 3300' and only seen coues deer. Why do you think coues deer are found lower in some units and higher in other units even when the units are located right next to one another? I'm just curious if anyone else has seen this relationship during their years of deer hunting, I'm just trying to use this information in deciding where to start my scouting trips this month.

I got my tag on the 31st and my dad didn't get his tag until the 2nd and we live in the same town. Go figure. Now I just need to get my money my brother owes me for his tag. That should be fun !

Gungho, I had that as my 3rd choice as well, but wound up with my 4th choice in 30A. I have been going down to unit 29 for 30 years since we have a cabin in West Turkey Creek. Email me and I might be able to help you out. Dodger/Matt

Derek, I use to go to school at NAU and those units were my first two choices. For the 7W hunt, really anywhere northwest of Bellmont will hold elk. There is a gas line pump station out near the intersections of the 171 and 222 roads and I have chased several elk around there with my bow. Be careful in those areas since there are some houses in the forest. My experience in 7W is archery only and would suspect that once the snow starts flying you might want to look at the northwest corner of the unit in areas between Williams and Valle in the cedars. I have hunted 7M for elk only once, but had a great time. My brother and I chased a 360 class bull one morning just south of wing mountain near the gasline that runs through there. I also that several people hunt the area around the airport, but I don't know much about that area. There seems to be more forest service land on the western part of 7M, but know your boundaries. Last fall, I had a 7W cow tag and spent most of my last morning trying to get some elk out of 7M and into 7W in the northwest corner of 7M. Hope this helps. Since I didn't get drawn this year, hopefully I can help someone that did out so they can have a good hunt. Dodger

Scottyboy, My brother missed a buck that had to be close to 115", a really wide and tall 4x4, a couple of years ago with his bow in January near Three Feathers tank. Its closer to Tucson and a lot lower than the rest of the Reddington, but its another option. If you could I would try to get on the back side of Agua Caliente hill. Its pretty steep and rugged and full of shin dagger which will keep most people out of the area. Dodger

Thanks, The big 30! I drew a 30A tag on my 4th choice. I got my work cut out for me since I've never hunted coues down there. It looks like I might be putting some miles on me before the season even starts. Dodger/Matt

I drew a November 30A coues tag. It was my 4th choice! I think this was the first year that I put down a 4th choice so I guess I got pretty lucky! I couldn't believe it since my 2nd and 3rd choices were November hunts. I don't know anything about this unit, so any help on where to begin scouting would be greatly appreciated. Didn't get drawn for elk (not even archery cow 2nd and 3rd choice) or archery antelope...what's new? Oh well! Best of luck Matt

Coues addict, Are you from California? If you are, I think we might have camped next to each other the last couple of seasons. Does a white Dodge ring a bell? I know its a big unit but I have camped next a camp of "older" gentlemen that are extremely nice guys from California. One year they even let me borrow a game bag since I forgot mine. Hopefully, I can return the favor someday! Dodger