AZwest16

Thanks for the positive comments guys. Today was a pretty neat day. Woke up to some fresh snow on the ground and got in my blind at about 730. Had a small three point walk by at ten and an hour later two does with a sweet looking 3 1/2 year old two point birddoggin behind them. He came right into 18 yrds but I couldn't bring myself to shoot him. Buck was flirtin with the 80 mark as a two point but he didn't have very good mass. Its been a lot of fun so far and I got another shot at it tomorrow

I've been going back and forth about this for the past couple of days while sitting in my blind. I'm hunting up north on a scrape line and my spot I'm currently hunting has been producing 100 plus bucks the past few years however I have not gotten one buck on camera that even gets close to that this year. Highest this year about mid 70s. I'm seeing does everyday and the occational small buck is following behind. So my question is should I pack up and try another spot or should I stick this out. Been hunting for four days so far and and have four more to go. Don't know if I will get back out in january and my other locations have produced solid deer in the past as well however I was limited on scouting time and weaather conditions to get to them. Anyone that has been through a similiar situation I would appriciate if you could give a little feed back. Thanks Regan

Well I hunted from 7am to 4pm and saw a few deer. Had a spiker come by first at 9:45 ish and a high sixties three point about a half hour later. Super pretty buck but decided to pass. Can't shoot a big one if you shoot the up and comers. Anyways two does came by around noon and that was it. Hoping cooler weather gets the rut going a little this weekend

Well I only ended up seeing three does today. I'm gonna stick it out in my spot for the next four. There has to be a mature buck cruisin. Just like standmans post the majority of the deer are moving at night.

Welcome to the site! Awesome bucks too

Sweet looking buck. Congrats

Congrats Casey that is a very nice buck. Glad your hunt turned around this last week and you had some excitement.

Sweet video. Not a lot of people get it down spot and stalk. Something to be proud of.

rumor has it that was a 36b buck.

I've seen elk in 24A and had a buddy find a shed as well. Wouldn't really want to use my bonus points on that tag though.

It kind of depends. I have seen great rut activity in early January. However some of the best days down in the lower desert have been January 31 for me for some reason. Just depends on the deer.

Great right up as always buddy! Thanks for the updates throughout the hunt. Probably need to start your guide service here soon!

Thats awesome Amanda. Cool pictures too!

Casey you better not shoot a deer under a hundred inches until the last day of the hunt . Good luck buddy and send a picture when you get your buck down! Regan

Here is his bull from last year. Awesome on his right side then got a little crazy with his G4's and above on his left. Glass hard and good luck!

My old man had that tag last year and shot a stud bull. Good luck to you and your dad!

Solid Job! Nothing like flinging your first arrow. Something you will never forget.

