deserthntr Report post Posted November 29, 2009 well thanks to all who gave me info on where to go, unfortunately the people we took had a spot they wanted to hunt so i didnt get to check out the areas i was told had good populations, but i dont think i am ever gunna hunt this unit again, we went off the ruby road and down to the 39a road, first morning we glassed up to doe's as soon as it was light enough to glass well and they were already bedded, so i started looking in the thick stuff under trees and never saw another thing, so the me and my buddy moved and my dad and his dad went to another spot, well after about 30 min i glass up a buck about a mile away, so we hustle back to camp and cant find our dads, so we are debating whether to take my dads truck cause i am allowed to drive when i am with him but not alone, so we finally decide against it and as we are walking we find them and they go grab the truck and we jump in and take off, we get to the spot i decided we would start the stalk and unfortunately my friend doesnt know how to walk quiet and his dad had a cold so was coughing every 200 yards, well we get to where the buck was bedded and we were gunna try and get a shot from. we cant find the buck and figure maybe he has his head down and is gunna try to let us walk right by him. soon a doe busts out and we never find the buck and try to drive through and bust him. he is gone and we get on a point and start glassing again, my friends dad goes a little farther and bust a 90 inch coues out. we get him stopped and my friend misses no blood or hair found. we go back and i glass for another 4 hours till dark and dont find anything. nothing is moving until its dark and is bedded by early light, so its tough, as many of you know. the next morning i glass up a doe and fawn and thats it. we got a half mile from the nearest road and still nothing. on the way back i jump a fawn i thought was a jackrabbit it was so small, still had spots and everything. then we hear a shot from a road hunter and are watching to see if we can see anything running. as we are glassing a group of 7 does and fawns busts from behind and not a single spike in them. so we head home with only 1 buck seen. this was my first hunt down south and was tough, all my other coues hunts were alot easier that ive been on but they have all been in 22 and 23 and my dad has hunted them his whole life so we know where they are so its been easier. but i must not have glassed the right spots, there wasnt too mcuh ocotillo but i was glassing the thick oaks so i thought i would see more deer. got any suggestions what i could do next time i go down south if i do? should i glass them to be bedded in the open? i guess i dont know how to hunt coues as i thought lol. but i plan on getting better at those deer down south. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest borderboy Report post Posted November 29, 2009 PATIENCE. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azcoues Report post Posted November 30, 2009 actually the coues love hiding in the ocotillos and there are tons of them down there but more towards fresnal wash,if you go further into california gulch yea more grassy oak covered hills,but there are tons of bucks they just hold tight in that unit and pick them aprt or bust em you can glass an ocotillo thicket for hours and see nothing then bam there they are,they blend in really good,some buddys of mine have that same hunt right now they will be back tuesday i will let everyone know how they did Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azphil Report post Posted December 2, 2009 You had better luck than we did- we were in the Yellow Jacket creek area and saw no whitetail bucks in 3 days of hard hunting and glassing Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WinMag Report post Posted December 2, 2009 I just got back and saw plenty of deer...even in the Yellow Jacket area. We only saw one buck and it was a 100+ but I grabed the glasses to keep an eye on him and let my buddy take the shot. Well.........don't ask. Yes he missed both shots on him and we never found him again. Oh that was way up high in the _________ area of the unit. Most of the deer were up in the mountain tops this year as we saw them anyway. 90% of them were with-in 100 yards from the ridge lines in the high areas of the unit. Fun hunt but windy and cold. We even had snow flurries on Sunday at mid-day. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sickle10 Report post Posted December 3, 2009 We were down there too. Lots of does every time we were out. Thought we had a buck spotted but it vanished before we were sure. Wind, rain, hail, BP and a few runners. Packing up Monday we saw three guys on a hill a couple hundred yards above our camp. They glassed for an hour, got up, bumped a buck and shot him. Sad part is we joked all weekend about hitting that area instead of getting back from the road and hiking up the mountains. Oh well, better to be lucky sometimes. We found some nice sheds but that was it. I almost forgot. We saw a black truck up on a hill in Maggies Canyon every morning that had some kind of scissors lift in the bed. They would raise the thing up with some equipment on it. Anybody know what it was? We were guessing it was some kind of thermal unit because they left after the sun was up. (We saw one two legged buck running through a campsite clad only in a red thong.....but I don't even want to know what that was all about. ) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lowyder993s Report post Posted December 3, 2009 You had better luck than we did- we were in the Yellow Jacket creek area and saw no whitetail bucks in 3 days of hard hunting and glassing Makes me feel good...could only hunt 1 day. 1/2 day only in YJ wash. Not what it used to be...thats for sure! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
deserthntr Report post Posted December 3, 2009 i found a small 3x3 head when we were hiking but thats it for antler besides the buck my friend missed. but its old and kinda chalky. a decent 3x tho Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
