mp_moody

No kidding, I saw grasshoppers in every color and every combination over in unit 29. It seemed my radiator preferred to collect the black bodied ones with red wings.

Third straight year of a leftover tag in unit 29, third straight year of tag soup for me. I had a heck of a good time and learned lots about finding the bucks, even though I didn't actually see any this time around. The weather didn't cooperate at all, with Saturday and Sunday being around 90 degrees and the unexpected thunderstorms on Monday. With the amount of habitat burned, I had to find new places to glass since all of the areas where I had seen bucks before are gone. Because I don't have any pictures of a buck, here are some randoms: I glassed up several hunters well off the beaten path: Wish this one had antlers on her: There are three does in the brush. Glassing ain't easy: Monday morning, before the thunderstorms ruined the day for us: I saved this six foot long gopher snake: This buzzworm wanted some of my beer (found in camp on Sunday afternoon): On Sunday, a group of hunters who made the drive from Flagstaff shot a MONSTER 4x4 with disgusting mass. I don't have any pictures either, but this buck had antlers that were thick like a mulie. I expect the rack to score easily 100+. They showed us what saddle they found him on, and there are supposedly a 3x3 and an even larger buck still up there. I have seen two really good bucks taken in this area over the past three years, and both required climbing ridiculously tall mountains. They seem to be watering in the early morning well before sunrise, then making their way up one side of the mountain and over the saddle to the other side or top to bed down during the day. Maybe next year I'll tag one.

I forgot to mention on Tuesday morning my buddy and I woke up at 4am and got to our glassing spot well before sunrise. Everything was cold and wet from the rain before. The two remaining buddies decided to sleep in til 9am, then do a little road hunting. Turns out, they spotted a group of does coming down a mountainside. The very last deer was a spike buck! The friend with a tag only had one round in his rifle, and didn't know the ballistics of 30-06 past 100 yards. As you can imagine, he grossly underestimated the range and wasted his only round. Why is it the kid that doesn't do any glassing has all the luck???

I've hunted down there the past two years, and will be out there tomorrow afternoon. Have seen lots of illegal sign, but no illegals and plenty of BP. Last year we camped 1/4 mile from the gate to our canyon with no issues whatsoever. If you see a gold Toyota Tacoma out there, be sure to say high. Lots of deer out there, spotting them is the trick. Good luck!

I work 12pm to 10pm tomorrow, then have Wednesday off. My hunting buddy doesn't get off until 6pm on Wednesday, and he doesn't want to make that long drive in the dark. We are leaving from his house by 530am on Thursday morning. Tomorrow will be an extremely unproductive day for me. On Wednesday, I really don't have much to do besides fill the water jugs. Looks like I will have to pass the time by drinking beer, as everything is packed and the truck is great shape. This is truly the best time of the year.

Yes, and last years hunt was full moon, this year not so much which I also like. Excellent, this means I might actually glass one up this year! Looks like it will be hot and dry.

So has anyone been out there yet? How are the canyons on the east side looking?

My rifle hunt starts on Oct 21, so this is going to be interesting. Obviously, there will be no scouting this year, but I'm going to the same canyon where my buddy got his 3x4 last year. It would be nice to tag a bear as well, but 29 and 30 are in the same hunt so I doubt the season will be open by then.

He said he wanted bear help, not pear help.

Congrats! Pictures?

Spent all day Sunday hunting. Had a great time, even though the hunt was miserable. Spotted four coues bucks, a doe, a fox, and got charged by a fawn. We spent Saturday night in the Mazatals, up high. Saw a Toyota Tundra with a CWT sticker as we were leaving. Hope he had better luck than us. Was told to check out Punkin Center, so we took a road that took forever and didn't get us to more than 4000 feet. Turned around and headed up the back side of Four Peaks. Spent close to eight hours looking for water, glassing, and and getting sunburned. I have learned that the Mazatals, Mt. Orm, Four Peaks, and everywhere in between are covered in manzanita and other thick sharp bushes. It was dang near impossible to leave the roads and check out the washes. Also, we couldn't find any water. No water= no bears. I am 100% sure if we could locate water, we will see something.

Went to go scout out 24A/B yesterday, but didn't even get the chance to leave the vehicle because the rain was so bad. My buddy and I are leaving tomorrow night around 10pm and are going to find a decent spot in the dark to crash. We plan on being up before sunrise glassing like crazy, and then leaving after sunset. Pending results, we may be back all next weekend.

I was planning on heading down there on the 3 day W/E next month. I need to see the area I hunt as the fire burned right thru it. Then again I don't think it will hurt the hunt to much. There are pro's and con's to hunting fresh burns. I may be interested in going with you on Sunday the 14th. What are the pros and cons for hunting a burned area? Any strategies? I have a tag in 29, and it looks like the Horseshoe 2 fire burned most of the unit.

If I could get drawn for a desert muley hunt, I'd be right there with you.

Started the stand in the dark and the bear showed up on the run at about the one hour mark of calling. Shot was cross canyon at 300 yards and culminated with a spectacular swan dive off of a cliff to the bottom of the canyon below....then the work began! You called for an hour? That is some dedication! What sound were you using?

