Despite my limited number of bonus points, with the drought in Arizona, I felt like I had a pretty good chance of drawing the archery Strip tag. After credit cards were hit, my brother and I headed out to the Strip to start scouting. We turned up a lot of bucks but none of the true monsters the Strip is known for.
Opening day found us spread across the top of a hill trying to turn up a buck that Keith and Tom had found a couple weeks earlier while scouting. We never found the buck, but it is always a good time out with the crew (Kevin, Tom, Keith, Shawn, and Dad). Midday, we moved to another glassing point and split up to find a buck. Dad was a trooper sitting on the rocks with limited shade looking for deer in the Arizona heat.
After glassing for a couple of hours in the heat, Shawn spotted two giant bucks. We made a game plan. Dad and I took off after them while the other guys stayed to keep an eye on the bucks. When I got down off the mountain to start heading in the direction the deer were in, I cut some fresh tracks while hiking through a drainage. I followed them about a hundred yards to kick up a big typical with trash. Dad and I changed the game plan to relocate to a glassing spot to try and find the buck we had just kicked up. After looking until dark, we never could turn the buck up again.
The next morning, we all split up. Dad was with me, and at first light, we found a group of 10 bucks with a 4-point that I had seen before. After getting everybody relocated on the deer, I stalked in to 60 yards but other hunters spooked the group. I backed out and gave them some time. Luckily, my brother and Kevin had watched them drop into a drainage. We did not have eyes on the deer, but the wind was good, so I felt comfortable dropping into the drainage to relocate the deer. I found the deer and shadowed them until they bedded down. I hadn’t seen the 4-point I was looking for, so I slowly crawled diagonally in the direction the deer were bedded. I came to an opening with two bucks – the big typical 120 yards in the back of a small opening with a smaller 4-point between us.
I crawled until I was 70 yards from the big 4-point. I sat crouched behind a bush, waiting for the buck to stand up in my lane. Finally, he got up to move completely out of the lane. All of the deer had moved to the left, and as soon as they cleared, I got up and peeked around a tree to see all but my buck walking away. Then, through the brush, the big 4-point stepped out. As he walked through the opening, I settled my 60-yard pin on him and shot. From the hit, the deer ran down and away from the rest of the bucks. The arrow had broken weird and was hanging out of the deer at an angle that looked like a bad shot. I moved to find him slowly walking through the drainage and got to a spot where the buck had to come out to a point at 79 yards. On the follow-up shot, this buck found high gear. The shot hit him dead center in the back leg. We gave him a couple hours and found him within 150 yards.
Nothing compares to getting your biggest buck to date, and having my dad and my group of hunting buddies there to experience it with me made it that much better. I can’t thank Tom Hooper (my brother), Keith Norvell, Shawn Schupbach from Central Arizona Outfitters, Kevin Davis, and my dad enough for all of the time they always put in on these hunts. I also want to thank Jeffrey Row, Jason Bond, and Bob Dykeman for all of the pre-season help.
Deer in Arizona
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