Before I start I just want to say a big thank you to my girlfriend Randey and my dad for one of the best hunting experiences of my life to date. So this adventure started in early June when my girlfriend of two years Randey asked me to put her in for her first deer hunt. Obviously I was ecstatic at the thought of taking her out and hopefully getting her an opportunity at a buck. We soon found out she had drawn the Nov. 4th hunt in 36B and I felt pretty confident we could find her a buck to shoot in the three days off we had. Unfortunately we weren’t able to make down south until late Saturday due to prior commitments. Luckily my dad had offered to go and was already at camp with it set up so we were fortunate enough to have a bed ready for us at 1am when we arrived. Day 1: Sunday The alarm sounded off at 4:15 and after a quick cup of coffee and some breakfast burro’s to go we were on our way. As the sun came up we found ourselves on a solid glassing point that I have seen many bucks from in the past. I’m a proud owner of some 15x56 Swaro’s I purchased just prior to my hunt so with that said I was able to get Randey set up on a tripod with my 10x42 Swaro’s in hopes she would glass up her first deer. Just after shooting light and a couple of does spotted I was giving a couple of pointers to Randey about glassing. It couldn’t have been a minute after talking to her a little bit and she said, “I see a deer.” Me thinking it probably was one of the does I we had already seen I looked in the directions her optics were pointing and realized it was not. I soon got on the doe and fawn she was looking at but I couldn’t care less because she had just glassed up her first deer in her life and that was something that took me YEARS to do! Needless to say a good start to our hunt. About an hour passed and I was slowly picking apart the country hoping the deer would be up a little longer feeding with the cool weather. I just happened to be glassing into the same pocket where my dad tagged out two weeks prior when I picked up a good buck feeding near the bottom. He was about 900 yards away and we had to make a move on him and a small three point that was with him. Before I could even try and make a plan Randey was trying to drag me down the hill to get closer for a shot! Well after watching the bucks feed down into the cut out of sight we had decided to take Randey to the same saddle my dad had shot from thinking they would bed on the backside of a ridge out of the wind. Well after an up and down hike we reached the saddle and the deer were nowhere to be found. Funny how I was more disappointed than Randey in not finding the bucks. She was way positive saying let’s go find some more with a smile on her face! Well we ended up staying out the rest of the day until dark with only seeing does and does. Feeling a little beat after being in the wind all day we made our way back to the truck. Randey and I on Sunday Day 2: Monday We woke up to a little breeze at the trailer and clouds rolling in above us. My Great Aunt Margaret and grandpa who also had tags joined us at our glassing point even though it turned out to be a quick morning. With about 30 mph wind, rain, and hail coming in we made our way back to the truck to dry off. Being a little frustrated with the weather we spent the rest of the morning driving around touring the country waiting for a break in the weather. Myself, Randey, and my Aunt Margret At about 11am the weather broke and the clouds moved off making it a pretty nice day barring the wind. My grandpa and Margaret had to head back to the valley so we said our goodbyes and headed out for the rest of the day. Changing locations a little I decided to head to an area I had been to a few years back that looked real good to turn up a couple of bucks. After hiking in a ways we found ourselves set up on a rock pile glassing. Still learning to glass with my 15’s I soon realized I was glassing hills probably a bit far for us to get to even if I glassed up a buck. Ironically just while that popped into my headed I picked up three bucks about a mile off feeding on a sunny hillside. After getting a quick look I saw that one of the bucks had great main beams but being so far away I couldn’t get a great judgment on him other than he was Big! It was decided my dad would stay behind and watch the deer while Randey and I would work our way to a rock pile about 400 to 500 yards away from the deer. As I was getting my dad set up I turned around to see Randey running down the ridge in the direction of the deer! I soon caught up and we knew we were in a race against the sun setting. We made our way up a wash to the hill the rock pile was located on and began our climb. I reached the rock pile with Randey right on my tail and set up with my 10’s looking for the bucks. They were nowhere to be seen! I looked back in the direction of my dad and I could see him motioning over. I immediately thought the bucks might have worked there way through a small cut and topped out over the ridge. With the sun fading fast we attempted to look into this canyon by moving again but to no avail. I couldn’t find the bucks and was pretty disappointed I wasn’t able to get Randey an opportunity for a second time. We made our way back toward my dad in the dark and finally caught up to him near the truck. I had asked him what happened and said, as I was about 20 yards from the rock pile the three bucks bedded in the small cut in some taller grass, which was right in front of me. Hearing that news crushed me a little bit knowing how hard Randey had been hiking and working to get a buck! Trying to keep her positive and me for that matter I told her “good things happen to people that our willing to work for it.” I asked Randey if she would be willing to shoot a spike tomorrow on the last day where she replied “Heck no, I’ve worked way to hard for a spike!” Day three: So day three found us crawling out of bed a little slower than the previous days. Driving to our glassing point I could see that the wind had picked up in the headlights and the temperature had dropped to 27 degrees. Knowing wind is like kryptonite to Coues deer I knew it would be tough to find some bucks. This turned out to be true and after an hour or so of bearing the cold and gusting wind I decided to take Randey back to the truck so she didn’t freeze completely. Knowing she was super cold I told her we would just wing it and glass from the truck. So my dad and I talked a little bit about where to go and we decided to head down a road we hadn’t been to yet. We made our way to where the road ended and found ourselves in a sweet looking canyon mostly out of the wind. I started to scan the area pretty quick and I saw some does almost instantly. I got the 15’s set up and began to scan the area around the does a little better and like clockwork four bucks appeared underneath a rock pile. After a looking the area over pretty good I felt as if the deer would bed pretty close to where they were feeding based off of the weather. Sure enough as we were packing up to make a stock I the bucks bedded in some ocotillo. Feeling this was our chance that god was gracious enough to give us we made our way to a small ridge that would give us about a 150 yard shot. As we made our way to this ridge I could hear some rock rolling in front of us and I saw we had jumped up a buck probably in the low 80’s. He was a pretty 2x3 with good mass and decided to stop at about 100 yards and look at us. I quickly gave Randey the rifle but decided to not let her shoot. Knowing we had bedded deer compared to shooting at a buck alert and on the run there wasn’t any question what we should do. The buck quickly moved off and we were back on track to the bedded bucks. We soon found ourselves just feet from the top of the hill where I was hopping to get Randey proned out for her shot. As we inched our way up I picked up the biggest of the four bucks still bedded in the same area. After looking at the situation a little I knew it would be tough to go the next ten yards or so and not have our movement be picked off by one of the bedded deer. I decided to set up a tripod with a gun claw one of my buddies had let me borrowed. Randey and I quickly got her set up on the deer. By this time the biggest of the bucks was standing with two does that had walked into where they were bedded. I asked Randey if she could see the deer and she said, “yes I can see the buck!” I ranged the deer right at 150 yards and she asked if she could shoot. I told her to wait for a few seconds hoping the buck would turn broadside. After watching the deer for a few more seconds and not wanting them to bust without Randey get a chance I told her to go ahead and shoot at the buck, which was facing us slightly quartering. I cranked my leupold scope up to about 15 power when she said she could see the buck real good. Just as I expected to hear the gun go Bang, Randey pulled off the scope and said she wasn’t ready yet! Just so you know I was being calm on the outside but was absolutely freaking out on the inside! As calm as I could I told her we had plenty of time and not to rush. Just about that time I look up and see all the deer bust out and start to run up the hill. My heart immediately sank and I knew we had just lost our chance at getting a deer. But I did want Randey to at least try and get a round off. I quickly told her they were running and to get back on them. I swung the scope up in the direction the deer were running and cranked the scope back down to 8.5 power, threw my bino’s up on the deer as they were getting awfully close to topping over and BANG the gun went off! It seemed like slow motion after this as all I saw was the biggest of the four bucks do a summersault and hit the ground without even a flinch after ward. Not believing what I had just seen I had to blink a few times and realize the buck was down and down for good! Just to confirm what I had just seen I could hear the echo of my dad yelling up the canyon in pure joy! I immediately threw my arms around Randey and told her what she had just done. Even as I’m writing this story I can’t believe what had happened! We sat there for a few minutes just to make sure the buck wasn’t going anywhere. We soon made our way to the buck and realized she had perfectly hit the buck behind the last rib quartering up through the opposite shoulder, an absolute perfect shot! I have never been more proud in my hunting career to this point in my life. She had done something that not many women would even attempt to do and the way she did it made it that much more special. Let me tell you guy’s and gals that I hiked just as hard and far as I would have for any of my hunts which is pretty far and she was with me step for step not complaining. So here are the pictures of her buck. God is good and I know he had a hand in blessing Randey with this beautiful animal. Sorry for the long read but I still feel like this paraphrasing the trip. Guessing the buck is in the high sixties. A sweet 3 point without eye guards definitely way bigger than my first coues! Regan Randey and her buck! My dad and Randey

