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Archery Deer

13K views 62 replies 10 participants last post by  AZThunderDan 
#1 ·
Hey all,
I've been out twice this opening weekend and haven't seen a single deer! Anybody having any luck?
 
#2 ·
So far lots of does, so nothing to get all up in arms about :D :D . Down here in the South, The mulie does are still running in singles and pairs. No bucks in attendance as of yet, and I havew not been up the mountain or even glanced at the whitetails yet. That will be coming soon though. Should be any time now for both to kick into the rut. I cant wait.
 
#3 ·
Depends on what you call... luck.

I had a 190"-200", perfectly symmetrical 4X4 buck walk in on me while I was sitting on a drinker last week. He taunted me for over 30 minutes. Not sure what went wrong, but I finally had him "head-down" at the drinker for about 1.5 seconds. Just as I was drawing my bow, he threw his head up, looked away from me, turned, walked off, jumped the fence, and then stood there for 5-6 minutes with his back to me before meandering off into the desert.

I will be going back to try and settle the score on this guy. That is, unless Creed beats me to him. :roll:


BTW, a good friend of mine named Dave harvested a really nice, heavy-framed 4x4. Scored 172 gross. Sorry, no pics of him, by request of the hunter.
 
#5 ·
No luck either. No, that's not right, I've had all kinds of luck, it's just bad.
I had a 200+ muley nearly in the blind with me opening weekend. It was too close. Today I headed into a tank that I thought nobody knew about. I was wrong there. A truck was sitting on it. How they found it I'll never know. I pulled out and hunted for pigs. No pigs. The Friday before the pig opener I had a pig challenge me at the drinker. That same afternoon I saw 4 herds. I haven't seen a pig since.
On my way out I stopped at the tank Az Thunder was talking about. I walked over to check the tracks at the drinker and saw water splashed all over the place from at least 4 deer only minutes before.

I feel like selling all of my archery gear and taking up gun hunting again.
 
#8 ·
The picture shows he's got good symmetry and great tine-length, but you can't see his width. Having looked directly at me, (5 or 6 times while I was sitting in the blind) I can tell you he's at LEAST 34" wide (inside spread).

Actually, the picture doesn't even come close to showing how magnificent he is in person, especially from 30 yards away. I just hope that if I do get back on him, he's not busted up from rut fighting. :(
 
#10 ·
Garth, when I first spotted him, he was approx 120 yards away. He came in slow and precariously, so I had plenty of time to get relaxed and focused on waiting for him to enter the fenced area of the drinker. He walked down the shoulder of the road that passes alongside the drinker and then alongside the fence railing. Keep in mind, my charge from Bruce was to be able to hit my target at 30 yards - and that's the furthest pin I had set-up in my bow. The fence railing where he walked up and down (3 times back-and-forth) is at 42 yards. I thought/considered... "I'll aim at his spine and it'll fall where it needs too", but that's not respectful of the animal, or of my ability. No, I decided to wait, as Bruce suggested, for him to stick his head down into the drinker. It took him 20-25 minutes to finally enter the fenced area and walk up to the drinker. He got within 10 feet of the drinker and looked "dead-away" from me. That's when I raised my bow. He had no clue I did. When he approached the apron of the drinker and finally lowered his head to the waters surface, I started to slowly draw. I could hear the right shoulder of my jacket making that "fabric rub" noise, so I slowed waaaaay down on my draw so as not to alert him. I'm 100% positive he didn't hear me, cuz he never swung his head up or over to look at me. Instead, he looked away from me toward the fence railing/road, turned away from the water, and walked back toward his entry point. When he did this, he went behind a palo-verde and a huge saguaro, which took him completely out of my view. He jumped the fence where he entered, walked away about 10 yards, and stood there, as if looking for something he may have heard coming up the road? I could see through the palo-verde that he was just standing there, with his back to me, and at only 10 yards outside the fence rails. He did this for about 5-6 minutes before he finally meandered off into the desert. I'm convinced he didn't know I was there. Deer don't jump a fence and then stand 10 yards away from danger (for 5-6 minutes) with their back to you.

I knew when he came up to the fence at his entry point that he'd jump the fence to get to the water. I also knew the palo-verde/saguaro he was standing behind would block his view of me in the blind. It was then that I thought I'd draw on him as soon as I heard him clear the fence, but then I thought... what if he just stands there behind the palo-verde tree/saguaro? He could stand there for 5 minutes with me at full-draw. I thought this through very carefully and decided if he did hold tight, I'd have to let-down, and risk being busted. I wanted to wait until he had his head was submerged into the water trough before drawing/shooting.

