46A and B Mule deer

[PRDATR]

Keep it up off the ground and away from Pack Rats.

[trphyhntr]

[millerpe1327]

The rewards can be great but plan for it to be an extremely tough hunt. Access is going to be very minimal as theres only three open roads so you need to do alot of walking to glassing spots. Best is to find some vantage points and hike out to them and focus on glassing down towards the flats and washes. Also not many people realize just about all the refuge is designated wilderness which is why theres only the three roads. It will test your patience but stick to it and you'll turn up something great. Focus heavy about a mile around water sources you'll find out there

[Yuma Outdoorsman]

These pictures circled the Yuma area the first year the unit opened up. The buck was killed by a local hunter and scored in the 190's and the trail camera was from a Border Patrol camera on a drinker. I know a few people that have hunted the unit and it's pretty brutal and requires a lot of walking. There is a local that used to fly a helicopter for the BP and he said he has seen some deer in that unit that look like what is shot at El Chapparal ranch in Mexico. Just absolute giants but it's a lot easier to get to them with a helicopter 🤣

[trphyhntr]

That dead buck is the one I was thinking of. 

[spectrum]

Zoinks! I knew there has to be some monsters roaming that land.

[SwarovskiCoues]

Id find the drinkers and hunt within 5 miles of them. My dad bumped a group of a dozen does in 46bw last year. Ive spent 30-35 days in Cabeza in the last two sheep seasons and have never seen a buck or doe lol

[Couesnut]

I spent a lot of time in 46A back in the 90s..Never saw a good buck, but did find o few good sheds.

[trphyhntr]

On 7/13/2024 at 6:16 PM, SwarovskiCoues said:

Id find the drinkers and hunt within 5 miles of them. My dad bumped a group of a dozen does in 46bw last year. Ive spent 30-35 days in Cabeza in the last two sheep seasons and have never seen a buck or doe lol

Sad. Try cleaning your lenses off 

[spectrum]

On 7/13/2024 at 6:16 PM, SwarovskiCoues said:

Id find the drinkers and hunt within 5 miles of them. My dad bumped a group of a dozen does in 46bw last year. Ive spent 30-35 days in Cabeza in the last two sheep seasons and have never seen a buck or doe lol

Within a few miles of drinkers is our plan unless its raining. I'm guessing your not really glassing for deer when your out there and are concentrating on the bighorn in their habitat which in those two units is not as attractive to mule deer. I'm not saying you cant find deer its just that your hyper focused on finding the sheep. The bighorn are also easier to spot, whereas a mule deer you might have to pick every small tree or large bush apart in a wash to find them, and I speak from experience. There is a lot of flatland those deer can hide out in which makes it hard as heck to hunt. The deer are there as per the stats given to me by the game and fish officer Travis who was very nice and quite helpful.  Deer stats- 44 fawns per 100 does, 65 bucks per 100 does, target number game and fish wants to get to is 20-30 per 100 does. The hunt has an average success rate of 13%, 2021- 3 hunters killed, 2022-1 kill, 2023-0 kills. He also said after the first weekend rush of hunters the workers out there start seeing deer along the road occasionally. 

[trphyhntr]

14 minutes ago, spectrum said:

Within a few miles of drinkers is our plan unless its raining. I'm guessing your not really glassing for deer when your out there and are concentrating on the bighorn in their habitat which in those two units is not as attractive to mule deer. I'm not saying you cant find deer its just that your hyper focused on finding the sheep. The bighorn are also easier to spot, whereas a mule deer you might have to pick every small tree or large bush apart in a wash to find them, and I speak from experience. There is a lot of flatland those deer can hide out in which makes it hard as heck to hunt. The deer are there as per the stats given to me by the game and fish officer Travis who was very nice and quite helpful.  Deer stats- 44 fawns per 100 does, 65 bucks per 100 does, target number game and fish wants to get to is 20-30 per 100 does. The hunt has an average success rate of 13%, 2021- 3 hunters killed, 2022-1 kill, 2023-0 kills. He also said after the first weekend rush of hunters the workers out there start seeing deer along the road occasionally. 

you dont have to tell that guy how to find deer.

[spectrum]

25 minutes ago, trphyhntr said:

you dont have to tell that guy how to find deer.

Not trying to tell him, Its just my experience when hunting them. I'm sure he is a far better hunter than me.

[trphyhntr]

Just now, spectrum said:

Not trying to tell him, Its just my experience when hunting them. I'm sure he is a far better hunter than me.

He’s pretty good. 
 

also I bet there isn’t 65 bucks in the whole cabeza 

[spectrum]

6 minutes ago, trphyhntr said:

He’s pretty good. 
 

also I bet there isn’t 65 bucks in the whole cabeza 

Your probably right. Having hunted Colorado, New Mexico, and here, I think the game and fish departments inflate their numbers just to allot more tags and bring in more revenue. That's just my 2 cents.  I read an article a few years ago on how Colorado did their surveys and I was like there is no way they can get an accurate number on the population of game animals in a specific unit.

[trphyhntr]

2 minutes ago, spectrum said:

Your probably right. Having hunted Colorado, New Mexico, and here, I think the game and fish departments inflate their numbers just to allot more tags and bring in more revenue. That's just my 2 cents.  

have you been the unit before?