Desert mule deer

I guess everybody's is keeping mum about Southern Arizona for mule deer. :-$ :-$

I've bowhunted the desert regions of Arizona and New Mexico for 20 years now. Honestly, you can find a slammer buck in ANY of the desert zones during the January archery rut hunt. However, the drought has hit these areas HARD over the last 10 years and the herds are WAY down from what they were before.

Last year was one of the worst I've seen in quite a while. I saw one slammer buck in 2 weeks of hunting. Usually I'll see a few bucks in the 180's during this time.

I won't list any zones, especially on an open board. The best advice I can give you is call AZ G&F and ask them the same questions and maybe they can steer you in some directions. If not, check some areas around Safford and Sierra Vista. Both hold deer, but also some bowhunters. Good luck.

Bohuntr,

thanks for the reply, If I can find some time I will try and get out in those areas and see what I can find. I've hunted unit 34a and unit 33 last year and had some luck in both units. My brother shot a 4x4 in unit 33 but gut shot it. He ran by me and stopped at 20 yards, I was not aware he had shot it and I ended up putting another arrow in him only thing is he appeared in an opening so fast that I misjudged the distance and shot him high in the shoulder area. We found him the next day but coyotes got him. He grossed around 147 and change. I did not claim the deer because we have an agreement first one who shoots him is the one who claims him. So I am still in pursuit of a nice mule deer, maybe this year I will be able to lay claim to a nice mule deer!!!!