Unit 42 November tag

[elk77hunter]

Fairly new to hunting (3 years) harvested one pig, one cow elk. Been working my tail off bowhunting mule deer in the timber and desert the last three years with no luck. Finally gave in and put in for a rifle tag, drawing unit 42. Had a few questions hoping for some advice to get that first buck.

 

What type of habitat should I be looking for when I glass? Hills, flats, canyons, etc

Are they hitting water frequently or does it slow with the cooler weather?

Still a month or so out of the rut, should I see bucks running with does?

Any good glassing hills to climb?

 

Looking forward to the hunt...only 22 days:)

[buglethemin]

good luck on your hunt. I too have that tag, and so does my daughter for the jr hunt after ours. I have been hunting that unit for years. Your questions all depend on where you will be hunting. North part or south part of the unit. North part you can expect to see deer in the hills, canyons and flats. South part mostly in the flats in the washes, which can be hard to glass due to most desert washes have alot of vegeitation. The entire unit you can find plenty of hills to climb and glass from, thats the benefit of hunting the desert. Expect to find the bucks alone, and even still running together. The last few years, even on the later Jr hunt, I found bucks running together in 2's and 5's. You may find smaller bucks running with does. For instance my daughter took a 3x2 that was with 3 does. And last year I glassed several spikes and forks with about 10 does running together. Right now they are hitting water frequent due to lack of rain and the hot weather. However if we get some rain before or during the hunt, larger bucks will change their pattern and use the water collecting on the rocks next to their feed and bed area. But the way we are going now with the weather, hunting near water will be good. However I have several cameras up on water, and they are all still hitting at night from 9pm to 4am. Hopefully closer to the hunt the weather will be cooler and keep them active during the day. Good luck on your hunt. The desert holds some nice bucks.

[elk77hunter]

Thanks I really appreciate the info. I will hunt both north and south. Thats awesome you see all those deer, tough to hunt water at night:) Hopefully i can find a nice hill and glass them up.

[buglethemin]

Thanks I really appreciate the info. I will hunt both north and south. Thats awesome you see all those deer, tough to hunt water at night:) Hopefully i can find a nice hill and glass them up.

 

Yes Water is tough, due to everyone and their brother know where all the taks are, and the deer still hit the at night. He is a pic for two days ago, look at the time.

[buglethemin]

Thanks I really appreciate the info. I will hunt both north and south. Thats awesome you see all those deer, tough to hunt water at night:) Hopefully i can find a nice hill and glass them up.

 

Yes Water is tough, due to everyone and their brother know where all the taks are, and the deer still hit the at night. He is a pic for two days ago, look at the time.

[ruthunter]

Expect your larger bucks bachelored up and your smaller bucks with does. Ive hunted 42 for 20 years and have been north, south, east and west in the unit. Scouting is a must as it seems all the bucks follow the green up areas and are usually in small pockets. Water can be good as long as no more rain is present till opening day. Ive killed several bucks with a bow and rifle there and all my bucks were killed in different spots. Vulture mountains, belmonts, tonapah, and the triangle are all good spots to check out. I will be helping my nephew on the jr hunt this year again so hopefully he can kill another buck. I also have a general tag and will be looking for a 160"+ or bust. Best of luck!

[elk77hunter]

Thanks for the info Rutnhunter. That is awesome you have been so succesful in the unit. I hope to find some deer, I'm going scouting tomorrow.

 

PS - sent you a PM

[ruthunter]

Here is a pic i took during the rifle hunt last year. There are actually 5 bucks running together but they were so close that i can only get 3 in the pic.

[elk77hunter]

Wow cool pics from both you guys. Going out scouting tomorrow, hope i can find some deer like those!

[creed]

I think most of you guys missed the glory years of unit 42 from many years ago. 190+ bucks were not that uncommon during the general hunts. Hunter over crowding was not an issue then either although up to 600 permits were given out. There were deer widespread across the unit in good numbers. We had a palo verde tree in our camping spot that we hung over 60 deer in during that time.

Today there is about half that many permits given out and hunter over crowding in many areas.

 

Good luck to you tag holders.

[KaibabHunter]

Congrats on the tag. I've been workin hard in the desert the last 3 or so years and each year I seem to get a little closer. I've found em in the flats and in the hills. Regardless all found by glassing. I'll be getting out soon now that we're done with elk and my boy has 42jr and I'll be out with the bow.

 

The rain always seems to come at the worst time right before the hunts which takes them off tanks/guzzlers and spreads them out.

 

Other than time, effort, glass, luck, and water when it's dry I think the only thing that I'm still in the dark on are the green up areas. I know it's a little self explanatory but the desert in general looks pretty green...what vegatation really attracts the deer?

[buglethemin]

didnt get the big one, but this will do. 465yrd shot. 24inch 4x4 did you have any luck?

[gbocardo]

I was with my buddy on this hunt. However, he was short and sweet with his post. We started with an afternoon hunt and found two bucks after 10 min of glassing. Due to a canyon between us and the bucks he couldn't get any closer than 465 yards while I glassed a little further back. We glassed these bedded bucks for two hours waiting from them to stand up and determine which was the bigger of the two. Needless to say even after loud horseback riders rode within 50 yards of the bucks they never flinched and stayed bedded as they watched the riders ride off below them. My buddy was trying to hold out for a big buck and was continuously asking me what he should do. I thought it funny him asking me for advice being only 6 years into big game hunting and only my second year dear hunting and not having a buck under my belt yet. To me it was a no brainer. While we were communicating over radio he said he had another buddies hunt next weekend, the junior hunt the following weekend and both he and his daughter had November Bull Elk hunts in different Units (I havn't been Drawn since 2007). He felt taking this buck would take some pressure off of him and help him focus on helping everyone else. I said it sounded like he already made his decision. After saying that, He said give me 30 seconds then took the shot. As he said it was one shot one Kill. The second Buck stood up looked around and bedded right back down. Oh yeah and the second buck was the smaller of the two which we could not tell due to him being behind a Palo Verde Tree.

 

The second buck stayed bedded until we approached within 70 yards. I will say, I was a little nervous on the way up to the down buck because my buddy was trying to hold out for a Big Buck and I was no help with his decision to back off. I was very relieved when we finally made it up the hill and he was very happy with the result.

 

So, I believe his decision to take the Buck was a good one as we have been helping our other buddy on his hunt and have not seen any big Bucks.

 

It's always fun hunting with Joe.

[ruthunter]

Nice buck buglethemin! Seen 11 bucks in a day and a half of hunting and i shot the wrong buck on day 2. There were 5 running togther and i knew i wanted the big 4x so when the first buck came out from the paloverde tree and i saw 4 on his right i shot and it was over as fast as it started. I guess its better than tag soup.

[BigWave]

Even though he was the wrong buck, thats a nice one ruthunter! Cant wait for mid December. I've got the muzz tag!!!