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Had a good December hunt! After a couple years of tag soup we were overdue. Between work, travel, and family schedules our time was pretty limited to get out. Had a few good days with some good bucks spotted that didn’t present any shot opportunities and the warm weather didn’t help. These two had read the script and showed up at first light exactly where we had hoped to find deer. After we figured out our play and were moving closer, the herd of at least 12-15 topped out and moved onto the next ridge. Sneaking to the top to begin searching for the bucks, the herd had really spread out and all we could find were does everywhere. Finally spotted one of the bucks way down low and started setting up for the 260yd shot. My buddy spotted the other buck and we decided which one looked better and presented the best shot. Boom…dropped right there. The second buck didn’t even move after the shot and gave us time to get set up for another shot. Boom…dropped right there within about 25 yards of each other. Radioed our friends who had been helping spot for us to bring the packs and knives! They even brought a couple of cold brews from the truck to help celebrate. Nice having a youngster in the group with a strong back to help pack out too! The two of us have been hunting together for over 10 years and have had some great times and quite a few misses and servings of tag soup. First time we’ve ever even had a chance for a double together so it was really special.

Way to go man congrats!

I honestly can't believe more people aren't talking about this at least us below the rim. I am fortunate that I average a lot of days with a bow in hand. Honestly, Southern AZ and SW mule deer numbers IMO are about 15 to 20 % of what they were about 3 years ago. This is likely generous. This is an example of what the does looked like in the 37s in May 2025. Likely days from death. This pic was taken for drought documentation, not taking of game. Numbers were already waaaay down before last years drought. That was just the nail in the coffin.

Nice to see Nightforce offering something lightweight for us hunters. Will they have a scope with just a standard crosshair that isn't cluttered up?

Welcome back!

. I could not agree with you more, but it’s not going to happen because of money and so-called hunting opportunity that a handful of influential people opposed to a draw want to keep OTC. guess we could blame it all on crossbow hunters