Joe Kauffman Report post Posted December 10, 2012 This year's late November hunt has me completed stumped and I'm hoping some of you more experienced coues hunters can shed some light on what we found....or didn't find . I've hunted 36A a couple of times in the last 5 years and never had a problem finding some bucks during the October hunt but have never spent anytime in the unit during late November or early December. My wife, close friends and I were skunked in the draw so we picked up tags for 36A hoping to get my wife her first coues and my buddies wife her first deer. We hunted Thursday morning through last night (Sunday) and kept track of the deer we spotted up until Saturday when we were tired of counting. The last number we were at was 228 and we glassed another 20-30 the remainder of the hunt. Now here's the kicker, every single one of them was a doe or fawn! A little more information on where we hunted. There are spots from one end of the unit to the other covering flats, foothills and higher peaks that we usually hunt and we covered them all this time as well. Some mornings found us leaving camp at 3:30am to make sure we had time to make the drive and setup before light. We glassed most of the day including the mid day stretch period and found deer moving up from the flats, down from the hills, taking palo verde and ocotilla naps and even saw a couple of does being nursed on by fawns that I thought were a bit to old to still be nursing. Aside from shear bad luck, anyone have any input on how we could see so many does in a multitude of terrain and no bucks? Joe Kauffman Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
firstcoueswas80 Report post Posted December 10, 2012 You found a great spot for archery in Janurary! I am completely stumped by that too... I saw 96 deer before I saw a buck last year, but I cant imagine seeing that many deer and not a single buck! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CouesFanatic Report post Posted December 10, 2012 how far from the road were you? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
scoutm Report post Posted December 10, 2012 The problem is you were about 50 does short of the targeted buck to doe ratio....if you had one more day you would have seen your buck. I think it was the heat and moon...I know others who had similar experience in same unit. They eventually found a nice buck to tag on the second to last day but said it was really tough going...no buck moving at all. With this weather change comming should be nice for the late December tag holders. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WHT_MTNMAN Report post Posted December 10, 2012 its 36a..pretty normal 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elkiny Report post Posted December 10, 2012 The AZ Game and Fish does a great job of managing the buck to doe ratio just like they managed to kill the only wild Jaguar in the state and then try and cover it up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JACK Report post Posted December 11, 2012 Another G$F success story? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
McGeehunter Report post Posted December 11, 2012 I hunted hard 5 of the the 10 days in 36a. The other ones i had that dreadful thing called work. We had some success but the amount of doe and fawn this year was amazing. I have never seen so many deer and so few bucks. The few bucks we did glass were tucked in as soon as the sunlight hit em.It seems they had been pressured a ton and it was unseasonably warm. I watched one buck tuck in at 7:30 and never moved until the sun was down. The buck in the picture my buddy glassed up at 7:00 and was down at 7:15. It took my buddy 4 hours to get 200 yards for the shot. Once again buck never moved. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elkhunter Report post Posted December 11, 2012 That's just normal stuff for 36a and also 36b Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ultramag Report post Posted December 11, 2012 Glass the hard stuff that nobody wants to work for. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Joe Kauffman Report post Posted December 11, 2012 Thanks guys and nice buck McGeehunter. We were anywhere from 1 - 3 miles in from the road and glassed in every direction....back towards the road and further in the other way. We were definitely glassing the harder stuff, that terrain you almost hope you don't see a buck in because you know you'll have a fun time getting to them. A hunt for the memory books either way, we had a blast and my wife really got the handle of glassing off a tripod finally. Firstcoues, we'll be down there during the archery hunt, assuming that 30" muley I've been watching doesn't hit the ground first . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Redman Report post Posted December 11, 2012 Should have spent the extra money and got the buck binos..... I had to take a pair back cause all they could find were does.... Just kidding 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jim Report post Posted December 12, 2012 It could possibly be the fact that those units get hammered year after year with hundreds of tags. At some point of time they are going to run out of bucks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
firstcoueswas80 Report post Posted December 13, 2012 Should have spent the extra money and got the buck binos..... I had to take a pair back cause all they could find were does.... Just kidding Mine have the switch built in.... I dont know where it is exactly, seems to be hidden and auto-adjusting! Go get that muley, if you don't get him I'm sure youll have fun trying! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SunDevil Report post Posted December 13, 2012 Should have spent the extra money and got the buck binos..... I had to take a pair back cause all they could find were does.... Took the Leicas back for Swaros! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
