Desertguide

Farm deer suck. They're monsters no doubt but they're out for 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes before dark. You can get a shot if you're right where they're coming in and out. If you're not, that days hunt is over. If they sense anything goofy, they stay in the thick stuff and don't come out at all. The crazy thing is, when the rut starts, they head back out to the desert and act just like cagey old desert muleys.

It's insane how bad it's gotten. I remember complaining about hunters in SXS's driving all over creation... they're nothing compared to these people. I'll take those guys over this any day of the week.

Squatters is a MUCH better term. I'll use that from now on. If state land dept rules were actually enforced, it would go a long way to dealing with this issue. I'm not one for limiting access but something needs to be done.

I don't know him personally but what I do know is that he's a class act.

There are lots of outfits that offer scouting packages. That would probably be a better approach for you. Finding an outfit for 1 or 2 days will be tough because anyone that knows the unit well will likely already have hunts booked for the unit. Honestly, there's probably enough knowledge around here that you wouldn't need to spend money on a scouting package. I'm certain that someone will step up to help you out.

Me too!!! Shoot... I'd gladly sacrifice cameras for them to do something about RZR's and long term camping in the desert.

The RZR caravans are HORRIBLE. They have absolutely ruined one of my favorite spots. They drive big circuits through the flats. They've all but run the deer completely out ot there. I have another area that has turned in a mini Quartzsite. There are campers there from late November until at least past the Jan hunt. Makes me sick. Farm deer are for for junior hunters and old guys like my dad that can barely walk anymore.

Yeeeaaaah... always keeping the low profile... lol.

I can't begin to tell you how much I've learned from him over the years. I owe a lot to him.

Learn something new everyday!!! The ones I've used were a pair I got for my lady. Our eyes are really close so I never messed with the IPD. What you said makes perfect sense though. After I used hers, they were so nice I almost considered selling the SLC's and going with Zeiss. Especially since we get them discounted.

You've probably pissed on that clump of grass 4 times.

Lol... dunno if I want to.

I own the HD Meoptas and HD SLC's. I had the Meoptas first and loved them. Used them for a few seasons before I got the SLC's. Obviously used the SLC's from then on but last Dec I pulled the Meoptas back out. To me theres no comparison. Like Lance said above, the edge to edge and fish eye is the biggest difference to me. Center clarity is great on the meoptas and color is great. If you want great glass and don't want to refi your house for SLC's, go with Zeiss Conquests. To me eye they're within 3% of the SLC's and much cheaper. The Conquests are better than the Meoptas as well. Better edge to edge and no fisheye. My only real complaint with the Zeiss is it feels like you have to turn the focus wheel more for minor adjustments.

I never knew so many people hated me till I came here

Probably not far from the truth

My portal is now showing 1 bonus point each for elk and antelope... which I assume is because I didn't draw this year. Where are the rest of my points?

Wait... you show more points than you should have?

My portal only shows my loyalty points and hunters ed points. Game and Fish sent out an email saying that the bonus points weren't updated in the portals but that they had species points on record. Its a little spooky to look and see zero elk, antelope and sheep points though!!!

First buck is a Jan archery buck from 2019. The hunter was from Utah. One heck of a hunter. 60 yard shot. Second is a general season buck from 2019. Hunter was from Washington The hunter built his own pistol just for that hunt... if you want to call it that. I would call it a carbine without a buttstock... lol. It's a 6.5 SAUM. Killed that buck at 160 yards. Third and forth are from last Nov. 2 hunters from California. They are desert bucks but not from the Sonoran Desert. I watched both bucks for months. Killed them on day one and day two respectively. Third was killed at 80 yards, forth was killed at 88 yards. All the hunts were on public land and were spot and stalk. The first and forth buck were 8 hour stalks. *no trailcams were used in the taking of these deer... 😂😂😂

Until recently, I haven't been around in a long time. Dug up this old post. Interesting read. If you want to know about Sonoran Desert muleys, you won't find too many people that know more than Creed. I say "Sonoran" desert muleys because from my experience, they're pretty different than other mule deer. Even "desert" mule deer that live in different types of desert. I started hunting the desert around 20 years ago. Creed taught me A LOT. We hunted together quite a bit. Good times. As you can probably guess from my handle, I spend a fair bit of time in the desert. Reading through the different comments, I realized, none of them are wrong. Desert bucks are different than other mule deer bucks but in many cases, they're different from each other as well. I've seen big bucks that roam far and wide, never hitting the same water more than a couple times a month. I've also see bucks that live in relativity small areas only using one water source. I've seen bucks that will rut in the same general area they spend the rest of their lives in but as Creed mentioned, there are bucks that will move many many miles to rut. Summer seems to be when they're most habitual. I would attribute that to heat and the need for water. Once it cools off they seem to get really random. I've seen bucks hit a drinker one day, then 3 days later show up at another drinker 5 miles away. Then disappear for 2 weeks only to show up at a third water 3 miles from the first one. The one thing that will make any desert muley habitual is man made food source. Theres so much that goes into hunting desert muleys, it's impossible to cover it all in one sitting. Anyway, if you are looking for a challenge and you want to sharpen your hunting skills, go hunt desert muleys. They take all the skill that's required to be a good hunter multiplied by 10. Couple that with a few years hunting coues bucks and you'll be able to hunt anything, anywhere.

Full auto? I can't even fathom how that would work

I've seen hunt videos of guys killing hogs with .50 caliber air rifles. They were getting really close and making head shots. Pretty crazy.

Good points.

I would be blown away if more than 10% of those licensed hunters even knew this was going on. But you could be right. One thing you can always rely on with the hunting community is apathy

Maybe I'm wrong but I think the dept should have a very limited role in the moral/ethical side of hunting. I feel like we hunters should be governing ourselves in that aspect. If we feel there needs to be a change... like trailcams... we should as a group go to the commissioners and request new rules. I feel like their focus should be on wildlife management... not legislating ethics. Of course they should promote ethics but in the end that's up to the individual. If trailcams are a management issue and the use is causing success rates to go up in a way where it will effect tag allocations, awesome... then prove it. If they can show that data, I will fully support a ban. Going the fair chase route and then the public safety route doesn't seem like a fruitful approach.... not if they want hunter support. I know there's strong support on this post but I would bet that overall, there are more that do not support a ban. If I read it correctly, it doesn't look like the majority of respondents support a new rule. I wish there was more involvement in the hunting community to things like this.