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.

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.

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 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

We had one (about 3' long) out at the school I teach at the other day on our football field. We are out in the desert though so it wasn't a big suprise. I'm the baseball coach at my school and I keep waiting for one of my outfielders (or an opposing teams ) to coming running of the field in the middle of inning yelling about a rattlesnake. On a serious note, I check my field every day before we start practice or game looking for rattlesnakes. I once ran into a rattler on a warm November hunt in unit 30A. Scared the you know what out of me! Matt

I have hunted in Arizona all my life. I'll be 30 this year and my Dad started taking me out with him when I was about 7 or 8 and I have never seen a lion. I have hunted in units 6A/B, 7, 8, 10, 29, 30A, 30B, 32, 33, 34A/B, and 36A/B. I know I have been in lion country and I have probably been within view of a lion, but I have never seen one. Maybe I'm too noisy or I'm just not paying enough attention. Two years ago, while pig hunting in 33, I was working my way up a hill that looked pretty "piggy" and it seemed too quite. There weren't any birds, rabbits, nothing moving at all. It was kind of spooky. My brother was across the canyon and below me and comes across the radio and says "You'll never believe me, but I just saw a mountain lion." I asked him where and he told me "underneath the ocotillo near the top". I was only about 100 yards from that ocotillo and I never saw the cat. I didn't feel really comfortable on that hill any more, especially since I had my bow with me (I'm not that great of a shot, especially if I was being stalked by a hungry lion). Heck, I've only seen one bear in my life. That was in 29 when it ran across the road in front of us. We even have a cabin in the Chiricahuas with two bear prints in our screen door on our back porch. Maybe, I'm just blind.

Alan, Welcome to the site. I'm a newbie to here as well. I live in Tucson (born and raised here). I spent some time in Flagstaff as well while I was attending NAU. That's where I really got into hunting so I'm learning spots down here. I have spent the last 4 seasons in Galiuros and before that hunted a lot in the Chiracuhuas (I can never remember how to spell it). That was before I knew what I was doing (I'm not sure I know what I'm doing yet ). Hopefully this site will help you out in your future pursuits of coues. They can be addicting, I know I have caught the bug. Dodger/Matt

Excellent job! Those are great bucks! I should be asking you for help. I'm still hoping to arrow one this Saturday (last day). The closest I have been able to get is 100yds this past Sunday on a 90" 3x3. He was running with about 4 does and 5 other smaller bucks. The does gave me away after making the 1/2 mile stalk. That was the first stalk like that that I have ever done. I sure did learn from it though! Congrats Matt

For me it seems to vary on previous days. Recently, I've been having 10-15 deer mornings. This morning we saw about 15 deer, but 5 were bucks. I think that is a pretty good morning. In November, I'm statisfied with 5-10 deer days because at least I'm seeing deer. I actually base my days more on the number of bucks I see. I feel like I'm doing something right when I can find a buck.

I went out with a friend on the 1st and saw several bucks chasing. I saw 6 total, all with does. The closest we could get was 80yds to one about 80". We spotted him about 3/4mile away and went after him. We got to the spot where last saw him and there was about 5 does and the one buck. They moved back into the trees out of sight and we slowed moved our way to where they were to see if we could see them again. Thats when a doe popped out in front of us with the buck hot on her trail. We didn't spook them but she wasn't taking her time trying to get away from him.

Those pads are a life saver if you know what I mean. I bought one for sitting in blinds, etc. during archery season and then took it this year to sit on while glassing. No more invisible thorns in the shorts or sharp uncomfortable rocks and my backside didn't fall asleep as fast. Scott, want to wish you the best of luck as you come down the home stretch with the last days coming up. Thanks again for the pictures. Unit 27 looks like some great country. I have lived in AZ my entire life and I've never been up there.

Ernesto, I put in for this hunt because it is joined with 37A and 37M and figured that I might be able to try for coues at the same time in 34A. After going down and looking around a little bit, it looks like I will be spending most of my pig hunt in 37A and hunting for whitetail in other units that I'm more familar with. I usually hunt 32 for whitetail, but I have only seen 3 javelinas there (at night and on private property) and it is a 3 1/2 hour drive to where I hunt and I don't see myself having that kinda of time in January for a javelina hunt. I have tried 33 but it seems like I can't get away from the hikers, horseback riders, etc. so I tried somewhere new that's close to home. My nervousness for the drug smugglers comes from experience. A friend of mine was held up at gun point by two guys carrying machine guns down in 36A. Thanks for help though Matt

I was wondering if anyone might be able to help me out. I drew a 34A (37A and 37M) archery javelina tag for January and I am planning on doing some coues hunting at the same time. Can anyone point me into the direction of some areas that hold both species in the northern part of the unit. I was planning on concentrating on the Fagan Peak area. I would like to stay closer to Tucson since I live there and because of work I'm restricted to weekends for hunting. Plus, I don't feel real comfortable hunting close to the border. I spent one weekend looking over my shoulder in 35A in August looking for illegals and drug smugglers. Thanks Matt

Catclaw brought up a good point. The short mags are pretty fincky when it comes to cartridge length. I hand load my own bullets and measure each one with a caliper to make sure they will chamber. I can also only find one type of factory ammo for my rifle and it didn't shoot very well, but every gun is different. But I like my gun a lot. I didn't get a muzzlebreak put on my gun for the reason Catclaw stated, too much noise.