high rise hunter Report post Posted October 9, 2018 It's only October but most of my hunts (excluding an early November midwest whitetail trip) have wrapped for the autumn season. And good gracious does that make me excited to get back to AZ in January! I usually hunt solo (and often prefer to) but this year I'm going with a couple of buddies which will be a welcoming change of pace. Moving further north this go-around we'll be hunting Unit 22 for coues and hopefully pulling some javelina tags to boot. (FYI draw deadline is NOW). I live significantly closer to AZ now so I'm contemplating a December trip since I still have my tag in pocket from last January. Planning to bomb around the western desert for a few days looking for a muley to fill the freezer. Anyways, just excited and looking forward to some fun success stories on the forum. ' 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
paul navarre Report post Posted October 9, 2018 Yep, this will be my 9 trip to AZ to hunt Coues bucks in January. I have killed four in AZ and one in Mexico. Two of the AZ bucks make PY all DIY hunts on public land, except the Mexico hunt on private land but still DIY. A great time of the year to leave northern Colorado but now I still have a lot of WT hunting to do in Nebraska where I have two doe and one buck tag. I gave up on spot and stalk and mostly hunt from a natural ground blind or from a tree stand. Like most WT hunting, horn rattling and grunt calling can and will work. 3 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brademan76 Report post Posted October 9, 2018 Heck yeah! I'll be spending more than a few nights in the Tonto NF hoping to stick a decent buck! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oz31p Report post Posted October 9, 2018 No me. January is my least favorite season. Sure I’ve killed a few Mule deer and coues deer spot and stalk in January but Dang these deer are always moving and always moving in the wrong direction. And they hardly ever bed. Atleast not in a spot I sneak into. Ill still be out there several weeks but going after javelina first of course. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bonecollector Report post Posted October 9, 2018 Dec then Jan for me, That is all I have this yr. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
high rise hunter Report post Posted October 10, 2018 Jeez, Paul, 5 for 9 on coues hunts with 2 Pope & Young deer. That's a heck of a batting average and a beautiful buck as well. I should take a page from your book and learn! The spot n' stalk is SO difficult. Like oz31p said, "those deer are always moving". I've had really good luck with grunting (not so much rattling) on midwest whitetails (as long as I can see them and know they can hear me) but hadn't tried it on coues. Certainly going to give that a shot this year. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
broadhead Report post Posted October 11, 2018 This cool weather has me really looking forward to December and January. It was like as soon as the temps dropped my deer hunting mode kicked in. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
muledeerarea33? Report post Posted October 11, 2018 Did you do 33 last year? I kinda lost touch with you due to family issues. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oz31p Report post Posted October 11, 2018 On 10/9/2018 at 6:44 PM, high rise hunter said: Jeez, Paul, 5 for 9 on coues hunts with 2 Pope & Young deer. That's a heck of a batting average and a beautiful buck as well. I should take a page from your book and learn! The spot n' stalk is SO difficult. Like oz31p said, "those deer are always moving". I've had really good luck with grunting (not so much rattling) on midwest whitetails (as long as I can see them and know they can hear me) but hadn't tried it on coues. Certainly going to give that a shot this year. I called in a big desert Mule deer with a burp about 5 years ago. He was grunting like crazy. He let out a long snort weeze just before I killed him. It was pretty cool 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
high rise hunter Report post Posted October 11, 2018 3 hours ago, muledeerarea33? said: Did you do 33 last year? I kinda lost touch with you due to family issues. I certainly did. I had a great hunt where I backpacked somewhat "deep" into 33. Didn't a punch a tag but found plenty of deer. Ended up getting ROCKED by a wicked and unexpected storm. I packed out, regrouped, had a some good hunts off Redington Rd and up in Unit 23. My one legit opportunity where a buck bedded 25 yards from me I, of course blew. Long story short I didn't have my bow with me at that moment so I watched and snapped photos as a consolation prize. Probably my biggest take away was backpack hunting coues certainly doesn't seem as efficient as it may be for other species. I found that staying increasingly mobile (i.e. truck camping) and hiking in the dark 0.5-2 miles up some nasty feature will get you away from 99.9% of the hunting pressure and allow you to switch locations every day therefore finding more deer, more opportunities. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stanley Report post Posted October 11, 2018 Yes!!!! VERY excited for some January archery hunting! We are SO fortunate here in AZ! Also, my two college age kids (son & daughter) were lucky enough to get late Dec rifle tags. Can't wait for them to come home for Christmas break from school, so we can spend some time looking for some nice coues bucks for them! S. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildwoody Report post Posted October 11, 2018 Mexico rut.. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jacob...soaz Report post Posted October 11, 2018 16 hours ago, high rise hunter said: I certainly did. I had a great hunt where I backpacked somewhat "deep" into 33. Didn't a punch a tag but found plenty of deer. Ended up getting ROCKED by a wicked and unexpected storm. I packed out, regrouped, had a some good hunts off Redington Rd and up in Unit 23. My one legit opportunity where a buck bedded 25 yards from me I, of course blew. Long story short I didn't have my bow with me at that moment so I watched and snapped photos as a consolation prize. Probably my biggest take away was backpack hunting coues certainly doesn't seem as efficient as it may be for other species. I found that staying increasingly mobile (i.e. truck camping) and hiking in the dark 0.5-2 miles up some nasty feature will get you away from 99.9% of the hunting pressure and allow you to switch locations every day therefore finding more deer, more opportunities. i often wonder about that . How hung up on getting way back do i need to get. I like the thought of driving then hiking and being able to move locations if needed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
high rise hunter Report post Posted October 12, 2018 6 hours ago, Jacob...soaz said: i often wonder about that . How hung up on getting way back do i need to get. I like the thought of driving then hiking and being able to move locations if needed. I packed something like 6 miles back into 33 and found a good water source so I was all set. I was finding lots of deer but as I made unsuccessful stalk after unsuccessful stalk, busting deer after deer I noticed I needed to traverse to new country in search of my next opportunity. Had I been sitting water (during the August season) not stirring up the deer as much it may have been a solid strategy to pack in like I did. For this upcoming January, I will certainly be staying more mobile assumably hitting 3 or 4 areas on a congruent 3 to 4 day rotation. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Speedy Report post Posted December 10, 2018 Just booked my flight so I'll be there again trying for my first Coues (and maybe a Javi) mid-January. If you guys think it's hard with a compound bow, try using a recurve. The rut helps because I need them to be on the move, I can only sit still and hope one wanders into range.....and then doesn't see or hear me! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
