MrBojangles

somebody suggested taking benadryl, how does that help the situation?

Christmas will be just a little early for that area in my opinion. Mid January is usually when they tend to be rutting. hmm where would be better for the rut then around xmas? the 17s and north? just to be sure is it based more off the elevation the deer live at or the north vs south part of the state? i was under the assumption the northern part of the state ruts earlier and then trickles down further south, maybe im wrong though

thanks everyone for all the help looking now a little further south around wickenburg where the densities are a little higher. would rather see more deer than less deer on my first western (i guess eastern for me) hunt. should they be rutting that far south during the week of christmas?

It's definitely pretty out there! I stumbled upon it years ago while playing with a rhino gps on a deer hunt, go figure. Almost every animal I've taken since has been during one of the movement periods, and every single trail cam picture I have is during one. Science is wild! i looked but only going to be "average" for my dates. hopefully the rut will make up for it

^mind blowing stuff!

can you explain this in a little more depth? I've never really paid attn to lunar phase bc i usually just hunt when i can, but if i remember correctly the brighter the moon the less daytime movement? also i should look for more spring typw water sources than ponds? they just dont like the company/competition?

lol yes that would be correct yea we are pretty spoiled here not a lot of people realize the hunting opportunities we have here in hawaii. i hadnt really considered cous as that seems like a whole other level of hunting esp with a bow. mule deer seems like it might be more doable but I know it will still take a lot of luck and planning.

Great point about transition areas and diverse forage thx!

Yes we have axis deer on Lanai Maui and Molokai that we can hunt year-round with no bag limits. It's a lot of fun. There's no predators so the population is unchecked. Kauai even has blacktail deer but they are like ghosts. Most island have pigs and goats and some have black sheep and mouflon