Desert Bucks - some goodies

[azslim]

There is a camp in the desert that has been doing pretty good in 41, 42 & 44a. They have a 165 4x, 175 4x and 28" wide & tall 3x so far and still have a few days to hunt with 3 more tags to fill. A 32 to 35" wide 4 or 5x was missed opening morning, so he is still out there boys. He is in one of those 40 number units. Don't hold your breath waiting for pics from me, I'm pretty slow in that dept. When the guys get all done I'm sure they will post some.

 

Had to come to town and get a new tire and do a little rig maintenance. Will be heading back out tomorrow to help fill the remaining tags.

 

I scouted one of those units for a week prior to the hunt, covered many miles & coyote camped and was into deer every day. Have a few bucks pigeon holed for next year, or maybe take a run at them this year with my bow.

 

Don't you hate it when people post stuff like this and really don't tell you a darn

[CouesWhitetail]

There is a camp in the desert that has been doing pretty good in 41, 42 & 44a. They have a 165 4x, 175 4x and 28" wide & tall 3x so far and still have a few days to hunt with 3 more tags to fill. A 32 to 35" wide 4 or 5x was missed opening morning, so he is still out there boys. He is in one of those 40 number units. Don't hold your breath waiting for pics from me, I'm pretty slow in that dept. When the guys get all done I'm sure they will post some.

 

Had to come to town and get a new tire and do a little rig maintenance. Will be heading back out tomorrow to help fill the remaining tags.

 

I scouted one of those units for a week prior to the hunt, covered many miles & coyote camped and was into deer every day. Have a few bucks pigeon holed for next year, or maybe take a run at them this year with my bow.

 

Don't you hate it when people post stuff like this and really don't tell you a darn

 

 

yes!!

[Chef]

Good luck out there. The 40 units were total sleeper units until more and more people started posting about their and others success. Not only in this forum but others as well. 23 used to be the same way.

[KaibabHunter]

That's good to hear. A forky under 250 yards would do my boy just fine.

[ehunt]

Good luck out there. The 40 units were total sleeper units until more and more people started posting about their and others success. Not only in this forum but others as well. 23 used to be the same way.

 

 

I totally agree!!! Great post Chef!

[Coues Sniper]

You can't start a thread with "Some goodies" in the title and not have pictures. That's grounds for having your membership revoked...

[More D]

2nd that....

[AZLance]

+1

 

You can't start a thread with "Some goodies" in the title and not have pictures. That's grounds for having your membership revoked...

 

[longshooter]

I know some of the desert units as well as anyone and have seen a big drop in the number of big bucks. I can still find them but it is getting harder every year. It is a combination of things I think.....drought, too many tags issued for the number of deer, lions in some areas are bad, better informed hunters and how to hunt them and no doubt some other issues including lack of water in prime mule deer habitat.

 

I am beginning to think that the use of any kind of electronics to guide hunters in on deer should be outlawed. I don't have much of a problem with it during the archery hunts but with rifle hunters radio guided in on big bucks in the flats the deer don't stand much of a chance. I have friends that do use this technique and are very successful but I am becoming more of a purist as I get older. This post will probably piss them off but we are each entitled to our own opinions. It would be a boring world if we all saw things the same way.

 

Another thing, and I have been guilty of it in the past is the giving out of info on the internet. The desert units around the Phoenix area are getting hunted so hard that I have quit hunting in some of the spots due to hunting pressure. I can hunt but the quality of the hunt is nothing as it was in years past. Much of that is due to the internet and guys like me reading it and then going out and checking it out. The www is a wonderful start for info.

 

Anyhow, I am somewhat saddened by seeing the slow degradation of the desert mule deer herds and the tremendous increase in the hunting pressure. Many of the guys reading this don't know or remember how it used to be. I do.

 

 

well said Bruce. I have seen a huge decline in just the last 5 years. I can only imagine the decline you have seen in the last 40 plus years you have hunted the desert.

[TLH]

I believe it is just what Bruce (Creed) has written above. I also believe that we need a group that concentrate on the desert units in our state--we have a great group who does a lot of work around the state but we need someone to really work on the units close to Phoenix. It would be cool if we could shut units down in a rotation starting with units around the metro areas--3 year cycles would do wonders for the bucks out there. Get out and kill predators during the shutdown periods and just let the unit grow--not only in numbers but also in age class.