Thats a stud buck! Cool story to go with it

Justin that is a stud buck man. Even better that your son glassed him up. Congrats to you guys and what does that beast score?

Great buck. Heard the conditions down there were pretty terrible yesterday. Even better to get a stud like that out of it. Congratulations to your dad and good luck on your up coming hunt.

Congrats to both of you on some fine bucks. Nothing like the satisfaction of getting your first grey ghost!

Don't really understand how someone can criticize another hunter on what he or she considers a trophy. In the looks of that picture the cat doesn't have spots or anything else that would come off as being a kitten especially at over three hundred yards. Pretty easy to make that determination while standing underneath a tree looking up at a cat and not having to make a split second decision. Congrats to the hunter on taking such an illusive animal and I hope that his son does shoot the adult female so that deer and rabbit population wont take a big hit. lol maybe not the rabbits. All I know is Desert Bighorn sheep populations have not been on the rise as of the last ten years and a big reason for that is Lions. You take a couple of lions in the summer time and they sit water holes or trick tanks for days on ends just slaughtering the sheep. Without trapping being legal in Arizona I don't think the lion population will ever take a big hit. just my two cents

Reading something like this really upsets me. God forbid I run into one of these groups while I'm down there because it probably wont be good for anyone. Brian I understand what your saying about BP. However its difficult to be everywhere all the time while being understaffed. In my opinion this unit's illegal activity has gone down a lot in the past few years. Just my two cents coming from working for a LE department that is short staffed.

I have seen some pre rut activity during this hunt. Mostly it just depends year to year so who knows. I wouldn't waste your time on rattling or certain scents. Just get high and glass and hopefully with the cooler temps you should see more deer moving for longer periods. Good luck