Hunter: Tyler Mason
Species: Mule Deer
Location: Arizona, Kaibab (Unit 12AW)
Method: Archery, guided by Marc Darris
This story starts on Christmas Eve in December 2024. My family and I were in Breckenridge, Colorado, and I was in a snowboarding accident that tore my ACL and gave me a high-grade MCL sprain. I had surgery on January 31, 2025, and started physical therapy a few weeks later. I still applied in all the states I usually apply for out west; I just changed my strategy to “swinging for the fences.” If I was going to draw, I was going to draw the best units possible since I was still going through physical therapy during application season. I finished up physical therapy in May, but I still had a lot of working out on my own to get myself back to one hundred percent.
On June 25, I was looking at my credit card and saw a charge I didn’t recognize, and then it dawned on me: I had drawn a deer tag in Arizona. I logged into the Arizona Game and Fish website to make sure I didn’t fat-finger the wrong unit, but they confirmed that I had drawn a Kaibab archery mule deer tag! I immediately called in for the Huntin’ Fool member draw list. Jenessa Price, one of Huntin’ Fool’s customer service specialists, replied that there hadn’t been any members that had drawn the tag in the last five years, but she asked if I would be interested in visiting with an outfitter specialist, and I said I would. So Scott Harris reached out to me and got me booked with A3 Trophy Hunts. Around the end of July, I read about a fire that had started along the north rim of the Grand Canyon. I started texting Chad Rhoton with A3. He said the whole forest was closed due to the wildfire, but it was a situation they were monitoring and would keep me updated on. I had planned on coming out to start hunting on opening day—August 21—but told Chad that if I needed to be flexible, I could be.
On Tuesday, August 18, my guide Marc Darris called and said they had just opened up the forest. He asked when I could get to the unit, and I said I could leave in the morning! So, Wednesday morning, I took my girls to school, kissed my wife goodbye, and started my nineteen-hour drive to Arizona!
Late on Thursday morning, I reached the pin Marc had sent me, met Marc, got settled into camp, and shot my bow. That afternoon, we started doing some scouting. 12AE was still closed, and they had a pretty big buffer in 12AW along 12AE that we couldn’t hunt because of the fire, but we still found a nice buck to try for on opening morning.
Opening morning, Marc and I started to get into position where we had seen the bucks the day before, and the group of bucks was still there. But as we were trying to put a stalk on that group of bucks, a UTV came down the ridge they were on and busted the group off the ridge. On Saturday, we glassed up some decent bucks, but Marc thought we could do better, so we kept looking.
We had met some Arizona residents—Magnum and Jack Davis— with the same tag that were camping in the same meadow as us. On Sunday, we started working with them. We glassed up a group of bucks, and I tried to put a stalk on them, but one of the bucks busted me as I was coming from above. We watched them run to the ridge south of us. Magnum put a stalk on the group next, and he ended up getting a great buck!
As we got Magnum’s buck packed out and back to camp, I got an email from Arizona Game and Fish saying that they were opening up the buffer area in 12AW on Monday morning. Marc said that was great news because that was the area where he had done most of his scouting before the fire had closed the forest.
On Monday morning we drove down to the buffer area, and it was like opening day all over again. The bucks hadn’t been pushed around opening weekend, so the bucks we found didn’t pay much attention to us. As we were driving out to a ridge to glass, Marc was telling me about a big buck he had found in this area in 2024 that a client had missed. Marc had also seen the same buck while scouting in 2025 before the forest closed.
That’s when we spotted a group of nice bucks, and the big one Marc had been talking about was with them, so we got in position. I was trying to stay calm, and Marc told me to shoot the big one. I said, “They are all big!” Marc said, “Shoot the gray one.” There were two gray bucks: a gray one on the left and a gray one on the right. I was trying not to look at their horns so that I wouldn’t get nervous. Marc said to shoot the one on the right.
I drew back and a little buck walked in front of the buck I was aiming at, so I held, and held, and held. Finally, the little buck got out of the way. Marc said, “He’s fifty-two yards,” so I put my fifty-yard pin on him and let the arrow fly. The buck did a big back kick, and I knew it was a good hit. Marc started jumping on me, saying, “You just smoked a giant!”
I asked Marc, “Is he a good one? I was trying not to look at his antlers!” Marc said, “Yeah, he’s a good one!”
He’d run maybe a hundred yards, and when we walked up on him, I was just in awe of how beautiful a mule deer in velvet really is. I’ve told people this was the most fun hunt I have ever been on. Between the number of mule deer and the size of the mule deer we saw, it’s an experience I wish everyone could get at least once in their lifetime.
I’d like to thank Marc Darris as well as Jack, Magnum, and Ruger Davis for all the help and entertainment. And thank you to my lovely wife, Shannon, for letting me chase the crazy hunting dreams I have!
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