 

I saw the largest buck i have ever seen anywhere in this state in a unit that i can drive to in 10 minutes about 15 years ago--that same year i saw several bucks that would have made anyone happy. Th genes are here for world class bucks but we just don't let the bucks grow. I am not a fan of antler restriction as i lived that rule back when i first started hunting--you could not shoot a spike when i was a kid but because people shoot when they see bone there were a lot of baby bucks laying around dead.

 

I agree that there are way too many tags out there but i also hear every year how bad the department does because someone doesn't get a tag--we can't have it both ways folks we will have to sit out a year or two if we want to see the deer herds grow.

 

Bruce talks about electronics but you can't use them if you can't see them--my hunting success has gone through the roof since i learned how to glass with my 15's and the folks i talk to while hunting who say they never see anything are the one's that do not glass. the long distance shooting has caused a lot of deer to die that would have not been shot without the use of big glass and long range rifles so where do we stop?

 

I watched an awesome video on here that shows shots that guys that don't have that equipment or know how to shoot would never take--where do we stop? Maybe we should all go back to the lever action 30-30 and learn how to get close again??

 

Now i am not saying hunting should be changed but i am trying to show why there are less deer now (not including the drought) than there has been in the past. Remember when you shot a buck at 250 yards and you were considered a sniper in your camp? Now 500 yards is nothing for a guy that knows how to shoot.

[longshooter]

I believe it is just what Bruce (Creed) has written above. I also believe that we need a group that concentrate on the desert units in our state--we have a great group who does a lot of work around the state but we need someone to really work on the units close to Phoenix. It would be cool if we could shut units down in a rotation starting with units around the metro areas--3 year cycles would do wonders for the bucks out there. Get out and kill predators during the shutdown periods and just let the unit grow--not only in numbers but also in age class.

 

I saw the largest buck i have ever seen anywhere in this state in a unit that i can drive to in 10 minutes about 15 years ago--that same year i saw several bucks that would have made anyone happy. Th genes are here for world class bucks but we just don't let the bucks grow. I am not a fan of antler restriction as i lived that rule back when i first started hunting--you could not shoot a spike when i was a kid but because people shoot when they see bone there were a lot of baby bucks laying around dead.

 

I agree that there are way too many tags out there but i also hear every year how bad the department does because someone doesn't get a tag--we can't have it both ways folks we will have to sit out a year or two if we want to see the deer herds grow.

 

Bruce talks about electronics but you can't use them if you can't see them--my hunting success has gone through the roof since i learned how to glass with my 15's and the folks i talk to while hunting who say they never see anything are the one's that do not glass. the long distance shooting has caused a lot of deer to die that would have not been shot without the use of big glass and long range rifles so where do we stop?

 

I watched an awesome video on here that shows shots that guys that don't have that equipment or know how to shoot would never take--where do we stop? Maybe we should all go back to the lever action 30-30 and learn how to get close again??

 

Now i am not saying hunting should be changed but i am trying to show why there are less deer now (not including the drought) than there has been in the past. Remember when you shot a buck at 250 yards and you were considered a sniper in your camp? Now 500 yards is nothing for a guy that knows how to shoot.

 

That or Game and Fish needs to rethink how many tags they give out in the desert units like 42. They have way to many tags in 42 for the amount of deer that are in that unit currently

[ruthunter]

Terry, there are already many states that outlaw the use of radios or cell phones to use in the take of wildlife. I know many would use them anyway but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I am not advocating making optics or long range weapons illegal.

 

Here's an excerpt from the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Division.

 

Montana FWP game wardens remind hunters that it is illegal to use electronic two-way communications to aid in the pursuit of game or to avoid game-check stations.

 

"We're seeing more and more hunters in the field abusing cell phones and the Family Radio Service (FRS) two-way radios," said Jim Kropp, FWP chief of law enforcement. "We want to remind hunters that it is unlawful to use these communication tools to pursue, shoot, wound, kill, chase, lure, or capture game animals. These are issues of fair chase, today's hunters have the ability to overwhelm wildlife with technology."

 

I am not sure that I completely advocate making them illegal but as I see the numbers of big deer being killed while deer numbers decline it certainly is an area that concerns me. More and more guide services and outfitters are using them and they are very effective at guiding hunters in on deer in habitat that otherwise would be very difficult to locate game.

It is becoming more of a money game than it is a sport.

 

Most guys I know don't agree with me but that is ok. We can disagree without being confrontational about it. We are working with a finite resource that is having a hard time as it is.

