Looking for some help with unit 20a rifle mule deer hunt

[Jesse]

Me and my buddy just recently moved around unit 20a. We ended up getting drawn for the rifle hunt in October. We've been spending a lot of time scouting. And have had a little bit of success. But I'm really nervous about other hunters and crowds. I really want to get away from other people. And I'm looking for information on the best places to do that. Also if anybody has some suggestions on where else I should be looking for deer I will be more than happy to hear it. Thank you very much for your help.

[jim]

If you really scouting get onx maps and find tracks of land that don't have roads. Also look for cover type spots that bigger bucks will use to hide in. Walk the wash's and look for tracks if you consistently see bigger tracks then find high ground and start glassing he lives there somewhere. 

[wildwoody]

My father always drew that hunt as 5th choice 4 yrs in a row, only saw 1 spike and 2 does, ill see if I can squeeze some info out of him..

[Hoss50]

Depends on where you want to hunt. It is a diverse unit. Full pine trees all the way to high desert.

I have not hunted in 20a in about 5 or 6 years. I don't know what condition the areas are in after the fires. If you hunt the high desert and scrub oak areas, find some water sources not near a road, and get high and glass, move, glass more, move, glass, etc. If you are going to hunt the pines up on big bug, I would get out toward the edges and work off the fingers that lead off the plateau.

There are big deer in the unit, but you are going to work hard for them. They don't get old by being dumb. The deeper you get away from the main roads & boundaries of the unit the better off you will be.

[5guyshunting]

I haven't hunted there for about 12 years. Big bug mesa was great until it turned into a war zone. I'm sure it's worse now. Even the archery hunt turned into a zoo.

[Hoss50]

40 minutes ago, 5guyshunting said:

I haven't hunted there for about 12 years. Big bug mesa was great until it turned into a war zone. I'm sure it's worse now. Even the archery hunt turned into a zoo.

We never hunted that high unless we were throwing a hail Mary. I also saw a few spooky things up there so it wasn't high on my list of places to hunt. My hunting buddy refused to go back up there. He refers to it as Wicca Mountain. 

We were never super successful in 20a, but we were also not as good of hunters when I hunted there. I am not great now, but I have learned alot and gotten way better equipment than last time I hunted deer in 20a. 

[Jesse]

2 minutes ago, Hoss50 said:

We never hunted that high unless we were throwing a hail Mary. I also saw a few spooky things up there so it wasn't high on my list of places to hunt. My hunting buddy refused to go back up there. He refers to it as Wicca Mountain. 

We were never super successful in 20a, but we were also not as good of hunters when I hunted there. I am not great now, but I have learned alot and gotten way better equipment than last time I hunted deer in 20a. 

What type of spooky stuff. And where at?

[Hoss50]

When I was a kid of about 6-8 (I am 36 now) we were hunting big bug and came across this stump. It had some thing on it that appeared to be a sacrifice or offering to something. My dad made me promise to never my mother about it. I dont remember it well, but for him to say that makes me know it wasn't good. 

 

In high school we went up there to party/camp. We found this awesome spot with a giant 20' (huge cult type fire ring) fire ring. We started a normal size fire and put up the tent. It started rain like a beast, so we went in the tent and played cards. Small rivers were flowing around and under the tent so we decided to get out while we still could. The road was long and muddy to get out. 

We got out of the tent and that fire was still burning on like no rain was falling, and a doe deer was standing at 20 yards just staring at us and would not leave. It was a beast trying to get the fire out, and that deer not leaving was super weird. 

My dad had told me stories of a witches cult that had taken over one of the ranches in the area many years ago which is what made all this crap even weirder. Supposedly the residents of the area had to burn them out because they were killing animals as sacrifices and crap. Is it true, probably to some degree, but I dont know how true. It is all stories we were past down from my dad and his friends who hunted the area for years.

[Jesse]

5 minutes ago, Hoss50 said:

When I was a kid of about 6-8 (I am 36 now) we were hunting big bug and came across this stump. It had some thing on it that appeared to be a sacrifice or offering to something. My dad made me promise to never my mother about it. I dont remember it well, but for him to say that makes me know it wasn't good. 

 

In high school we went up there to party/camp. We found this awesome spot with a giant 20' (huge cult type fire ring) fire ring. We started a normal size fire and put up the tent. It started rain like a beast, so we went in the tent and played cards. Small rivers were flowing around and under the tent so we decided to get out while we still could. The road was long and muddy to get out. 

