Rembrant

I can't answer you question, but I am really itchin to get down there. I put in for - and drew - a 23 turkey tag just so I'd have a good excuse to go there and do some whitetail figure'n! Mike

Yep, this is THE book. Got my copy and I haven't read it much because I can't quit looking at all the pictures! It's got the high profile guys that you see in magazines and the regular folks that you'll never see anywhere. The cover is a perfect start for the book with Segio Orozco's world record archery buck. By the way, thanks Sergio for having the presence of mind to photo yourself with that buck - this does the sport righteously! There is a ton of whitetail wisdom in these pages: areas, rifles, equipment, taxidermy, scoring, field judging, stories, and a zillion pictures. I'm glad someone wrote a book like this and I'm glad it was Duwane and Tony. I am gonna buy the hard cover when it comes out. I do have one problem with this book. I am afraid that some of those goof ball hunters that are married to their quads will now get educated, get in shape and crowd me on a mountain top where I am King of all I survey! Thanks Duwane and Tony and everyone who contributed. This book is a treasure! Mike

I put lots of hours into a couple of whitetail spots pre season, only to discover that the deer in my most promising spot were carp! I became discouraged, went bear hunting and killed a Booner! This early archery whitetail thing will be a process. I hope it won't take too many years for me to figure it out. This is a really important hunt, as now days it is difficult to even draw an early rifle whitetail tag. I will keep snooping around in the whitetail woods. I did find a couple more coues spots and saw a big buck while I was chasing bears. Maybe I won't be distracted by bears next year (MAYBE!) Mike

Josh, Hows your hunt going on that before mentioned tank? I hope you kill another big whitetail. Are you planning to arrow a bear? Just curious, Mike

I just recently got a variable Luepold for my 243 flat shooter. For years I have used a plain old 4X scope, yet I have killed 3 whitetail bucks at over 400 yds. Were they one shot kills? Nope. I'm with you Josh, if they're gonna stand there, what else is there to do? For two of those long rangers I had a reliable spotter. For the third I was solo - And I won't tell you how many shots I fired. Mike

You are gonna have a lot of fun bowhunting out here. It will take you a while to get used to the dry climate and the low density of deer - compared to Minnisota. I have a buddy who came from Mich. I gave him clues about the mule deer in unit 10 and so he found a trail with deer tracks and sat on it for three days and then asked me why I thought no deer came down the trail. He was not even close to a water hole. I really did try not to laugh as we discussed the radical differences between Ariz. and Mich. deer hunting. Ariz is extremely challenging - that's what makes it so fun. Mike

Amanda, The offer still stands: if you want some ink on paper, let me know. No committment on your part - if you don't like it, don't use it. Just figure out what you want - particulars: what deer, what design, etc. Also, reading through this string, I see several oportunities for the use of actual (really big) coues deer as models. if this shirt/hat idea proves popular, perhaps in time, different 'editions' could be run of these various trophys. Sounds like fun eh?

SJ, I am not familiar with Pine Mountain or the old burn, but I have hunted 21 a few times. Sure, burns are always good, and there was another significant burn in the same general area, what, a year and a half or 2 years ago? You should give these burns a good look. Here is an over simplification of 21; it is in 2 chunks:#1) the top of the Verde drainage West to I17 (the entire length of the unit), and #2) the steep side of the Verde Drainage from the top to the river (the entire length of the unit). Chunk #1 (the top) is full of small canyons and big hills and some very large coues have come out of there, yet this is where all of the roads are and there will be an orange vest on every good point. Chunk #2 is where the people aren't, and by the way, don't coues deer like steep terrain? This is REALLY BIG country. A common problem is finding a shooter and not being able to get within 400 yds. Another common problem is knowing where this shooter lives, but you gotta hike back out to get back to your camp before midnight because you didn't backpack in! Two or three days of this and then you are hunting in Chunk #1 with everybody else cause you are tore up. The biggest Coues buck I have ever seen on the hoof was in unit 21 (chunk #2). He had gooned me before I saw him at 700 yds and never saw him again. Scout like a madman. Look for ridges that are close enough to shoot across. Be willing to go deep off the top. If you find where you want to hunt before season, pre-hike water in there, you'll be glad you did. 21 does not have a zillion deer, but the genetics are exciting, Good Luck! Mike

