bigbuckclub

That's not how the draw works, brother. If there are 100 tags for a deer hunt, the first 20 are guaranteed to the applicants with the most points that put that hunt as 1st or 2nd choice. The remaining 80 are random for the first two choices weighted by the number of bonus points you have. If any are left over after that, they go back to choices 3, 4, and 5. But I'm not going to argue with you.

So is this a bad place to share that I drew a late kaibab tag with 7 points? Is that rude? Lol (don't quote me though, my other choice was the strip so it may be there as well) Oh, I also drew an archery bull tag this year as well. also with 7 points.

The current system is fine. You can hunt every year if you want. Learn to shoot a bow. You are guaranteed to draw in the bonus pass draw... your complaint implies that you should be drawn before others that have been putting in longer than you have. Personally I think the state has done a good job of balancing the bonus points with random opportunity. How many deer points do you have and what hunt are you trying to get?

Not to pour too much salt in the wound, but looks like I drew the late kaibab (1st choice) or strip 13A (2nd choice) with 7 points. LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Still makes no sense that they don't draw the very next day after the deadline.

Once it gets a little hotter, they will be hitting water daily or close to it. That's your best bet.

I'd put 12AW first choice and then something south of the ditch second. With more tags being reduced in 12AW the early hunt is going to take even longer.

Artificial Grass Superstore is a first class operation. I worked with the outfit in Tucson a lot. So if anyone is in Tucson, I give them my highest recs as well. High quality product, very fair prices, and they are very good installers. You will not be disappointed.

Just jumping in to brag that I drew this year. 7 points. Either early rifle or early archery 27. Let's gooooooooo.

Awesome story. Thanks for sharing. My uncle had that tag a few years ago and we hunted a lot of the same canyons mentioned in this story. Incredibly frustrating to find sheep in that middle shelf and not be able to hunt them because there was no way to recover them. We got lucky and had a ram come out of those mid level cliffs and up to our level on top. Scored just over 157. It was hands down the most mentally challenging hunt I've ever been a part of. We never did see a sheep quite of the quality your daughter had... but Lord knows there are great sheep in there. Congrats!

Freakin stud! Good luck and hunt him hard!

You aren't going to find a place to camp to hunt both areas that isn't going to create significant (1-2+ hrs) one way drives.

Honestly, 33 is a great unit because there are tons of deer. You really can't pick a bad place. You should be able to find deer everywhere in the unit. Don't be afraid to move to different areas if you don't see what you like. It's really that simple.

Muley.

I know this is in the coues hunting section, so you are probably fine, but just as a heads up... If you hunt 33 this January, it is only open for whitetail Jan 1-15. Some archery seasons were closed due to the Bighorn Fire last year. Archery Mule Deer was completely shut down.

Truthfully, your best bet on info is the unit breakdown on the azgfd website. Also - out of staters coming to hunt OTC archery is kind of a sensitive subject on here. Many residents blame nonresidents for tag reductions, overcrowding, and less opportunity as more OTC hunts are going to a draw. Just a heads up if you have a hard time getting info. I’ll be nice and tell you - you can’t hunt the Saguaro National Park. Be aware of the illegal activity. Anywhere south of I10 and you are in an area that has border traffic. Be safe out there.

I would stick to what you know. Deer herds are good in that unit.

I have an Alaska guide creations harness and think it’s great.

Not really. I know 4 people with tags on various hunts so I’ll be down there a lot this fall.

You know that the hunting license is good for things other than rifle deer right? Plenty to do out here... and I bet Arizona is better than New York most of the fall and winter. As a resident, I'd be happy for folks like you to give up on AZ.

Exactly... they aren't recruiting new hunters. They are recruiting existing hunters from other states. The limited opportunity is definitely going to get worse.

Anyone know how much money AZGFD is paying these guys? The "hunter recruitment" argument is such a joke. There is no problem with hunter numbers at all.

Can someone explain to me how this is done? WTF! I've never heard of this until today and my mind is being blown.

Don't forget to click on the bell for updates.

I know multiple people that put it in the 3rd-5th spot and they all drew. We kind of assumed that's what they got since they don't have a lot of points, but maybe they got something better!