I just got back from a mule deer hunt a few days ago. The area we hunted was about 4 hours away, so I didn't get a chance to scout ahead of time. That, and the fact that I'd never hunted this area before made it a bit of a quandry in many ways.
 
I've been in the hunt unit many times for various reasons; I'd just never hunted it before. My hunting buddy had, but pretty limited for deer.
 
So, we went up a few days early to "check things out", and found that most fellas there weren't seeing many deer. The sign was there, and good grass with more limited water, so I decided for the first day I'd stake out a remote water hold.
 
Which turned out to be a complete flop. I finally went back to camp just before dark, did some glassing, and spotted 4 deer about 2 miles away. By the time I got near them (1 smallish buck in the group), another hunter was after them so I let him be. He didn't get a shot from what I saw and heard (or, didn't hear).
 
The next day was a bit..."irritating", to say the least.
 
I decided to hunt some "pockets", simply because I've learned that deer will oft-times hide in very obvious places. To get there, I hunted a long, shallow canyon that followed along a road for a mile or so, and then turned off into more remote country.
 
The problem came when "road hunters" saw someone actually "hiking", and must have asumed that I was "stalking" something. I was working my way along, low in the canyon and close to the tree-line, when a truck stopped on the road and suddenly I saw rifles pointed out the window at me. They finally moved down the road a ways to "watch me", and then another truck stopped to point rifles out the window at me.
 
At that, I crossed the canyon, topped over, and hunted the next drainage over...and found a young hunter down that canyon who also pointed his rifle at me to "see" better through the scope.
 
By then I was getting a little paranoid, so circled back up towards camp, which was now a couple of miles away. I'd intended to go on down into the more remote areas, but I wasn't much into having rifles pointed at me everywhere I went.
 
So, as I was getting close to camp, walking down a dirt two-track, the same (#*$%)_$#(()_#()_truck that had first stopped to point rifles at me passed on the main road again, and again the twits stopped and pointed rifles out the window at me. There was a bit of brush there, but I was only about 50 yards from them, and I was getting more than a little ticked. So, not knowing their intentions, I ducked in behind a boulder and did what I felt was necessary to defend myself should they actually shoot at me and somehow miss. Oh, and I yelled some obvious obsenities at them, and warned them that if they wanted that pretty truck to continue without bullet holes, they'd best get on down the road.
 
It's a worrisome thing to have rifles (likely loaded) pointed at you, and not knowing the person doing it, or their intentions didn't help matters much. The fact that they were also likely drinking didn't make me any more comfortable.
 
So, I decided then and there that I was going to either find a way to hunt away from complete idiots, or I was going to break camp and go home.
 
Besides, with that many hunters doing nothing more than driving the roads in hopes of finding a deer to shoot at, I figured we'd need to get back away from any roads to find deer. Anything less wasn't likely to work well...
 
Continued later...
 
Daryl

I'm hoping things improved in ptII.

And people wonder why "LEASES" with controlled access become popular.
 
Good luck Daryl

QuoteBesides, with that many hunters doing nothing more than driving the roads in hopes of finding a deer to shoot at,

Here it is the fields they drive continuously in. there are more hunters in trucks than on foot! have not had anyone pointing at me though. Most carry binoculars.

QuoteAnd people wonder why "LEASES" with controlled access become popular

I am glad we do not have those around here! I have mixed feelings on leases, of course, what one does is there own business. they seem like nothing more than something someone can make a quick buck on. Why not just control who is on your land, I don't think "charging" someone to use it ensures no one else is hunting it. Of course I am forming my point of view from living here, we by no means have a problem with to many people on piece of land. it is possible not to see antoher hunter the whole day.

Incredible story Daryl, hav'nt they heard of binoculars, pointing a gun at someone is breaking the most important rule of safe firearms practice anyway.
I can't comprehend all the hunters walking around within the same area, just something that i've never seen.

The area we were hunting has one road that runs about 83 miles south-to-north. It winds around alot, due to the steep terrain, but also has a lot of "spurs" that go off into the back country. There is one town at the south end (a very large copper mine, actually), and one small town at the north end. Other than a few ranch houses, the country is largely uninhabited.
 
But, the three of us talked that night, and finally decided to give it another go on the west side. If that failed, we'd work our way into an area on the south end of the mesa.
 
We walked it without incident, except that I got ahead of Marc and Lisa by about a mile, so we talked on the 2-ways, and they worked their way back to camp while I worked a drainage going south. They picked me up a couple hours later with Marc's Polaris Razor.
 
We'd seen 7 does, but no bucks, so we decided to stop for lunch, and then work our way into some country from the end of a 3 mile spur road that ended at the end of an east/west ridge. It was rough, rocky, and brushy, but we did find 6 more does that we were able to check pretty well. They were still standing in the brush about 30 yards away when we left. Apparently, they were pretty comfortable in the thick cover, and didn't seem to mind us being there at all. Not nearly as spooky as other deer we'd seen.
 