I must chalk this up to what Bruce said. This is the first entry... in the first chapter... of my... "Archery hunting book of experience". :roll:
 
#12 ·
The rut is on,


Seen 2 muley bucks today pushing does pretty hard. One of them was a shooter. Not big enough for me to go after him this time around , but still a shooter, probably 150" never got close enough to tell if he was a 4x4 or not. He had some real deep forks in the front, just every time he picked his head up his antlers were in the trees. Got to love it. Goign to try and stick a whitetail this year ( again). So passed on him . I should be ok as long as he dosent blunder into range. If that happens I dont know if I will be able to not take the shot. LOL
 
#13 ·
Since Dan has computer problems again, I'll answer for him Garth. He said it came in at 8:58 and hung around until 9:30. That deer is not the biggest one there. There are 2 others that will go over 200, one of them will crowd 220. He's the one that I had at 20 feet.

Coues84, my problem is to keep from shooting the first spike that gets in range.
 
#14 ·
Creed,


I have the same problem. I always say I'm not going to shoot at a spike or anything smaller then whatever my choice of "inches" is for that particular year. And next thing I know I'm looking for an arrow I launched right over the back of a spike sporting 3" of bone on his head and shrugging my shoulders about the letter I'm going to recieve from NASA about the space junk I'm throwing up there. LOL... I had a bull tag in 4a in 2001, Came back with a spike. Just had to see if I could thread an arrow " through that hole in the brush" LOL.. But I'm learning now when I glass a small one up, I dont go and see if he has a big brother close by. I leave the area. LOL.. So far so good this year. I actually did not go after a 150" muley this afternoon. LOL..
 
#15 ·
Garth, Bruce stated the times correctly. 8:58 AM is when I spotted him and 9:30 AM is when I lost sight of him.

I was thinking of going back mid-week to try again on Brutus (or, his 2 bigger brothers :D), but the forecast is for rains/snow as early as Thursday eve. AArgh!

FYI, yes, I'm using my son's PC again. Mine is hooked up and works, however, my dish antennae/coax needs an adapter in order to plug into my wireless PCI adapter jack. Hope to have that resolved by weeks end.

coues84, good luck on your pursuit. And please don't take this wrong, and I'm not flaming you or anyone else, but why anyone would hunt a petting zoo deer vs. a monster muley is beyond me. :roll: To each is own I guess? I am sooooo hooked on hunting desert mule deer that I don't think there's any hope for me.

And... it's ALL Creeds fault! LoL.
 
#16 ·
AZ thunder,


Those little petting zoo deer, are about as addicting as your mulies ( way more actually, but I dont want to burst your bubble) :lol: :lol: . Besides I have a 171 5/8" mulie on the wall and there isnt room for another one. So I have to find something a little smallerto fit what space I have left. :D


And just to show you I'm not all riled up over this. :lol: Those mulies are pretty easy to get this time of the year. I got bored with chasing them. Try sticking a mature ******. They are alot more challenging then carp.. :crutch: :D :D



Shane was here.
 
#18 ·
C84, I'm with Dan. If I can hunt muleys I'm happy.

One quick question, where are these stupid carp? I need to get down there and take them out of the gene pool. Wouldn't want stupid genes being passed on.

AzThunder, should I post the one of the "whitetail" that got Dave so shook up?
I'm trying to convert that guy into a muley hunter. He's going to be a tough one. He likes those little deer too.
 
#19 ·
Creed,

Most of the Stupid ones have already been taken but there are still a few left. And I believe you will agree with me on this one. this time of the year its not the bucks you ahve to worry about being stupid ( thats a given) its the does who will let you walk up on them that get the bucks in trouble. LOL.. I just have enough space on the wal for a coues so that is my next target. And seeing how I have the same problem about shooting first and wondering why I ever knocked an arrow as you do. The mulies where I hunt just kill me. There is almost always one or 2 bucks this time of the year standing on the side of the road. They will just stand there with the does . Usually not a problem to get out of your vehicle and pull the bow out of the back and get a shot. And sometimes they are decent bucks.

And now that My daughter has taught me how to post pics. I will try and show you the 2 stupid ones I have on the wall.



 
#20 ·
But then again,

I have had my day with the What was I thinking as stated above. So if I want to get a whitetail. I have to not get out of the truck until I get to a spot where the mulies arent standing around waiting for an arrow to catch them. LOL

 
G
#21 ·
Mule deer verses coues. No contest. Coues all the way. I've taken my share of mulies. Those little coues have always proved to be a better challenge. It's kinda like the old saying. It's not the size of the dog in the fight that matters. It's the size of the fight in the dog that counts. I'm just saying never under estimate the little guy. Shane, someday I would like to show you some spots over on my side of the mountian.
 
#25 ·
Creed,


You sneaky fellow. I like the modified skyline. :D :D Thats classic. Took me a minute to see that you had played with it. I was trying to figure out where those table tops were. LOL>.. Confucious say,,, you know us to well. :D


I think I would have loads of trouble trying not to fling arrows at that one. I hope I dont run into him or the one on the right before I have a chance at a coues. The on eon theright has loads of character. I like the little digger on his right eyeguard.
 
#26 ·
I spent several days in the desert and had no shots. The one time a buck walked up to the tank I was sitting I had left it 5 mins earlier. Only reason I know he showed up is I went back to get my calls. Had him several girlfriends too. Did get a pig. Soon as my truck gets fixed I will be back out after deer.
 
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