Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Drew an AZ Strip Tag

I was blessed to draw an Arizona 13A tag/strip tag this year.

This tag is not an easy hunt but has great potential for a nice trophy buck.

I have always been a DIY hunter and have never hired a guide, and don't plan on hiring one.

On the remote chance that anyone here has any first hand info on this Unit I would appreciate
your input/insight/knowledge ect. for Unit 13A.

Thank you,

I ate a 13B tag in 2013. Tasted like crap lol. DIY hunt. I put a lot of pressure on myself and passed on a buck I should have shot. Try to enjoy it and don't have unrealistic expectations. The deer density is low and it can get you down because you don't see many deer but it's amazing country. If you can't put in a lot of scouting you may want to at least think about paying for some info.

I have worked out there a lot. Deer are there, but like you said low density and a chitload of country. Find water. Find does and keep checking them for bucks to move in.

If you have the time I would spend at least a week prior to the season looking around and learning the roads and country.

Keep moving and looking, moving and looking.

I've only done one guided hunt in my life as well, but for that tag you have, I would give it some serious thought. There are guides that really know that country well.

Appreciate the feedback here

SU, I'm about as DIY as it gets. I drew a once in a lifetime elk tag in AZ last year and after a long reflection I hired a guide even though I guide myself. I could have killed a 360" myself as I know the unit pretty good but I wanted next level which is what the tag is. I didn't have the time leading up to the rut to do the tag justice. I ended up killing a 397" bull that I likely wouldn't have if I would not have hired a guide. I'll likely never hire a guide again but I don't regret doing it.

My point is get what you want out out of the hunt but that is a special tag. In today's hunting world, hunting for 200" bucks is something that you may never get a realistic chance at again. It's more than just a hunt. Draw an easy to get tag and go have a hunt like usual. The Strip is not just a "hunt"....

The Strip is an amazing place but without lots of scout time there and historical knowledge you can get whooped badly, even the best of us. True killers can get whooped.

Just some context/thoughts as I was in your exact shoes last year.

Great advise Greg

Listen to Greg

This is some sound advice.

Agree 1000% with Greg. Have a friend with a 13B tag that I am trying to talk into hiring a guide as well.

You guys! Lol...

I'm about 50% there.

I have two names on my list.

Call up Ken Broyles from Flagstaff and start asking questions...He knows that area better than most

The best way to scout is by flying a gps grid pattern. You'll learn more in a few days flying than a lifetime of scouting. Finding water is easy, the trails make a spoke pattern leading to the water. The best part is you can see the trails from 3000' and most of the pinch points.

Do you know what the AZ Strip is?

Best year since 2019 and one of the best in the last 20 years for moisture. I’d hire a guide if I had the tag and I’ve spent 30 years guiding for the biggest mule deer I could hunt. No shame in hiring somebody for their knowledge. If you’d like a name or number shoot me a message

I have to agree with GregW, A 13A tag is special. A once in a lifetime for residents and will most likely never happen for non residents.
To me the best reason to hire a guide for that unit is that scouting prior to the hunt can be fruitless because most of the bigger deer migrate in from the Paunsaugunt in Utah just before and while the hunt is going on. A guide that has hunted the area many times will know where the honey holes are and can pay off big.


Obviously TrueGrit is a whitetail hunter !!!!!!

There is no way I’d not hire somebody if I had the tag.

Your right. What makes 13b different than anywhere else? From what I've seen scouting using airplanes is almost like cheating.

In this day and age, just about everything is. Notice I stated just about everything so no, I don't need to read the few exceptions.

I have talked with a couple of reputable guides and am narrowing down to what I want and need.

A couple of things that turn me totally off and I just can't participate in.

One of the guides, and he's a good one, mentioned that he would have a pile of people come up and help him glass. Then after the first few days as other hunters in the area have taken their bucks, those guides would join us as well.

An ARMY of guides out there piling on, to spot a buck, I get led to it, and kill it.
...........And then we can have our 'happy family' photo of all the guides that participated behind an animal! Yay!

NOT my style at all. I hate that crap!

One guide told me all I had to do is show up the day before opening day and they would have the buck bedded and ready the following morning to shoot. Easy as 1-2-3. Except maybe we would be in competition with other guide/hunter trying for the same buck.

And oh wow!, now I have a set of horns that everyone can gawk at. I killed it, but did I hunt it?

Again, that is not me, at all.

Is this really hunting?

Part of me wants to cut up the tag and pee on it.

Maybe I am used to those High Buck hunts I did in the Cascades where we had the mountain to ourselves and you had to work hard, hunt hard, to get a good 180, 190 buck.

Don't get me wrong, I like a good set of horns, but how we get them now, just doesn't set well with me.

Serious question have you ever been to the strip?

I totally get what you're saying, I don't like the posse hunting style either. On most hunts, it's not necessary.

I feel differently about the strip having spent a chit ton of time out there.

If I had that tag, and tried to go diy, I would invite as many friends as I could to help glass and find deer. The problem with it out there is the vastness and low deer numbers. It's the type of country where you could go a day or three and not see many, if any, deer.

Anywhere out there could hold deer, but most of it doesn't.

Where I found the most deer out there were places that didn't look a whole lot different than most anywhere else. Very slight changes in vegetation like cliffrose, mahogany, and sage is about all I could piece together as to why and where I found deer. Water to some degree.

With everyone I've talked with about that tag that's hunted it, it's a time and cover country game.

It's down right daunting for one or two guys trying to locate the best bucks out there.

Good luck, and at the very least you will see some amazing country.

For what it's worth, it's your tag, your hunt and you should do it your way. If it doesn't feel right to you, don't let others influence your choice.

Hunting should be fun.