CREED- Very well said i couldnt agree with you more. TLH also make good points, my success has also gone up considerably with the use of my 15x56's. I can see deer so far out that it gets me in trouble when i realize how far they actually are.

[TLH]

I believe it is just what Bruce (Creed) has written above. I also believe that we need a group that concentrate on the desert units in our state--we have a great group who does a lot of work around the state but we need someone to really work on the units close to Phoenix. It would be cool if we could shut units down in a rotation starting with units around the metro areas--3 year cycles would do wonders for the bucks out there. Get out and kill predators during the shutdown periods and just let the unit grow--not only in numbers but also in age class.

 

I saw the largest buck i have ever seen anywhere in this state in a unit that i can drive to in 10 minutes about 15 years ago--that same year i saw several bucks that would have made anyone happy. Th genes are here for world class bucks but we just don't let the bucks grow. I am not a fan of antler restriction as i lived that rule back when i first started hunting--you could not shoot a spike when i was a kid but because people shoot when they see bone there were a lot of baby bucks laying around dead.

 

I agree that there are way too many tags out there but i also hear every year how bad the department does because someone doesn't get a tag--we can't have it both ways folks we will have to sit out a year or two if we want to see the deer herds grow.

 

Bruce talks about electronics but you can't use them if you can't see them--my hunting success has gone through the roof since i learned how to glass with my 15's and the folks i talk to while hunting who say they never see anything are the one's that do not glass. the long distance shooting has caused a lot of deer to die that would have not been shot without the use of big glass and long range rifles so where do we stop?

 

I watched an awesome video on here that shows shots that guys that don't have that equipment or know how to shoot would never take--where do we stop? Maybe we should all go back to the lever action 30-30 and learn how to get close again??

 

Now i am not saying hunting should be changed but i am trying to show why there are less deer now (not including the drought) than there has been in the past. Remember when you shot a buck at 250 yards and you were considered a sniper in your camp? Now 500 yards is nothing for a guy that knows how to shoot.

 

That or Game and Fish needs to rethink how many tags they give out in the desert units like 42. They have way to many tags in 42 for the amount of deer that are in that unit currently

 

 

Agreed 100%

[TLH]

Terry, there are already many states that outlaw the use of radios or cell phones to use in the take of wildlife. I know many would use them anyway but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I am not advocating making optics or long range weapons illegal.

 

Here's an excerpt from the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Division.

 

Montana FWP game wardens remind hunters that it is illegal to use electronic two-way communications to aid in the pursuit of game or to avoid game-check stations.

 

"We’re seeing more and more hunters in the field abusing cell phones and the Family Radio Service (FRS) two-way radios," said Jim Kropp, FWP chief of law enforcement. "We want to remind hunters that it is unlawful to use these communication tools to pursue, shoot, wound, kill, chase, lure, or capture game animals. These are issues of fair chase, today’s hunters have the ability to overwhelm wildlife with technology."

 

I am not sure that I completely advocate making them illegal but as I see the numbers of big deer being killed while deer numbers decline it certainly is an area that concerns me. More and more guide services and outfitters are using them and they are very effective at guiding hunters in on deer in habitat that otherwise would be very difficult to locate game.

It is becoming more of a money game than it is a sport.

 

Most guys I know don't agree with me but that is ok. We can disagree without being confrontational about it. We are working with a finite resource that is having a hard time as it is.

 

 

Bruce i don't disagree with you at all. I had a 42 tag a few years back for a coveted muzzle loader hunt in Dec. We had been watching a big buck out there and that buck was the one i wanted--the opening morning was like a zoo but who would expect less from the USO circus? They had spotters on all 4 sides of the area that held the buck with radios--i couldn't pick them up because they had a radio that was keyed just for them but i could see them through my spotter talking to the guys on the ground with the hunters--they chased that buck all over the place the first day of the hunt but never got him as far as i know. They did kill two bucks that made Boone and Crockett because i saw them on their site.

 

They also used a small chopper with no numbers on it--i called game and fish and reported it but by the time they got out to check on it they were long gone.

 

The only way you can get close to a buck in the flats is to use radios or cell phones or spot them and walk into them and get lucky--or sit water. I would rather sit water myself or spot and stalk using what God gave me to kill a big buck.

[TLH]

Bill sorry for the thread high jack buddy!! Good luck filling the other tags!!