Fffffuuuuu....I have hunted 29 with leftover tags for the past two years, and have fallen in love with the unit. I saw my first non road kill lion out there, and plenty of black bears. Anyone know when the roads are going to open back up? I've been pouring over the maps, and it looks like Horseshoe Canyon on the east side, where I hunt, has burned. I may take a few days off this month and head down there, just to check out access, unless someone says otherwise. I'd hate to have to eat this $42.50 leftover tag I just got in the mail today, but I don't want to be stuck down the one or two intact canyons with 500 other hunters. Edit: some unit 29 pics From the 2009 hunt, my very first time out here. My buddy and I played weekend warrior and lucked out on Saturday morning by spotting a spike among some does. My buddy missed the shot, but we were hooked. During a scouting trip last year, I spotted a bear in this drainage just a few days before the bear season opened. Opening day, looking back at camp. My buddy's brother spotted a buck in this green drainage last year. He got away, but this was the very first buck we glassed in the unit.

The picture quality looks great! If you don't mind me asking, how much did you pick this camera up for? I'm in the market for one.

Monday, July 18 at 10:00am. It worries me that everyone is guessing sometime this week. I will be camping until Saturday, so it looks like I'll have to drive back to Mormon Lake until I can get a signal on my phone to check the draw results.

I have been debating bringing my scoped AR on a coues hunt loaded with 75gr BTHP bullets. I figure if it works okay on a 150lb man at extended ranges, there should be no problem on a coues deer within a few hundred yards as long as I get some decent shot placement. My buddy's dad brought a scoped Mini 14 on the coues hunt last year and had a bedded down 3x4 within a hundred yards of his location for at least an hour. If only he hadn't left the rifle across the canyon. Edit: I was fully ready to use an AR on a mule deer if I got drawn for a hunt up on the Rim back when I first started putting in for tags. The accuracy and fast followup shots are tough to beat.

Well, yesterday in my fall back spot by pleasant was a bust. Right now I am sitting three miles north of the lake, eating a freeze dried lunch and enjoying the 3g coverage. About half an hour ago, we kicked up a monster 4x4 mule deer and about eight does. No javelina so far though, it's starting to get frustrating. Speaking of frustration, I'm amazed how bad the area has been torn apart by cattle and wild burros. 99% of the sign we've seen is from them.

Had a downright miserable time in 20B. Woke up Friday morning to lows somewhere below freezing. Didn't get going to our spot til well after sunup. Saw nothing move all day. We ended up driving from Bumblebee back to the Walmart at Happy Valley and I-17 to get a tent heater and lots of cold medicine. Didn't see anything yesterday except for a pair of muley does around noon. Woke up this morning to a lot of wind. My cold is now five days old and not getting any better. Headed home today to nap, do laundry, watch the Superbowl, etc. We are planning on heading out to a spot by Lake Pleasant tomorrow morning where I have seen javelina many times before. Waiting for this Nyquil to kick in, hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with pictures.

Got drawn for HAM in 20B. Funny thing is, I don't own a bow or muzzleloader. Not sure if I want to go out and get a revolver, use a centerfire Sig pistol, or if I want to use a 16" scoped AR upper on a pistol lower receiver.

Leaving tomorrow night for 29. Plan on driving all night with a buddy, then sleeping during the morning. Thursday afternoon will be spent checking out a new area and possibly tagging a bear (if the unit is still open).

Saw one in a southern unit the previous weekend, cried quietly to myself knowing that he wasn't in season for another few days.

Just got back from four days of scouting unit 29. We spent the entire time on the eastern side of the Chiricahuas, and plan to hunt one or two particular canyons. This scouting trip was more successful than my first coues hunt last year because we actually saw more than a spike buck. However, the bucks we spotted were found via spotlighting, and not glassing. In fact, we only saw a doe while glassing in the mornings/evenings. My theory is the bucks are staying in the higher elevations because of the heat and only coming down to ~5000 feet a few hours after sunset. Does this sound about right? Both bucks were in the same general area, but I really don't know where to begin in finding them on opening morning. Do I need to man up and be prepared to hike a lot higher up? The areas we glassed were anywhere from 5000 to 5500 feet in elevation. The only buck I saw taken in this area last year was in fact killed near the top of a mountain by a tough old man in better shape than me! The true success of the scouting trip was that I glassed a bear over a mile away yesterday afternoon. I could hardly contain my excitement as I frantically pointed him out to my hunting buddies. He wandered out of a ridiculously steep drainage and up into another. Unfortunately, I did have a tag but the season does not open until Friday. Both units 29 and 30A have a limit of 3 females, so I really do hope bear is still open on Oct 22! I assume there are at least three bears in this portion of the canyon, based on the size of tracks and distance between sign. The two big issues of this weekend: 1) This area got a lot of rain. The grass is tall and insects are plentiful. There were numerous kinds of grasshoppers, butterflies, dozens of tarantulas, and a plague of mosquitos. I have bites on parts of my body that were 100% covered by clothing. It looks like I'm going to have to invest in a citronella candle for camp, a lot more DEET, and maybe one of those Thermacell devices. 2) The Slik tripod coupled with Jim White binocular adapter is great, but doesn't allow you to pan up and down or tilt the binoculars. I learned this thirty seconds into the first glassing session and kicked myself for not realizing this sooner. I'm going to have to email Amanda about a panning tripod head that will work with my combo. Anyone have any general tips to finding bucks or maybe some gear suggestions? Thanks!