-TLDR: Had a great trip where my buddy and I doubled up on muley bucks. Scroll down for pics-
I just got back from an awesome week-long DIY deer hunting trip to Arizona. The over-the-counter deer tag allows you to shoot either mule deer or Coues deer. Here is the requisiteshow-off trip report... 
This was my first experience with Western hunting. I went with my roommate from A&M, who has been hunting out West for 10 years or so. Most of the information, tactics, and strategy we used were based on his knowledge. I was just trying to learn as much as I could.
We arrived at our camping area after a long overnight drive and got set up. Usually he puts 4 guys in the canvas tent, so with just the two of us, it was nice and roomy.
We spent the first 2 days hiking up the mountain near our campsite and glassing our area. We were lucky enough to spot both Coues and mule deer each day, and mostly tried to study them and learn as much as we could about their habits and movement during the day. We had one unsuccessful stalk on some Coues deer on day 3, but that was all of the excitement thus far.
A Mountain House for lunch:
Me posing near our glassing spot:
My best Ryan Callaghan impression, while my buddy is glassing in the background:
On day 4, we decided to do an afternoon still hunt in an area we had spotted a muley buck and a few does at dusk the day before. We were pretty sure they were staying in the area, and hoped to find them bedded during the day. (I should note here that there was a road running close by our location, and we saw numerous "road hunters" each day stop to glass the area.)
After about an hour and a half of hunting, we noticed a truck had stopped on the road for longer than usual. When the truck backed up to get a better view, we decided to see what was holding his interest. We spotted a few muley does and 3 bucks about 200 yds across a canyon from us. The plan was for me to stalk in to their position and try to get a shot, and my buddy would flank them, hoping that after I shot they would move down his direction.
My stalk was interrupted by two other hunters that had also seen the deer from the road, and walked right through the area while talking loudly to each other, effectively cutting me off from the deer. They never noticed me as I crossed back through the canyon to where I split up with my buddy, and sat down to wait on him to return.
- This is his stalk account, because I couldn't see the following occur-
The deer fed down toward him, likely spooked by the other hunters. He paralleled the deer from across the canyon for 100 yards or so until he closed the distance to around 65 yards and set up for a shot in an opening. After having to stop one of the other hunters from walking right on top of him, he was able to re-position himself and make a shot at 33 yards on a young forky mule deer, which he was able to watch fall just up the hill from where he shot him.
- Back to my story-
He walks back to find me at our last meeting point and we walk down to his deer. As we are looking around for his arrow, we notice some deer up the hill from us in the trees, but can't tell if they are bucks or does. I hurriedly work around and up in front of them to try to ambush them, but it turned out to be 3 does. We then slowly trailed them through the woods, hoping to find the other 2 bucks that had been with them.
After about 200 yards, we caught up to 2 does and a buck. I dropped down in the canyon to flank them, and was able to get in position as they walked into a small opening along a fence. As soon as I saw one of them was a buck, I started to draw my bow. With no time to range them, I estimated the range at 50 yards as I drew and hit the release as soon as I settled my pin (I later ranged the shot at 48 yards). The buck reacted to the shot and turned to run just as my arrow arrived. I saw it hit him toward the back of the ribs on his left side, which was a little concerning, but I still felt it was good enough to get the job done. He ran about 60 yards and piled up underneath some trees. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the shot entered in his left ribs, but exited through the brisket on his right side, passing right through his heart.
I had no idea what his rack looked like until we approached him on the ground. I didn't have time to check it out before I shot, I only noticed that he had antlers.
Here is a pic taken where he fell:
Here is a better pic of my buck taken back at camp, as well as a pic of both of our bucks:
Obviously, it was a great hunt and a great experience. According to the info we looked at before the trip, the odds of success for this particular hunt were around 5%, so we definitely got a little lucky. Before the trip we were planning on no kills, and just hoping to see some deer and get ideas for a return trip.
And even though my buddy ended up with a forky, this buck is one of his prouder moments (even compared to his 197" muley on the wall at home) because this buck was completely his doing. He chose our hunt and unit, did most of the research, effectively "guided" me, and even tuned his bow and made his arrows. Quite an accomplishment in my book!
