Ya! Our couse deer hunt opens tomorrow morning!

[gamestalker]

The trucks are loaded, we've established our camping spot, wood is already cut and stacked for the wood stove waiting at camp, scouted the unit, and here I am suffering insomnia in anticipation of the first morning to begin in less than 8 hrs. from now.
We're going to hunt the wilderness, so no vehicles, quads, or even horse back hunters to deal with, just a hand full of serious hunters and guides.

Our last scouting trip was yesterday, we glassed up two big big boys, one was surely 100" class, can't wait. Aside from our family members, we'll be introducing a dear friend and new comer to the art of spot and stalk hunting. We helped him sight his rifle in, did a load development for his .270, and we convinced him to buy a good spotting scope and a pair of good glasses.

GS

 

[Lennyjoe]

Sounds like your all set. Mine doesn't start until the last 2 weeks in December.

 

[Lennyjoe]

How'd you fare? I'm hitting the woods next Friday...

 

[gamestalker]

My story is up in Wankerjakes post, sorry.

But I came home last night with a concussion, my head spit wide open, a broken finger, broken toe, cause I dropped a large chunk on mesquite on it, and 3 of 4 tags filled, didn't get mine yet. I'm probably going back out on Saturday and Sunday for some more punishment, guess I didn't get enough. I don't think there is any part of my old body that doesn't have some degree of injury to it, what a hunt!

GS

 

[gamestalker]

We tried to get a late season tag, so your lucky, wish I was you. I love hunting them in the rut.

GS

 

[gamestalker]

Apparently I didn't get enough punishment, cause I went back out and managed to snap a ball joint on Saturday afternoon. I was in no doubt the most remote and rugged territory of that unit too. Had to walk a good 15 miles to get to where I could get cell service and call for help. And then because I was off the beaten path, I knew I was going to have walk for a few more hours to a marked road, so I could be found by my Son. I had 3 bottles of water, 1 gatorade, and 2 liters of Dr. Pepper, and about 1.5 lbs. of back straps, plus a partial MRE consisting of desert and some turkey jerky. So I wasn't in the worst of situations, though it could have gone much worse. I finally made it home on Sunday, what a ride, one for the books! Oh ya, it took my Son all of about an hour to swap out the ball joint.

The bad news is I didn't get my buck, saw a couple, but they were a mile or two away in some extremely shear canyons. That would have been ok except that the sun was going down fast, making it obvious I wouldn't have reached them before dark.

GS

 

[Lennyjoe]

Man oh man, I hope I don't run into any of that luck. At least you survived to tell about it. Heading out Thursday eve for my hunt. Plenty of does around but not many buck sightings on the back side of the Huachuca Mountains.

 

[alko]

Wouldn't cell phone work to call emergency even in removed area? I like hunting alone in remote areas and getting hurt during the hunting wouldn't be a good experience.

How are you getting tags for that grey ghost during the rut? Do you have any experience with OTC January archery season? Does it worth to try? I hunt bears and wild pigs with a bow in California, would it be similar hunting?

 

[gamestalker]

No, there is no cell service, 911 or other wise in this region. Earlier in the week I was with my oldest son, and he usually has an LE radio (BP) so we can at least climb a hill and get help, but not with a cell phone.

Are you talking about the OTC archery tags for deer? If so, yes, we just buy them for the unit and deer specie we want to hunt. Same thing for archery December rut, it's OTC.

As for javelina, we had some changes this coming 2015 season. I think my Son told me they will be OTC as well? I'll check on that and get back with ya though.

I don't hunt, much less visit California, so I'm not sure what you mean by would it be like hunting bears and pigs in California? Please elaborate a bit on that.

Lennyjoe, ya, I sure do hope you can avoid running into that kind of bad luck also. I feel like I barely got out of that hunt with my life, very close call for an old man, several.

GS

 

[brainwake]

Dang GS....I guess I should stop complaining about my back hurting after 3 weekends of hunting! You my friend are a trooper!

 

[Captcurt]

These are the hunts you remember.

Sounds like some of our hunts. Fun, huh?

 

[wankerjake]

How are you getting tags for that grey ghost during the rut?

They don't rut until January.

 

[nathan]

Bring the meat home!

 

[Lennyjoe]

T minus 3 days and counting. Need the weather to get the gals in season. Did you guys see any pre-rutting going on?

 

[wankerjake]

Did you guys see any pre-rutting going on?

