Calebwalter

I’m a very lucky man. When I told her I wanted to step into big game hunting, and I wanted to buy a particular rifle, she fooled me and said we couldn’t afford it at the fine, then went out and bought it for me for Father’s Day! i appreciate the offer! Sadly there is never enough time in a day anymore. Next week I’m going to go shawdow a nice gentleman in 24A, and the following weekend is Halloween. I told my wife I would be home that weekend because the following weekend is my hunt and my plan is to be in the field up to 4 days. If you guys are hunting after that I will try to take you up on that offer!

Except that I haven’t asked for any spots. Just advice.

It’s techniques like this that I haven’t learned. That’s a good way to look at things. Thank you.

I was recommended the Jay Scott podcast and that’s where I first learned about Duwane Adams. I mentioned it to my wife, and unknown to me she reached out to him and signed me up for a glassing class. He said he wasn’t doing any more classes this year and signed me up for February.

Haha I think I’ll pass on sucking on deer poop 😉 Who is Amanda?

I’m not an experience hiked and I’m out of shape. I’m hoping determination will out weigh the other two factors 😂 I hiked some pretty nasty stuff yesterday and didn’t fall or have a heartache so I think I should be ok. as for quartering a deer, I’ve never hunted in my life. So I’ve done as much research as possible, and if I’m lucky enough to find a deer, let alone shoot it, I guess we will see how the processing part goes.

If I’m finding poop and bedding areas near water that’s probably a good sign right? Is there a good way to determine how old their poop is? To get an idea how recently they were there? I know javelina will eat the prickly pear cactus pads, but while our hiking yesterday, I was following a game trail from some deer beds, found lots of poop, and then I saw a prickly pear that looked like it had bites taken out of it. Do Coues deer eat cactus? Or mainly just grass?

One place was about 5500, another place is about 4900-5000, but the majority of my time scouting south of the pinals is about 3200-4600

Originally that’s where I wanted to go. But haystack butte rd is closed. I also went up to Seneca Rd To try to get to regal canyon or Phillips canyon up by the salt river and the reservation has that road closed with a big sign that reads “road closed due to Covid”.

After I was drawn I researched this forum. Found a good thread that was years old talking about how they have over hunter the deer in this unit, and how the lion population is getting out of hand. Seems people used to like 24A and now they don’t.

Yes it is. Everything between the 188 and the 60 north of globe is closed almost all the way to timber camp. I’ve called the Mesa Ranger Station and they said they have no intention of opening it until it has rained. I also talked to azgfd and they said most likely the Forest rangers will keep it closed after it rains for a short period because the risk of mudslides in areas that are freshly burned.

Ok. That’s a good way to judge speed!

This is great advice. I’ve been looking “for deer” in general. Picking apart Every piece of the landscape seems like a more thorough way to approach it. If I’ve found beds and poop within A reasonable distance to water do you think those clues are enough to to warrant spending more time glassing that area?

I know there are better but it’s the best that I could afford this year. Since this is my first year hunting it’s been an expensive year haha. Rifle, scope, binos, tripod, backpack etc. People I’ve asked said that because of the fires, and lack of summer rains, that the Coues deer are going to be in lower elevations looking for water. Do you think that’s true? A nice lady who hinted to living at a ranch south of globe, said that she’s seen a couple deer at their cattle tanks and a boat load of coyotes.

This will be my strategy on my next outing. Maybe I’ve been glassing hillsides that are too close, In the 100-300 yards away range. ive watched every meateater episode about Coues deer and Steve Rinella said something like “once you see one, and your eyes know what to look for, you will see more”. That’s what I’m hoping for, I just haven’t seen one yet...