AZ 2016 Muley OTC Archery Rut Hunt

[zerohour714]

Greetings Gents!

My buddy and I are taking off for AZ during the second week of Jan. for a Muley OTC archery hunt. The tags are plentiful but so are the units. This will be my first out of state Archery hunt and am hoping you can point me in the right direction.

Not looking for honey holes but would love to hear some recommendations on units to hunt. We are not looking for trophies but would like to find an area that we can at least glass up some deer. Right now I am considering 20A, 20C, and 17B. Are these units worth a damn?

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

Straight Shots,

Michael

[RobG]

Archerytalk.com may be a better bet for archery hunting info. Good luck!

[zerohour714]

Thanks for the tip.

[180ls1]

Ill be out there also doing that along with javelina. Id tell you my area but I have the deer located and its in a small area. As for other units I haven't really hunted in many of the OTC deer units.

I do know last year they were rutting hard Jan 1st. They rut late there in the desert units.

Had a shot at a great buck while javelina hunting but didn't even realize at the time there was an OTC deer tag available. DOH! Ill be out there this year to kill him.

[MJB]

Instead of asking on the net go spend some time in the field. Or ask a local when you get there or scout those areas a few days then buy your tag.

[DSMeyer]

If you don't have the time to go out in the field, you can give Huntscout.com a go. They do about 30% of the leg work on contacting biologists, ranchers, field agents and such as to where game may be/sighted, food/water plots. It'll cost a few bucks but it's a good tool for the tool box, plus it comes with maps that have 90% of the roads/trails readable

[waterfern]

If you don't have the time to go out in the field, you can give Huntscout.com a go. They do about 30% of the leg work on contacting biologists, ranchers, field agents and such as to where game may be/sighted, food/water plots. It'll cost a few bucks but it's a good tool for the tool box, plus it comes with maps that have 90% of the roads/trails readable

Interesting site dsmeyer, thanks for posting it. Have you used it before and had success with it?

[DSMeyer]

Interesting site dsmeyer, thanks for posting it. Have you used it before and had success with it?

Yes I have, I used it when I first started hunting Arizona and didn't know jack about the terrain. I still use them if I'm going to try a new hunt unit. The maps are very useful as to what road goes where within that particular hunt unit. So what I did was scout out the roads that were traveled a lot by road hunters in the given areas that hunts scout recommended and foot beat the terrain between the roads.
I've only came home without game once and that was due to my hunt being cut short by a family emergency back home.
Like I said, they give about 30% of the legwork, but it's a valuable 30% if you can't go out on a whim to put boots on the ground to talk to local ranchers or physically scout.
Generally I'm out in my unit three days prior to the season opener double checking their findings as well as areas I think might be good. Plus it helps to get the lay of the land in case I need to drag game to saroad and pick it up with the vehicle later.
Probably the best thing is the map has boldly marked boundary lines of that particular hunt unit, AZ game and fish are stipplers on hunting in and out of bounds, they generally are not kind when your hunting out of your game unit.

[waterfern]

I may have to plan a trip to az for a deer and quail hunt. How are the quail populations in az?

[DSMeyer]

I may have to plan a trip to az for a deer and quail hunt. How are the quail populations in az?

Arizona is a lottery draw only game setup with preference/bonus points for big game, so some units are a lot more popular than others for deer and elk, this will require some BP's but nothing like the lifetime amounts needed like California. Wing shooting on the otherhand just requires your license and the upland migratory bird stamp/card. I haven't hunted duck in AZ, but I've heard from locals it can be very good along the river and larger lakes.
A lot better than the populations in Southern California, AZ had the right amount of rains at the right times for a good population hatch and support. As a bonus you can hunt the four different specie within 100 mile circle. It sounds like a lot of traveling, but split it up on a long weekend and your only driving 30 miles to a different spot and different specie.

[180ls1]

Arizona is a lottery draw only game setup with preference/bonus points for big game, so some units are a lot more popular than others for deer and elk, this will require some BP's but nothing like the lifetime amounts needed like California. Wing shooting on the otherhand just requires your license and the upland migratory bird stamp/card. I haven't hunted duck in AZ, but I've heard from locals it can be very good along the river and larger lakes.
A lot better than the populations in Southern California, AZ had the right amount of rains at the right times for a good population hatch and support. As a bonus you can hunt the four different specie within 100 mile circle. It sounds like a lot of traveling, but split it up on a long weekend and your only driving 30 miles to a different spot and different specie.

Arizona has both over the counter deer and elk tags. The OTC elk hunts are extremely difficult though and are mainly a revenue generator/depredation tag. You can have good success with the OTC archery buck tags but that is also a tough hunt.

The quail numbers in Az are just like they are here in south and central cali. They are in a big decline since the drought but you can still find them in areas like you mentioned.

[DSMeyer]

I generally stay away from the OTC tags, which are basically left over tags from the draw in areas that never meet their draw quotas. Like you said these areas are very hard to hunt areas either because of terrain difficulty or very low numbers. Although, I may purchase one next year in a populated suburban/rural area that is legal to hunt and has had some nice deer sign. Just got to have my brother keep an eye out for the gear.

[zerohour714]

Thanks for all the responses guys. I'll keep ya posted on how we do.

[180ls1]

You going out for opener? I am going to be out Fri-Sunday morning. There is a cold snap going to hit Friday so I am hoping it kicks off rut/pre-rut activity.

[zerohour714]

Hey 180, I am going from Jan. 8th-16th. We might catch the end of the muley rut but the cous should be in full swing. Let me know how you do!