Suggestions for bow hunting son that his father can’t give

[apache12]

NOT looking for somewhere hunting spot 

So I’m a rifle hunter.  Have done some bow but not much. My 22 year old son was raised mostly coues rifle hunting by me.  Glassing for days. Making a stalk and shot. We’ve done some pine country doe hunts when younger and some cow hunts.   Anyway he has the itch bad for bow hunting.  He’s going to school in NV and so he picked unit 8 for a spot close between NV and Phx where I live.   So he’s scouted for a couple months. I gave him some old camera that are hit an miss.   He’s found good springs and all the tanks have cameras and blinds by other hunters. Hes checked some open cameras on tanks and there have been some decent bucks but there are big gaps between when they hit.  Mostly elk turkey and even some bear.  He’s put eyes on a few bucks and thinks they are traveling from bed or food to water.   He hunted all last week and he’s back now for four days.  The rain has washed most tracks off trails.  He thinks pressure is pushing the deer but doesn’t know where they’d push when pressure hits.  As coues hunters we go deep and higher.  But Muley seem to like open areas and not the rugged country. Maybe I’m wrong I don’t know.  He’s at about 6500 ft pine and oak some juniper

ive suggest finding burns and and transition areas with pine and juniper.  
my ask is. Do mule deer buck go up higher or into tight almost bear type country?   With pressure should he find beds. Or routes between water and food?    There isn’t much area to get a vantage point and glass.   He’s young and super fit and can hike anywhere. Has good gear and good gps. 
 

again not liking for someone’s spot. But would enjoy sending him things to think about or try. I taught him to hunt rifle. But I know what I know and what I don’t know   And archery ain’t it 

thanks for any suggestion 

[lancetkenyon]

Mule deer love thick, nasty canyons just like elk, coues, etc. when the pressure hits.

[Delw]

Unit 8 is a good unit for deer there are lots of them. we alwasy hunted south west and south east parts of the unit along the edge of the canyon.

the east side east of JD and south towards sycamore creek look out has the most deer. most are small but some decent ones. we've sat water its useless  usually with in a mile of water just start to look around. park at J.d. Dam and walk south around those canyons 1-3 miles.

the road to Sycamore point has a ton of deer off it, you will usually see 25-50 in one drive in the morning with about 5-10 bucks above forked horns, like I said tons of deer but mostly smaller ones and lots of coues this time of the year. once you clear the pines on the point road and get into the grass after the curbe before the long straight stretch park walk out to the west side on the edge of the canyon walk south along the top of the canyon. they bed in there and also play and eat on the edge

The west side has way better bigger bucks, but your not going to see as many 10-20 a day maybe. with an occasional very nice one.

Daughter and I spent 5 full seasons up there with the exception of labor day weekend. Pine hollow just to the west and south is your best bet.

BTW driving the roads in the middle of the day especially when its hot like going back to camp for a nap if you look good enough you will see them bedded in small thickets of pines with grass all the way around.

once you find deer hunt those areas.

I'm planning on going up the last week of the hunt for 4 days as it looks to be cooling off.

[apache12]

Think the elk are eating the deer out of this area. Keeps finding sheds and rag horn kills but has seen lots of does.  Told him to get back deep as far from quad roads as possible. Hoping he gets eyes on. But In the end he’s learning. Can’t ask for much more 

[PRDATR]

6 hours ago, apache12 said:

Think the elk are eating the deer out of this area.

 

For the most part they both eat different plants, but. When we have drought conditions like we are experiencing lately Elk can and will eat whatever is available.

[Delw]

6 hours ago, apache12 said:

Think the elk are eating the deer out of this area. Keeps finding sheds and rag horn kills but has seen lots of does.  Told him to get back deep as far from quad roads as possible. Hoping he gets eyes on. But In the end he’s learning. Can’t ask for much more 

Dont rule out quad roads 2 track roads or fire roads for deer.  they tend to hold lots of deer because they get lots of fresh grass when it rains..

dont take a quad or vehicle through them. walk down them. lots of deer hang around small roads

[Delw]

heres some road deer, except the unicorn deer he hangs out in the parking lot of JD dam.

some of these pics were taking last day archery deer and opening day of archery elk in unit 8 walking the roads to or from hunting spots. the bigger bucks (dark pics) were walking down the road then walked into the forrest on last evening last day of hunt. the brighter ones in the scrubs were taking on the other side of the road of our camp opening day of elk if I recall.

they was 4 of them together 2 small ones and 2 decent ones. I have a ton of pics of deer laying off the road, but generally there 3points or smaller during archery season.

 

[Delw]

[apache12]

Nice pics.