2012 MULE DEER SEASON! 16 BUCKS! +More!

[Lance]

 We were very blessed to be able to be a part of so many Mule deer hunts in 2012! What is really neat is that these are nice bucks from all over the state with all different kinds of tags! Some had difficult draw odds and some had easy draw odds and others were Over The Counter Tags!
I hope you enjoy the pictures!!! We sure enjoyed taking them!
Our TLO year started out in January with Archery bucks in the RUT!  First up was 15 year old TLO Hunter, Chase with this nice P&Y 4x4! This was his first archery buck! Way to go bud!

 Next up was TLO Guide, Jake with his awesome archery 4x4 desert mule deer from Southern AZ! Over The Counter archery tags!!

 That finished up our January and we began scouting for the next season. Check out this young trashy 3 horned velvet buck! I took this picture while doing some early summer scouting in the North Kaibab!

 More scouting.

 First up For the Aug/Sep Archery hunt was my 16 year old son, TLO's Ty Crowther, with his first archery buck that he took near Flagstaff on opening morning! OTC Archery tag!

 A nice buck with double cheaters.

Next up was TLO's Ben with his great P&Y 4x5 archey buck from here in Northern AZ! OTC Archery tag!

 Misty Kaibab Meadows full of deer. And a bachelor herd of bucks in the timber.

 Next up My wife, Carrie and I had Drawn Archery deer tags for the Kaibab.
The hunt was rough this year when it came to mature bucks. But we worked extra hard at it and we found several.

 Carrie passed up a dozen or more bucks holding out for something big. She missed a shot on a big 4x4 but was still passing up bucks on her last day. Late in the hunt on the last day she decided to fill her tag and redeemed herself with a perfect shot on this young buck. This is Carrie's second archery mule deer and we had a great time on the hunt!

 After Carrie was done it was my turn to try to get  a nice buck with the remainder of the hunt. The bladed 3x4 buck below is a buck I videoed after I drew my bow on him at 28 yards and elected to pass. The buck he was hanging out with was a beast and I had two close encounters with him during my hunt but never loosed an arrrow.

 I passed up all three of these bucks below at different times during my hunt. This is a pre-season trail camera picture. I think I passed up 11 bucks the first day and 9 the second. Every day after that I passed on 4-5 bucks a day. Mostly -2 year old buck with the ocasional 3-4 year old buck like the three in the picture below.

 The tall buck below was a buck we hunted for but never had a good chance at.

 During my hunt I drew my bow on a handful of big bucks that I wanted to shoot, but for one reason or another I was never able to loose an arrow.  The trail camera picture of the buck above is a heavy 5x4. The last evening of my hunt I went looking for him and his much bigger buddy. I found the 4x5 and he came by me at 45 yards and was getting closer but never presented a shot before he winded me. I watched and passed a couple of other small bucks as they fed past within easy bow range right at dark but  I ended the Kaibab hunt without filling my tag. But it was a great time as usual! Then it was back to Flagstaff to help the crew hunt for the Big 5x buck we called "Cinco"!

 These are pictures off of some video that Ben got of Cinco before the season.
We hunted him last year and several people came close. We were very excited to see him show up again this year!! This year he was bigger and had a little extra 6th point on one side.

With the help of the TLO crew, TLO's Ryan Sandall was able to tag this great 200+" archery buck!

 Above is a picture off of video that I took of Cinco not long before Ryan was able to get an arrow into him! Below is a picture of Ryan and the whole crew that came out to celebrate. Over The Counter Arizona archery tag!!

 After the archery hunts the bucks turned hard horned and the smell of rifle season was in the air!

First up for rifle season was TLO hunter, Larry for his "Champ Hunt" in the Kaibab! I pushed a herd of bucks by Larry and he took this nice tall 4x4 on his first day with a 20 yard shot! Then we headed back to Flagstaff where we helped Larry's granddaughter, 10 year old Elise, take her first deer on the unit 7 Junior hunt. Way to get it done girl!

