12AW or 12BW ?

[PhxDT]

stupid question: but how do you know where the bonus pass is? I have 7 pts and trying to decide myself. Last time I hunted 12AW, it was the early and snow came early. It was awesome.

[bigorange]

No real basis for comparison between the two units, but I really enjoyed the early hunt in 12AW. I can't wait to get up there again.

[azelkhunter69]

stupid question: but how do you know where the bonus pass is? I have 7 pts and trying to decide myself. Last time I hunted 12AW, it was the early and snow came early. It was awesome.

I looked at the bonus point reports on AZGFD.com. I looked at the "Bonus pass by hunt number" report. https://www.azgfd.com/hunting/draw/BonusPointProcess

 

It was hunt #1014 last year. They gave out 450 tags. I see this year it got bumped up to 500.

[PhxDT]

 

stupid question: but how do you know where the bonus pass is? I have 7 pts and trying to decide myself. Last time I hunted 12AW, it was the early and snow came early. It was awesome.

I looked at the bonus point reports on AZGFD.com. I looked at the "Bonus pass by hunt number" report. https://www.azgfd.com/hunting/draw/BonusPointProcess

 

It was hunt #1014 last year. They gave out 450 tags. I see this year it got bumped up to 500.

 

Thanks.

[azelkhunter69]

Well, looks like we defied the odds and didn't get drawn. Totally bummed. Can't wait to see the report when it comes out. Well, next year I guess. I'm tired of saying that though... I am 0 fer on tags this year. Sitting on a lot of points now. Good luck to those of you that did get drawn.

[knothead]

You said you had 10 points but never said how many points your dad had. I'm assuming he had 0-2 points because you should have drawn the early hunt if he had 3 or more points?

 

Sorry to hear the bad news and I hope you and your father draw the tags you want next year. The Kaibab is a special place for sure and like someone mentioned already, everyone should experience it at least once in their lifetime.

[Flatlander]

He said he and dad would average at 6 pts. Don't sweat though, all hope is not lost. There is still some time.

[azelkhunter2]

Well so far 14 points did not get us a late 12W tag......

[oilcan]

17 NR points and no 12AW late tag

[azelkhunter69]

Made my first trip up to 12AW this past weekend. Beautiful country and a great experience. Learned a lot. We covered a lot of ground. My 16 yr. old and I had turkey tags, which I got only because I thought we would be taking a scouting trip for the deer hunt....just didn't know it would be the 2017 deer hunt. It rained and we didn't get any turkeys but in 3 days we saw 150+ deer and 30+ bucks. A lot of small to medium bucks but we did see a few big bucks and one great big sucker. Saw a group of 7 bucks Sunday morning and I would have shot any one of them.

 

Can't wait to get up there again next year.

[brian390]

azelkhunter69, I was also up there on the turkey hunt this year. Our group saw 3 flocks all together. There was definitely quiet a few less birds this year compared to last year.

 

From what I've seen up there recently I believe that the deer herd is coming back a little bit. I think that I will also try for a tag there next year also. Are you putting in for the late rifle hunt in November or the early rifle hunt in October? Hopefully you get a tag next year for the kaibab.

[azelkhunter69]

azelkhunter69, I was also up there on the turkey hunt this year. Our group saw 3 flocks all together. There was definitely quiet a few less birds this year compared to last year.

 

From what I've seen up there recently I believe that the deer herd is coming back a little bit. I think that I will also try for a tag there next year also. Are you putting in for the late rifle hunt in November or the early rifle hunt in October? Hopefully you get a tag next year for the kaibab.

I am putting in for the early hunt. Should get drawn for sure with an avg. of 7 points. Talked to a couple Game and Fish guys and they said the bucks are getting bigger. He said the archery guys were having too much success so they started cutting the archery tags back.

[azelkhunter69]

Report came out. Unfortunately, we were not in the 30% with 6 pts that got drawn. 7 pts was a sure thing again. Next year for sure, as long as my dad is willing. Looking forward to it.

[DesertBull]

I had 7 points. I did not see a lot of deer but it could have been the extremely warm temps and 20 mph winds.

[azelkhunter69]

Update.......Well, my dad and I drew 12AW early this year. Went up in September for 4 days. Saw lots of bucks. 6 - 8 really nice ones. Some big, some just with great character. Bought my first spotter and glassed mornings and evenings. Saw quite a few bucks with extras/cheaters/kickers, whatever your favorite phrase is. Definitely feel the bucks were bigger than last year overall. I'll be up there this week with my son for the junior hunt. I'll be able to do some more scouting then. Then, my dad and I will head up the Wednesday before our hunt to get camp squared away and scout some more. Getting close. We are all looking forward to it. My dad had his 79th bday a month ago and he is still up to the task. He still walks about 3.5 miles on a dirt road in the mountains almost everyday.

 

Anybody want to recommend a taxidermist just in case we are fortunate of tagging something we feel is worthy of getting mounted? Thanks. I'll let you know how it turns out in a few weeks.

 

Oh by the way, there was quite a bit of point creep this year. We had an average of 7 points(which was guaranteed the last 2 years) and we got lucky enough to get the last 2 tags in the bonus round...tags 99 and 100.