Rawmeat

Hi, I am planning an archery Mule deer focused (not opposed to Coues) hunt in AZ in January. I have been scouring maps and reading a lot over the past week trying to get my head wrapped around what to expect and where to hunt. I think I have looked at too much and am getting analysis paralysis. I am looking for some insight to make sure I am on the right track. I came here because this group sounds knowledgeable about AZ and helpful. I live in North Dakota and have been hunting on and off for 19 years, but have spent a lot more time hunting in the past few years. I only started archery hunting a year ago and have yet to kill anything besides rabbits and grouse with my bow. I got into archery hunting to extend my seasons and open more opportunity for hunts. The AZ January otc hunts are a perfect example. I am willing to drive 23 hours to hunt because I figured it was a good time to get away from our sub zero temps and hone my skills. I would be hunting Jan. 7th-16th. Here is what I am looking for in the AZ Mule deer hunt. I want to be able to hike and glass, and spot and stalk. So does everyone else, right? This is probably the most important thing to me along with deer population. I am after opportunity so I can gain experience. Size is pretty meaningless to me at this point. If there is potential for anything close to 150", that sounds good to me. I am looking at SE and Central AZ. These units all seem similar, yet very different. They all look to have some high mountain ranges with thick timber, surrounded by foot hills and canyons with thinner vegetation. These are the areas I am focusing on, places with enough elevation change to find good glassing spots, yet not such thick vegetation that I am just staring at entire hill side covered in trees. Looking at GE I have found plenty of area that fits this criteria, though having never stepped foot in AZ I am left wondering about weather, roads, water, and deer populations in these areas. I have read through the AZGFD "where to hunt" on the units I am interested in and it was very helpful. I am going to ask specific questions about some units and areas to see if I am on the right track with my thinking. I will apply these thoughts to different areas in similar situations. You don't need to give me the info on these specific areas if it is bad taste. Looking at unit 27. I see a lot of conflicting statements about the weather. Cold doesn't bother me at all, but I do worry about going in on a FS road and being snowed in. I know with weather nothing is certain, but can this generally be avoided if I stay below the rim in that 6500' range? Or is it drive in if you can, just make sure and get out if the weather goes bad? I am also assuming that 191 stays open all year? It sounds like this unit holds plenty of Mule deer, but it doesn't look like there are many roads. I have no problem hiking a couple miles off the road to day hunt, but with the lack of roads I worry everyone ends up hunting the same areas. I wouldn't mind packing in for 4-5 days, but I worry about finding a water source. What is your experience, is everyone hunting along the main 2-3 roads in this area? Looking at units 22 and 23. It looks like there is plenty of landscape in these units that fits my wants for hiking and glassing. Also looks like the right elevations to avoid bad snow storms? Also looks like plenty of roads to spread out hunters, while still having the ability to hike away from traffic. But everything I read says the Mule deer population is low and declining. I am not really sure how to take this. Is it low compared to what it used to be, or lower than other units in the state? Looking at units 32 and 33. They seem to fit my landscape and weather ideals like 22 and 23 along with good deer numbers. But it sounds like there is access issues through some of the private land to get to public. I had already been looking at areas to hunt on the map, only to read later that some of the roads are closed off. I really don't want to do a lot of e-scouting only to get there and realize that I can't even get to the area I was looking at. Looking at GE it also looks like a lot of the good hunting areas have atv trails down every drain and across every other ridge. I don't have an atv. I would find it very annoying to hike in and be glassing to suddenly have atv's driving through the bottoms around me. Is this a problem in January? Can anyone explain the drastic difference in late season otc archery success rate? For instance unit 29 claims 25% success, while unit 22 has 7%, yet 23 has 16%? I am not understanding that. The only thing I could figure is that a lot more people are buying tags for a unit like 22, but not hunting as much? I don't know. I know at some point I just need to pick a unit, make plans A-H and just go and learn. Things always change when you get boots on the ground and these hunts rarely go as you have them planned in your head. Being 23 hours away I am only trying to get as much info as I can so I can make efficient use of my time when I get there. Good or bad (no such thing really) I will be back here to let you guys know how things went. Thanks in advance for the help.

