Yuma Outdoorsman

Congrats on both CO bucks you killed. Thanks for sharing.

Perfect shot. Congrats on your success!

Nice desert buck. Congrats to Max. It was a warm hunt this year.

Awesome buck. Thanks for sharing.

There are definitely a lot more birds across the border and there is a guide service over there that does very well. My daughter does love it. She luckily loves the outdoors just like I do. We actually are fishing a bass tournament together on Saturday. Both of us can’t wait. For the October hunt, we would find them mostly in lettuce fields. This was before food safety became as strict as it is now. The pheasant have full color in October usually. I might have to go try to shoot a couple with my bow again. We managed to get a couple with our bows but it was ground shots. Still pretty cool. These wild ones absolutely fly haha they are pretty dang smart.

There still is an archery only hunt for pheasant. ARCHERY-ONLY PHEASANT Open Areas do not include areas within municipal parks, municipal preserves, county parks, county preserves, airports, golf courses, or posted water treatment facilities (except as specifically opened in this Commission Order) or areas closed to hunting under A.R.S. Sections 17-303 and 17-304 or Commission Rules R12-4-321, R12-4-801, R12-4-802 and R12-4-803. Season Dates Notes Open Areas Legal Wildlife Oct 17, 2025 - Feb 8, 2026 (3) Open areas Statewide (excluding National Wildlife Refuges) Any pheasant

Just curious if anybody on this forum has ever been down to Yuma to pheasant hunt. They used to have this as a draw type hunt broken down into several different seasons throughout the fall. We always hoped for the later draws as the birds would color up better in October vs September. Now, it is an open hunt that follows the same dates as dove season. It has been an open hunt for a several seasons now and the pheasant are few and far between. Mix that in with the standing cotton we have left in September and it becomes really tough. We don't hunt them the "proper" way with a dog pointing them and flushing them. Instead, it becomes more of a spot and stalk or hope for them to be in an area where they think they are hidden. I am sure some people do use dogs and point them but we mostly hunt in or around the cotton fields and these pheasant won't flush easily; they usually just take off running and you can hear them on the dry leaves in the furrows. This season, we made it out several times but only managed 3 roosters. We saw 15 roosters and 3 hens total for the season. Most of the time, they run into the cotton and become almost impossible to find. We did trick a few though. The first one, he was outside of a cotton field about 50 yards. I glassed him and walked from the opposite side of the field to where he was. He saw me and immediately hunkered down in the border and thought he was hidden. I marked him and came up from behind him and he flushed at 15 yards. When chasing pheasant in Yuma, I tend to have longer shots more often than not so I prefer #2 steel shot as the tighter pattern works great in the 30-50 yard range. Well, for this first one, I must have not put my duck loads back correctly last season and I ended up loading in BB shot and at 15 yards, I did some damage on this poor rooster. you will notice his tail feathers are completely blown off. Oops. The 2nd one, the wind was blowing 20mph and you can see with my daughter's face holding the pheasant. It was dusty and it was getting in her eyes which is why she has the face she does in the photo. He ran across an open field in front of us and into a cut cotton field that still had the beds up but cotton was gone. I saw what bed he laid in and we walked to the spot and he ended up jumping up at about 50 yards and with that #2 shot, I was able to connect and get us the second rooster of the season. Last night, just before legal light was no more, I spotted this rooster in a disced cotton field. He saw us and flew to the other end of the field and just laid down. I couldn't tell exactly where he was from our location and looking back into the sun though. We drove to the other end of the field and got out and started walking to where we thought he could be. He ended up flushing up at about 60 yards and I took one shot and knocked him a little sideways but he kept going. We watched him glide across a couple fields to the south and to a ditch bank. With about 10 minutes of shooting light left, we hauled butt over there. I got out and walked the ditch bank and found him "hiding" in a tumbleweed. I got to 10 yards and he flushed up and I let him get to about 25 yards and dropped him. Rooster #3 of the season and it was the most colorful pheasant of the season for us.

Congratulations, nice buck! Thanks for sharing.

I saw this on social media and didn’t see it posted here. Thought I would share. Stud ram. Pretty cool story that the tag ended up being donated to a veteran. 👏🏻

I drew a rifle tag for this year. Last year was the first time I didn’t get drawn when I put in for rifle deer. 1999-2007 I was drawn each year, then I didn’t put in 08’ or 09’, 2010-2023 I was drawn every year. We mixed and matched some units but all less desired hunts I guess you could say. After finding some big bucks in the archery hunt in January, I can’t wait to get out there in November. 20250131_235607000_iOS.mov

They are probably like the snowbirds in Yuma. We have more and more every year that become full time residents and quit migrating back north for the summer.

He was pretty dang wide. I decided to give him another year 😂😂😂

20250131_235607000_iOS.mov Well, I gave it one last shot this afternoon and the only shot I got was this video of this dude running off with his does. He was a dandy. Well outside his ears and heavy. Hopefully find him next rifle season.

Hopefully get on him this weekend. He’s 4 miles from the nearest hill out in the flats. Tough to glass the area but will do what I can to find him.

Archery hunting is so tough. Got within 100 yards but his does weren’t having it 🤦🏻‍♂️