6A is canyon country. Find the big canyons on the map and then go invest in topo maps. Some of the Northern canyons are: Jacks; Woods; Munds; Beaver Creek. Some of the Southern canyons include: Fossil Creek; West Clear Creek; Boulder Creek. There are no secrets here. These canyons have been hunted hard since the coues late hunt was first offered in the 70's, yet they can still produce because most of this country is very thick, and the big bucks are allergic to daylight - so they don't get kilt. The North facing slopes are extremely thick with chaparell, oak and pine/fir. Most of the South facing slopes are also very thick with chaparell. The Northern most canyons have few open grassy slopes. Being your first Coues hunt I would suggest that you go to the biggest, most open country you can find and glass, glass, glass. You gotta find em before you can kill one. In the State's Southern mountainous units, it is possible to backpack into the mountains to lose people and find bucks. 6A is a bit different in that there are numerous roads atop most of the canyons. If you can find a section of canyon that requires a good long walk to access - go there. Good luck! Mike

I am amazed that even one person on this forum has seen a Jag, let alone two people. That is a good question: I wonder how many jaguars there are in the state? The Game Dept is hooked up with some other agencies in an effort to study this awesome cat - track and tally sightings, and try to figure out their travel corridors so's to help them repopulate their old stomin grounds. You guys ought to report your sightings, if you haven't already. Maybe if they come back real good and start leaning on the deer real hard the Deptartment will let a few of them be "depredated". Naw! probably not! I sure would like to see one! Mike

In the Game Dept's web page in the section for comments I suggested that AZ require all applicants to have taken and passed a hunter safety course. Why don't we already? There could be a grace period of a few years to facilitate the crowd that has not done so yet. Also, another requirement would be for all applicants to pay up front. These are just a couple of common sense things that would seperate the serious from the non-serious, and the hunter from the animal activist. There are a number of recent developements that have greatly reduced everyone's odds at the draw: Internet apps; no cap on non-residents; Arizona's tremendous population growth, and those silly people that think if they buy a tag and not use it they are saving an animal. I'm just not used to not getting drawn for deer, and my boys don't get to hunt either. Seems we could use a better strategy at this point. Mike

This is the first time I have ever been not-drawn for deer, as I always cover my back with the early coues hunts. The onlyest tag my family got this year is my 23 turkey tag. I do not, however, base my happiness on what I get drawn for (or I'd be pretty ticked off). I can still hunt anyway. This will be the year that I get serious about whitetail with a bow. Without an archery elk tag gettin in my way, I can bear hunt this fall. I did get a New Mexico muzzleloader tag (2B) for the lowly Deerus carpii. The Arizona hunting landscape has changed, gentlemen. I am taking inventory of what I do have. I am a blessed man! Mike

I've spent more than a few years chasing Mr. Coues and have noticed these deer repeat a few habits like: bailing off canyon rims when spooked; frequenting saddles on giant steep slopes; crossing open grassy slopes; hanging out on mesquite flats. But I have never noticed anything that resembles a repeatable daily or semi-daily pattern like one can observe with elk or as the Eastern whitetail is known to do. I was hunting with my brother (a Coues killing machine) in the Gallueros a couple of years ago. After a few days of watching a lot of deer and trying to make sense of their movements, I asked my brother, "Have you ever noticed any discernable patterns with these sneaky little deer? They just seem to move totally at random - some go up, some go down. The ones that walked far away never to be seen again are back the next day. Heh?? His answer was, "Nope, not ever. They are where you find them." I think big bucks hunker down and don't care much for the light of day until the rut. Anybody have any insight on recognizable Coues patterns?

Sorry about the dupe. I don't speak computer either. Mike

I attended a Mule deer banquet in Flagstaff last year where Wildlife Manager, Bob Barsch (transplanted from the Safford area, I believe) gave a talk on fires and their effect on deer habitat. One point that really grabbed me: He said that as a result of a fire study they found that Whitetails frequented a burnt area seven times more than before the area was burnt. I also have a friend who, through experience, described young re-growth aspen (post fire) as "ice cream" for whitetails. I am no expert, yet my opinion is that fires are almost always good for deer habitat. And to those people who say, "We won't have a beautiful forest here again in our lifetime!", I ask, "Are mature pine trees more beautiful than aspens, oaks and mahogany?" An ecologist told me recently that a burnt forest replaces its biomass in three years! It's just in a different form - deer food.

Amanda, I can do pen and ink renderings, and would be happy to help out with t-shirt/hat or whatever(?) designs. I would throw ink on a standard 8.5" x 11" piece of mylar which any silkscreener can enlarge or reduce. Before I do any work, it would be good to know what we might be looking for, i.e., full deer; deer head; deer skull; flagging buck, or ?? one idea would be to ink a skull of a known high ranking buck (I could possibly get permission from the owner of one of the top 10 non-typicals). I found this thread interesting and thought I would offer this option. Of coarse I would want to be paid, and could probably be bought with a finished shirt. I think the photo ideas are very good too. Let me know if you want me to spill some ink. Mike