Then it was back to the Kaibab for the General Oct rifle hunt with my 14 year old son Weston and TLO hunter Scott! Scott wasn't holding out for a monster and we were ok with that because it was an off year for the Kaibab. We had him pass up a few dozen bucks anyway and then let him take this great buck! We had to run about a half mile around a mountain to get in front of some bucks that we had jumped. I knew their escape route and we cut them off just in time. Way to get it done Scott! This is Scott's 13th big game animal with TLO!

After Scott it was Weston's turn. But first Weston and I picked up another hunter. Young Jeffery had a tag and only had one day to hunt with us So the first decent buck we could find was going down! We split up and covered some country. After a while Weston called me on the radio and said he had a tall crab clawed 4pt. I mentioned to Jeffery and he was all for it! So we made the trip over to the canyon across from Weston and found the buck in his bed. Jeffery made a great shot and finished his one day hunt with TLO.

 After that it was finally Weston's turn! The full moon was out all week and making the hunting even tougher. But it did make for some nice pictures.

 

We worked hard and Weston passed up lots of nice bucks during his time. But he was needing to get back to school so we lowered our standards. After another morning of passing several little bucks and a couple of nice young 3 and 4pt bucks we jumped this buck out of a draw and Weston let him have it with the 7mmRUM to take his first mule deer! We had a great time and in just a few short days Weston was able to help 2 other hunters fill their tags and then take his own buck! How fun is that!

 Next up was young hunter Josh. TLO's Ty and Weston Crowther were able to help Josh take this great buck on Josh's General Rifle Hunt in unit 7! Josh made a great shot as the buck tried to get away up the mountain.

Next up was  Becky Crowther. Her husband TLO guide Blair took her on her first deer hunt in unit 13! She drew the tag on her first time applying for deer!! It was a tough year on the Strip and when they found this massive old unique buck, Becky just couldn't pass him up! "Couldn't pass the mass" is what she said. 

 With a basic 3pt frame this buck still scored in the mid 160's and had over 43" of mass! Not bad for a first buck Becky!

Some of those mass measurements are over 7"! Pictures just don't do this unique buck justice.

 Next up was TLO hunter Ron with his Muzzleloader hunt in Southern AZ's unit 35! Ron was wanting to take a nice Desert Mule deer to complete his personal deer slam! We had a lot of great helpers on this hunt and after a few days of hard hunting TLO guide Jake found this awesome old 4x6 non typical! They hunted him down and Ron got the job done! Congrats on finishing your deer slam with a great desert buck Ron!

Next up we had hunters Dan and Ron on their December hunt in unit 7. First up was Ron. We found, glassed up and passed several bucks with Ron looking for that upper age class of buck. These pictures are of some of the ones we saw during that hunt. 

 We got some pictures and video of Ron's buck before he made a great shot to kill the buck in his bed at 642 yards! Rons buck was heavy, tall, had great eye guards and a huge body all swollen up for the rut!

 After Ron, next up was hunter Dan with the same tag.

 These are pictures of other bucks I found during the hunt.

 Dan made it up for his hunt a few days after Ron had filled his tag with the big 3pt. These are pictures of Dan's buck before we got him.

 The above picture is just before the shot on Dan's buck in the middle of a nasty snow storm!

 And last but not least we have Dan with his great 4x5 buck!

A heavy pack in the middle of a blizzard! Blessed indeed!

Here is a link for the video on the last two hunts! 

Thanks for checking out our 2012 mule deer season! We feel blessed to have been a part of making so many awesome memories! Lance Crowther

Timberland Outfitters.

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[azhuntnut]

Only 16 bucks, geez. Looks like Ty is ready to leave the nest. I will be borrowing him from you this elk season. You guys did a great job and congrats to all. David

[yumabowhunter]

Heck of a season. Way to get it done!

[bonecollector]

You guys did awesome!! Congrats on all the success to the hunters and guides.

[Tines]

Wow. That second archery buck is AWESOME!! ; )

[Lance]

The Fall Archery Deer Season is just around the corner!!! The velvet bucks are really starting to put on some antler and I'm getting excited!!

[KaibabQ]

Those are some great bucks. I was up in kaibab last week seen some great bucks in full velvet .