I just got back from an awesome week-long DIY deer hunting trip to Arizona. The over-the-counter deer tag allows you to shoot either mule deer or Coues deer. Here is the requisite
This was my first experience with Western hunting. I went with my roommate from A&M, who has been hunting out West for 10 years or so. Most of the information, tactics, and strategy we used were based on his knowledge. I was just trying to learn as much as I could.
We arrived at our camping area after a long overnight drive and got set up. Usually he puts 4 guys in the canvas tent, so with just the two of us, it was nice and roomy.
We spent the first 2 days hiking up the mountain near our campsite and glassing our area. We were lucky enough to spot both Coues and mule deer each day, and mostly tried to study them and learn as much as we could about their habits and movement during the day. We had one unsuccessful stalk on some Coues deer on day 3, but that was all of the excitement thus far.
A Mountain House for lunch:
Me posing near our glassing spot:
My best Ryan Callaghan impression, while my buddy is glassing in the background:
On day 4, we decided to do an afternoon still hunt in an area we had spotted a muley buck and a few does at dusk the day before. We were pretty sure they were staying in the area, and hoped to find them bedded during the day. (I should note here that there was a road running close by our location, and we saw numerous "road hunters" each day stop to glass the area.)
After about an hour and a half of hunting, we noticed a truck had stopped on the road for longer than usual. When the truck backed up to get a better view, we decided to see what was holding his interest. We spotted a few muley does and 3 bucks about 200 yds across a canyon from us. The plan was for me to stalk in to their position and try to get a shot, and my buddy would flank them, hoping that after I shot they would move down his direction.
My stalk was interrupted by two other hunters that had also seen the deer from the road, and walked right through the area while talking loudly to each other, effectively cutting me off from the deer. They never noticed me as I crossed back through the canyon to where I split up with my buddy, and sat down to wait on him to return.
- This is his stalk account, because I couldn't see the following occur-
The deer fed down toward him, likely spooked by the other hunters. He paralleled the deer from across the canyon for 100 yards or so until he closed the distance to around 65 yards and set up for a shot in an opening. After having to stop one of the other hunters from walking right on top of him, he was able to re-position himself and make a shot at 33 yards on a young forky mule deer, which he was able to watch fall just up the hill from where he shot him.
- Back to my story-
He walks back to find me at our last meeting point and we walk down to his deer. As we are looking around for his arrow, we notice some deer up the hill from us in the trees, but can't tell if they are bucks or does. I hurriedly work around and up in front of them to try to ambush them, but it turned out to be 3 does. We then slowly trailed them through the woods, hoping to find the other 2 bucks that had been with them.
After about 200 yards, we caught up to 2 does and a buck. I dropped down in the canyon to flank them, and was able to get in position as they walked into a small opening along a fence. As soon as I saw one of them was a buck, I started to draw my bow. With no time to range them, I estimated the range at 50 yards as I drew and hit the release as soon as I settled my pin (I later ranged the shot at 48 yards). The buck reacted to the shot and turned to run just as my arrow arrived. I saw it hit him toward the back of the ribs on his left side, which was a little concerning, but I still felt it was good enough to get the job done. He ran about 60 yards and piled up underneath some trees. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the shot entered in his left ribs, but exited through the brisket on his right side, passing right through his heart.
I had no idea what his rack looked like until we approached him on the ground. I didn't have time to check it out before I shot, I only noticed that he had antlers.
Here is a pic taken where he fell:
Here is a better pic of my buck taken back at camp, as well as a pic of both of our bucks:
Obviously, it was a great hunt and a great experience. According to the info we looked at before the trip, the odds of success for this particular hunt were around 5%, so we definitely got a little lucky. Before the trip we were planning on no kills, and just hoping to see some deer and get ideas for a return trip.
And even though my buddy ended up with a forky, this buck is one of his prouder moments (even compared to his 197" muley on the wall at home) because this buck was completely his doing. He chose our hunt and unit, did most of the research, effectively "guided" me, and even tuned his bow and made his arrows. Quite an accomplishment in my book!
