Tough year???

[BeardownAZ]

I noticed this year what seemed to be a lack of mule deer in general in the unit I hunted(28). Went back to a area we had good luck with last year and even sign of deer was almost completely absent. These where good areas with all tanks full of water. Heard the same thing about alot of the neighboring units as well. I dont know about Coues but Mule deer really seem to be struggling and they keep dishing out the tags. Did anybody else seem to notice these things? What causes it, weather, cats, etc??

[elk77hunter]

I've noticed it in 42....only heard one shot in 3 days in the vulture mountains. It could have been the storm that came through that caused it. Not sure, but either way we didn't see much for deer.

[BeardownAZ]

I've noticed it in 42....only heard one shot in 3 days in the vulture mountains. It could have been the storm that came through that caused it. Not sure, but either way we didn't see much for deer.

 

I didnt hear a single shot....that has never happened in all my time of hunting. Kind of a strange year.

[POJV]

We were in 44A, and also noticed the lack of deer sightings, many signs but lack of sightings.

What we did see was many off road vehicles that were off road, not on a designated road or even a rough resemblance of a road, and I would venture to guess that was helping the lack of deer sightings.

[Quagmire]

Last year had the same experience in 31. Saw plenty of mulies in 2009 but 2010 was horrible. Only saw 1 doe in 5 days of hard hunting. Ran in to other hunters who had a hard time finding them too. Hunting a different unit this year for coues though.

[mattobertin]

I highly doubt the number of deer dropped in a unit so dramatically in one or even a couple of years for that matter. I have been in your shoes a number of times and I believe it all has to do with weather, rainfall, hunting pressure etc.(theres many different factors) say it doesnt rain the same amount or even at the same time of year as it did in years past you will have different feeds coming in or not coming in so the deer move to the food whatever that may be any given year.

[.270]

lots of things affect how many deer are in an area. but this decades long drought, outlawing trapping, severely limiting lion season and increasing the h e l l out of "hunter opportunity" (in other words, $$$$$) has had a definite affect. where i always hunt the weather in the spring and early summer decides whether or not their prefered food source is there and the weather this time of year decides whether or not they come down out of higher country to that food source. it was a rough hunt. we got 2 mediocre bucks. had to chase one several miles while it trailed a doe and had to go into absolutely horrible rough country that we normally avoid for the other one. passed on a couple real dinks and just like every year for about the past 15 years, saw more bighorn rams than muley bucks. sure looks to me like they could let out a lot more bighorn permits. increase the "hunter opportunity" ($$$$$) a little. but all in all, it was a tough hunt. saw very few deer. it was very dry. just about every palo verde i saw was either dead or severely stressed and looked like they would die. cactus was all in bad shape. lots of dead saquaros that were alive last year, pancakes laying on the ground and paper thin, dead and near dead barrel cactus everywhere. we need some rain badly. hunted every day and didn't average 2 muleys a day. including does. did get into several bunches of coues one day. but i still had fun and really enjoyed myself. and i could have busted a couple different bucks, but didn't want to shoot a little one. maybe i'll find one of em in 4 or 5 years. Lark.

[echo co.]

All the deer know when hunting season starts so they move hide once seasons over you'll see them :D

[Coues79]

28, 29, 30's and 31 had a real bad Winter/Spring last year; From the start of this year, my ol' man in Safford has 2.84" of moisture since January.

 

I spent two days in 28 for the early hunt and ventured into country that has seen my family with a lot of success over the years. We have taken some very big mule deer out of the country we were in. Opening day my wife and I spent hours and hours behind glass and covered a lot of country... it's the first time I've ever been skunked with not seeing a deer in 28. The tanks all had water but no sign on them at all.

 

Over the past severely bad winter/spring, the tanks must have dried up causing the deer to have to move out of the country. I don't know of too many permanent water sources where we were at so what are the options for them when the tanks dry up?

 

We did spend the next day in some different country with permanent water sources and did see deer, but nothing like I saw last year in the same country. It sucked! I had been optimistic the last two years for 28 because I had spent a lot of time in there and have seen a lot of deer.... this last winter/spring did them in for a few years IMO. If we can get some decent winters backed up to good monsoons for several years, the deer herd will get back to good.

[BeardownAZ]

28, 29, 30's and 31 had a real bad Winter/Spring last year; From the start of this year, my ol' man in Safford has 2.84" of moisture since January.

 

I spent two days in 28 for the early hunt and ventured into country that has seen my family with a lot of success over the years. We have taken some very big mule deer out of the country we were in. Opening day my wife and I spent hours and hours behind glass and covered a lot of country... it's the first time I've ever been skunked with not seeing a deer in 28. The tanks all had water but no sign on them at all.

 

Over the past severely bad winter/spring, the tanks must have dried up causing the deer to have to move out of the country. I don't know of too many permanent water sources where we were at so what are the options for them when the tanks dry up?

 

We did spend the next day in some different country with permanent water sources and did see deer, but nothing like I saw last year in the same country. It sucked! I had been optimistic the last two years for 28 because I had spent a lot of time in there and have seen a lot of deer.... this last winter/spring did them in for a few years IMO. If we can get some decent winters backed up to good monsoons for several years, the deer herd will get back to good.

 

Yeah, it would be nice for some decent years of wet weather. There just aren't as much mule deer as there used to be. I dont think G&F really manages them well either. Seems they're more concerned with wolves and ferrets or whatever. Alot seems to be working against them. Wish they would really cut the tags for a while and maybe put in a antler point minimum or something.

[jwhernandez]

I agree we had a tagfor the first hunt passed on some smaller bucks got a shot at onefour pointer never got another shot after the second day kinda strange for that hunt

[Hunterjohnny]

20B was the same. Except waterholes were dry, not one I found had water. Areas normally good were not. I must have been in a different drainage than they were. Didnt hear one single shot! Now that is odd.

[200"mulie]

i think the mule deer are still in a decline in most of the southern units...it would have to come down to rainfall and predators.

[Coues&Bass]

November 4 to 10 we went 2 for 4. Bad weather helped with the hunt. After weather moved out and the moon came into play the deer were scarce. When the weather was bad we seen more bucks then does.

[JLW]

just grab your bows and hang on cause the rut is coming and there ain't nothin' like it!

Come on DECEMBER 9th!

 

james