Search the Community

Hi all, not new to the site but first time posting. After seven years as my first choice, I finally drew a 23 December late rifle whitetail tag. I've hunted 23S for years during the archery seasons and have several spots around Boyer Ridge and Tanner Peak that I know hold deer. I'm planning to backpack in if needed to look for 100"+ quality deer (pics of my two that didn't quite make it for attention). After drawing the tag I've had several people tell me I should scout and start in 23N for bigger/better quality coues. Any advice from someone with experience in 23 if it will be worth my time to scout new areas in 23N. I always planned on backpacking into the Tanner Peak area and have seen some nice deer in there earlier in the season. Thanks in advance.

I am looking for a local guide to take me out around Tucson. I have been hunting for a few years, but I am really more of a back country hiker than a hunter at this point. I did get a spike 2 years ago, but he ran out in front of me and then held still, so no skill was required.. If you can take me out bowhunting or know someone who can let me know! Weekdays are preferred, but I am really game to go out any time. I am not looking for a guaranteed deer, more just to learn from someone who knows how to hunt.

Drew a December Coues rifle tag for the 2nd time in 3 years. Am a non-resident and my point total provided the 2013 tag during the 20% pass. I drew the tag this year in the random pass which took lots of luck since very few tags and lots of applicants. Used a local guide for the 2013 hunt and enjoyed the experience so much was very happy the same guide was available for this hunt as well. This guy knows Coues and you can tell he enjoys being out glassing even when he does not hold the tag. Attached is a close up of the horns. Question: Is that the eye guard that resembles a third beam? Shares a base with the normal main beam so do not think is actually another beam. Not sure. You can even see a small point which may be the eye guard nestled between the main beam and the eye guard (or third beam).

This all began 2 years ago when I started putting in for the Unit 27/28 December hunt; I was determined that I would make this hunt my first coues hunt. Well I was able to draw the hunt for the 2013 hunting season, and a happy man I was. Now I knew that there was a lot of work to be done if I was going to shoot myself a nice buck. I started scouting, looking at maps and asking a few people that had knowledge of the area. Scouting led me on long hikes and hours looking through the optics, though I hadn't really seen too many of the elusive coues deer. Here are a few pictures of some of the smaller bucks that I saw when I was out scouting. I saw a few out on my first scouting trip which were nice and I kept that area in mind. Hunting season was just around the corner and I had finally decided where to set up camp and the general area that I was wanting to hunt. I invited my father along to share the experience with me. It was decided that we would arrive at the camping location two days prior to the opening day to get set up, and spend the next day seeing what the deer are doing, and then hit opening day hard. That was the plan anyway.. So here is the camp, we were prepared for some cold weather. So we got set up and my dad wasn't feeling well the next day. He opted to stay at the camp and I would head out and check on some areas that were of interest to me. I wasn't seeing much and decided to check out another spot. I thought that I should check up on ole dad, I sent him a message and he was feeling better and ready to check out some of these deer. (he is from NV so there aren't coues deer up there). We hopped in the truck and did a little roadside glassing. Saw a few coues and a few mule deer, as the day progressed into the evening the traffic was increasing with trailers and hunters. The next day we came back to the last area that we saw deer, and we went on a long rough hike. Kicked up a few doe, did some serious glassing. Hiked back and called the day kinda early in the evening. While at camp we were liking what we were seeing during that hike, and thought it would be wise to return there, though maybe find a different way in. We found a different way in and it was a long hike as well, though there was not as steep terrain on this section. As we had hiking in there we found that we were sitting on the mother load of coues deer. There was doe running around and smaller bucks everywhere; where were the big ones though?? After moving to get a different view point of what we were glassing, my dad had finally spotted what I have been looking for! These deer were at the least a mile out and through some pretty rough terrain. We noticed that there were a few nice ones in there, and came to the conclusion that it was too late in the day to go after them at this point. We came up with a plan which detailed our over to there. The next day we started our hike in, kicking up little bucks on the way in. Deer everywhere!! Though my focus was set on getting in where these larger ones were. We had spotted the deer and we had hiked in with hopes of taking one of these monsters down. They had other plans though and decided to get out while they could. Needless to say we spent the rest of our time (1 week) up there hunting these deer and couldn't seem to get to a vantage point to where I could take a shot. Time was coming to an end and we had to head home, it was a blast having my dad there with me. My dad headed back to NV, and I had a few days of work to attend, christmas after that. I plead my case to the wife after christmas. I knew that I had to head back out there and see what these deer are doing and maybe shoot one. Just maybe though, they are tricky animals... The wife gave in and out I went for another few days of hunting. I thought that I would pick up right where I left off. After my first day out I had noticed that there were not as many of the smaller deer running around through the area. I was still on a mission for a nice buck, though I was having a hard time finding them, I only had three days to hunt so I was hiking in early and hiking out late. I had spotted them, they were moving in closer to where all the doe were at and probably had pushed the smaller bucks out. Still not being able to get close to these animals I had a half day of hunting left. My last day would consist of the morning hours being hunted and then driving back to phoenix. I hiked in in the morning and decided to take a different route to my normal glassing points. I made it to the first glassing point where I could view a pond and 2 ridges, I glassed there and turned around and clipped the pack nice and tight was ready to continue my journey. As luck would have it... I was then staring right at a nice buck that had no clue I was a little less than 50 yds away. I drew the gun, aimed low, released the safety and squeezed a round off. I had done it!! I dropped my first coues dead in his tracks. I walked over to it and just smiled. Time to quarter this buck, and pack him out... alone. This was surely one of the finest hunts I had been on. I am glad that I was able to spend so much time out there and spend it with my dad. I wish he could have been there for the kill and especially the pack out. Haha. The deer scored 107 3/4. I took the deer in for the Euro Mount, this is how it turned out.

