[1shot]

Opening Day of early archery deer/bear season 23August 2014... Yes, it's a hot time to be hunting, even in the mountains of So. Arizona.
My index finger is healed enough I can finaly shoot my recurve!!! After a 2month lay-off.
I pulled all my trail-cams, due to the fire danger, so I have to rely on boots-on-the-ground scouting. I have sweet little saddle paved in bear scat, not visable on maps, between two canyons, one of which has water.
The saddle is to small to even make a brush blind in, so I'll have to hoof a ladder-stand into there, and a shot will be close, 5-15yards close...
Bear hunting here in Arizona, no baits or attractants allowed, is by spot and stalk(to thick and tight in this spot) or calling. I have a wire-less caller with remote controls. It will be an exciting hunt, with alert/hungry bear at super close range.
I let the Deer pass this time of year, as I'd rather hunt them in hard-horn...

 

[pondscum2]

sure looks dry, 1shot. the water in that area has got to be a real draw. you don't set up real close to it, do you?

 

[1shot]

The photo is from last january when we last got some rain here... We are really in bad need of rain here in AZ, not that we ever get alot, but we have been in dire need for a few years now, the monsoons just havent been kicking in very well...The summer monsoons(we get a winter monsoon too) should be starting at the end of this month, into july...
I dont like to set-up around water-tanks, almost all of them are well known and competition with other hunters is a problem and can get fierce. Also, animals coming into water here are super alert and twice as wary. But trails/terrain features leading to hidden small seeps/springs are fair game.
The small saddle I'll be bear hunting at is about 500yards up-slope, from a "stream", most of the canyon water goes under-ground for most of it's length this time of year, only surfacing at tiny pools, kitchen table sized pools a foot or so deep...

 

[cch]

Good luck, sounds like you will have a good time.

 

[jerbearyukon]

Cool beans and Matt P would say...keep us posted..jer

 

[owlmagnet]

1shot, I'm happy to report that my part of Cochise County got a little rain, this week. I don't know, but I have a feeling the monsoons may start pretty soon. At least, I am seeing what appears to be a little more than usual, vertical development in the clouds, for this early in June.

In any case, I wish you all possible success in your hidden saddle. Come late August, I'll be trying to "shake hands" with a mule deer on the San Pedro....

Be well and good luck!

 

[1shot]

Glad you got alittle cloud juice OwlMagnet, we did some virga's here the other day south of Tucson, but short lived and they were small... ("virgas" are rainstorms that evaps before it hits the ground for our friends that dont live in the SW, they look like a wavy veil coming from the cloud bottoms and chill the air slightly)... All the signs are there for the monsoons, dew point is dropping, cicadda's are talking, saguaros fruits are ripening, hope it's a good wet year...

Take Care, Be Safe and Good Luck to you OwlMagnet, thats some fine country over there...

 

[kenn1320]

Sounds like a great place to hunt right now, but if you get the wet weather in July as expected, won't there be water in many places come season? Guys here in Mi say it's too hot to hunt during late September, they have no idea what hot is till they have hunted down south. :lol: probably even hotter where your at.

 

[1shot]

Yes Kenn1320, if we get the much needed rain there will alot of seeps and pockets of water for game... This saddle has mainly alot of juniper on one side and oaks/grasses on the other which are food for bears and the heavy manzineti/mohogany brush is birthing ground for fawns, another prime food for bears....
Hot??? it was "only" 103 in the Valley saturday...and as they say "it's a dry-heat" ( I hate that saying hehehe)

 

[1shot]

Processing downed game is something that you have to plan ahead for during this early season, first by only taking sure shots so blood-trails are not long and drawn out, skinning/de-boneing on the spot, setting the meat in the shade and letting it skin-over before packing into meat-bags(I use tee-shirts/shamags and dont put to much meat into each wrapping) and getting it off the Mountain as fast as possible, then getting it home to cool...
Alot of guy's keep dry-ice in a cooler at camp/vehicle during the season if they have a long drive back home...

 

[owlmagnet]

Hey! 1shot! We have had rain on my place, (slightly south and east of Sierra Vista), for four days in a row--and I am confident today will be the fifth. It just doesn't get any better than that! Grass is greening up. Life is good!

How are things on your stomping grounds?

 

[1shot]

We have been getting some rains, with monsoons rolling through at night even, giving the land a good soaking... No lightening fires in the Santa Ritas, so it's been nice so far...