Hoss50

Saturday if you are in Phoenix. I did this with my deer tag and got the first choice hunt.

The hunt went well except for the fact we didn't get any deer down. We hard 4 hunters and each of us saw at least 5 doe, 20 turkey, and one guy saw a bear. We all enjoyed our hunt and it was great to get back down south in 29. The fires have really done a number on the area though. We didn't hear alot of shots during the season so I am guessing alot of people had similar luck as us, and had a nice hiking with a gun trip instead of a successful hunting trip. We hiked our butts off for a bunch of out of shape air conditioning wholesalers. We introduced one of my co-workers to hunting for the first time in his life, and I think he enjoyed himself. I am not sure he wants to hunt/hike with me anymore after I drug him all over some nasty stuff, but he says he wants to be on my elk tag when that draw comes around. One thing is for sure in 29. The bucks are hiding well, and there is an active population of black bear. We saw almost as much bear poop as we did deer. We also did not see any signs of illegals or mules where we were, and saw relatively few hunters in our little section of the world.

There are none in 29... ;-) The last time I hunted 29 we had thunderstorms roll in on the Monday following the early rifle opener. My rain gear was back at camp because it had been 90 degrees and sunny the whole weekend. It was a long two miles back down the mountain to my truck. I almost believe that. We didn't see a single buck or hear many shots at all during the hunt. The weather was awesome though. Even up high it didn't get to cold, and the worst thing was some wind hear and there. At least we didn't get snowed on like I did in 29 years ago.

http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/Chiricahua+National+Monument+AZ+AZCHIR:13:US No precip in the forecast here. I hope it stays that way. I was almost snowed in up there 1 year and it was sketchy getting out.

Last year during deer season I had a close call too. I was on a steep hillside glassing a valley & hills. There was only 1 way up and down this mountain, and it was a nasty cactus filled tromp. It was closing in on dusk when I heard movement coming up the hill from the valley to my left. I spotted a javalina coming across the hillside from my left to right. I stayed still and watched this javo as he slowly made his way across the hillside. He passed in front of me at about 12-15' and never new I was there. After he passed I knew I had to start making my way off the hill before dark but I knew there were probably more javo around behind me from the noise and the fact they travel in herds. I made it about 30 yards across the hilltop before I spotted the next javo. I had drawn my 1911 when I got up to leave just in case. I stopped and tried to let the javo work his way away but he just mulled around and I finally made a noise to spook him on purpose to try and get him out of the way so I could continue my way to the nasty cactus filled hillside decent from the mountain. Unfortunately that wasn't the last javo I would see. About another 20-30 yards into my walk I hear a yipping coming from my right. It sounded like chiguagua dogs. I look to my right and spot 2 baby javo about 20-25yards to my right under a juniper tree. Then I hear what sounds almost like a dog woofing at me from back in the brush behind them.... Not Good. I thumb the safety off and started to backpedal immediately as calmly as I could but as quickly as I can without making to many quick aggresive moves. Thankfully my retreat worked and I got out of the danger zone and I finally worked my way around the hilltop to make my escape. Good Times in the woods.

My dad and I drew a deer hunt many years ago in unit 27. We were up in the hills behind the black river and we made our way to the top of a finger. We were walking slowly along the top of the finger about 30' apart when we heard movement coming from the valley. Apparently there were more hunters at the base of the valley and they spooked a herd of about 2 dozen cow elk. They came running up the side of the finger we were on right into us, and they had no idea we were there. We started waving our arms and rifles to get there attention because we were about to get mowed down. They slammed on the brakes and came to a complete stop with panick in there eyes. The herd split in half and about 10 of them split between my dad and I, and the rest crossed right in front of me. I had backpedaled toward a tree to get some cover, but it was still pretty hairy.

My father taught me to hunt and love the outdoors. We mostly hunted dove, deer, and elk. I don't think he was taught well, therefore I don't think I am all that good of a hunter, but I get outside and I love it. I will teach my son too if he wants too. Some of my best memories and times when I was a kid was when we were hunting.

Donovan's.

I drew a rifle tag this year because the HAM hunts conflicted with my schedule, but I fully intend to try and take my Javalina with my .38 Super 1911. I will probably have my rifle too, but I want to use the .38 Super if I can.

I usually hunt around the Mayer/Cordes area in the high deserts but sometimes push up the hill into the pines. Deer and pig are both there but take some effort/luck to get near. I almost always see pig sign and have bumped into them more then once in the years I have been up there. It is rough and rocky hunting down in the high deserts but I grew up hunting that area with my dad so it is kind of my area to continue hunting since I know it. Last year I was literally within about 12' of a pig without him knowing, and when I was trying to make my exit off a nasty hillside @ dusk it got sketchy. I knew there were more pigs around but didn't know were they were exactly. The bad part was there was only 1 decent way off this hilltop and it ended up being right through the herd of pigs. As I was moving slowly trying to get out I came within about 30' of a set of babies and could hear the mother in the bushes woofing at me. I backpedaled out of there as fast as I could and luckily didn't get charged.

