AZ GMU 20A (Big Bug Mesa)

Stay off the mesa and in the desert country and you will find bigger bucks and fewer people.
 
MY wife got a rifle tag there and need some areas to get her started. I been there on the mesa and seen a couple good size deer but not too many. Any help would be appreciated..
 
Get yourself a decent map and try out the area south of union station, also if you take the road on top of the mesa all the way to the end it drops out of the timber somewhat and you can walk the ridges and glass the thick stuff from higher up, The weekends up there are really busy with atv's and motorcycles running around all over but during the week it is best, Last year around the apple orchard there were a few small bucks hanging around also with a llama, Don't know where he came from, walked up to him while he was bedded down and he started spittin and hissin, he may be still up there and he is pretty mangy lookin, Don't let the wife mistake him for a deer.
Good Luck
 
Sliprock, there are three of those mangy suckers. We have em on film. One had a red leash that was chewed on the ends. I havnt seen any good buck in the orchards due to the volume of people like you have said. Now when you say go on the mesa till it ends which direction are you talking about. Go ahead and explain and Ill follow you cause I kinda know the mesa pretty good but not realllll good. I know there is a water hole and two ground blinds around it and there is a y there and I have seen a lot of deer and I think I saw a 3x or maybe a 4x? It was a little thick to see..
 
The Area you want to check out is behind Lynx Lake. I've been trying to get drawn in 20a for 5 years now and haven't been lucky enough yet. There are a couple quad trails that will get you back there. Also, I've seen some good deer in the area between Mt. Union and Crown King. I know I'm talking about a big area but there's a canyon back in there that has loads of deer. I wouldn't hunt Big Bug, I've had some horrible expiriences in there with Jacka$$ road hunters while archery hunting. The mesa is very appealing because of the flat terrain and numbers of deer but they're mostly does and smaller bucks and you won't be to thrilled when your surrounded by quads and campsites. The Big boys don't get up on the mesa until the rut starts. I've seen people camped 200 yds from that waterhole you're talking about during archery season and I bet its worse during rifle season. What you should do is go up during opening wekend of the archery hunt and you'll see exactly what I mean. Anyway, good luck on your hunt.

Donnie

P.S. I have a cabin in Walker and I'll be up there this weekend. I'll let you know if I see anything good down by Lynx Lake.
 
Donnie, If you have some free time next time and you want to scout with me for that area I would be greatly appreciated to you. Its all for my wife. She drew this year and fail the draw last year. Anyways I would like a change of scenery away from the mountains where the bigger bucks you speak of and I not asking for your hot spot either.
 
Wish I owned a cirkle K up there. I could make a good living just from the archers.


The Place used to awesome but it has been overrun and ruined. First time I went up there was in 1978 when I was a sophomore in HS. Was very common to see 30 bucks a day and it is still the only place I would see more bucks than does consistently. Started to change in the mid 80's and has only gotten worse as the pupularity of quads has grown.


I took my two young boys(7-9) up there last weekend to camp. The area still has sentimental place in my heart because this is where I first started bowhunting. We saw about 10 does, 2 spikes, 1 forker, and one very small 3X3. Happy to see that the forest finally looks green instead of orange from the bark beetles. by the way, there were a lot of joy riders on quads up there too. Most were the loud racing type quads too.


I would agree with the others. Stay off the Mesa but hunt the areas around it. The road out of Mayor (circle K) will take you around the foothills to the east and south of BB mesa. The road will even take you to the ranch at the bottom of the canyon. Those draws and canyons that surround the mesa are where all the bucks go due to so much pressure on top.


If anyone reads this and has a quad please stay off of it unless it is to retrieve an animal. I guarantee it will be a better experience for you and everyone else out there. IMO

Good luck and happy hunting.
 
We camped on top of the mesa, on the same road the apple orchard is on (southern part of mesa). We don't go all the way to the orchard because I like to glass the "bowl" in the morning and evenings. I took the boys on a lizard BB gun hunt and we walked toward the orchard last sunday morning. There were quite a few fallen trees across the road and vehicle travel would be nearly impossible in some places. Doesn't seem to make any difference to the ATV'rs.
 
The boys and I went up this evening to pick up my trail cams I have near the mesa. There were cattle everywhere on the mesa. I was up there about 10 days ago and I don't remember even seeing any sign of cattle. The good news is the forest service closed off a few of the roads up there too. Looks like they are trying to reseed some stuff. Hopefully the road hunters and atv'ers will obey the signs.

There were a few camps already up there too. Take rain gear becuase it has been raining a lot up there.
 

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