We did not at all. Hopefully they'll start though before the year is out and you can find a whopper. Good luck, how much of the season can you hunt?

 

[gamestalker]

During the first few days all the bucks were in bachelor groups, 2 and 3 together. Then after the weather started to cool down, we started seeing does with them, and even some mild aggressive behavior between bucks, and doe to doe pecking order going on. I think the rut is probably starting up, and will probably be in full swing within the next week or so.

I'll be back out there in a few days for archery, so I'll let ya all know how the rut is coming along. Ya, that's right, I didn't suffer enough punishment yet.

GS

 

[alko]

Thank you for your responce.

We usually spot and stalk bears and pigs in California, pigs are almost blind, you can get very close if wind is right. I know that coues deer is very spooky, is it possible to get close to them for bow shot? I am just wondering if they are so careless during the rut and let you get close for the shot.

I think that late december tags are drawing only and you need 5-10 pts to get one, are archery tags OTC for late December? Which units?

I was hunting 35A for three days December 1-3rd this year, saw a lot of does but no bucks, I blame full moon and high wind. I would like to come back and get one gray ghost for my wall.

 

[Lennyjoe]

wankerjake, 12-31 December, unit 35A. Only 40 tags issued.

 

[Lennyjoe]

Looks like the weather will be a factor tomorrow and Saturday. Winds are suppose to be up and the wrong direction for hunting the back side of the Huachuca's.

 

[gamestalker]

Lennyjoe, I thought archery "any antlered deer" was OTC, and state wide with some exceptions of course? That would be Dec. 12-31

Than the second archery "any antlered deer OTC starts Jan. 1 - 31, state wide, some exceptions?

Am I missing something?

Alko, couse are anything but easy to hunt, not careless. They are more interesting to hunt during the rut thought, calling and other stuff seems to help.

My youngest son has been 100% successful year after year, and has taken some real big boys too. But I don't think he is really human, there is some speculation about that among family members. He has one with a double main beam, and double G's on one side, a monster he took a couple years ago. It had a shaft jammed in it's skull that has been there for a year or two. It only had one eye due to the shaft that was in it's skull and protruding into into the eye socket, it entered from behind the ear.

GS

 

[red rick]

Good hunting , sounds like fun .

 

[wankerjake]

wankerjake, 12-31 December, unit 35A. Only 40 tags issued.

Yessir, I'm familiar with the hunt, was wondering how much of it you were available to hunt

Hopefully you took off more than one weekend!

 

[alko]

Hi gamestalker,

How is the hunting? How is the rut this season, do you think they will be rutting second half of January?

 

[Lennyjoe]

Nope, your not missing anything. I got the late rifle hunt for Coues in that area (hunt #1132), with only 40 tags given. Archery for either antlered is open the same time.

I don't have any vacation time left so I'm only able to hunt weekends. Seen 9 does and 1 spike this past weekend but nothing I'd shoot at yet. Still have to the end of the month and will be more selective until the last week. I'll be out all weekend coming up and am hoping the cold air stays here.

We did, however, find one hell of a smugglers trail heading over the mountain top down to the Army base. Was manicured well enough to get back packs of weed through without hitting branches and had cover overhead all the way to the top. We thought it may have been a trail cut to a mine up on the top of the mountain but that wasn't the case. Marked it on the GPS and let a local BP friend know its whereabouts.

 

[gamestalker]

We see them rutting all the way to the end of January. I think since S. Az. is a warmer climate than most other parts of the sate, the deer start rutting late, and usually rut into late January. I'm not referring to just the appearance of them rutting, I mean actually copulating with the doe's.

For those not familiar with S. Az. hunting though, it is in no way anything like hunting in those states where folks use stands on private lands. This is nearly exclusive spot and stalk hunting, a tripod and good glass is a must iif you want to see and hunt large numbers of good shooter's. An average day of spot and stalk will reveal dozens of bucks v.s. the now and then spike you may bump into.

There is however one method I've used a few times with great success, which is hunting water holes. I just look them over good and figure out which one's are getting used regularly, and which direction the deer are coming in from, then find a good ambush spot to sit for hours. But this year has been a good one for rain fall, so the deer aren't frequenting the water holes as regularly as they do in drought years. During the rifle hunt I checked a lot of very remote water holes, many didn't have a single sign, those that did had very light and infrequent sign. What I did see were lots of springs, and natural run off wells that had lots of water, and lots of sign.

GS