We got out of the tent and that fire was still burning on like no rain was falling, and a doe deer was standing at 20 yards just staring at us and would not leave. It was a beast trying to get the fire out, and that deer not leaving was super weird. 

My dad had told me stories of a witches cult that had taken over one of the ranches in the area many years ago which is what made all this crap even weirder. Supposedly the residents of the area had to burn them out because they were killing animals as sacrifices and crap. Is it true, probably to some degree, but I dont know how true. It is all stories we were past down from my dad and his friends who hunted the area for years.

You're not the only person that has told me about weird stuff happening around that area.

[AZkiller]

2 hours ago, Hoss50 said:

When I was a kid of about 6-8 (I am 36 now) we were hunting big bug and came across this stump. It had some thing on it that appeared to be a sacrifice or offering to something. My dad made me promise to never my mother about it. I dont remember it well, but for him to say that makes me know it wasn't good. 

 

In high school we went up there to party/camp. We found this awesome spot with a giant 20' (huge cult type fire ring) fire ring. We started a normal size fire and put up the tent. It started rain like a beast, so we went in the tent and played cards. Small rivers were flowing around and under the tent so we decided to get out while we still could. The road was long and muddy to get out. 

We got out of the tent and that fire was still burning on like no rain was falling, and a doe deer was standing at 20 yards just staring at us and would not leave. It was a beast trying to get the fire out, and that deer not leaving was super weird. 

My dad had told me stories of a witches cult that had taken over one of the ranches in the area many years ago which is what made all this crap even weirder. Supposedly the residents of the area had to burn them out because they were killing animals as sacrifices and crap. Is it true, probably to some degree, but I dont know how true. It is all stories we were past down from my dad and his friends who hunted the area for years.

You do alot of drugs huh?

[Jesse]

23 minutes ago, AZkiller said:

You do alot of drugs huh?

Do not be rude.

[Hoss50]

1 hour ago, AZkiller said:

You do alot of drugs huh?

Nope, I am willing to bet I am more straight edge then most. I dont really believe in ghosts or weird crap like that, but i have had/seen a couple funky things happen on that Mesa. 

 

[Delw]

39 minutes ago, Jesse said:

Do not be rude.

Says the guy who came on here only to escout.. LMAO

 

AzKillers a Dick ;) but he aint rude, you need to suck it up Susan.

since you live around it and your hunts 4 months away you might want to start scouting it.

[knothead]

I used to hunt up on Big Bug all the time starting in late 70's and stopped in early 90's.  It was just too crazy with bow hunters but there were some deer in there.  When I first started going there it was not uncommon to see 20-30 bucks a day.  It was the only place I ever hunted where I would see more bucks than does.  There used to be an albino doe running around I would see from time to time.

 

We never saw anything weird up there that I can ever recall.  I once found an old rifle (really old rifle) with the wood mostly rotted away.  I got tired of carrying it so I put near a road and put a little marker so I could come back that evening and get it.  I never could find it again.

Not in 20A but in 20B there was a commune type place in between bumble bee and crown king that used to do some animal sacrifices.  I never saw it but stickflicker and another buddy found it and really scared them.  This was back in the 80's.  There were even some wild goats running around and I think they got a couple with archery equipment.

[Delw]

12 minutes ago, knothead said:

There was a commune type place in between bumble bee and crown king that used to do some animal sacrifices.  I never saw it but stickflicker and another buddy found it and really scared them.  This was back in the 80's.  There were even some wild goats running around and I think they got a couple with archery equipment.

Yeah there was a couple of them, one closer to lake pleasant was a family of inbreeds, looked like Characters from deliverance. we quite going down that road even armed.. then if you went the other way south of them there was a paramilitary type group. they had 50cal mounted in a jeep blowing a old building apart, guys all over the hills watching our every move. we decided to head out rather quickly.

funny part BIL was a sherrifs deputy and we were in his suv. he and a few other guys went back the next day, they were gone. 2 weeks later they set up camp again but with out the machine guns. that was in the early 80's

Then there was the old miners we ran into while riding dirtbikes up the side of the mountain on the old 2 tracks. most of those guys were cool, but a few would leave you with the feeling you might not make it home.

we always used the dirtbikes up there to scout for deer as it would just beat the crap out of the trucks.