DonMartin
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This year I had the honor and pleasure of assisting fellow Arizona resident Chase Hancock on his first time hunt for mule deer in Arizona. Chase had drawn tag 50 out of the 50 offered for this hunt, which many believe is the second best mule deer hunt in Arizona. What is even more interesting is that Chase had drawn the tag with only 6 bonus points! This proves again that the Arizona draw system does allow those without max bonus points the chance to draw a premium tag.
On Chase's hunt was his friend Kyle, who had NEVER been on a hunt before, and Dan Driggs, my friend and fellow mule deer fanatic who lives in St. George Utah.
We also had the pleasure of having Larry Bundy, owner of At First Light guide service, to join us for dinner on the first night we were in camp, sharing stories and information.
Last year Larry assisted Dan and I on a hunt we did for the Arizona Hunt of A Lifetime organization, where first time hunter Isaac Mussmann took his first ever big game animal.
This year, even though the time of the hunt should have put us in the rut, things weren't what we figured.
There had been no rain in this unit for over 160 days, and the weather initially was much warmer than we expected.
And we saw a lot fewer bucks that we had seen in 2018.
Chase was asked what he was looking for in a buck from this unit. His answer was "wide and mass!" So with 10 days to hunt, that was the goal.
The first few days of the hunt produced sightings of buck that I would think most hunters anywhere in Arizona would be glad to have taken.
Chase, who had never hunted mule deer before (moved to Arizona from Missouri)said he was concerned that Dan and I told him not to shoot several bucks that he thought were big.
As it turned out, he was glad to took our advice.
With the advent of a major rain storm approaching, we thought the change would be good.
Dan had to leave on the morning of Day 4, and we decided to split our forces in the afternoon.
I would go out and glass some areas while Chase and Kyle would check out another area.
I got lucky when I spotted a buck all by himself in the edge of a meadow a long ways off.
I managed to get just one photo of this unusual buck, which was in fact an 8x3 non-typical.
This buck had a basic 4x3 frame, but on his left side he had the standard 4 point antler BUT there were TWO 3 inch stickers come of each bifurcation, and each sticker actually forked at the end!
A truly unusual buck. Buck while bucks like that "flip the switch" on some hunters, Chase wasn't one of them. Remember he wanted "wide with mass!"
More glassing produced some sightings of doe/fawn groups that ranged from 3 to 7. But no bucks were with them!
I got a call from Kyle requesting that I meet up with them. I wondered why, as it was starting to get late and it was truly prime time to see deer moving and feeding.
When I met up with the pair, I could see from their body language that something had happened.
"You're not gonna believe this Don!" a very excited Chase said to me.
It seems they were headed to an area where we had seen a mature buck before when all of a sudden Lady Luck smiled on the hunter.
"A doe ran across the road in front of us, and a big buck was following her," Chase said.
Then he pointed to a hillside and said the buck was down there. One shot from his Ruger rifle in 6.5 PRC had put the old buck down.
But what had Chase taken, I thought? After all he hadn't seen many mature bucks and so I wondered if he had got what he was looking for.
When I saw the left antler sticking above the sage brush I knew that he had done well.
There before was a buck that he had dreamed about.
The buck had mass, and was wide. Just a shade under 30 inches wide.
Chase was ecstatic and rightfully so. The buck he had taken would be one that not many in Arizona could pass on.
The smiles and occasional tear showed just how much that Chase was pleased with his first Arizona mule deer.
With the rain starting, we decided to break down the buck as soon as we got back to camp.
Good thing we did. It rained all night and the next morning it was a muddy mess. pulling out out our trailers was not an easy task.
We had to use 4 wheel drive for 38 miles during our trip back out to the pavement at Colorado City!
On Chase's hunt was his friend Kyle, who had NEVER been on a hunt before, and Dan Driggs, my friend and fellow mule deer fanatic who lives in St. George Utah.
We also had the pleasure of having Larry Bundy, owner of At First Light guide service, to join us for dinner on the first night we were in camp, sharing stories and information.
Last year Larry assisted Dan and I on a hunt we did for the Arizona Hunt of A Lifetime organization, where first time hunter Isaac Mussmann took his first ever big game animal.
This year, even though the time of the hunt should have put us in the rut, things weren't what we figured.
There had been no rain in this unit for over 160 days, and the weather initially was much warmer than we expected.
And we saw a lot fewer bucks that we had seen in 2018.
Chase was asked what he was looking for in a buck from this unit. His answer was "wide and mass!" So with 10 days to hunt, that was the goal.
The first few days of the hunt produced sightings of buck that I would think most hunters anywhere in Arizona would be glad to have taken.
Chase, who had never hunted mule deer before (moved to Arizona from Missouri)said he was concerned that Dan and I told him not to shoot several bucks that he thought were big.
As it turned out, he was glad to took our advice.
With the advent of a major rain storm approaching, we thought the change would be good.
Dan had to leave on the morning of Day 4, and we decided to split our forces in the afternoon.
I would go out and glass some areas while Chase and Kyle would check out another area.
I got lucky when I spotted a buck all by himself in the edge of a meadow a long ways off.
I managed to get just one photo of this unusual buck, which was in fact an 8x3 non-typical.
This buck had a basic 4x3 frame, but on his left side he had the standard 4 point antler BUT there were TWO 3 inch stickers come of each bifurcation, and each sticker actually forked at the end!
A truly unusual buck. Buck while bucks like that "flip the switch" on some hunters, Chase wasn't one of them. Remember he wanted "wide with mass!"
More glassing produced some sightings of doe/fawn groups that ranged from 3 to 7. But no bucks were with them!
I got a call from Kyle requesting that I meet up with them. I wondered why, as it was starting to get late and it was truly prime time to see deer moving and feeding.
When I met up with the pair, I could see from their body language that something had happened.
"You're not gonna believe this Don!" a very excited Chase said to me.
It seems they were headed to an area where we had seen a mature buck before when all of a sudden Lady Luck smiled on the hunter.
"A doe ran across the road in front of us, and a big buck was following her," Chase said.
Then he pointed to a hillside and said the buck was down there. One shot from his Ruger rifle in 6.5 PRC had put the old buck down.
But what had Chase taken, I thought? After all he hadn't seen many mature bucks and so I wondered if he had got what he was looking for.
When I saw the left antler sticking above the sage brush I knew that he had done well.
There before was a buck that he had dreamed about.
The buck had mass, and was wide. Just a shade under 30 inches wide.
Chase was ecstatic and rightfully so. The buck he had taken would be one that not many in Arizona could pass on.
The smiles and occasional tear showed just how much that Chase was pleased with his first Arizona mule deer.
With the rain starting, we decided to break down the buck as soon as we got back to camp.
Good thing we did. It rained all night and the next morning it was a muddy mess. pulling out out our trailers was not an easy task.
We had to use 4 wheel drive for 38 miles during our trip back out to the pavement at Colorado City!
