This ended up a little longer than I thought it would be, but it is a blow by blow accounting of my hunt, for the most part.
On edit, have to split in to two post as I have too many characters.
My Arizona deer hunt started out with the realization that under the current system I would never get one of the much sought after and desired late Kaibab or Strip hunts. After talking with AZ402, Stan helped me make a decision on what unit to apply for. I had enough points to where I was pretty much guaranteed to be drawn, so with that thought in mind I took a July 4th scouting trip to learn the area.
As expected I got drawn when the results were posted. Living at sea level, I knew I needed to get ready for the 8000’ elevation where I would be hunting. In late August, my knee began swelling up on me. Finally, after trying to tough it out, I made an appointment and after a failed attempt at draining the knee, the doc suggested surgery. So about three weeks before the season opened, I am laid out on the operating table having my knee cut open to be cleaned out. Two weeks later I get the stitches removed from the 5” cut.
I did have some good news in this time, my 83 year old father is getting to go with me. With the season opening on Friday, we chose to leave on Monday morning for the two day trip, leaving me two days of scouting before the season opens.
The trip begins great, I pick my dad up, and head west. After about 300 miles of the 1300 mile trip, a tire on the trailer I am pulling blows out. We go into pit crew mode and made a 30 minute – 1 tire change. With the spare on, I ease into the next town about 5 miles away and find a Discount Tire. About an hour later, we were back on the road. I joked with my dad that I probably should have replaced both tires on the trailer instead of just the one that blew out.
About a hundred miles later, my joke became reality. The other tire blew out. Luckily I wasn’t far from another town, and this time it was only about a thirty minute stay at a tire shop. All told, we were about 3 hours behind my planned schedule. Then we hit the rain, from north of Fort Stockton, TX. to Roswell, NM. We were in and out of rain the whole way. We finally get to Roswell and now it’s the truck’s turn to give me trouble. It goes into reduced power mode with Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) issues. We find a room for the night and then I am waiting at the Chevy Dealer when they open. The service manager says he is undermanned but would take a look at it. He initiates a burn off which took about 45 minutes and sends me on my way, no charge. Simply amazing in this day.
We were off again, now at least 6 hours behind my schedule. We get to where we planned to camp after dark, drop off the trailer to save the spot and head back to Jacob Lake Inn to eat and spend the night in the motel.
Wednesday morning, we head out, set up camp, and I spend the afternoon scouting. I walked about a mile and a half from camp, most of it being on a road that I could have driven on. In the end though, I do get my glass on a couple of decent bucks about 1000 yards away. After getting back to camp and checking maps, I come up with a plan to drive to the same spot the next morning to continue scouting.
Thursday, morning and evening both produced a lot of deer sightings, all in the same area as Wednesday evening. I knew where I was going to be on Friday morning for the opener. I also got to spend a little time talking with Stan, who I was camped next to.
Opening morning, I got in position, set up my tripod and 15’s and immediately find a 3x3 at 400 yards. Not what I am looking for. After he finally moves on I happen to glance over to my left and see more deer. The wide 4x4 that I saw the first day is there with about 15 other does and smaller bucks. As soon as I see them, they are making a hasty retreat over the ridge into the next drainage. I stay put and just glass the area as shots are ringing out all around. I hear a noise behind me, turn around and see two people walking towards me, apparently a guide and a hunter. My camo must be amazing as they walk by less than 20 foot away and never even glance at me or acknowledge that I am setting there on the fallen tree. They end up making a big circle and go all the way around me. At that point I decide to take off after the wide buck. As I make my way over the ridge and start glassing where I thought they went, I see nothing. Then I catch movement out of the corner of my eye, and turn and watch about 20 deer come out of the top of the draw and go across the next ridge. The big buck was joined by at least five other bucks, all smaller. Rather than continue chasing them, I hunt my way back to the truck and call it a morning.
That afternoon, I tried to outthink the buck and head over and find a new place to glass from that is a little further away from the road. It is the second ridge over and gave me a large area to overlook. As soon as I get set up, I spot a few does feeding on the opposite slope. About an hour before dark, out comes a 4x2 and a 3x3 to feed with them. I watch them till dark. Also saw a coyote and a number of does.
