Suggestions

[gonhunting247]

I will be making a trip to Tucson, June 18th. I will be there a week. I was wondering if any of you guys with Javelina and Coues experience would be willing to point me the right direction or suggest some areas to check out while I'm down there! I'm not asking for specifics, just wanted to at least get a feel for the area while I was there. I plan on trying to get a Javelina tag for one of those units for Feb. of 2015. Feel free to PM me if that's better or my e-mail address is gonhunting247@hotmail.com . Thanks in advance for any thoughts and advice. I have never even seen a Javelina or a Coues Deer, so I need all the help I can get!

Bob E.

[Lucky Draw]

Where will you be staying? Any of the resort type hotels in the Catalina Foothills (Ventana Canyon, La Paloma, El Conquistador) will provide the chance to see Coues close by and probably have javelina in the parking lots most mornings.

 

If your schedule allows, check out the International Wildlife Museum. Life size and shoulder mount taxidermy from all over the world. They also get javelina in the parking lot from time to time.

[coatimundi01]

Yup, a quick hike from anybody the foothills area hotels and you could see some deer in those canyons. Javelina all over as well like LD said. Could take a drive up Catalina Hwy to the top and see everything from deer, bear, javelina, to Gould's turkey. Plus you'll get out of the June Tucson heat!

[gonhunting247]

Yup, a quick hike from anybody the foothills area hotels and you could see some deer in those canyons. Javelina all over as well like LD said. Could take a drive up Catalina Hwy to the top and see everything from deer, bear, javelina, to Gould's turkey. Plus you'll get out of the June Tucson heat!

 

 

Where will you be staying? Any of the resort type hotels in the Catalina Foothills (Ventana Canyon, La Paloma, El Conquistador) will provide the chance to see Coues close by and probably have javelina in the parking lots most mornings.

 

If your schedule allows, check out the International Wildlife Museum. Life size and shoulder mount taxidermy from all over the world. They also get javelina in the parking lot from time to time.

 

Thanks guys,

I've never been there before, but I will be at the Worldmark Resort. I'll definitely check out these things. My wife and I will be checking out as much of the area as we can, so I can learn some of the country a little. That will hopefully get me a better Idea where to start when I return in Feb. Hopefully I can find a couple spots that a guy can get away from too many people.

Thanks again Bob E.

[Lucky Draw]

Your "base camp" is in a good place to accomplish your goals. You might even be able to find some of the newly reintroduced desert bighorn from there.

 

It will be tough to find complete solitude, but crowds of hikers shouldn't be an issue in mid-June. A little drive north through the town of Oracle and you can head towards Peppersauce Canyon. Any knob above that will be a good place to find deer that time of year.

[PRDATR]

Your "base camp" is in a good place to accomplish your goals. You might even be able to find some of the newly reintroduced desert bighorn from there.

 

It will be tough to find complete solitude, but crowds of hikers shouldn't be an issue in mid-June. A little drive north through the town of Oracle and you can head towards Peppersauce Canyon. Any knob above that will be a good place to find deer that time of year.

 

 

Get an SUV and drive this. You can really do all of it in 2WD, the road is not paved but it is a maintained, graded road. Bring water, bino's and keep an eye out for rattlers. You will want an SUV or PU for the clearance when going through washes and having tires to deal with all the rocks.

I have hunted 33 for a long time and while I'm not an expert I have taken my fair share of game all away from the crowds. If you're lucky you may get to see some Coati's.

There are also a few wild horses there too. Did you go here and do you have a NFS Map?

http://www.azgfd.gov/h_f/hunting_units_33.shtml

 

One thing you can do is contact the G&F Office in Tucson as ask if you can do a ride-along with the wildlife manager for the unit for a day.

[gonhunting247]

Your "base camp" is in a good place to accomplish your goals. You might even be able to find some of the newly reintroduced desert bighorn from there.

 

It will be tough to find complete solitude, but crowds of hikers shouldn't be an issue in mid-June. A little drive north through the town of Oracle and you can head towards Peppersauce Canyon. Any knob above that will be a good place to find deer that time of year.

Thanks Lucky Draw,

Thanks for the info, I'm excited to get out and see the country. I Know it'll probably be hot and the critters won't be in the same spots as February, but getting a starting point is great. This is all new to me so it's like scouting for my first hunt all over again. Gotta love it!

 

 

Your "base camp" is in a good place to accomplish your goals. You might even be able to find some of the newly reintroduced desert bighorn from there.

 

It will be tough to find complete solitude, but crowds of hikers shouldn't be an issue in mid-June. A little drive north through the town of Oracle and you can head towards Peppersauce Canyon. Any knob above that will be a good place to find deer that time of year.

 

 

Get an SUV and drive this. You can really do all of it in 2WD, the road is not paved but it is a maintained, graded road. Bring water, bino's and keep an eye out for rattlers. You will want an SUV or PU for the clearance when going through washes and having tires to deal with all the rocks.

I have hunted 33 for a long time and while I'm not an expert I have taken my fair share of game all away from the crowds. If you're lucky you may get to see some Coati's.

There are also a few wild horses there too. Did you go here and do you have a NFS Map?

http://www.azgfd.gov/h_f/hunting_units_33.shtml

 

One thing you can do is contact the G&F Office in Tucson as ask if you can do a ride-along with the wildlife manager for the unit for a day.

 

Thanks PRDATR,

I hadn't been to the web site or thought of the ride along with G&F! Thanks so much for the pointers. I can't wait to see the country!

[bhuntin]

Probably be hot? you won't want to get out of your car.lol bring about a 100 gallons of water. you'll love it here

[gonhunting247]

I just wanted to thank everyone for the suggestions. We just returned from AZ and now I have a much better feel for the country. I wasn't too successful seeing game, but we didn't spend time in good locations at the right time of day.(HOT).

I will say I probably have more new questions than I answered. Hopefully, with some more research I'll start to check some of them off my list.

Thanks again for all of those that offered advice and suggestions

It helped a ton! Bob E.

[PRDATR]

So what areas did you travel into?

[gonhunting247]

So what areas did you travel into?

Are schedule and rental car were pretty limited, but we did the trip to Oracle and up to Pepper sauce canyon. We visited with some nice folks in that area. We didn't spend too much time walking that day.

We spent one day just messing around Saguoro National Park. Hiking a little, checking out petroglyghs etc.

Then we decided to go to Tucson and up the Catalina Hwy. towards Summer Haven, We stopped about every thousand feet of elevation to walk around and glass a little. That was an interesting trip to get to see the habitat change as we went up! Up on top I saw what I'm guessing is the other end of the dirt road that goes up Pepper Sauce.

Didn't get out much the last 2 days! I caught a bug somewhere and had a high temp and sinus problems. 103 temp isn't all that great in 104 degree outside temp

All and all it was a good first trip. My wife had fun too, and were both looking forward to the next trip.

Thanks again for the starting points, Bob E.

[Lucky Draw]

Glad you enjoyed the area and got to see some different country. That is definitely NOT a good time of year to be running a fever.