My first Arizona whitetail hunt- 36C

[AndrewJ]

About a year and a half ago (pre hunting times) I was reading about Arizona wildlife and came across the famed coues whitetail, and how you haven’t truly hunted until you have been on a coues hunt. I thought to myself this thing looks tiny, and who would actually want to hunt near Mexico, isn’t that kind of dangerous?

 

Then one morning I woke up and decided I wanted to learn how to hunt. I had been hunting as a kid with my dad but it never really passed to me. I wanted a true Arizona experience, and started reading more about the coues whitetail. It looked very hard to hunt, and people called it the “grey ghost”. I studied the units and saw that there was an inverse relationship between the distance from Mexico and your chances of successfully drawing a tag. I wanted to hunt now and wasn’t interested in collecting bonus points, so I picked what looked like the most obscure unit with the highest chances of getting drawn- the early November hunt in 36C. After I applied the weeks seemed to drag on with an agonizing, lethargic crawl until one day I noticed a strange charge on my credit card- it was a success! Then I spend the next weeks stressing out about supplies and realized I had a lot to learn.

 

 

II was able to get to the unit around noon on opening day. I turned on a dusty road and found an appropriate pull-out on state trust land and parked. I surveyed the hills with my binoculars for a good 15-20 seconds and didn’t see any deer. I thought hmm, I'm not so sure about this glassing thing, the real way to find deer is by marching through the hills!! I decided it was time to go for a hike…my feet are still sore! Even though it was November and supposed to be cooling off, it felt like an oven… Hades’s Oven where all of the bushes try to rip your clothes and stab your legs and a wrong step could send you twisting to the ground in agonizing pain. The cholla cactus were the worst- once they stick to you they are very difficult to get out.

 

 

I noticed some small trails all throughout the mountains. I thought that perhaps they could have been created by some deer or javelina, but it appears they were made by another animal- the coyote. I found trash everywhere- spent water bottles, candy, and discarded pieces of clothing. I never saw anyone, but I always had the feeling I was being watched, as if someone knew I was there. I can’t really explain it, it’s kind of like a long-forgotten sense kicking in you didn’t know you had. I did kick up some deer the first day, but only does. There were also these giant rabbits- about the size of a sheep, and a few times I thought it was a deer jumping out of the bushes. I am still shocked at how big they get.

 

 

I got back to camp all hot and sweaty, and as soon as the sun went down the rigid, cold fingers of the night came drifting off the hills into camp like an uninvited guest. The temperature swing is almost instant; it is amazing how quickly the desert can change. After I was long since asleep, I woke up to the screaming engines of a Blackhawk helicopter 50 feet above my tent. Perhaps I was dreaming but I thought I saw a doorman shining light down on me. With the thrust of its engine the chopper ascended the nearest hill and vanished into the cloak of darkness, gone as quickly as it came.

 

Couple of the hunts I ventured out with some of the expert glassers….it is one thing to read about glassing, it is another to try and execute on it and actually spot deer. It was impossible. It was like looking for tiny, camouflage ants that are not moving. Also should have brushed up on my botany before the hunt- they would guide me in my saying “look at the Prosopis velutina, go down to the rock next to the Parkinsonia florida, then go over to the Carnegiea gigantea next to the other Opuntia and you will see the deer bedded down”. Even when I knew where the deer was I couldn’t see it. One time they spotted a buck and let me go after it. The buck bedded down and we got as close as we could and laid down on some cactus to prepare to take a shot. I knew exactly where the buck was and I couldn’t find it in my scope. It was impossible to see. When the buck got up I had a clear shot but was shaking really bad and hit a dirt mount to the right. Then two more bucks and a doe got up out of nowhere and walked around my buck and I couldn’t tell what was what, and they all went over the ridge into the setting sun.

