General Coues hunting question #2

[macknnc]

And reading Adams book, which was written/published over a decade ago, he mentions, a couple of times, the difficuty of drawing a tag for certain hunts/certain areas. Now my one Coues hunt was back in the 70s...I remember it as 1976, a buddy who went with me remembers, variously remembers 1977...or possibly as early as 73...in any event you see my point..it was a long time ago...

 

Now back then, as I remember,once you got your license, no one much cared where you hunted...well the reservations were off limits, but that was about it... We hunted the Chiracahua mountains...saw one buck hauling a$$ over the next ridge about half a mile away, some tracks, some droppings but that was about the extent of our 'luck'.

 

But these are deer tags! Not elk, not sheep. Deer. Whitetails at that. I can legally take four whitetail deer a year right here in North Carolina, though of course they are not coues but still......so are Coues tags really that tough to get?

[Flatlander]

No . . . and yes. Every rifle deer tag in AZ is issued via the draw. I would say that roughly 60% of tags can be drawn every year regardless of bonus points. The hunts that become difficult to draw are December rifle hunts. These hunts are intended to be in the rut and last 15-20 days as opposed to the typical 7. December rifle coues tags could take up to 7 or 8 years to draw depending on the unit you are applying for.

[macknnc]

Well I noticed the table in Mr. Adams book the later hunts had far higher success ratios than the earlier ones...so by that, I assume the earlier hunts are easier to get tags for?

[sidwynder505]

Sometimes the first hunt is the one you want to get in some area's!.. the deer are in a normal every day routine!! until the pressor makes them go mostly noctirnal!! then unless you know when a particular buck lives and then you glass the north ,east side of the mountain where they bed!! and you glass from on buch to another!! 8 hours is nothing while glass for a big ol buck!!!...happy hunting!!! : )

[az_shooter]

/>No . . . and yes. Every rifle deer tag in AZ is issued via the draw. I would say that roughly 60% of tags can be drawn every year regardless of bonus points. The hunts that become difficult to draw are December rifle hunts. These hunts are intended to be in the rut and last 15-20 days as opposed to the typical 7. December rifle coues tags could take up to 7 or 8 years to draw depending on the unit you are applying for.

+1

[wildwoody]

yikies!!!!!

[ready2hunt]

I only hunt the early hunts. Mainly because I want to get drawn more often but I love seeing the deer before they are really spooked. I'd love a rut hunt but I just like to be out there as much as i can

[standman]

A lot of people just put in for the late December hunts and build bonus points till they are drawn. Every year that they are not drawn they then buy a leftover tag after the draw for one of the earlier hunts. They get to hunt every year while still only putting in for the late hunt. You don't lose your bonus points if you buy a leftover tag.

 

Brian

[Flatlander]

As Brian is alluding to, each year hundreds of tags go un-issued via the draw process. The tags not issued are then available first come first serve via USPS to the AZGFD, followed by in person. There are plenty of leftover tags and if you want to hunt coues deer in any given year, tags are likely to be available until mid to late summer.

[CouesWhitetail]

You can find the draw odds for any unit in the AGFD publication Hunt Arizona. it also shows hunt success rates and population info.

 

http://www.azgfd.gov/regs/HuntArizona2012.pdf