We hunted there until just about darkj, and then headed out with just enough light left for us to know which turns to take to get back out.
 
The next morning, we decided to try another area about 20 miles away. There was a river with good water, and Marc said it was good looking country, so we figured we'd give it a go.
 
I'm going to mention here that the area is very remote, and VERY rugged. There are places that just can't be hunted. Some canyons, if a hunter managed to get into them, would pretty much require crawling out of; even without a deer to get out. I can't imagine trying to get a deer out of some of that country.
 
From our camp, it was pretty decent country for about 7-8 miles south. 75 yards north of our camp, there was a canyon that pretty much forbids entry. It's beyond description, but the point I'm making is that a guy has to be VERY careful where he goes, and even more careful where he shoots a deer. It's entirely possible to kill a deer in that counrty and not be able to get to it.
 
On the first day, Marc and Lisa hunted one particular mountain that, by appearance, wasn't all that rough in comparison to the rest of the country. Lisa nick-named it "Billy Goat Gruff", and refused to go back onto it. She's pretty agile and in good shape, too.
 
So, we tried to not hit the areas we could get to too awfully hard, for fear of pushing the deer into even deeper, steeper country.
 
And again, we were learning the country.
 
Continued later.
 
Daryl

Welcome to Public Land Hunting 101....

No way do I feel safe.

Been there,  done that,  and have not too much intention of heading out during "the roar" as a result.

Barry,
 
This hunt area is usually divided into two shorter hunts.  This time, they made it one hunt, and combined the total tags for both of the usual hunts.
 
Pretty much sucks, and I'm going to be writing to the AzGFD on it.  I won't apply for any such hunt again, even if Marc insists (as he did this time).
 
Anyway,
 
By Sunday night, a lot of the "weekend wariors" had gone home, and the hunters that were left seemed to be more dedicated.  Even so, I didn't hear more than a couple of shots after 2:00 PM on opening day, so the deer were hidden pretty well.
 
Down on the Blue, there were hunters literally everywhere, so we soon headed back to the Mesa.  We knew there were deer around, and we were seeing a few every day, but the bucks were being pretty elusive.
 
After studying the country a bit from a high point, we decided to hunt one long finger of a ridge that extended into some pretty remote country.  It was a couple of miles, and was pretty thick with scrub-oak, cedar, alligator juniper, pinon pine, and a mixture of low growing brush.  Tough to see through, but we figured it'd hold some deer.
 
And it did.  We were down to the last morning when we hit this area, and I really sorta wish we'd found it earlier.  We got a mile or so in, and stopped to make a calling stand (lots of fox sign), and I managed to call in one fox to about 4 yards.  Unfortunately, it winded me just in time to escape, and it ran within about 5 yards of Lisa.  She'd never seen anything called in before, so she was pretty excited.  
 
We moved on down the ridge a bit, and spotted about 14-15 deer moving slowly though the brush on a rise about 100 yards away.  I don't think we ever really spooked them, but we lost track of them in the brush.  We never saw an antler on the ones we got a good look at, but it's likely there was a buck or two in the bunch.  
 
So, we circled around, and headed back up towards the truck that was now a couple of miles away.  We still had to break camp, and the day was wearing on.
 
And just as we got within sight of the truck, a couple of does jumped from some brush and ran across an open area...headed towards a huge, steep, and deep canyon that ran up behind our camp.  A really nice buck came out right behind them, and unfortunately Marc was between me and the buck (it's just the way it happened), so I couldn't shoot.  He got one shot, and missed it.
 
Between checking to be sure where the truck was, and also checking to be sure he wasn't shooting at camp, he had a lot to look for in the short time he had to shoot.  I'm a pretty decent shot on running game, and I'm not sure I could have made the shot either.
 
Even so, it was a nice buck.
 
So, we went back to camp, packed things up, and headed home.
 
The hunt wasn't much of a success as far as bringing home meat, but it was mostly enjoyable.  I have a few complaints, no doubt, but I learned a lot about the country, and I learned not only how to best hunt it, I also learned where and how to hunt it to avoid others.  There's always more to learn about such things, but I'd have no reservations about hunting the area again, provided the number of tags for the hunt are reduced.  The prior split-hunt would have been far better IMO.
 
I have an area in mind for next year, and circumstances have changed recently to allow better access; even though a person is required to hike in, since no roads will take a person to where I hunt there.  I know the country really well, since I've hunted it off-and-on since I was a kid, so hopefully we can draw tags their next year.
 
Daryl

Quote from: rockinbbar;99564Welcome to Public Land Hunting 101....

No way do I feel safe.

+1...

There are ways to limit it but not to eliminate it...

Was able to score myself last week on public land Daryl.  Sorry you had such a time...

Congrat's Gmoney!  I'm glad you scored.
 
Daryl