AZ Mule Deer - 12AW Late Hunt

Hunt Scout pro staffer, Jay Cox, was lucky enough to draw a late season 12AW tag for mule deer on the famous Kaibab Plateau this year. Jay burned up 8 bonus points for the tag and is super excited about his self-guided hunt for big mule deer bucks. We are going to tag along for a few days with Jay to help glass and document his incredible hunt. We will try to take you through every step of his hunt so that if you ever have the opportunity to hunt 12AW, this blog may be a good resource for you.

Pre-hunt Prep: As soon as Jay found out about his tag, we started doing some research and looking over the maps. A great resource for maps is Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/) and Acme Mapper (http://mapper.acme.com/). Both are free services and can give you access to aerial imagery, topographical maps, and even 3D viewing. I also use Terrain Navigator Pro (TNP) which is now owned by http://www.mytopo.com/ . TNP is probably the best mapping software available and is an excellent tool when used in conjunction with a GPS in the field. I will actually run TNP on a laptop in my truck in order to access aerial imagery in the field. It's is a great tool to use when you get back to camp each night. With all the tools in hand, we started looking for information. We started online by checking the AZGFD website at http://www.azgfd.gov/h_f/hunting_units.shtml for their "where to hunt" information on the unit. This is what they had on the 12AW late hunt:

"On the ever in demand 12A late hunt, pray (if religious) for snow. Forage quality and snowfall will push the deer to the lower winter range. If old man winter has not yet shown his face follow the suggestions given for the early hunt and good luck. If frost has cured out the summer range forage and some cold weather has struck, concentrate your efforts in the pinyon/juniper areas and even farther out in the sage and open canyon country. This is the classic western mule deer hunt. Practice with a flat shooting rifle at longer distances before the hunt begins. Also, before the hunt begins, study topo maps and enlist the aid of others who have hunted the area before. Bring binoculars and spotting scopes. Find areas overlooking large open expanses and plan on sitting still for hours on end and glassing until you feel like your eyes are going to fall out. After an opening day of this activity plan on spending the next nine days in the same manner. If the deer are low and you glass enough it will pay off.Being prepared on this hunt is even more crucial than on the early hunt. Good boots, parkas, and camping gear can make or break your hunt. Four-wheel drive, chains, shovels, and winches can keep you hunting instead of being stuck for a day. Use common sense; don't take shortcuts as they often take a lot longer than the more sensible route."

The next step was to start getting information from other sources. First, we talked to friends that hunted the unit within the last couple of years. Then, we talked to the biologist of the unit to see if we could get some updated information that did not appear on their website. Next, we started searching the chat boards and forums for posts that talked about previous 12AW hunts. Most forums have a "search" feature that allows you to search for posts from the last few years. Some great sites for research are:

Monster Muleys - http://www.monstermuleys.com/

Muley Crazy - http://www.muleycrazy.com/

The Arizona Hunter - http://www.thearizonahunter.com

Coues Whitetail - http://www.coueswhitetail.com/ (Yes, they have some good muley info.)

Rut'n Hard - http://www.rutnhard.net/

Muley Madness - http://www.muleymadness.com/

The Key to the Kaibab - http://www.keytothekaibab.com/

Arizona's Sportsman's Journal - http://www.azsj.org/.

Another great resource is Duwane Adams DVD called "How to Hunt Monster Mule Deer in the Kaibab". You can purchase this DVD at: http://www.arizonabiggamehunting.com/videos.htm.

Duwane's video is a great introduction to hunting the Kaibab during all of the different hunts that are offered. I would highly recommend it for any hunter that is new to the Kaibab.

As we continued our research, we started to see a trend with the information we were collecting. Certain area names kept appearing again and again so we put together a list of areas based on all the research that we had compiled. These were the areas that we wanted to start focusing on.

1. Sowats Point (and the Bridger Knoll Fire area)

2. The Gooseneck

3. Jumpup Canyon & Point

4. White Pockets

5. Slide Canyon

6. Cutler Pockets

7. West of Hidden Lake along the 12B border

8. Orderville Canyon

9. Middle Oak Point

10. Burnt Corral

Areas 1-5 above are all areas that seem to be very productive if there are good snows in the high country and if the deer are rutting good. Areas 6-10 seem to be areas that are good if the deer are hung up a little in some of the transition areas of the unit. Further map analysis of these areas showed some great areas to get started in so we will have to pick one or two to focus on during the first days of the hunt.

Because of our limited time that we will have for the hunt, we will basically be going in blind without any pre-scouting trips. Now, I can just hear some people thinking, "how can you not pre-scout for a tag like that?" Well, guess what? Limitations on time and money can be very restrictive for a self-guided hunter and I can guarantee you that there are a lot of hunters on this hunt that will be challenged with the same issues. The key is to maximize the time we have and trust in the information we have already collected. No matter what, it should be an exciting hunt.

Tomorrow, we leave after work and we will be updating the blog throughout the trip via our cell phones. So keep visiting the blog to experience what we are experiencing on an exciting hunt in the Kaibab....