A little more about the early & late rifle hunts.
The early hunt was good, but challenging. I was with two hunters who were looking for big bucks. Weather was warm & dry on opening day, deer were using available water where they could find it, in fact I saw more sign on a few tanks than I've ever seen before. Deer were high in the burn area as expected, but hunters were everywhere!
We found some good bucks before opening day in the burn in spite of all the pressure. We split up opening morn and the hunter I was with had a shot opportunity at 164 yards at a good 170 pt 5x5, but he passed on the shot because we weren't sure it was the big buck we'd seen previously. The other hunter went where he'd seen 3 good bucks, but nothing showed up, except hunters!
After opening day we went to many of my favorite areas outside of burn - saws lots of deer & bucks every day, but no shooters. We spent 2 days low on west side to see if deer had moved low - found deer and some respectable bucks, deer were definitely on the move headed for low country, but there were still deer high and in the middle country. I was sure they would be low by the late hunt. Spent some time on Little Mtn, saw deer but hunters were everywhere.
We sneaked in on 4 good bucks at 80 yds in one of my favorite honey holes up high where I've always found good bucks when the pressure is on during the early hunt, but no monster so hunter passed on shot. Found a good area in the middle country (6500-7000' elev) where we saw a lot of deer and some good bucks, including a big buck that slipped away before hunter could get set up for the shot. Lots of acorns in this area, but I'm not sure if muleys eat acorns.
Neither hunter ended up punching their tag, but they were happy with the bucks they saw and the opportunities they had. Saw a lot of bucks taken, looked like hunter success was pretty high during early hunt.
By the late hunt many deer had moved low, but there were still deer in the middle country. Weather had been warm & dry since early hunt so deer were hitting the trick tanks. As usual, I found multiple trailcams were on trick tanks. I did go high (above 7500' elev) one afternoon before opening day just to see if deer were there, there wasn't (at least I didn't see any). I scouted low country for 2-1/2 days before opening day and saw good bucks, but there were deer a little higher than usual it seemed to me, i.e. in the middle pine-oak-locust areas. Hunted 2 days in classic Kaibab west side p-j, cedar, cliffrose, grass country - lot of deer and bucks, and you can see the photo of the results for Brian.
Closing thoughts - I shared this thought with the hunters I was with year. I have 45 years of memories of working, camping, & hunting on the North Kaibab. Today, for me, the joy is in the remembering - the places & bucks I've seen, the hunts I've been on, and the people I've met over the years. Those memories mean everything to me. After some reflection, I think will be the last year that I do what I've done the past 4 years. I'll probably focus on trying to draw a rifle tag before I turn 75 (10 years from now). My health is good and there's no place I'd rather be than the North Kaibab.
FYI - I'm finishing up the book I've been working on titled "Hunting the North Kaibab - A Hunter's Practical Guide to Hunting Mule Deer on the North Kaibab Plateau in Arizona". I plan to have it available before the AZ deer application period next year. More info to be forthcoming.