Hunting Coues on Horseback

[bookcliffs]

In the late 1970s, when I still had horses and mules, I used to hunt west of Strayhorse across toward Saunders Cabin a lot. It was the only place where I've found evidence of a winterkill on deer in Arizona. (One year we found literally dozens of heads of big whitetails and mule deer in virtually every canyon from the previous winter.) It was a good place for bear, too. I haven't been back in more than 25 years, but it shouldn't have changed a lot.

 

Bill Quimby

 

Bill,

About 10 or 15 years ago my pal, Bill and I road off the rim on our mules and right into what I think may have been Saunders Cabin. There was a smelly green bear hide there and as I remember no evidence that the cabin was being taken care of. I was thinking about hunting 10 miles east of Strayhorse, south of Bear Mountain, but you think west of Strayhorse may be a better bet? Hope you're doing well.

Rollin Adams

Gilbert, AZ

[bookcliffs]

Here is a pic from the Hi-line trail

 

 

A pic of Red Mountain Country

 

 

Thanks for getting back with me and the photos and info. I don't know the 27 rim country very well at all. I've been on the rim east of Strayhorse and out towards the NM border, but wasn't thinking Coues at the time. A couple of guys have talked about hunting west of Strayhorse and I rode into the Saunders Cabin once, but I remember it being one-thick bugger, hard to hunt. Anyway, that eastern country towards NM seems to be calling out to me. I'm thinking of checking it out again.

[Snapshot]

Here is a pic from the Hi-line trail

 

 

A pic of Red Mountain Country

 

 

Thanks for getting back with me and the photos and info. I don't know the 27 rim country very well at all. I've been on the rim east of Strayhorse and out towards the NM border, but wasn't thinking Coues at the time. A couple of guys have talked about hunting west of Strayhorse and I rode into the Saunders Cabin once, but I remember it being one-thick bugger, hard to hunt. Anyway, that eastern country towards NM seems to be calling out to me. I'm thinking of checking it out again.

 

I have not hunted that country south of Bear Mountain on the east side of the Blue, I did take a bear on the northwest area of Bear Mtn. It is good looking country, and I bet you would never see another hunter back in there. Even though the whitetail population in 27 is increasing, it can be spotty. The south /central part of the unit is probably best for numbers. I am sure there are big bucks in there that have never seen a hunter, and die of old age, if they don't get eaten by lion first.

[billrquimby]

In the late 1970s, when I still had horses and mules, I used to hunt west of Strayhorse across toward Saunders Cabin a lot. It was the only place where I've found evidence of a winterkill on deer in Arizona. (One year we found literally dozens of heads of big whitetails and mule deer in virtually every canyon from the previous winter.) It was a good place for bear, too. I haven't been back in more than 25 years, but it shouldn't have changed a lot.

 

Bill Quimby

 

Bill,

About 10 or 15 years ago my pal, Bill and I road off the rim on our mules and right into what I think may have been Saunders Cabin. There was a smelly green bear hide there and as I remember no evidence that the cabin was being taken care of. I was thinking about hunting 10 miles east of Strayhorse, south of Bear Mountain, but you think west of Strayhorse may be a better bet? Hope you're doing well.

Rollin Adams

Gilbert, AZ

 

Don't know what it would be like now. It was more than 25 years ago that I was in there, and although there was a big fire right after that, I would guess that everything has grown back thicker than ever. Whitetails and mule deer were running together in those days. If I were to go back again with horses and mules, I'd start at Strayhorse and work west to about Baldy Bill, glassing the ridges and canyons between Chitty Creek and McBride Canyons as I went. Like I said, though, it's been a quarter century since I was there and it could be too thick to hunt now.

 

I never went east of Strayhorse, but it should be good, too.

 

Bill Quimby

[Snapshot]

In the late 1970s, when I still had horses and mules, I used to hunt west of Strayhorse across toward Saunders Cabin a lot. It was the only place where I've found evidence of a winterkill on deer in Arizona. (One year we found literally dozens of heads of big whitetails and mule deer in virtually every canyon from the previous winter.) It was a good place for bear, too. I haven't been back in more than 25 years, but it shouldn't have changed a lot.

 

Bill Quimby

 

Bill,

About 10 or 15 years ago my pal, Bill and I road off the rim on our mules and right into what I think may have been Saunders Cabin. There was a smelly green bear hide there and as I remember no evidence that the cabin was being taken care of. I was thinking about hunting 10 miles east of Strayhorse, south of Bear Mountain, but you think west of Strayhorse may be a better bet? Hope you're doing well.

Rollin Adams

Gilbert, AZ

 

Don't know what it would be like now. It was more than 25 years ago that I was in there, and although there was a big fire right after that, I would guess that everything has grown back thicker than ever. Whitetails and mule deer were running together in those days. If I were to go back again with horses and mules, I'd start at Strayhorse and work west to about Baldy Bill, glassing the ridges and canyons between Chitty Creek and McBride Canyons as I went. Like I said, though, it's been a quarter century since I was there and it could be too thick to hunt now.

 

I never went east of Strayhorse, but it should be good, too.

 

Bill Quimby

 

Bill,

 

I confused Saunders cabin with Sawmill cabin. I have never been to Saunders, but in 2005 I was down by Sawmill which I accessed using the Sheep Saddle trail down into Hot air/east eagle creek. One of the canyons up by Sheep Saddle is where the incident with the guide being killed took place.

