Rusted Nuts AZ adventures

[rustednuts]

First fall hunt of the year was this past Saturday. I’m not sure you can call it fall with temps over 100. We are fortunate to be able hunt bears for a large portion of the year here in AZ. With the hot weather, I was hoping to catch a bear on water as well as spend some time glassing for coues deer which opens for OTC archery in a couple of weeks.
Hiking around, the scrub oaks were loaded with acorns and most of the pears weren’t ripe and looking pretty sparse with the lack of rain we had. That means most of the bears will stay up high in the brush. I glassed for awhile but so no bears and the country wasn’t as promising as I had hoped. I hiked down to a tank to glass it for the last part of the evening. I saw 2 coues bucks, one spike and one with a bit more mass. I also got within 10 yards of a gray fox before he ducked in between the rocks.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

First fall hunt of the year was this past Saturday. I’m not sure you can call it fall with temps over 100. We are fortunate to be able hunt bears for a large portion of the year here in AZ. With the hot weather, I was hoping to catch a bear on water as well as spend some time glassing for coues deer which opens for OTC archery in a couple of weeks.
Hiking around, the scrub oaks were loaded with acorns and most of the pears weren’t ripe and looking pretty sparse with the lack of rain we had. That means most of the bears will stay up high in the brush. I glassed for awhile but so no bears and the country wasn’t as promising as I had hoped. I hiked down to a tank to glass it for the last part of the evening. I saw 2 coues bucks, one spike and one with a bit more mass. I also got within 10 yards of a gray fox before he ducked in between the rocks.
View attachment 150217

Lucky to see anything moving as hot as it is. Monsoons would sure help!
Good luck on your bow hunt, gonna pass this year-too hot!

 

[rustednuts]

I went back at this Saturday in a new spot for coues deer. The area I chose was 1.5 miles from a major fire. The area has major elevation change in a short distance. My hope is that fire would have bumped deer to this area and the terrain would keep other people out. I didn’t see any deer until 7:30 when I spotted 2 bucks working their way down a ridge. One of the bucks really got the blood pumping. I was able to watch them for 15 minutes when the drop down into a wash. I watched the area for a half hour waiting to see if they would pop back up. I made a long circle around to give myself the ability to glass into the wash. I glassed wash but wash not able to locate the wash. At noon I decided to take a shot and slip into the wash and still hunt my way down. I slipped down the wash and found there was a spring that the bucks must have been heading to but no deer. It was exciting morning non the less!

 

[dirtclod Az.]

That spring sounds like a good place to hang out, they are few and far between.
Good luck to you, keep us informed.

 

[rustednuts]

That spring sounds like a good place to hang out, they are few and far between.
Good luck to you, keep us informed.

The monsoons on Saturday and Sunday put water all over that area With ord reporting 1.5” of rain.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

The monsoons on Saturday and Sunday put water all over that area With ord reporting 1.5” of rain.

Glendale has been dry as a bone this year.
1/8" with one storm is all we have had this year.
I can see the rain falling in Phx., but 20 miles away nothing.

 

[rustednuts]

For the long weekend I went down to Yuma with BHA. The normal big dove fest activities were cancelled but we were still able to get a group hunt in Saturday morning. I shared the evening hunt with a couple who had been coming to Yuma for 36 years to dove hunt. The evening hunt was slow, I wished I had brought my 22 as I saw a dozen jackrabbits in the citrus grove.

 

[rustednuts]

Quail season kicked off last week here in AZ. I have never quail hunted before and don’t have a dog but with the weather getting cooler the opportunity to hike with a shotgun is a good reason to get outside. Yesterday, I wrapped work early and was able to get an evening hunt in. From research I focused on brushy washes. I arrived at my spot and started walking in and immediately noticed a large amount of horse manure. I’m talking about a pile of dung every 50 feet. I kept on down the wash and noticed that all the grass and forbes have been decimated, and most of ground is bare. While there are trees for the quail, there is zero ground cover between the trees. I crest over the a ridge and a herd of 20+ horses starts running across the landscape. I don’t know if the large fires and drought have combined to concentrate the horses but their impact of this landscape is devastating. Not surprisingly I saw no quail and learned of there feral horses there won’t be quail...