 

I stayed a few more days after the glassing experts left. My dad was with me and he did not like camping out there alone. One night there was a creature rustling in the bushes right next to the tent (maybe a javelina?) and it made just enough noise to keep you in an uncomfortable state of alert. Then in the middle of the night two men were walking along the perimeter of our campsite and stopped just before they got to us. They were surprised we were there and turned around and walked away. They were speaking English, but I still wonder what they were doing. They weren’t using lights, just walking by the eerie illumination of the moon. Could have been BP or ranch hands, but due to the late hour my imagination thinks something else was at hand.

 

One of the mornings we went out and saw a soft light high above the ridge, it was moving slow at first, almost floating, then picked up speed and vanished over the horizon. It wasn’t a helicopter and wasn’t making noise, so we decided it was a drone. We managed to spot a few deer, but didn’t see any bucks.

 

On one of the last days I went a little further south to try my luck in a new area. I was getting ready to hike up a big hill with a vantage point when I heard the thud thud thud of a helicopter in the sky. In the distance I noticed a white speck and it kept growing bigger and bigger. It was coming right for me. I don’t know if I trigged a remote sensor or if they spotted me through some other method, but they came to check me out. They circled around me for what seemed like an eternity, and then finally decided I was of no interest and left. I hiked up the big hill and scouted for a few hours but didn’t see anything.

 

 

As I was getting ready to leave a giant scout aircraft flew over the top of the nearest mountain and flew right over me. I was really surprised it was flying so low and just barely cleared the top of the highest ridge. I wonder what the plane was doing and where it was going.

 

 

Came home empty handed, but it was a successful hunt. It was a great experience, and learning the basic properities of glassing was invaluable. Met some awesome hunters and made some new friends, and I'm looking forward to more hunts in the future.

 

 

[johnnie blaze]

Atleast you got out there and did it. Check the first step off your list.

[coatimundi01]

Good read and glad you had fun!

[pwrguy]

It was a good read. It is funny to read a first time coues hunters perspective, there really is a lot of things unique about how we persue these little critters.

[Flatlander]

Great write up. Welcome to the club, it gets in your blood.

[Lucky Draw]

Excellent write up. Glad you got out and had a good time.

[Eagle mountain ranch]

Nice write up...welcome to the uncurable addiction.......

[bigorange]

Nice write-up...sounds like you're hooked now!

[GWHunter]

Good write up AndrewJ. Not often someone writes something that validates the experiences that we all have with these awesome creatures. Glassing is an art. I have been glassing for several years now and consider myself pretty good at it. Then I go hunting with my friend Chucky and realize just how much more I have to learn. It is just amazing how difficult those deer are to see, even if they are standing in the open sometimes. Yesterday evening, I was out with Chucky and his dad. His dad still needs to fill his tag and being a student of glassing, I never pass up an opportunity to improve. About 30 minutes before dark, I spotted a nice little 4x4 coming down the hill to a couple of does.. (PRE RUT IS HAPPENING!!!). He started sniffing and chasing the does. I was like, "Chuck I have a buck". He says yea it's a young 2 1/2 y/o. If he survives two more years, he will be a monster. He tells me, 95% of hunters would take at buck. I told him, are you kidding, 95% of hunters would never have seen that buck. Although he was with the does, he didn't move a lot, and when he stopped it was almost impossible to tell him apart from the landscape he was standing in.

 

Welcome to the club.

[Mocha1545]

Very nice write up. These deer do get into your blood. But it is a healthy addiction. You are now hooked for life.The border units are definitely interesting.

[CouesWhitetail]

I enjoyed the story, congratulations on getting out there to learn more about hunting and these little deer we love!

[joeeden]

Great write up. I'm pretty sure your glassing buddies were screwing with you a little bit with the scientific names of each tree and plant. That would get a weird look from most of the guys I've hunted with.

[tjhunt2]

You do no how to put a good story together and thanks for sharing your hunt with us. Your experiences were many and will help you on your next hunt but the most important one is that you learned you don't have to hang your tag on an animal to call it a successful hunt. The day will come when you finally do tag a deer and it will be yet another experience you certainly will enjoy.

 

TJ

[rclouse79]

I enjoyed the read! You will have to come back and give it another try.

[doogan]

Great story! Wait until you are able to tag one and see how beautiful these little guys are!