broadhead Report post Posted January 2, 2019 Question for you guys that have experience hunting the ocotillo flats. I stumbled upon a new spot that has deer and seems mostly if not completely untouched by other deer hunters. It's in some flats featuring a lot of ocotillo and mesquite and a couple gullies that look really tempting to set up an ambush in. I still hunted/scouted them yesterday afternoon and stalked up on a doe bedded in the bottom of the creek bed. Fun 30 minute staring contest. A little further down I set up on top of the gully until dark and caught a nice buck slipping down into it about 150 yards away. Hoped he would come my way because I had just rattled but he never showed up. I tried again today and set up where I saw him and at about 4:30 I caught sight of either a young 3x3 and a small spike or doe another 150 yards down the way coming up out of the gully heading for the flats. My hope was they are using the gully to sneak around unnoticed in the low ground or to bed but from what I've seen it looks like they cross it more than anything. It's impossible to glass more than 200 yards around it and setting up an ambush spot is tough when you can't pin down any choke points. The good sign is there are obviously deer in there after 2 for 2 seeing bucks. Maybe I'm not understanding their use of gullies in flats like that. Any thoughts on how to set up on them? Thanks in advance! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yotebuster Report post Posted January 2, 2019 Sounds like you might have pinpointed the reason the deer in there are untouched!! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
broadhead Report post Posted January 2, 2019 33 minutes ago, yotebuster said: Sounds like you might have pinpointed the reason the deer in there are untouched!! Haha yes but I'd like to change that! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildwoody Report post Posted January 2, 2019 Figure it out , then you'll have a honey hole, find trails, water source Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ThomC Report post Posted January 2, 2019 Gullies? LOL After a rain check for tracks. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Duggaboy Report post Posted January 2, 2019 Hunting gullies can be awesome. Deer like to travel unseen through the mesquite. Find a trail or pinch point and you'll have awesome results..........Duggaboy! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AZbowhntr Report post Posted January 2, 2019 We have pretty much started hunting the flats in the unit I hunt down south. We see bucks every time we are out. We are rifle hunting so we can find spots to glass from a distance and take longer shots. We watched the biggest buck I have ever seen here in Arizona cruising through the flats with a couple smaller bucks. They were using the washes to travel and any time that they popped out onto the flats they would run to the next clump of trees or the wash again. Never seen anything like it. And unfortunately we did not see the buck again. We used to also see a lot of great mule deer bucks when we quail hunted. They bed down in the washes and are unseen until we would basically walk right up onto them. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
broadhead Report post Posted January 2, 2019 Apparently gully is a funny word in Arizona. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
high rise hunter Report post Posted January 2, 2019 Deer will certainly run up and down the gullies using them almost as a road system. You'll have to do further scouting to really pinpoint the best ambush areas. Sounds like you're getting close though! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