Well, I made it down to hunt AZ. My original plans changed a bit because my wife flew in on day 7 to hang out and ride back with me. I ended up hunting unit 27 the entire 5.5 days I hunted. It was a good time and I feel I gained a lot of experience. I found 9 muley bucks, 7 forks and 2 three pointers. Three of the bucks were alone, but the rest were chasing does. I saw plenty of hunters, but not a single one on foot. Everyone was in a vehicle or atv. Maybe I am doing it wrong, but I just don't understand how you archery road hunt. The terrain wasn't too bad after I figured out how to navigate around without having to cross too many canyons. A few 200-300 feet canyons a day was enough though. Far and away the worst part were the hillsides or ridges that were completely covered in rocks that size from baseball to bowling ball with grass growing between them. It was slow going, and I felt like I was going twist an ankle at any time. I spiked out for a few days and was able to find water. I really enjoyed these days. It was rainy all day one of them and that was the day I spotted the most deer. I tried to make a stalk on a buck bedded away from the others, but the wind was in the exact wrong direction from the way I needed to approach so I backed out. The highlight of the trip was my last morning hunting. I was glassing for deer at 8 am. I happened to be out of the binos when something caught my eye. I saw 3 tails bobbing down the hill beside me 200 yards away (later ranged the tree they walked by). Mountain lions! It was awesome! I first thought a mother with 2 cubs, but all three looked very similar in size. Not sure what the dynamic was, 3 grown siblings? They walked by in about 20 seconds into a drain and I couldn't find them again. I met a couple young hunters that were very nice, and also met a lion hunter on the road with dogs and a horse loaded up, that I talked to for quite a while, cool guy. Something a bit weird also happened. I left my base camp tipi tent set up by road with my vehicle while I spiked out. On my second night out I get a text on my inreach at 1030 pm ftom my wife saying the cop is at our house because AZ g and f contacted him. That was not good. Turns out the wind came up and 2 of the stakes pulled free were the ground was very loose and my tipi fell. Never would have thought as I have had the thing in some wicked winds and it held fine. The local ranch manager noticed I hadn't been at camp for a few days and called it in. Can't fault her for that, it was nice that people are looking out. I talked to her when I got back to camp and she was very nice. All the money I have paid for inreach was worth it to let my wife know I was fine after the cop showed up at oir door to deliver bad news. All in all it was a great time. I hope to be back someday, but don't know if I can burn 40 hours of vacation and drive 3500 miles every year.

Bareshaft tune. In my experience that will tell you right away what is going on. If your bareshafts are hitting the same as your fletched and going into the target straight you are tuned. If not, could be form or bow set up, or both. Paper is great to start with, but bare shaft will get you much more dialed and reveal any flaws in form.

Not sure how exactly you will be using it, but for AZ those seem like overkill to me, but I can't comment on them specifically. I have also never been to Arizona. Are you hunting with camp on your back? Or leaving camp set up? I will be heading that way in January and plan on using the Seek Outside dst tarp. Cheap, versatile, and 19.5 oz. I don't know how easy it will be to find water, so I will probably be doing more car camping (I like cots), or overnights with tarp. You might also look at the SO lil bug out. Then you would have an option to run a stove if you like. https://seekoutside.com/lil-bug-out-combinations/

Everything in that first paragraph sounds about right to me! Thanks for the description. It might sound weird, but the solitude part is a big part for me. This is my one solo hunt this year and I don't want to get stuck in a rat race of people and atv's. I understand that there will likely be more hunters in areas with the best deer populations, I am ok with that. I also know it would probably be easy to get away from people if I try. So I am going to try and strike that balance of solitude and the chance of finding deer. I am also thinking that this year will mostly be a learning experience. Just hoping to make the best of my 9 day hunt.

Maybe I should have worded my question differently. As someone who has never stepped foot into a desert, how do you define desert hunting mule deer? Is the vegetation very different? Or is it just that it is flat? The reason I ask about the south end of 27 is because it looks like there isn't a lot of trees in that area, but it is probably rougher than what you would call desert. Sorry about my naivety on the subject. Maybe I should make a trip to AZ before asking questions in this forum.

That is what I thought. I got those numbers from Gohunt. I should email them and ask how they get their info.

Yeah, there are so many areas I admittedly did not spend time looking at all of them. How would the desert muley hunt differ from a hunt below the rim in 27? Are the desert areas basically much flatter with less vegetation? Is most of it too flat to glass effectively? I am definitely not against hiking around in more forgiving terrain.

Not a terrible idea, Although with a full day drive on each end of the hunt I am not sure how much driving around I want to do day to day. Also not sure if two days would really be enough to get a feel for the unit anyway. I understand it is rougher terrain. We do have steep canyons in the badlands of ND, but they aren't near as deep. I do spend time hiking and hunting in the mountains of Montana though.