Thoughts on draw

[goinhuntn]

Curious as to what some of you would? I have 12 points for deer. I have been holding out for late Kaibab & the strip, but I have along way to go unless I get lucky. My question is even if I did draw my scouting would be limited 1 or 2 trips to a unit I have never set foot in & will not hire a guide. I thought about burning my points on a unit I can scout almost every weekend & know the unit well. There have been some big deer taken out of this unit, but they are far & few between. If I scout all summer long I think I could find a respectable buck. Just curious what some of you would do, would you hold out or burn points & find a respectable buck in a lesser unit? I know there is the potential of a 170 to 180 class buck in this unit.

[Chef]

A lot of 170-class bucks get killed on the Kaibab late hunts.  That's the truth.

[UggRedBilly]

20 minutes ago, goinhuntn said:

Curious as to what some of you would? I have 12 points for deer. I have been holding out for late Kaibab & the strip, but I have along way to go unless I get lucky. My question is even if I did draw my scouting would be limited 1 or 2 trips to a unit I have never set foot in & will not hire a guide. I thought about burning my points on a unit I can scout almost every weekend & know the unit well. There have been some big deer taken out of this unit, but they are far & few between. If I scout all summer long I think I could find a respectable buck. Just curious what some of you would do, would you hold out or burn points & find a respectable buck in a lesser unit? I know there is the potential of a 170 to 180 class buck in this unit.

I went last year with a guy to the 12AW late hunt. We spent 5 days before the season started scouting and 2 days hunting. Saw a lot of 150 bucks. A handful of 160. 1 pushing 170. And 1 really nice typical 180 that evaded us opening morning. Lots of deer. But not a lot of giants. Scouting will help you look for a lay of the land and where each road takes you but by the time your hunt starts the deer are migratory in that unit. Patterns and locations will change depending on weather in the area. Really fun hunt but not what it was even 5 years ago either. 

Keep saving points for a year you'll have lots of time to scout and get a strip archery tag. You are getting close to a 13A tag

[goinhuntn]

52 minutes ago, UggRedBilly said:

I went last year with a guy to the 12AW late hunt. We spent 5 days before the season started scouting and 2 days hunting. Saw a lot of 150 bucks. A handful of 160. 1 pushing 170. And 1 really nice typical 180 that evaded us opening morning. Lots of deer. But not a lot of giants. Scouting will help you look for a lay of the land and where each road takes you but by the time your hunt starts the deer are migratory in that unit. Patterns and locations will change depending on weather in the area. Really fun hunt but not what it was even 5 years ago either. 

Keep saving points for a year you'll have lots of time to scout and get a strip archery tag. You are getting close to a 13A tag

I have been holding out for the late kaibab hunt or the strip. I can’t archery hunt anymore as I have a torn rotator cuff so archery is out of the question. My post was would you burn points on a lesser unit you can scout every weekend versus the Kaibab or strip that I would only be able to scout 1 or 2 times if I even drew either of them. The unit I am thinking about burning points on I know really well & can scout every weekend until the season.

[trphyhntr]

1 hour ago, Chef said:

A lot of 170-class bucks get killed on the Kaibab late hunts.  That's the truth.

And they’re still nice bucks. 

[trphyhntr]

36a late carp 

[452b264]

2 hours ago, goinhuntn said:

Curious as to what some of you would? I have 12 points for deer. I have been holding out for late Kaibab & the strip, but I have along way to go unless I get lucky. My question is even if I did draw my scouting would be limited 1 or 2 trips to a unit I have never set foot in & will not hire a guide. I thought about burning my points on a unit I can scout almost every weekend & know the unit well. There have been some big deer taken out of this unit, but they are far & few between. If I scout all summer long I think I could find a respectable buck. Just curious what some of you would do, would you hold out or burn points & find a respectable buck in a lesser unit? I know there is the potential of a 170 to 180 class buck in this unit.

I have 14 points and been chasing point creep for a late Kaibab tag. Five/six year's ago you needed 11/12 points now you need 20. 

If I had the knowledge of a unit that you do and could draw it with 5/7 points after you burn your points then yes I would consider it.

I have been constipating this myself since It now takes about 10/11 points to draw the early 12 a west hunt.  

[RJ75]

have been constipating this

ouch! 

[Chef]

7 hours ago, trphyhntr said:

And they’re still nice bucks. 

Not why you put in for the late Kaibab hunts though.

[NOTAGS]

to the OP, burn your points in the other unit, go hunting... leaves one more tag for me with my .000001% chance

[jbone]

If you can kill or hunt a 180" buck in this lesser unit that you can draw, that's a no brainer. Most will not kill or see a 180" buck on the late Kaibab or the Strip during their hunt. Especially if you haven't ever stepped foot in any of the units.

[trphyhntr]

South of the ditch general season 180, eh? Good luck to ya 

[creed]

11 minutes ago, trphyhntr said:

South of the ditch general season 180, eh? Good luck to ya 

It helps to be both lucky and good

[EarlyBronco]

Anyone got a pic of a true 180” buck that’s been measured ? Just curious as I never get anything scored 

[Big or Bust]

3 hours ago, trphyhntr said:

South of the ditch general season 180, eh? Good luck to ya 

This day in age, a 180 buck is the new 200"...

I've been lucky to kill quite a few on general rifle tags but way harder now than just a few years ago. No fawn crop basically from 2019 through 2021 let alone the latest droughts. Very tough....