I spent the evening with Stan, watching him clean his niece’s nice first buck that she took. Havalon’s have a sharp blade that is able to draw blood fairly easily. Took me three band-aides on top of each other to stop the bleeding.
Saturday morning, I head back to my spot. To get a picture of where I am sitting it is about a quarter of the way down the slope, setting on a tree that has fallen over with my back against another tree trunk that was broke off about 5’ high. The ridge in front of me is about 250 yards away to the top and it ends in a valley with the ridge I am on bending around to make a nice area to overlook.
As daylight breaks Saturday morning, I see the 4x2, 3x3 and a couple of 2 pointers feeding in the same place as they were last night along with a few does. Shots are going off all over the place and I see groups of deer, both bucks and does running all over. About 8:30 I notice 4 bucks sneaking along the bottom below me. One of them is a nice 4x4, but not real wide or tall. I watched them for about 15 minutes from about 100 yards to 250 yards before they turn and go up a draw out of sight. A few minutes later, I hear a shot from that direction, and in a couple of seconds I see the three smaller bucks run out the top of the draw and then a couple of hunters walking down into the draw. Ended up seeing 16 bucks that morning and I didn’t keep track of how many does.
Saturday afternoon the wind picked up and was blowing hard and steady. I went to an area Stan suggested to me before he left that morning. The deer weren’t moving at all. Watched one group of 15 does and a small 2x2 all evening until it got dark.
Sunday morning, the wind was still howling and I wasn’t feeling real good, so I stayed in. Mid-morning, my father and I decided to ride into town. About half way there my check engine light came on, with a message saying it would go to reduced power in 200 miles, but if driven it could correct itself. Drove about 75 miles with no luck.
That evening, I went back out to my spot, riding my ATV, with the wind still blowing, the deer sightings were limited.
Monday morning I get up early and head into St. George, Utah, the closest Chevy Dealer, about a 100 miles or so away. Right as I get there, the message changed to reduced power on next restart. I went into the service department and they said they could take a look at it pretty soon. Three hours later I headed back to camp with a new DEF tank. Not cheap.
Monday evening I joined the army of road hunters because I wanted to listen to my Cowboys on Monday Night Football. Ended up seeing three bucks, decent but not what I was looking for. The football game sucked to.
On edit, have to split in to two post as I have too many characters.
My Arizona deer hunt started out with the realization that under the current system I would never get one of the much sought after and desired late Kaibab or Strip hunts. After talking with AZ402, Stan helped me make a decision on what unit to apply for. I had enough points to where I was pretty much guaranteed to be drawn, so with that thought in mind I took a July 4th scouting trip to learn the area.
As expected I got drawn when the results were posted. Living at sea level, I knew I needed to get ready for the 8000’ elevation where I would be hunting. In late August, my knee began swelling up on me. Finally, after trying to tough it out, I made an appointment and after a failed attempt at draining the knee, the doc suggested surgery. So about three weeks before the season opened, I am laid out on the operating table having my knee cut open to be cleaned out. Two weeks later I get the stitches removed from the 5” cut.
I did have some good news in this time, my 83 year old father is getting to go with me. With the season opening on Friday, we chose to leave on Monday morning for the two day trip, leaving me two days of scouting before the season opens.
The trip begins great, I pick my dad up, and head west. After about 300 miles of the 1300 mile trip, a tire on the trailer I am pulling blows out. We go into pit crew mode and made a 30 minute – 1 tire change. With the spare on, I ease into the next town about 5 miles away and find a Discount Tire. About an hour later, we were back on the road. I joked with my dad that I probably should have replaced both tires on the trailer instead of just the one that blew out.
About a hundred miles later, my joke became reality. The other tire blew out. Luckily I wasn’t far from another town, and this time it was only about a thirty minute stay at a tire shop. All told, we were about 3 hours behind my planned schedule. Then we hit the rain, from north of Fort Stockton, TX. to Roswell, NM. We were in and out of rain the whole way. We finally get to Roswell and now it’s the truck’s turn to give me trouble. It goes into reduced power mode with Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) issues. We find a room for the night and then I am waiting at the Chevy Dealer when they open. The service manager says he is undermanned but would take a look at it. He initiates a burn off which took about 45 minutes and sends me on my way, no charge. Simply amazing in this day.