[DCMHunter]

I would post some pics but my computor crashed and I lost a lot of my photos. Arizona is a greaat state to hunt a horseback. I have hunted 27, 28, and 32 for coues from a horse. All of the places mentioned are high quality area's and you can get away from the crouds with a horse or mule. Other units I have hunted with horses are 5a, 5b, 6, 9, and of course the 12's and 13's. Most of my pack hunts are scheduled for 7 to 10 days and I don't plan on coming out until I run out of food or the hunt is over. We even did a pack hunt last year on a leftover coues tag and filled half our tags but it wasn't for lack of deer. Send me a PM if you want to, I am most familure with unit 1 and 27. My string is down at this time, to 6 animals and half of them are green so packing will be a challenge this year. If I can recover some photos I will post them.

 

DCM

[.270]

snapshot, i remember the story about the kid that got killed, but it happened in new mex. the guides name was michael najar. the guy that shot him was from alabama and somehow affiliated with that buckmasters outfit. he went back to camp and tried to pull the big runner, but they caught him somewhere. pretty said deal. the guys that were with him said it was pretty rough. hit him in the head with a .338 or some deal. i don't recall anything like that in Az. but back on the subject, Az has lotsa country to hunt horseback. 27 is great horseback country. one place i would like to get before i'm too old is the galliuro wilderness. that is one big rough remote place. Lark.

[Packer]

I would think that both Unit 27 or Unit 32 would be a good choice. I have hunted 32 in the past and from what I remember it was even thicker than 27. 27 is where I am familiar with and there are alot of good pockets for whitetail. The spot you are talking about near Bear Mtn can be good for whitetail but doesn't hold the numbers that the area west of the Blue has. Also the spring you are talking about was starting to dry up last year so I would check it out before relying on it this year with as dry as we have been. Shoot me a PM if you want any particulars and I will tell you what I know. In either spot you will be able to get away from the vast majority of hunters, although the stuff to the west will get a few more than the east.

 

Aaron

[Snapshot]

snapshot, i remember the story about the kid that got killed, but it happened in new mex. the guides name was michael najar. the guy that shot him was from alabama and somehow affiliated with that buckmasters outfit. he went back to camp and tried to pull the big runner, but they caught him somewhere. pretty said deal. the guys that were with him said it was pretty rough. hit him in the head with a .338 or some deal. i don't recall anything like that in Az. but back on the subject, Az has lotsa country to hunt horseback. 27 is great horseback country. one place i would like to get before i'm too old is the galliuro wilderness. that is one big rough remote place. Lark.

 

I am not certain about the details of that shooting. Just going by what the outfitter told me? He made it sound like it was in the area I was hunting. We got to talking about an area I was In, and he said "your hunting down by deadmans", then he went into the story?

[.270]

where this incident took place was a fair piece from there. it was over near reserve new mex. i don't recall anyone getting shot down in that area in recent years. maybe something took place and i didn't hear about it. when this kid got shot, some old guy shot a bull and wasn't in good enough shape to cross the canyon so the guide and some other guides went to retrieve it and the guide picked up the head and was talking to the other guys when a bullet hit him in the head. the hunter claimed he was looking at the elk with his scope and accidently touched the trigger. which sounds pretty plausible. no reason what so ever for him to shoot the kid. but then the hunter got to his truck and hauled outta the country and they caught him someplace else. he got charged with manslaughter but i never heard what happened after that. but the country you're talking about is prime real estate, horses or no. deer, elk, bears and lions. later, Lark.

[Non-Typical Solutions]

27..............Gods Country

[Non-Typical Solutions]

And don't let pictures or maps decieve you, that hard to get to parts of 27 are hard to get to for a reason. Up and down and rough......

[Snapshot]

And don't let pictures or maps decieve you, that hard to get to parts of 27 are hard to get to for a reason. Up and down and rough......

 

Yep. Lots of boot leather and buckets of sweat in that country.

[bookcliffs]

Here is a pic from the Hi-line trail

 

 

A pic of Red Mountain Country

 

 

Thanks for getting back with me and the photos and info. I don't know the 27 rim country very well at all. I've been on the rim east of Strayhorse and out towards the NM border, but wasn't thinking Coues at the time. A couple of guys have talked about hunting west of Strayhorse and I rode into the Saunders Cabin once, but I remember it being one-thick bugger, hard to hunt. Anyway, that eastern country towards NM seems to be calling out to me. I'm thinking of checking it out again.

 

I have not hunted that country south of Bear Mountain on the east side of the Blue, I did take a bear on the northwest area of Bear Mtn. It is good looking country, and I bet you would never see another hunter back in there. Even though the whitetail population in 27 is increasing, it can be spotty. The south /central part of the unit is probably best for numbers. I am sure there are big bucks in there that have never seen a hunter, and die of old age, if they don't get eaten by lion first.

 

I'm not surprised you took a bear on the north side. We've always entered that country from the north and up the Lanphier trail. That country is lousy with bear and we've always seen elk and deer. If we go up to the Bear Mountain ridge then over the top into Bear Valley and Little Blue Creek that's some real nice country with parks and water. I'm thinking of camping at about 7200 feet and hunting down to maybe 5800 ft elevation. I've never rode down the Little Blue into the lower country, but might check it out this summer. The closest way to get into that country is from the New Mexico side but that's not in the cards. It would be nice if there are some nice bucks in there and it would be better if it were huntable, but it sure is nice country to be in. We bumped into a couple of high school kids from Springerville on an elk hunt a few years back. They were riding those mountains bareback...what a hoot!

[deerhunter]

27..............Gods Country

 

I agree to that!!