Well it took me long enough to post about my success but here it goes.... Well i happened to put in for 30B December just to say I got to go on a December hunt. I've hunted the unit a few times in the past so I knew where i wanted to go for opening morning on Sunday for the first day. I didn't scout the week before and that was heavily on my mind as opening weekend came closer. I only had the weekends to hunt because i had a new job .... anyway Sunday came and we got to our spot where i wanted to start ... hoping someone might push a buck to me from the main road. Right out of the door we see 4 deer 3 does and a big rack coming up over a small hill .... blood is pumping sweet deer right out of the gate and there's a buck ... quickly identified it as a mule deer. Well at least we saw a buck....the day went on and only saw 4 coues all does. Now i'm worried i won't get a buck let alone see one .... The next weekend is here and have a positive .. i have 2 days and I scouted on google earth for more access to some more country. Saturday morning we drive in and it's cold and windy... not a good sign...forecast calls for 30mph winds. We get to the spot I thought I wanted to be at from what i scouted on google. We get out and made our way up this draw seeing little sign....it's just getting colder as we press on with this wind. We come to the top of the draw and I tell my Dad to find me a big buck while a take care of some business ... I came back up just couple minutes later as i'm about to ask him where this buck is something made noise down below us....sat and waited for a few seconds and my father says it's a buck. I throw my back pack down get my tripod up rest my gun on it and start searching for the buck.....finally see him maybe only 125 yards should be an easy shot even with this wind.... only problem is I can't keep steady. With the wind pushing on my back and buck fever... SINCE I'VE NEVER KILLED A DEER. I couldn't get steady on his shoulder.... this whole time he is looking back into thick cover he was hunkered down in to see what the noise was and walking away.... My hunting partner makes his way up to me and throws his pack down and says " here get down and use it a s a rest. I get down on my knees and located him ok now how far is he....."300 yards" My buddy Paul says.... i calm my breathing and aim just at his back.....but I leave it back a little to adjust for wind... perfect broadside shot.... BANG! ... when I can see clearly threw the scope after the shot all I could see is him Rolling toward a bush ... I jumped to my feet and sigh of relief heck YEAH i got em! ... I got right back on my gun cause I thought better make sure he's down and not wounded. We would see him trying to get up ... falls and rolls into another bush this happened couple more times....untill finally we didn't see him anymore. YES! he's down my first deer and not a bad one ... not huge but for this unit ... small population of deer not a bad looking buck sweet ! We waited for 30 minutes to walk over to kill spot.... took us another 30 just to go 200 yards threw this jungle. We get to the last spot we saw him. We see blood and quite a bit of blood ... we can see where he was dragging and rolling. The walkie talkie goes off "He should be right in front of you" my buddy calls out. My Dad and I looked and looked but no deer ... uhhh ohhh. I told Paul to come on over and help track ... while Paul was making his way threw the bottom of this jungle .. I hear rustling and then what sounded like a wheez. Sweet that must be him Paul comes over and says " just shoot him in the neck." I go up and he hears me snaps his head looks me right int he eye......longest 5 seconds of my life. He then turns and tries to run and shoot him....bang fell right over. Waited another 20 minutes to make sure. We walked up and made sure he was expired. Now the celebrating can begin ... CONGRATS ON YOUR FIRST DEER my Dad and Paul where telling me AND A DANDY FOR A FIRST! It turns out i shot his spin but it wasn't fatal just made him paralyzed from that point on which makes sense since he was trying to get up and run but could only use his front legs and rolled down the hill. I had lots of fun and can't wait till next year!

