buglethemin

I want to thank all my friends that helped on this hunt. It was a great hunt minus the rut. None what so ever in 4 of the 5 units I hunted. After 10 hard days of pounding the hills behind the glass and glassing up several solitude mule deer bucks and bachelor groups of bucks. I couldn't pass this guy up. He was running with 6 other bucks and was the biggest of the group. I was presented with a 256 yard shot and the 250grain TC shockwave from my CVA LR did its job. I still had ten days of hunting left and was really wanting to hunt these bucks in the rut but After passing several bucks most guys would shoot in the blink of an eye I told myself I better go after this guy. I passed up several bucks and great ones too on this hunt. A big thanks to Geno,Manny,John,Mike and Rod for taking time off and helping me glass the desert floors. Enjoy the pics.

I have a co worker interested in the swaro said I'll send you a pm so you can reply with your cousins number. Thanks

TTT

Score wise I don't know what do you guys think 160? I need to put some tape on him. Maybe 170ish?

No solo most of the time DIY December muzzleloader tag. My buddies came out on weekends or took a vacation day to help glass.

Agree with creed. Been hunting these deserts units 39/41/40a/42 for 20 years now and just finished my December muzzleloader hunt. Took a great buck but was tough and spent weeks scouting and 11 straight days hunting before tagging out. Glassed over 30 bucks in those 11 days of hunting and hunted/scouted in 4 of the 5 units provided and only found 2 bucks pushing 180 or better. Most of the bucks averaged 150-160 range. Not one of those bucks were with does. All were solo or bachelor up. Was out yesterday and today helping a buddy w archery gear and still no rut. Bucks were still solo and batched up. To make it worse. All bucks glassed bedded by 815am to maybe 9am and were down for the long haul. They wouldn't move till 430pm. If they were rutting that would definetely change. All I can suggest is if your good at glassing and know their habitat and patterns the desert/muzzy hunt can be a blast but long and fraustrating but very rewarding. Can't beat that December weather in the desert beautiful.

Good times buddy good times.

Sorry for the photos flipping. I have no clue why they flip

I have no clue what this guy might score have not even put tape to him. He is at the taxidermist now. I'll look into that. Here are some of the bucks I had passed opening weekend and week of the hunt. This first guy is a 3x4 with some stickers as seen from trail camera. Had him bedded at 830 am and he stayed there all day. Would have been a fun stalk. Second guy a nice 4x4 with extras. Had him opening morning but still too early. The last is a bedded 4x4 I had at 90 yards. Found him in 40a off vekol valley. That was fun. Border patrol all over chasing back packers. Enjoy. It was a fun hunting the surface of the moon. On the last photo if you look in the far right corner under the saguaro you'll see the bedded buck

Check in w the mcso deputies that work that area 602-876-1000 ask for dist 3. The guys that work that area are hunters and may have come across them or know someone who has.

I tried those federal bor in my cva and they sucked horrible will not use them. I found the best shooting bullet out of my cva was Thompson center shock wave bonded 250 grain w smooth sabot shot a 1.5 inch group at 200 yds. I'm excited about my muzzy hunt starting this Friday. Good luck.

Just curious how the desert general hunts went. 39/40/41/42. Any nice bucks taken? I glassed this little 3x3 this week that made it through the hunt. Just getting excited about my muzzleloader hunt next month

It's their day off and they are working an off duty job to make some extra cash for the holidays. So here they are working their day off to support their family as we know game and fish officers are way under paid. Let's give them a break.

Congrats outstanding buck. Love the dark antlers

Yes it did some young lady took it its huge probably 200 inch mark I have pic sent to me from g&f friend but I don't know the hunter.

Yes it did some you lady took it its huge probably 200 inch mark I have pic sent to me from g&f friend but I don't know the hunter.

It was not in regs you have to apply for it early In The year and you select what game you'd like to help if called. Select all if you do it. Once you send in you app. They compile all the apps do a draw to give you a random number. based on the number you drew and if they have problems in area they go down the list in order. They call you and you have 24hrs to say yes or no and usually the hunt starts a few days later and it is only for certain areas. If you say yes. You pay the fee for the tag if you say no then they go tho the. Next person. This hunt was only for the agg fields and adjoining washes to the fields. It's another chance to go hunting. I had friends get called for areas they had elk problems. The nice thing the tags are for any deer or any elk. They just want you to shoot does or cows with fawns to avoid any orphan issues.

Kelney that's too bad to hear you had a tough hunt. The early hunters for the depredation hunt did awesome in 41w. They were hunting the Mohawk valley area helping the farmers save some lettuce crops. Some big guys in velvet fell during that hunt. I really thought with the cooler weather the general hunters would of done good. I remember reading your muzzle loader post and the buck you killed was very nice. Here are some of those bucks on the agg fields in Mohawk valley

5 years so total of 7 pts w hunter Ed and loyalty

Well I finally got my best load for my cva. Talk about time and money but in the end I got a great consistent group and will be using this load for my December mule deer hunt. Here it is. 84gr of weighted BH209. Thompson/Center-Superglide-Shock-Wave-Sabot-Bullets-Bonded in 250gr. Cooled and cleaned barrel after each shot. Cleaned the breech plug after every shot. My 100 yd group was right at 1.5 inches but my 200 yd group was a 1inch group. Next range day I need to fine tune the group over the bullseye and push it out to 300 yds.

Gotcoues I think you found something using 70gr of BH powder in the cva accura LH. I weighed the powder to 70 gr and shot a 1/2 inch 4 shot group at 100 yds. For the first time i pushed it to 200 yards and shot a 1.5 inch 3 shot group. I tried a different bullet. TC Shockwave 250 gr. cleaned the breech after each shot and waited for barrel to cool and cleaned the barrel. Can't wait to push it to 250 and 300. I may have found a load that worked. Finally

Hey im having the same luck. Tried shooting bh 90gr by volume and it was all over the place at 100 yards. Tried using the new federal 270 gr and they didn't group worth anything. Cleaned breach every shot and barrel about every 4 shots. Went back to the 2 777 pellets total of 100gr with hornady 250 sst and got good groups again. I will try this week weighing the bh. I bought a scale. This muzzle loader stuff is fun but frustrating

Gotcoues great info. I really feel confident now in my purchase of the cva accura v2 LR. With the right load/data and training and practice. This muzzleloader will do great out to 300. Curious what scope are you using?

Sorry to hear that I won't be able to get out till next Tuesday to test again. I have a jr hunt to help w in 21.