Caught the early flight out of Houston to Phoenix. Will drive up to Flagstaff to meet the guys from A3 that I'm hunting with for the week. Then we will make the 3-1/2 hour trip over towards Fredonia, AZ. Will be hunting unit 12BW with a Remington 700 Ultimate muzzleloader. Season starts on Friday, but I wanted to get over here a little early to scout tomorrow. The bar was set pretty high with last week's muley from Utah and this area is prime for another 190"+ opportunity. Not many places in the world hold better quality mule deer. Supposed to get snow tomorrow, so hopefully that gets the deer moving down off the plateau and into the flatlands below, where I'll be hunting. I'll be the only non-resident hunting this unit, as 16 of the 17 muzzleloader tags went to residents. This trip will be spent in a tent camp, but I should have pretty good service to provide updates. Let's do this!

And I'm at the office

Good luck!

Always enjoy the beautiful views from Phoenix to Flagstaff.



A cool shot of the Kaibab Plateau. We made it to camp around 3:00 and headed out to do some scouting after setting up the tents. Saw around 4 dozen deer with one stud shooter buck. It's going to snow tonight (sleeting right now), so I think timing is going to be great for the Friday opener.

It's all coming together! Went to bed last night with a slight drizzle. Woke up to pretty heavy sleet which quickly moved to 3" of snow throughout the morning. We have another large cell of snow that just started about 30 mins ago and should dump a few more inches. This is exactly what we needed to push the deer down to our lower hunting area. Guessing the higher area already has closer to 5-6". Came back to camp a short bit ago for lunch and a couple beers. About to catch a quick nap and then we will head back out in the early evening to scout again.

We were just at the North Rim a couple of months ago. I went through the Kaibab on the way north because of it's famed mule deer. It was truly amazing to see the number of deer up in that forest. Really unique country up high almost like Colorado and surrounded by sand and rock.

And the crazy part is that the numbers are actually down right now.

I think the turkey were sn even bigger surprises.

Decisions, decisions. Mid-180s, mature buck we've seen twice. An absolutely beautiful frame, but just average mass. Split on the tip of his left main beam, a small kicker off his left G3, long G4s, and bladed tines. We haven't seen many bucks so far, but the weather is ripe for deer coming off the plateau. Season starts tomorrow.

Nice buck. be a shooter to me.

Currently hunting MD as well. And yeah…a mid 180s would be done and done.

Looking forward to more pics of these bruisers!

Would love to do Muley's hunt!

TAMU77CLAY said:

---

Nice buck. be a shooter to me.

---

That's on the small end for a guided Kaibab hunt.

I believe more 200"+ deer are killed there than anywhere else.

That's impressive.

Approx cost? $10k? $15? Moar?

No idea. More than I can afford. I just remember reading about the lore of the Kaibab over the years and did some refresh reading before we went up there for vacation this summer.

Here's some perspective. Apparently the Kaibab is the only area to have (2) 300 inch mule deer killed.

https://arizonastripguides.com/kaibab-mule-deer-guides/unit-12a-west-kaibab-mule-deer-guides/

TikkaShooter said:

---

That's impressive.

Approx cost? $10k? $15? Moar?

---

Less. You aren't buying a landowner tag. It's a draw only state. I got extremely lucky and drew the tag against some serious odds. The challenge we are having is that the deer haven't migrated heavily down to the bottom levels of the Kaibab. These are migratory deer, so the early hunt in the bottom typically isn't good and the late hunt at the top isn't good. And vice versa. This muzzleloader hunt is typically right when the migration takes place and given the recent snow, it should help push them down to our lower level. This morning was mediocre and we saw only 2-3 bucks and about 24 does. Tried to go find that mid-180s buck to get a better look, but we couldn't find him. We've seen him in the same spot the past two evenings, so we are going to try to get a better look at him this evening.

Saw our buck this evening at 416 yards. He's really solid, but I think we can find something a little better, if the deer start moving down off the plateau, as should be happening any day. Also saw a nice 3x3. Just not what I'm looking for. Lastly, saw the biggest damn fork horn buck that I've ever seen in my life. Absolutely massive. Such a waste of a great frame. Oh well. Onto tomorrow, which is just the second day of the hunt.

Good luck Ryan

Update?

Man, that is some good looking country!

Txaggie02. You ever been to Sonora Mexico? I love chasing big mule deer and have hunted all over the west. I went to Mexico hunting my first time in 1999 and have not missed since. I can send you the right direction if interested.

SCQ - would love to hear your recommendation if you could pass along.

INIGO MONTOYA said:

---

SCQ - would love to hear your recommendation if you could pass along.

---

Yes please

Sorry for the lack of updates, as we've had both early morning and late nights, not to mention being in areas during the day with limited to no cell service. Hunting has been tough, to say the least. The guy I'm hunting with is hunting his 28th year on the Kaibab and knows this place like the back of his hand. The deer numbers are increasing in the lower areas and we are seeing signs of rut kicking off from the bucks (lip curling, broken tines, and raking the sage with their antlers). We've seen and passed on 5-6 different bucks in the 180-185" range. Two of the other hunters camping around us shot in the last couple days and one was a ~170" deer and the other was a ~180" deer. Given the lower numbers of deer currently at the bottom of the Kaibab, we actually headed to the north side of the unit to check to see if any bucks were migrating off the Paunsaugunt yet. Literally hunting on the Utah / Arizona border. We found three solid bucks there. Thought we had a great shooter….a 30" wide hoss, but he turned out to be a main frame 4x3 with a couple kickers off his g2. Big deer, but I'm trying to find a typical frame 4x4. Another nice buck that would touch 190", but we couldn't get on him before he hit the trees to bed down for the day. He's a typical 4x4 with good girls and mass. The last good buck was a 4x4 with a split g3. Good mass and about 24-25" wide. There is an alfalpha field that sits about 1000 yards into Utah. These bucks are hitting the field at night and then going back into the trees in Arizona to bed. We are trying to catch them before they get into the trees. Going to hunt that area again tomorrow morning. Supposed to get 4-6" of snow tomorrow starting around lunch. A few more pics….

Young buck we had today at 80 yards.


View of the plateaus around Kanab, UT from where we are hunting just SE of town.


Thought this was a cool, old piece of farm equipment. Maybe some type of grain machine? I'm obviously no farmer.



An incredible view of a big canyon that feeds into the Grand Canyon


View from a bluff around Kanab looking back at the Kaibab Plateau in the background

Well, I couldn't get the stars to line up on this trip. Weather didn't help towards to end. We were supposed to get 3-4" of snow and we got 12". The deer laid down for a day and didn't move at all. Tried to go back and find the 180" buck we saw at the beginning of the trip, but he was nowhere to be found. Pretty sure he moved out with all the snow. On the last day, I was tracking several deer through the snow in some canyons (where the doe are seen standing below) and I accidentally blew out the big 4x3. He took off and never stopped to give me a shot. Of course the does just stood there at 100 yards and posed for me. Awesome hunt with a bunch of memories, but a disappointing result. That's what happens sometimes when you press your luck looking for the big boy and pass up on good deer. Tag soup always sucks, but you can't hang your tag on a 195" deer on day 4 when you put it on a 180" deer on day 1. I can't wait to get back to the Kaibab to chase a big buck down, but unfortunately, that's not going to happen for a few years, given the draw odds. Hate that I don't have a big, old, gnarly muley to show you fellas. Next time!