We were off again, now at least 6 hours behind my schedule. We get to where we planned to camp after dark, drop off the trailer to save the spot and head back to Jacob Lake Inn to eat and spend the night in the motel.
Wednesday morning, we head out, set up camp, and I spend the afternoon scouting. I walked about a mile and a half from camp, most of it being on a road that I could have driven on. In the end though, I do get my glass on a couple of decent bucks about 1000 yards away. After getting back to camp and checking maps, I come up with a plan to drive to the same spot the next morning to continue scouting.
Thursday, morning and evening both produced a lot of deer sightings, all in the same area as Wednesday evening. I knew where I was going to be on Friday morning for the opener. I also got to spend a little time talking with Stan, who I was camped next to.
Opening morning, I got in position, set up my tripod and 15’s and immediately find a 3x3 at 400 yards. Not what I am looking for. After he finally moves on I happen to glance over to my left and see more deer. The wide 4x4 that I saw the first day is there with about 15 other does and smaller bucks. As soon as I see them, they are making a hasty retreat over the ridge into the next drainage. I stay put and just glass the area as shots are ringing out all around. I hear a noise behind me, turn around and see two people walking towards me, apparently a guide and a hunter. My camo must be amazing as they walk by less than 20 foot away and never even glance at me or acknowledge that I am setting there on the fallen tree. They end up making a big circle and go all the way around me. At that point I decide to take off after the wide buck. As I make my way over the ridge and start glassing where I thought they went, I see nothing. Then I catch movement out of the corner of my eye, and turn and watch about 20 deer come out of the top of the draw and go across the next ridge. The big buck was joined by at least five other bucks, all smaller. Rather than continue chasing them, I hunt my way back to the truck and call it a morning.
That afternoon, I tried to outthink the buck and head over and find a new place to glass from that is a little further away from the road. It is the second ridge over and gave me a large area to overlook. As soon as I get set up, I spot a few does feeding on the opposite slope. About an hour before dark, out comes a 4x2 and a 3x3 to feed with them. I watch them till dark. Also saw a coyote and a number of does.
I spent the evening with Stan, watching him clean his niece’s nice first buck that she took. Havalon’s have a sharp blade that is able to draw blood fairly easily. Took me three band-aides on top of each other to stop the bleeding.
Saturday morning, I head back to my spot. To get a picture of where I am sitting it is about a quarter of the way down the slope, setting on a tree that has fallen over with my back against another tree trunk that was broke off about 5’ high. The ridge in front of me is about 250 yards away to the top and it ends in a valley with the ridge I am on bending around to make a nice area to overlook.
As daylight breaks Saturday morning, I see the 4x2, 3x3 and a couple of 2 pointers feeding in the same place as they were last night along with a few does. Shots are going off all over the place and I see groups of deer, both bucks and does running all over. About 8:30 I notice 4 bucks sneaking along the bottom below me. One of them is a nice 4x4, but not real wide or tall. I watched them for about 15 minutes from about 100 yards to 250 yards before they turn and go up a draw out of sight. A few minutes later, I hear a shot from that direction, and in a couple of seconds I see the three smaller bucks run out the top of the draw and then a couple of hunters walking down into the draw. Ended up seeing 16 bucks that morning and I didn’t keep track of how many does.
Saturday afternoon the wind picked up and was blowing hard and steady. I went to an area Stan suggested to me before he left that morning. The deer weren’t moving at all. Watched one group of 15 does and a small 2x2 all evening until it got dark.
Sunday morning, the wind was still howling and I wasn’t feeling real good, so I stayed in. Mid-morning, my father and I decided to ride into town. About half way there my check engine light came on, with a message saying it would go to reduced power in 200 miles, but if driven it could correct itself. Drove about 75 miles with no luck.
That evening, I went back out to my spot, riding my ATV, with the wind still blowing, the deer sightings were limited.
Monday morning I get up early and head into St. George, Utah, the closest Chevy Dealer, about a 100 miles or so away. Right as I get there, the message changed to reduced power on next restart. I went into the service department and they said they could take a look at it pretty soon. Three hours later I headed back to camp with a new DEF tank. Not cheap.
Monday evening I joined the army of road hunters because I wanted to listen to my Cowboys on Monday Night Football. Ended up seeing three bucks, decent but not what I was looking for. The football game sucked to.
