Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Thoughts on Coues in Az 22

Anyone have any intel on unit 22 North in Az for Coues?

And if you'd prefer feel free to pm me.

Thx
Dober

Yeah, I've hunted Coues in a lot of units in AZ - Unit 22 being but one of those units. Are you planning on trying to obtain a rifle permit for one of the various seasons, or are you just going to get an over-the-counter bow tag for any of those seasons?

Mark- i have seen them while hunting bear in that unit. that is not the unit i put in for. there are good coues i believe in most units though including 22n . there is a lot of wilderness in 22.

Thx guys, wouldn't be bow. Would do rifle and is there any chance one could hunt bruins and coues at the same time?

Is there a Dec season in this unit?

Many thx

Dober

What is it about 22 that interests you?
You got people there?
I like 33..

What is it about 33, got people there...

Dober

Unit 22, big unit, starts from 10 min outside my door, runs 100 miles north from the Salt river to the Mogollon rim, from low desert, chaparral to ponderosa pine. I've killed more deer in this unit than any other, around half my deer. I've personally killed deer in 12 different units in Az.

22 has alot of coues and muleys, on general principle, I'd say the central units don't produce the same number of bigger bucks per capita of the population as the southern units. My personal opinion is the central units have vast wilderness in most, lion depredation is more of a problem as most dog runners won't go into the wilderness, and big loner bucks are the most susceptible. There are plenty of big bucks but the central units require more scouting to sniff one out and much more year to year on what's available.

I like the central units and on a 24B kick the last couple years, was into 22 wilderness hunting for some years prior to that, next may be 23, where I killed my first ever deer and been glassing up some nice bucks for the JRs deer camp in Oct... I just gypsy around.

700 tags in Oct for coues and 25 in Dec, the oct hunt is almost a 100% draw and the dec hunt about a 5%.

Bear opens around the first of oct and run to dec 31... but usually the female harvest has been reached in the first week and bear season is over before deer. Though bear season is split between South and north 22, the north has a higher female quota, so it's possible there might be a season still on.

I break the areas up to Four Peaks, Mt Ord, Mazatzal wilderness, North under the rim. Each are large areas that hold coues.

If you are just looking for the best chance to kill a big coues coming from out of state, minimal scouting , 35B on the border is even better than 33. If you are looking for a packin/exploring type adventure and a for sure opportunity on a coues though maybe not a monster... the central units cannot be beat.

Kent

I have hunted there a bunch and seen some whoppers....yeah got family there too.

But thanks for the smart aleck response........

i hunt unit 36b. lotta deers there. no bears. long ways from my house though.

Mark D (Dober):

I concur with Kent (KRP). Although the southern units tend to produce more numbers of deer and some real whoppers, the central units are hard to beat. In fact, in recent years Gila County has possibly accunted for more record book bucks than any other county in Arizona, with the possible exception of Pima County. Yavapai County is another that's been a surprising up-and-comer in the very recent past and a 120+ B&C typical buck was killed in that county this past season.

I've hunted Unit 22 extensively. But, during the past decade, I've shifted more of my effort to Unit 21 and Unit 32. Nevertheless, Unit 22 is an outstanding Coues' whitetail unit and there are some tremendous bucks in there. I used to spend almost all my time in the designated wilderness area when I was hunting the unit. Backpack hunting is a great way to kill a superb buck, if you know where you're going and what you're doing.

Anyway, best of luck to you and if you need any more help from me, don't hesitate to hit me up via private message or through this thread.

Maverick

You're welcome,

I didn't mean it as a smart aleck response. Just was asking you the same.......

Long and the short it's just one of a couple of units that keep my attention.

Dober

Ok, here reason #1 I like 33.....

I shot (and lost) my biggest Coues there..130"+/-, see tons of 100"-110" everytime I go there, I know where the are and when I get my Muley I will go there for my Coues..
Muleys....I had a 230"-240" monster at 40 yds walking...no shot.
I pass up 170's all the time in hopes for a bigger one and again I know where they are though in the last few yrs the #'s have been down.

Sounds like you have good info on 33, I'm really looking for 32 info though.

But thx

Dober

Sorry I can't be of help.

Just about anywhere in the remote backcountry is good in Unit 32. There's some huge bucks in there.

Thx Mav

Dober

Tom-when you have a min please post pic of the 130, dats a whopper plus p

Dober

Dober,

Do you want 32 or 22 info? I'm now confused...grin...

Heck me to, Tom almost had me convinced I'd asked about 33...

Dober