Lucky Lucky Lucky DESERT Late Archery *update pics added!*

[blindluck]

Awesome news was the theme of my day. Dad is 75 and like some of us doesn't have a smart phone or computer but makes up for it with his Hunting skills.this is the guy that taught me just about everything I know. He lives and breathes Hunting and is still doing it with his bow. About 9:30 this morning he called the game department and got the news that he drew the desert late archery permit. That's when I got the Awesome news that made the rest of my day. Knowing that this unit is tricky to hunt especially never getting to hunt there I would like to ask for tips/ info to get this journey started. Dad is in pretty good shape but any advantages will make it that much sweeter for him. Thanks for any help that might come our way and good luck to all the hunt wa. Community. You can pm me as well. blindluck

[Birdgetter]

Good for him! I know nothing about the area but wish you guys luck! 

[bigmuliebuck]

Lucky indeed, congrats to your old man!!!! We will all expect to hear the story of his hunt!

[blindluck]

Lucky indeed, congrats to your old man!!!! We will all expect to hear the story of his hunt!

Absolutely, that's part of the deal story and pics.

[dc]

I have drawn this tag twice.  The fist time was when it was the 3rd week of November and bucks rutting like crazy.  The second time it was at its present season.  Not busting your bubble, but its not the rut tag of the past.  You will have to deal with bucks that have pretty much stopped at least a hard rut.  You will be hunting deer after everybody else.  The rifle guys, muzzy guys.  Not sure why the state thought it fair to move the bow guys behind EVERYBODY else, but just another smart move by the WDFG.  Now that being said, just past (couple miles) the Shell station by Mar Don on the right is the C road.  Take it and just after the canal bridge you can hunt either side, but I found way more deer to the right of the road.  Big sage flats.  There will be a few very large sand mounds.  You can get up high and glass the sage flats.  You can hunt all the way almost to the Potholes state park.  There is lots of land, but so much private you need to be careful.  Onix maps would be a great thing on this hunt.  I spent the most of my time both hunts around the area described above.  Saw lots of deer and many nice ones.  Even a couple 28" ish.  But the majority of them happened in the November season.  Good luck and congrats.

[blindluck]

Great tips thank you. How did you do on your hunts?

[Sutherland]

Congratulations! Great tag to have

[highside74]

Tip #1 Take off your boots on every stock. I wasted 2 days busting deer because it was cold and I didn't want to take off my boots.

#2 mark your boots with GPS way point. I kept running into bucks to stock and got turned around. Every dune looks the same. Took me 3 hours to find my boots.

#3 The deer will look from the tops of the dunes and it will seem like they have picked you off but more times than not they are looking past you. I learned that if I just stood there they weren't looking at me.

#4 I would camp and hunt from the i90 side. It is much more archery friendly. But you can drive around every morning. If you camp by Mardon at the state park the water is off at the sites. But you have water at one fill spo, power and hot showers that were way better than my camp trailer.

#5 propane at Mardon resort is crazy expensive. Bring  plugin heaters if you are going to camp.

[dc]

The first tag, I was a first yr bow hunter and fumbled my way around finally closing the deal on a little buck.  The second tag, I had 1 opportunity in horrible conditions and flat blew it on a beautiful 3x3 that was pushing 26/27".  And the taking the boots off thing is a good idea if there is frozen snow which is what I dealt with the 2nd time.  12" of hard crusty snow is not easy to sneak around in.  And also as stated above, EVERYTHING does look the same.  Sagebrush and sand.

[Sandberm]

I like to take my boots off also if there is crunchy snow or dry grass. With the boots on, no matter how slowly you move there is noise. Boots off, the contours of your feet wrap around and lightly compress the tufts  of grass.

Others have also said in past threads to not horizen yourself. Dont stand up ontop of a dune or highspot to see what is a mile away.

[blindluck]

Update- well, dad got it done but a little bit differently. We did minimal looking around and scouting during the hot summer months then ramped up our efforts in October by hanging trail cameras and venturing out into the different areas of the unit. There wasn’t much activity on the cameras and minimal Deer sightings while glassing during the pre-hunt. The plan of action Was to go our yearly late mule deer hunt as usual but dad would hold out on this hunt because of his special permit then come back and hunt the permit the last 8 to 10 days. Realizing that the special permit desert unit hunt would be really challenging and knowing the low archery success rate dad did not hold out long on his general season deer hunt and ended up shooting a heavy horned 3 x 4 with 6 inch bases that measures 27 1/4 inches wide. Thanks again for all who chimed in with tips and information to help in his success.

[lewy]

Sweet buck

[duckmen1]

Great buck

I definitely wouldn't pass in a general season or permit hunt for a archery buck like that. Well worth it.

[Dan-o]

NICE!!!!

Brutish looking buck.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Oh my!