Arizona Unit 2??

Does anyone know anything about unit 2? Specifically unit 2B for Muleys. A friend of my dad's owns a very large ranch near St. Johns and the New Mexico border. He gave me the keys to the gates.

I am having on heck of a time getting information on it. I will go out and scout the land and see if there is anything cooking but I can't do anything for a couple months (baby on the way!).

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jeff
6,585
Hiker
The public land tag is a tough draw. From what I hear 2B is a good migration hunt and you need snow to move them down. This year it was a tough hunt as there was very little snow.
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BOHNTR
If you're talking unit 2B in Arizona.....you're correct.....a lot of public/private checkerboard land there. Overall deer densities are low, but there are some good ones there depending on the ranch and where it's located. I would say if the private property is large enough, there may be a good chance there's some decnet bucks growing on it.......again, depending on where it is located.
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Hiker
I'm sorry, I didn't see AZ, the info. I was giving you was for 2B in NM.
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Default Avatar
I've just completed my second bowseason here in Az being a new resident. There are few deer and you'll find them in small pockets of suitable habitat. The mule deer buck kill results for all manners of take in unit 2 in 2005, 2006, 2007 were 5,6,7 respectively. The entire state harvest of mule deer bucks was 1054, 1146,1180 respectively. I feel blessed to have seen a few and shot at two. They will key on water. I don't think it's legal anymore but most guys and outfitters baited them somehow. Check with the Az Game and Fish about this. Good luck.
Mark
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NotEnufTags
"m gardner" wrote:I've just completed my second bowseason here in Az being a new resident. There are few deer and you'll find them in small pockets of suitable habitat. The mule deer buck kill results for all manners of take in unit 2 in 2005, 2006, 2007 were 5,6,7 respectively. The entire state harvest of mule deer bucks was 1054, 1146,1180 respectively. I feel blessed to have seen a few and shot at two. They will key on water. I don't think it's legal anymore but most guys and outfitters baited them somehow. Check with the Az Game and Fish about this. Good luck.
Mark
 If i'm reading that right your saying that in 2007 only 1180 bucks were harvested in the entire state? I had no idea that the herds were so small in AZ. Kinda makes guys like you and Roy even more amazing.
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Rednecksundevil
Well, I met the rancher. Not exactly what I thought it was. Oh well, thanks for trying to help everyone.

Jeff
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Default Avatar
The herds are small becuase habitat is very limited. If there was more water the hunting would be incredible because the feed seems to grow huge bucks. Any state I've been to that has lots of federal land is usually pretty dry. The land wasn't taken during the land rush in the 1800's because it is terrible and dry. It is still under the BLM. That's why most water is on private land. Check out the Arizona Game and Fish website http://www.azgfd.gov/ and cruise around until you find the harvest and draw success pages. They kill alot more whitetails than mulies but still, there aren't alot.
Mark
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silvertip-co
Sounds like AZ mulie hunting is over rated same as CO. CO has plenty mule deer they just dont want the doe buck ratio below 175:1 so the tags are all draw. What a waste of sportsmans time and $$$...
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StickFlicker
While AZ does have relatively few deer during this last decade of very low rainfall, the numbers quoted above are for archery, not entire statewide harvest, just to make the record clear. Archers scored 7% success in the most recent year that records are available. All weapons combined are closer to 12,000 deer, with a fairly close split of mule deer and coues. Of course, states like Michigan that are much smaller kill more than 4 times that many per year ON HIGHWAYS, let alone hunting!
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Default Avatar
On page 9 of the Historic Summary of Mule Deer Survey Data you'll find the info and it doesn't say it was archery. It goes back to 1948. Look at the archery results and most units are zero for bucks. http://www.azgfd.gov/pdfs/h_f/hunting/Hunt_AZ_2008.pdf. If you include mulie does and fawns there were over 8,000 killed. If you add in the whitetailed deer there are about 12,000 total deer of all types and sexes, but we're talking mulie bucks here. And only archery.
mark
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