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I am very new to hunting.  i put in for the 24b coues hunt December 13-31st 2019.  this will be my first deer hunt if i get drawn.  If anyone can give me some advice on locations to hunt, guns and optics that would be great!

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Get the tag before you worry about logistics of the hunt

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Regardless of whether you draw or not get a jump on getting yourself some gear.

Firearms: You don’t need anything special. But if you plan to keep hunting coues you will find yourself wanting to shoot longer distances. I would recommend finding a common cartridge with a wide offering of factory loads. Any of the .30 cals are great (.308, 30-06, .300 win mag). The 7mm family have very good ballistic co-efficient and lots of factory options (7mm rem mag, 7mm-08) and of course right now everyone loves them some 6.5 mm, particularly the 6.5 creedmore. In reality, just about anything from .243 up will work just fine. Some sage advice here would be to buy something with lower recoil as you will enjoy shooting it more and will this spend more time practicing. I would suggest staying with a common factory platform that has lots of options to customize in the future. Remington 700, tikka, Ruger American Predator, and most of the savages are a great launching point. 

In regard to optics, you will need a rifle scope and binoculars. A spotting scope is a nice to have, but not the first place I would spend my money. I would rather hunt without boots than without my binoculars. Spend some money on your rifle optics, but prioritize your binoculars. There are plenty of low cost options these days that are far superior to what we were using even ten years ago. Expect to pay at least $300-$500 on a starter pair of bino’s and at least $300 on a rifle scope. Don’t forget a tripod. Without one you are basically wandering around the desert looking for Easter eggs. Also, this website is a good resource. If you poke around on here long enough you will find lots of info on low cost binoculars and other gear. Just look through the archives.

Good luck and hit us up with other questions as you go.

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Good advice above. Next you need to learn to understand how the AZ draw works, it can be a bit complicated until you understand it. If you applied for the late December hunts draw odds are low, whereas if you apply for some earlier hunts especially in southern units your draw odds go way up and even guarantee you a tag for many hunts. Since you are new I'd recomend going for the early hunts and don't get hung up on trying to kill a big buck. Just kill any legal buck and boost your confidence. Tons of info here and lots of Good dudes to offer help and insight.  Fyi, there is a tripod in classifieds right now for $80 its a vanguard 264 AO, slam dunk for the price hes asking (considering most name brand tripods are $300 or more). Thats what i started with and just now upgraded the heads on them all. Tripod and 15s are an absolute must.

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Welcome to the site.

Get a bow and hunt the area in the fall archery season. Get a National Forest map and find some roads and water sources, lastly hunt the area for rabbits and quail so you know the areas and mostly know what you are capable of when it comes to hiking the terrain, types of plants and how well your gear holds up and how much water you use and how many calories you burn. Also don't put too much pressure on yourself and let someone know where you are going hiking and when you expect to return. Take a small first aid kit and a comb to flick cholla off you.

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15 hours ago, PRDATR said:

Welcome to the site.

Get a bow and hunt the area in the fall archery season. Get a National Forest map and find some roads and water sources, lastly hunt the area for rabbits and quail so you know the areas and mostly know what you are capable of when it comes to hiking the terrain, types of plants and how well your gear holds up and how much water you use and how many calories you burn. Also don't put too much pressure on yourself and let someone know where you are going hiking and when you expect to return. Take a small first aid kit and a comb to flick cholla off you.

I got my bow for Christmas, and I have been going out for rabbits with my shotgun.  I am just trying to get more familiar with the unit.  I see a lot of Mule deer but no coues.  I got some new boots and I hiked like 5 miles yesterday but didn't see anything.  

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17 hours ago, GreyGhost85 said:

Get the tag before you worry about logistics of the hunt

Yeah but if i do get drawn I don't want to be completely clueless.

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17 hours ago, CatfishKev said:

Good advice above. Next you need to learn to understand how the AZ draw works, it can be a bit complicated until you understand it. If you applied for the late December hunts draw odds are low, whereas if you apply for some earlier hunts especially in southern units your draw odds go way up and even guarantee you a tag for many hunts. Since you are new I'd recomend going for the early hunts and don't get hung up on trying to kill a big buck. Just kill any legal buck and boost your confidence. Tons of info here and lots of Good dudes to offer help and insight.  Fyi, there is a tripod in classifieds right now for $80 its a vanguard 264 AO, slam dunk for the price hes asking (considering most name brand tripods are $300 or more). Thats what i started with and just now upgraded the heads on them all. Tripod and 15s are an absolute must.

Thanks.  I don't really care how big the buck is, I just want to get one.  i was super confused trying to read all the draw info.  i just picked a date and unit and typed in those numbers.  Do you recommend the clamp style head or the like v-style ones?

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17 hours ago, Flatlander said:

Regardless of whether you draw or not get a jump on getting yourself some gear.

Firearms: You don’t need anything special. But if you plan to keep hunting coues you will find yourself wanting to shoot longer distances. I would recommend finding a common cartridge with a wide offering of factory loads. Any of the .30 cals are great (.308, 30-06, .300 win mag). The 7mm family have very good ballistic co-efficient and lots of factory options (7mm rem mag, 7mm-08) and of course right now everyone loves them some 6.5 mm, particularly the 6.5 creedmore. In reality, just about anything from .243 up will work just fine. Some sage advice here would be to buy something with lower recoil as you will enjoy shooting it more and will this spend more time practicing. I would suggest staying with a common factory platform that has lots of options to customize in the future. Remington 700, tikka, Ruger American Predator, and most of the savages are a great launching point. 

In regard to optics, you will need a rifle scope and binoculars. A spotting scope is a nice to have, but not the first place I would spend my money. I would rather hunt without boots than without my binoculars. Spend some money on your rifle optics, but prioritize your binoculars. There are plenty of low cost options these days that are far superior to what we were using even ten years ago. Expect to pay at least $300-$500 on a starter pair of bino’s and at least $300 on a rifle scope. Don’t forget a tripod. Without one you are basically wandering around the desert looking for Easter eggs. Also, this website is a good resource. If you poke around on here long enough you will find lots of info on low cost binoculars and other gear. Just look through the archives.

Good luck and hit us up with other questions as you go.

Thanks!  I have been looking at the Ruger American Predator in 6.5 Creedmoor.  with some type of vortex scope.   

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17 hours ago, wish2hunt said:

Lots of time to find some areas.

I have been on google earth for a while.  I am probably going to pick up a map later.  

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