brian390

I was wondering how everyone did opening weekend in the general Flagstaff area? In units like 8, 6a, 6b, 7,10, 11m, 5a, 5bn, 5bs, and 9. I hunted all three days a little around in some of these units around Flag, and a little up in unit 9. I saw bucks in all three of the units I hunted, but the deer seem to be down compared to what they used to be. Oh ya, lots of hunters out there too.

Congrats! Nice buck. It's nice to see a big buck like that.

Looks like a good chance through sunday to tuesday depending on where you live in Arizona. Going to probably be another wet one.

Nice pics. Thanks for sharing.

That is good that you ran into some nice bucks. The biggest one I saw this weekend was a 165-170. You did quite well.

If you think unit 9 has a lot of deer you're fooling yourself. I've been up there since 2000 every year many times and this is about the worst I've seen it. I've been to unit 9 four times this summer, and every January since it has opened during the rut. They didn't get hit hard like Flagstaff did from the monsoons. A lot of the tanks that usually have water are dry, so the moisture theory is out. If you think that you got to go up there six times or more and then see some deer and think that it is so great, something is wrong. I'm sure you hunt a better area since you can go six times to it and not see a deer. The game warden we talked to up there even said there are really no deer. We did see a total of 5 bucks while we were there with two of the biggest being in the 150's, but we were lucky. The deer don't move that much from year to year either.

unit 9 hasn't got that much moisture, and there are still hardly any deer. I go up to unit 9 every year and this is the worst I've seen it.

unit 7 is also hurting bad compared to what there used to be. Especially 7 west.

Ya unit 9 is hurting BAD on the deer right now. A lot of the other units don't have much either.

Good luck on your hunt!

Sweet buck. I hope you arrow it.

Good luck to all of the deer hunters.

Sweet pic. Thanks for sharing.

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Do you have anymore updates? The season is getting close.

The biggest bulls I've seen were in 6A.

Here are some bucks I found before the archery opener six years ago around the Flagstaff area. These should pump you up for the season. Bucks are getting harder and harder to find around Flag though.

I was just wondering if any of you out there have any recent pics of mule deer in velvet from this summer? If you have pics, and don't mind posting them, it would be great.

Great looking bull

I think that it is going to be a pretty good year for bulls. The monsoons may have been late for antler growth, but the bulls will rut harder with all the rain that we did finally get. Which if they rut harder, then hunt success will go up.

Hunthard, that strip buck was a really nice buck, and it did get my blood pumping. Archery deer is less than three weeks away.

I think that there is good genetics south of the grand canyon in those less popular units also. I've seen quite a few nice bucks in them. The problem is that they manage the deer poorly in them.

I would love to see what the bulls look like this year. I'm hoping I get to see a hit list this year.

You also might check out weather.com. Just type in your city in the search, and click on monthly. You will see daily rainfall totals from the previous month.

Nice bucks! Thanks for putting them on here.