COUSE DEER- what are the best units in AZ

[ChaseLeavitt]

Planning a AZ couse hunt to finish my North American deer slam and looking to harvest a respectable mature buck. Not asking for any ones honey hole just wanting some honest opinions on the best units for trophy quality , population numbers , as well as public access. Thanks for your time!

 

[Trial153]

Hold on I will pm everything I learned from the last 5 bowhunts I have done in AZ....

 

[easttex]

AZ Comes Deer

Planning a AZ couse hunt to finish my North American deer slam and looking to harvest a respectable mature buck. Not asking for any ones honey hole just wanting some honest opinions on the best units for trophy quality , population numbers , as well as public access. Thanks for your time!

You might want to post on CouesWhitetail.com. Lots of opinions over there, not to say that there are not here.

 

[RoJo]

I thought about warning you not to make it your first post on CouesWhitetail.com.

But hey, the smartarses will get it out of their systems, and you may actually get a few honest replies.

Seriously though, any unit that has good numbers of whitetail tags has trophy potential. Don't apply for any of the "any antlered deer" hunts, that usually means there are mostly mule deer in the unit and just a few pockets of whitetails....generally. Another thing to consider is that in some units, like 32 for example, access to public land (like the Galiuro Wilderness in unit 32) can be somewhat limited due to lots of private. But the hunt unit descriptions on the G&F site are also helpful in identifying those.

 

[duckhunter175]

Go over to Jay Scotts podcast and listen to about the last 3 years worth of data on Coues units and it will help you dial in the type of unit and type of hunt you are looking to do.

How many deer points in AZ do you have and what weapon type are you will to use?

 

[Desert Dan]

I wouldn't even worry about unit reputation and instead focus on finding the right terrain that will hold a nice Coues. They're here to be found. I'm right outside of Tucson at the corner of several units and they all hold plenty of mature deer. The Coues deer are plentiful but the more you're willing to work the better you'll be. Plus the rut starting in December and getting good in January is about the best time of the year you could possibly be bowhunting. The number of hunters in the field during archery is drastically less than rifle so that's another perk. Feel free to PM me and I'll try to answer any questions I can for you. Do you have any idea what general area you want to hunt?

dan