13a

[norsemen]

I have a question that someone might be able to help me out with. I was scouting this past weekend up in 13A for our rifle hunt in November. A good friend of mine that hunts alot in Arizona told me that the mule deer do not rut til December or January. I talked to a ranger up there and he told me that my hunt on November 12th would be right in the middle of their rut. Does anyone out there know who is right?

[gotcoues]

My experience is unless you have the tag that rolls into Dec, you won't get in on the action. Rocky Mountain Mule Deer rut late Nov to Dec and Desert Mule Deer are late Dec to Jan. I had the late tag on the kaibab in 05' and the whole hunt was prerut w only little bucks with does. I kept hoping every day the big boys would move in and take over the does and it just didn't happen unfortunately. The hunt was high on deer numbers, but just couldn't find the big one I was hoping for.

[Buckhunter]

Mule deer tend to rut later in the year in lower elevations. You should be right at the begining of the rut up there, good luck.

[Coues Slayer]

They will be rutting in november in 13A like the g&f officer told you. Depending on the area they rut from Nov - January.

[sjvcon]

Definitely depends on the weather. Back in '07 I hunted this unit and the weather was very warm ... not as much action as I had hoped for, at least in the part of the unit I was in. They also were moving much more at night ... very little in the day unless you kicked them up (by day I mean early light and dusk). We'd wipe track clean at the end of the day and check it before the sun cracked ... deer had been there in the dark hours.

[norsemen]

Thanks a ton for the info. Much appreciated.

[kaibabkiller]

It all depends on the weather.