Yuma Outdoorsman

Sad but true.

I work in the ag industry. The water is getting tight and they are already feeling the wrath. The acreage that people are willing to farm are being cut due to water and farming expenses. One other interesting thing I heard was that some "business folks" have approached growers about being paid to leave their ground fallow. They were being offered some pretty substantial amounts of money to not grow anything. Tempting for a farmer who would be paid what his normal contract would be from a shipper to grow for them, Only this would be 100% profit and no grower costs (labor, gas, seed, fertilizer, spray, etc.)....This is the first I've ever heard of it in my area but I heard it's been attempted in the past in other places, mainly California. With all the fires across the country at food processing plants, there are some concerning issues between both food and water going on.

Few and far between. People should stay up north no doubt!

That would be amazing.

Ya Cabeza will be as green as ever with all the rain it’s had this monsoon. It awesome though. These animals need it.

That is crazy but we could sure use all the rain. Been a great monsoon season thus far.

Getting more rain in some of Unit 39 and a few of the 40's units of the desert. Should be some fat and happy deer over the next few months. Only 83 days until the opener. Should be a great rifle season.

That mount looks awesome man! Congratulations on a nice ram also! well done.

I hope they are spread out. Makes the hunting tougher for road hunters!

Everyone that can't pay, are you using a phone or a computer? I didn't have any issues at all on a computer.

I did the application on my lap top and so did a buddy of mine and there was no option to enter our date of birth. That's interesting, I hope I did it right.

I paid just a minute ago. Got my receipt via email.

@sidwynder505 Congratulations to your wife. Looks like you guys will be eating well through the winter! Awesome job!

I knew they would be out but I was just curious if there would be less. It sucks for us desert rats because it seems like most of the camera issues/problems are way north of us and have little to no impact on what goes on down here. I had a camera on 3 waterholes last year from August-October and I never saw another camera on any of them. Sucks to not watch all the animals coming in to drink this year.

I will only apply for the one desert mule deer hunt so they can take my $13. It's worth it for the chance to hunt desert muleys in February.

@Norteno nice video and congrats on that bull. I enjoyed that.

Man off the back patio makes it hurt more. I hope you find them and can find out who did it. That is terrible.

I’ve had bad luck with tags in the mail. Interestingly enough, The last 2 years I had to get ahold of game and fish to ask where my tag was. I’ve updated my address the previous 2 years in person with them when I got my tag and the following season I did not get it in the mail and had to go to the office to get one. Hoping year 3 is my lucky year!

Sorry to hear of your wife's passing. Wishing you the best and for safe travels and great fishing in this difficult time.

My brother borrowed my Nikon P1000 and snapped these photos of a couple bulls that were out around 600 yards. He said there was easily 200+ elk out there and the bulls were sticking closer to the tree lines.

Somebody I follow on Instagram shared a video that AZGFD has on their Instagram of a flash flood up around Flagstaff after they got an inch of rain. FullSizeRender.MOV

I am sure this topic has come up before but I tried searching it with the search feature and didn't see anything. I'll start though. I first started putting in for deer when I was 13 years old. That was in 1999. We drew unit 39. I had the opportunity to get a giant but buck fever got me like crazy. The following season, I got drawn for a different desert unit in the 40's and I was just looking for a forkie. I had the chance to shoot one and just flat missed. In hindsight, I am glad I missed but at the time I was so bummed. It is crazy what a 115lb fork n horn mule deer buck can make you feel when you are 14 years old. I was shaking like crazy. Another year and another missed chance. In 2001, we hunted the same unit where I had missed the fork n horn. My dad had tagged out on a buck on Thursday. He was walking a wash on fresh tracks and kicked a buck up. By the time he saw it, the buck was too far to shoot at. He gathered himself and decided he should just stay on the tracks. He quickly realized he had not spooked the buck too bad as the tracks indicated the buck was walking again and he was able to catch up to it 2 miles later and it hopped out and stopped at 75 yards and he dropped it. A nice 3x4 that I unfortunately do not have a photo of. Fast forward to Saturday morning, we cut a set of fresh buck tracks crossing a road about 1.5 miles from a waterhole. It was a single set of tracks and I told my dad to let me out and I think would follow them as best as I could. This is the day I learned how much fun tracking deer in soft desert terrain can be. I get on the tracks and I can remember walking for what seemed like an eternity and it was only 1 mile. The tracks were mostly in open terrain at the start and I was eye balling every single tree in the nearest wash just waiting for the buck to jump out. I got close to the mile 2 mark and the deer tracks started circling trees more and more. I remember following the tracks into greasewood thickets that were atleast 6ft tall and were too thick to even see through. Had the buck been bedded in them, he could've jumped up and I never would've had a chance. This whole time tracking this buck, I was headed west. After about 3 or 4 of those greasewood thickets and 3 miles on these tracks, the buck's tracks turned and start going northeast. These are desert flats I am walking where the nearest hill is probably 4 miles any direction at this point. I took about 4-5 steps following his tracks northwest and I looked up and through some scattered greasewoods 50 yards away is a lone ironwood with enough shade to hide a buck. I remember picking up my gun, which was a .243 and through the scope, I saw a giant rack slowly turn and look at me head on. The adrenaline rush was instant. I put my crosshairs right where I thought his chest was and I am pretty sure I closed my eyes but I pulled the trigger and all I saw was dust and legs kicking. I quickly jacked another shell in and fired another round. Then, boom, another round. I saw after the 3rd shot, I saw that he was still kicking so I moved up to 30 yards and put another round in him to finish him off. I walked up to the deer and remember radioing to my dad that I got him. He asked how big he was and I had no clue. I couldn't even count. I was shaking so much. I had no idea at the time but my little brother and dad were about 1.5 mile away on an open malapai mesa watching me. They had pulled off of a road they found and just got the binos out to watch me. My brother told me they were cracking up watching me walk in circles around the greasewood thickets trying to follow his tracks. They thought I had lost them. They made there way down that malapai and we were able to get some photos on and old disposable camera and get him gutted and loaded up into our old Bronco II. This was the start of what I can only describe as an obsession with desert mule deer. After getting this buck in 2001, I do not think I harvested another buck until 2009 or 2010. You can learn a lot about the desert hunting and not harvesting. I sure did. I now have a pretty good idea of what I am doing after MANY years of failing. We do not kill the trophy quality type bucks that most dream of but we have shot some dandy desert bucks. I have lots of stories of my most recent kills but I still have yet to harvest a buck bigger than my first. I have never had him scored but I would guess him to be around the 165-170 mark. He is a 4x5 with a 1.5" kicker on his left side and is 27 1/2 inches wide. One more thing I want to add is that my dad, brother and I have killed all of our bucks with a .243. They are light to carry when walking and are deadly accurate out to 250 yards. I could not imagine using another rifle for the way we like to hunt. I know a lot of people ask what caliber is best for the kid's starting off and man a .243 is just hard to beat. The first 2 photos are from 2001. Gotta love them old cameras. The wall photo is the buck at my house. I had some friends surprise me with a shoulder mount and the taxidermist they new was new and he used a doe insert instead of a buck. It does make the rack look bigger though 😂

Great story and congratulations!

One heck of a fork n horn! Congrats!

I’m going deer hunting this fall! 🕺🏻