Alicia C. connected over the weekend...More piks and story to come...Merry Christmas...C.O.U.E.S. Alicia spent a lot of time behind the trigger preparing for this hunt and it paid off Saturday morning big time. We started out meeting up early that morning only to find the fog and rain to thick to do anything with. We made the decision to back out and try a different area that we knew held deer in the past. We get to a high point around 8 and put glass to work, Rene finds a few doe's deep without a buck in tow. A few min. later he has a nice buck spotted a to the north that did not stick around long, he fed out of site and was to far to make move on due to the terrain. While discussing options and glassing, Nick finds this guy feeding 600 yds. it doesn't take long to decide he is a shooter. We cut the distance in half and Alicia gets set up for the shot. He is found again bedded in a palo verde with neck and head showing. We start to wait him out and 2 hrs. go by without movement. The elements start to take there toll and Alicia says " I can make that shot"...That's all we needed to hear and we got ready for the shot.. she backed out of the scope twice to calm the adrenaline that was taking hold of all of us. She got back into the scope and the 270 barked...I have nothing in the binos, no movement ,no deer nothing...We get ahold of Rene who is keeping watch from the original glassing spot..." he's down ...his head laid down before I heard the gun shot", Oh yeah high fives and hugs all around...we wait for Rene and Gage to get to us and make our way to the buck. Alicia get's a glimpse of him to her right and run's up to her prize. Emotions are high and we start the photo session and pre pack out chores. Alicia's perfect 303 yard shot claimed her 1st buck on her 1st hunt that none of us will ever forget. Big congratulation's again and thank's for the memory... Nico scored him at 103'