I just checked. My card got HIT!!! This will be my first javo hunt. I am assuming I got drawn in 20A since 3 out of 5 selections were that area but we will see. During deer season last year I could have killed several with my pistol without an issue. I am hoping that will be the case again in February for myself and my 2 hunting buddies.

Normally my back up rifle is a savage 99 in .243 win. This season I have a buddy new to hunting that is going to carry it as primary.

It sounds like we will be farther north in the Range then this travel path you describe so I am hoping all will be ok, but only time will tell. Thanks

We are planning on camping. I am moderately concerned with camping/leaving camp unattended but won't have alot of choice. There will be 4 of us though so that makes me more comfortable having a few people who have my back around. A friend of mine and I will be headed down there next weekend to do some scouting, and will be camping in tents but we will be well armed and contious of our surroundings. We will get a better feeling of the situation next weekend hopefully. We will probably be hunting up higher in the range in the more northern end of the range so that makes me a little more comfortable.

My friend and I finally got to get out and pull a trigger this weekend on dove! Last weekend the muddy swamps and mosquito's made it impossible to get to our water hole. This weekend we made it and we were stocked up on bug repellent. The fly was pretty slow in our normal spot. We ended up with 13 birds between 2 people. We missed a few shots we should have probably made, but even then we would probably not have limited out. We actually had to hunt them this year too instead of sitting around waiting for them to fly by. They were roosting in the big bushes so we were actually having to walk the desert and split up to either side of the bushes to get shots as they flushed, and we were having to use other bushes as cover to sneak up close enough to get shots as they flushed. The birds this year out by were I hunted were pretty small too. The only good size bird we got was the 1 white wing that I got. The rest were small birds by my normal standards. It was still great to get out in the dirt though and have a good time with my best buddy on his birthday! Harley

Remington 1 oz. 7.5 shot in the 12ga mod choke. During late season or if they are spooked I will switch to 6 shot to get a little extra range and a full choke if I really need some extra reach. I have always shot Remington with great luck. I have a bunch left from years past that I am still shooting.

My buddy and I got stumped before we even got to our normal hole. The roads were muddy as heck and we got to a wash about a mile from our hole that I was not going to risk getting stuck in. As we were inspecting the wash to find out if it was passable the Mosquitos attacked with a vengeance. They were really thick and we hadn't even made it to our water hole. We back tracked to a higher and dryer location to see if we could skirt the nasty swarms. We got about 500 yards out from the truck and decided it was not worth it and packed up. We are going to give it a shot again Saturday if the rain stays away and with a heavy application of DEET products.

Hi, I am one of your new e-scouters. Trust me when I say I completely get everything said from sharing some info to not a word will ever leave my mouth. I am an offroader as my other hobby. Most are very protective including myself in that hobby as the greenies and govt is always trying to stop access to the trails. I am also willing to help out the new guys though if they seem like good people, but I won't do it on open forum. If nobody had ever helped me out when I started hunting and offroading I would have had a lot of years longer to find new trails and hunting spots. I would never ask for help though if I wasn't willing to help others. I don't live close to this years hunting area and have not hunted there in years so I am ok with soliciting a little help, but I fully plan to get at least one good scouting trip in to help actually narrow down my planned hunting area. I have had tons of experience in my normal hunt area but got skunked on the draw there this year. Harley

Thanks for the tips. I think we are going to start near the peak I normally hunt near and start working our way down the hill and south at the same time during our scout. Is seems like the advice from hear and other searches have kind of given me a couple good pointers. Last year we hunted 20a and because the burn was so fresh there was not much sign of anything around the burn area other then just a couple straggler cows and a lone deer or two. I know it has been a couple years since the burns in 29 though. Harley

I am planning to head down there in a few weeks for a scout trip. We are kind of planning on heading in past the monument up in the hills. Is there any place anyone suggests we check out or avoid?

I have had it happen before for an elk hunt. I assumed it was they had 1 open tag left in the hunt and when they pulled your card it had multiple names so they had to issue a couple extra tags to fill the names on the card.

I received my leftover tag yesterday.

If you decide you want to hunt low let me know and I will put you on a couple spots we have seen success on in recent years. It's hard hunting with the need to know your rifle but good deer come out of there. Shots are often in the 350+ yard area if your willing to take the shot. Last year the only shot I had was at about 700 yards. I passed on that because I wasn't on my rifle at that time and even then I am sure I had run out of talent at least 100 yards prior.

The best place to start is buying a Prescott National Forest map and take a drive for a few weekends and start checking it out. The lower areas are nasty thick brush and big hills. Higher up is pine forests. 2 years ago we checked out some of the area near the burn from the fire near Crown King and the deer were gone, they may be working there way back that way now. If you like to hike and like long shots, and like nasty brush stay low. There are some big mulies in there, but you will have to work for them and get lucky. Higher is denser forests and more deer, but also more hunters. If you are going to stay low get some good bino's and sit on water holes and deer trails. That is where you will typically catch the movement and action.