Unit 30B

[nursinaz]

I have a tag for an early hunt in 30B. I'm finding it difficult to find areas to focus on with so much private land and little public access. Thoughts? Experience in the area?

[Pine Donkey]

Park and walk. Plenty of areas and plenty if deer.

[Scooter]

Yeah 30B can be pretty confusing. I live in Sierra Vista and usually hunt 35A, but I've done a little exploring in 30B. The access points I've used have always been off of Charleston Rd. east of the San Pedro RNCA. Look for the "State Trust Land" signs on gates along the road. That'll get you into some really good rolling hills mule deer type country. Check this link- the San Pedro RNCA has tons of deer, but it takes a lot of work getting to them:

 

http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/blm_special_areas/ncarea/sprnca/hunting.html

 

here's the AZGFD write up on the area. I really don't know much about access to the Mule Mtns or the Dragoons other than there are a few spots near Tombstone...

 

http://www.azgfd.gov/h_f/hunting_units_30b.shtml

[arizonaelitefreak]

Is it an early coues or muledeer tag?

[mklong40]

roads out of Tombstone will get you started. Like Pine Donkey said; Gonna have to hike it to find deer. Tough unit but good deer if you can locate them.

[Snapshot]

I have found deer in unit 30B for over 30 years.

 

Found them by putting my boots on the ground, and looking.

[200"mulie]

Yup find a good spot to camp and do some hiking

[nursinaz]

I knew it would take some mileage on my part. Thanks for reaffirming! LOL

 

It's an early coues hunt. And I can't wait!

[Scooter]

It will be interesting to see how your hunt goes... 30B is so close by here and I've never purposely looked for Coues deer there...

[Bisbee]

Try Middlemarch Rd Pass or Cochise Stronghold West

[Snapshot]

IMO -Private land is more of a concern for mule deer hunters, because of the large ranches on the East, and south end of the unit. As well as all the "Ranchette's" that have sprung up over the years from parcels being sold off. The Mule Mts, are harder to get into.

 

If you take Middlemarch road from the Tombstone side to the forest road that runs along the west face of the Dragoons, you can drive all the way back to a primitive camping area at the West Cochise Stronghold trail area. There will be lots of people camping along that forest road from Middlemarch. You can also take Middlemarch to the forest road that runs south, along the southern end of the Dragoons, and there are some spots to hunt if you are willing to do some hiking in steeper terrain.

 

 

I usually put in for 30B as my 3rd through 5th choice. Not that it is a good area, it is spotty at best, but I used to hunt there as a teenager, and I kind of like the area from the good times I had there as a youngster, Back in the "Good ole days"

[200"mulie]

Dragoons will have much more public land ... just limited roads ... do some hiking get away from the crowds and use your glass to breakdown hill sides or in the bottoms...

[bunhead]

Not much on 30B so I thought I'd report. My wife drew a rifle tag for Nov. 8-14 2013. While I've taken Coues before I'd never before set foot in this unit. We scouted in Sept. for 4 days and covered pretty much the whole unit. The Mule Mtns. in the southern part of the unit are steep, rough and so brushy as to be impassable on many Northern slopes. I suspect there are big bucks in there that have never seen a human. Access though is tough. While the center of the mountain is public it's surrounded by private land and these people clearly do not like hunters. I only wish I had the concession for "No hunting" and "No trespassing" signs. I'd be rich. The land owners I talked to about ingress seemed like a bunch of old hippie hermits and were NOT helpful. The best access is from the East side where a very nice rancher, whom I met, allows access. You can get within a half mile of the mountain and then you need to hoof it. That was my plan until, a week before the hunt, after a few beers on the golf course, I fell down the stairs in my home and broke a bone in my foot. That called into play plan B.

 

Plan B was the Dragoon mountains. Much more accessible but, because of this, I expected lots of hunters. I wasn't wrong.

We came in two days early to do some more scouting and come up with a strategy and a campsite. There were no other hunting camps so all these hunters (mostly road hunters) must have been locals. My plan, with the broken foot, was to set up a blind overlooking a water source which I did. It was getting quite a bit of action but if there was a buck in the area he was using it at night. We saw only does which didn't surprise me. There were also other water option for the deer as there a cattle in the area. I did spend several hours each day with the spotting scope but never saw a deer of either sex. Had I seen a good buck I'd have gone after him, broken foot or not. The foliage on the North slopes is so thick, and there's so much for them to eat in the cover, there's really no need for them to feed out in the open. We did hear a few shots over the 7 days we hunted so someone might have been seeing deer. I only met one hunter who had taken a young buck.

 

The hunters did present a problem. The water source I was hunting was about half way up a half mile long road which dead ended at the head of the canyon. At the beginning of the road I put up a sign saying "Please stop. Hunter in Blind" One day, just before sunrise, a jeep stops, reads the sign, then proceeds up to the water to see if there are any tracks. All the time I'm frantically flashing my flashlight which he couldn't have missed. After busting my set up he continues up the road and parks at the end which just happens to be right in the heart of the bedding area. That afternoon another jeep (sensing a trend?) does the exact same thing so our entire day was wasted due to inconsiderate "hunters". This happened several times while we were there. Folks, we public land hunters have to try to be a little more considerate and respect another hunter's space. Please don't camp set up your camp 100 feet from mine and if you can see someone's already in an area hunting it find another area. Let's all work together to make the experience as pleasurable as possible.

[PRDATR]

Sorry your hunt was a but but I commend you on making an effort to hunt it. Your situation is one reason I don't sit water.

[Pine Donkey]

I commend you for hunting on one leg. It is almost impossible to see a lot of bucks in 30b without getting a long way from the roads. So little access, so many road hunters. Each year we witness the emergence of Phoenix South during the hunting seasons. The gas stations always do a great business during the hunts.