My son Cole and I started our hunt on Saturday Dec 15th since Cole was still in school on Friday. There would be plenty of time to hunt during winter break. That Saturday had nasty wind and the deer just were not moving. Cole was fortunate enough to glass one deer but it was out of sight before he could get me on it. Sunday was a better day and the deer were moving, but still no bucks. I was planning on going out by myself through out the week, but we had a dog get sick and needed to go to the vet. I finally made it out on Thursday. I spent the morning glassing some hills that have held some really good deer over the years. Nothing. The does were barely moving. It was 12:00 so I decided to get up and glass from the same hill but in another direction. With in 15 minutes I see a buck bedded in a thick group of trees and cactus. I could see that his main beams were heavy but I was having a hard time seeing the length of the tines. I had watched the buck for a half an hour trying to see how big he was. I texted Cole to let him know that I had a good framed buck bedded and was trying to decide to take him. Cole knew that I was after a 105" buck or bigger, but told me that if the buck was around 100" that I should take it. I had ranged the buck at 540 yards dialed in the moa and set my rifle up for the shot. When the buck stood up to stretch I saw that he was right around 100" and decided to take the shot. Whop, the buck was down. I called Cole to let him know that I had taken the shot and the buck was down. He was out of school at this time in the day and asked if I wanted help getting the deer out. I said yes since I wanted to experience the hunt with him anyway. It seemed like it took Cole forever to get there. I couldn't wait any longer, I had to go see the buck. He was a good mature buck, I measured him while I was waiting for Cole to get there. He measured 99". Now it was Saturday December 22. Cole and I go to another area where we had glassed a mt.lion a couple years before. It was overcast and I had glassed up some doe and a couple small bucks. Cole had told me he needed the sun to come out so he could see through his glasses. He has been using my old 16x50's that I used before I got the Swarovski's. I didn't realize how bad those old 16x50's had become. That night I called up my good friend Eddie to see if Cole could borrow his binoculars. Eddie said no problem. Cole said he wanted to glass his own buck for once. The next day we set up on a hill were we have had some good action in the past. And this time would be no different. It was like Cole was seeing for the first time, he was finding deer all over the hills in that area. I really felt bad that he was so restricted with those old 16x50's. It was mid day now, we had seen a couple bucks that would be in the 80's, and we decided we would come back for them later in the hunt if we didn't see anything bigger. Cole and I moved to the other side of the hill to see if we could find a bedded buck. I'm glassing the ocotillo choked bottoms and Cole starts glassing the the top of the mountain. Immediately he says I got a deer, it's a buck. He guides me over to the deer. The whole time Cole knows it a good buck and that he is going to go for this buck. When I see this deer it was obvious he was a good deer. He was bedded only in some sage bush looking stuff out in the sunlight at the top of the mountain. I ranged the deer at 1500 yards. "Good spot Cole". We figure out how we are going to stalk over for a closer shot and start making our move. As we are getting close to the position, the buck gets up and feeds over the saddle. We decide that we are going to drive around to the other side and hike to another vantage and try to find the buck again. It took us about an hour to get around to the other side and hike up to a good vantage that would be close enough for a shot. We start glassing, thinking that this buck can't be to far from where we last saw him go over the saddle, but we're not seeing him. After 2 hours of looking and trying to figure out what path he went when he came over the saddle, I go back to the saddle to start over and there he is. Feeding in the shadows. He must have laid down right at the top. I range him at 660 yards while Cole is getting the rifle set up. We had to work fast, the sun was setting and getting real close to blinding out the scope. Cole finds the buck in the scope and dials in the moa. As soon as the buck turned broadside he shoots. I could see in the binoculars it was a good hit. The buck hopped twice and ran about another 10 yards before he went down, about the same time the report of the hit got back to us. Whop! Hi fives! The light was fading fast. Since the mountain was very steep and the rocks were very lose, I made the decision to be safe and recover the deer in the morning when the light would be better. A couple of friends wanted to help with the recovery of the buck. Vinny and Chris, thank you! We got the deer back home and measured him, he is 100" Good shot Cole!

I'm busy scouting out area for my first real desert muley hunt this december. I'll be hunting one of the OTC desert units and I am trying to get a good lay of the land, as well as try to find where the deer hang out. My question is what time of year do the does begin to herd up? And when do the bachelor herds generally break up? I am correct to assume that these desert bucks wont be in with the does until the rut kicks in right? Will they remain in the bachelor herds up till then? I guess another related question I could ask that may be even more helpful would be if you guys know of any good literature on the subject of desert mule deer, hunting them and their biology/behavior. Most of the stuff I've found deals mostly with deer at higher latitudes, and simply makes mention of some desert muleys existing. Thanks for all the info guys.