bunhead

I bought her a lightweight Husqvarna in 30-06 so she's decided not to try the muzzle loader. Thanks to everyone for your input. I'll report on her hunt with details that, hopefully, will help others who are lucky enough to draw this unit.

My wife was lucky enough to draw Unit 9 for the early rifle hunt. She's determined to hold out for a big bull and wants to use her muzzle loader. I've hunted turkey in 9 so I'm somewhat familiar with the unit and we'll be spending a lot of time scouting. I was hoping some fellow members might offer some advice on the best general areas to concentrate our scouting. My limited familiarity is with the Northern portion of the unit but I'm wondering if some big bulls might be down south in the more open terrain and if it would be worthwhile to scout that area too. We'd sure appreciate any advice! Bunhead

Thank all of you for your input. If it were just myself I'd be out there next week whether they're gobbling or not. A friend from Denver drew a tag and was unable to hunt opening week. I was just hoping to get some intel to help him make up his mind whether to take off the time and spend the money to fly down hear. Thanks again.

We hunted 6B last weekend for 4 days and nada. Seems like they weren't gobbling even if we could have heard them over the howling wind. It feels like they rutted early. Looks like some members did ok though. I'm wondering if it's worth going out on our second hunt 5-6/19 or if they're done breeding already. Any thoughts?

Congratulations. You're living my dream. I have 22 points and was feeling pretty sorry for myself when I wasn't drawn. Maybe next year you'll be able to tell me where you found your new world record goat.

130 1/2 Great buck

Not much on 30B so I thought I'd report. My wife drew a rifle tag for Nov. 8-14 2013. While I've taken Coues before I'd never before set foot in this unit. We scouted in Sept. for 4 days and covered pretty much the whole unit. The Mule Mtns. in the southern part of the unit are steep, rough and so brushy as to be impassable on many Northern slopes. I suspect there are big bucks in there that have never seen a human. Access though is tough. While the center of the mountain is public it's surrounded by private land and these people clearly do not like hunters. I only wish I had the concession for "No hunting" and "No trespassing" signs. I'd be rich. The land owners I talked to about ingress seemed like a bunch of old hippie hermits and were NOT helpful. The best access is from the East side where a very nice rancher, whom I met, allows access. You can get within a half mile of the mountain and then you need to hoof it. That was my plan until, a week before the hunt, after a few beers on the golf course, I fell down the stairs in my home and broke a bone in my foot. That called into play plan B. Plan B was the Dragoon mountains. Much more accessible but, because of this, I expected lots of hunters. I wasn't wrong. We came in two days early to do some more scouting and come up with a strategy and a campsite. There were no other hunting camps so all these hunters (mostly road hunters) must have been locals. My plan, with the broken foot, was to set up a blind overlooking a water source which I did. It was getting quite a bit of action but if there was a buck in the area he was using it at night. We saw only does which didn't surprise me. There were also other water option for the deer as there a cattle in the area. I did spend several hours each day with the spotting scope but never saw a deer of either sex. Had I seen a good buck I'd have gone after him, broken foot or not. The foliage on the North slopes is so thick, and there's so much for them to eat in the cover, there's really no need for them to feed out in the open. We did hear a few shots over the 7 days we hunted so someone might have been seeing deer. I only met one hunter who had taken a young buck. The hunters did present a problem. The water source I was hunting was about half way up a half mile long road which dead ended at the head of the canyon. At the beginning of the road I put up a sign saying "Please stop. Hunter in Blind" One day, just before sunrise, a jeep stops, reads the sign, then proceeds up to the water to see if there are any tracks. All the time I'm frantically flashing my flashlight which he couldn't have missed. After busting my set up he continues up the road and parks at the end which just happens to be right in the heart of the bedding area. That afternoon another jeep (sensing a trend?) does the exact same thing so our entire day was wasted due to inconsiderate "hunters". This happened several times while we were there. Folks, we public land hunters have to try to be a little more considerate and respect another hunter's space. Please don't camp set up your camp 100 feet from mine and if you can see someone's already in an area hunting it find another area. Let's all work together to make the experience as pleasurable as possible.

I have 9. Believe it or not the one I'm missing is Antelope. I've put in every year for 40 years and nada. Sheep scored 181 and while I took my buffalo back in the "pen" days it didn't work out that way. They had busted out of Houserock and were running wild in the Cocks Combs. Turned out to take 6 days and was a very physically challenging hunt.

My wife drew a rifle tag for the Nov. 8 WT hunt in 30B. This is a new area for us and I'm a little concerned about the danger from drug runners and illegals. Is this a route they use? I'll be starting my scouting for her soon and I'm just not sure whether to take her along. Also, can someone suggest the best way to access the unit where I'm not going to run into a private land dead end? Thanks!