AZ hunting

That's crazy man! I've seen a muley and coues doe running together but I'm not really sure if they were actually hanging out with eachother or if they were just feeding close by eachother and decided to trot in the same direction when a pack of coyotes started yipping and howling. I've heard from other hunters about "hybrid" bucks but I think alot of that is just deer with nontypical racks, but maybe I'm wrong about that. It would be really fascinating to see a genetically sampled proven example of a hybrid.

Bow hunting is definitely an emotional rollercoaster ride, I mean, all hunting is, but bow hunting can be even more drastic on the highs and lows. That's why we love it though, right? I very much appreciate your offer, but I'm gonna stick to where I'm at. The area I'm hunting is where I saw the largest antlered coues I have ever seen in my life crossing the road. It's in 38m, also south of the Rincon's, but because it was an archery only unit, it got me looking at bow hunting and was the reason I eventually bought a bow in 2018. I got a coues last January in 34b, but taking one in this area will kinda be like the whole thing coming full circle for me. I may get one, I may not, but it's worth it to me to stick it out and really try in this area.

 

Yeah it definitely threw me for a loop man. Never seen that before. True that about bowhunting. It's totally addicting. Super hard and a lot of fun. I went out today for a morning session. I was glassing a hill and I heard something running up to me from behind. Turns out it was a doe and a nice 3x3 Coues buck. 15ft from me. I tried to slowly move and grab my bow but they spooked and I never saw them again. I was so pissed I just packed up and went home. Haha. It's going to happen though. Good luck man. You have some great bucks on your cams. Hope you harvest a good one.

 

Damn bro! I feel your pain man. That's how I felt after my arrow deflected on that buck on Sunday morning. How often do you ever have a buck just run up on you like that? It's almost surreal, like "holy shit, is this really happening right now, and also, how the hell do I get my bow up and make a shot without spooking him?". I wanted to go home after that too, but im glad I checked my cams, so I atleast know what's going on throughout my hunt area. That one buck that I posted two picks of by the mesquite tree, there's a doe in one of the pics... He's such a bad ass!! He's so wide, gotta be over a 100" I figure. On my next cam up that hill, which was taking video, he wanders up the hill behind the doe and follows he into a cut beside the hill, everything is real calm and nonchalant between the two of them. Just kinda like "you're pretty and I wanna hang out with you." In the next video she's tearing ass out of there at full sprint and he's right on her heels. I'm guessing she was close to coming into estrous, but not quite there yet and when he tried to mount her, she hauled ass. The reason all this kills me is because I was working that day, but had I been sitting in my spot on the next hill over, I would have had a beautiful 40 yard broadside shot on him. But I know that he's already bred that doe and moved on by now. I'll probably never see him again. Good luck to you bro. I hope all your hard work pays off.

 

Ok so is Elk hunting draw tag only? We are leaving tomorrow for a visit to Kingman area. I havent looked at the regs yet but started on the fishing. We most likely will be moving down that way this year hopefully. Next at the latest... So I'll be getting copy of Regs for fishing and hunting but still would like to know if deer is good hunting down there? Elk sounds like its only draw tag? I'll looking through the AZ threads now so it will take me some time to catch up thanks for the advice.

 

Elk archery and riffle is draw only. Deer is draw for the fall/winter for riffle. OTC for deer archer tags are available dates depend on units and not all units have OTC tags. The regs will clarify it. Deer are fun to hunt. Cous (white tail) is one of smallest breed in the US but they are challenging and fun to hunt. We also have some good size Mule deer.

 

Is there wildhogs there? Ive read there is and isnt

 

Elk is draw tag and for the most part so is deer. You can get some over the counter archery tags for deer but I have never done that. The draw for elk and pronghorn are due

Not that I am aware of, there is javelina and that requires a tag for certain hunts but also has some otc tags I believe. The regs will clear up what you can hunt and when and with what.

 

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/...-20-Arizona-Hunting-Reguations_WEB_190514.pdf

 

There are some pockets of wild hogs reportedly to the northwest of the Grand Canyon, and also some recent reports of a small population between Phoenix and flagstaff, east of the I-17. These reports have been very spotty over the years, and there’s been little success in tracking the population’s numbers/health/etc. They been reported near reliable water sources. Not worth trying to hunt imo, but if you happen to stumble upon one, why not? You’d have much better hog opportunities in other states.

 

Yeah its more of if i run into them,lake havasu wildlife refuge is supoosed to have some but dont know if you can hunt there

 

Thanks!

 

Been busy but is big game hunting mostly draw tags? Im guessing coyote is open all year?

 

Big game hunting is mostly draw tags. You can get OTC tags for archery deer, archery javelina, mountain lion, bear and turkey. I think there's some OTC elk tags but it's in units with a small satellite population that game and fish wants eliminated. Coyotes are fair game year round. If you ever do see feral hogs they are a "non game species" so it's open season, same with jackrabbits which are fun to hunt.

 

That sounds great! I like blasting a coyote or rabbit

 

Anybody have any luck on rifle or HAM javelina? I struck out

 

No luck on HAM hunt. Saw some deer, but pretty much no other wildlife moving. I think there had been to much rain, lots of water and food sources so no need for them to move much. Most of the water stations I found were full to the top with no tracks near them. I also had the full moon during my hunt, probably messed things up as well.

 

Same, no luck.

 

Whats a HAM ?

 

Handgun, Archery, or Muzzleloader hunt

 

Ah ok, so whats good areas for applying to hunt?