Unit 21 Jan OTC Archery Crowds

[micropterus79]

Hello fellow AZ hunters.

The reason for this post is to find out more about hunter crowds in unit 21 during the otc archery hunt starting up here in January. I know the unit can be crowed in general, especially during rifle seasons but I am thinking the first of the year hunt should be relatively quite and I need someone to tell me if I am way off base or not.

To be crystal clear, I am not asking where deer are; they are all over 21 and it takes hiking/driving miles and time glassing to find them. No big deal. What I am asking for are opinions/experience on what to expect crowd-wise in a very specific area that I have selected since my plan A got washed away in September.

This particular area looks like it could be a real nice and away from it all but I also suspect it is not as big of a secret as I think it could be. Just want to be prepared to drive in only to find that there are already camps right where I want to be.

I know this is ALWAYS a possibility when hunting public land but want to get a feel for how probable this is from someone that has done this hunt before. Having some piece of mind either way will really help me plan the hunt in terms of how much gas to bring, whether or not I need to plan on backpack hunting, and any additional maps I should be studying.

I was up there last weekend and only saw one other truck which belonged to a ranch hand who was out fixing fence/cattle guards.

If you feel like you might be able/want to help, shoot me a PM. Thanks in advance!

 

[AT Hiker]

Pretty quite over in this section ,I assume. Have u hunted yet? I was thinking about going out there this year but Im not gonna be caught up on my work.




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[micropterus79]

Yeah, as it turned out it was a little too quiet!! The area I hunted I would call the northeast end of squwa creek drainage and it was beautiful habitat and saw tracks all over the place (at least three seperate buck tracks) but only saw a single doe (given the rut was still likely on, there was probably a tricky ole buck with her that evaded me).

I was up there the morning of the 1st, had camp set up by 10:00 am and it was still snowing! I hunted hard for three days and had to come back home and was thinking the weather might well have pushed em down. Went back up to the same area, just hunted a little lower on the south side of the ridge; once again, a lot of sign but no animals and I glassed hard that thursday.

At any rate, I saw four people/groups up there between the two trips and the only deer hunter I saw was road hunting.

Saw a lot more hunters and activity down lower on 7 springs road near Bronco trailhead and the camp grounds. Other than that, I was pleasantly surprised at how quiet it was, just wish I could of spotted a buck to try my new archery skills on!

 

[AT Hiker]

Glad you got out and thanks for sharing. I was looking at 27,I should be able to make it out for a week next Jan...just trying to figure out when in Jan to go. I guess I should go early to catch the rut?

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[micropterus79]

I guess the rut is still on...I wonder if the December season isn't better for that because you're catching the upswing of the rut leading up to the peak instead of the downhill slide but where that peak is I'm sure moves a little year to year. See, when I was up there I was real excited to see mindless hormonal bucks walking around in the middle of the day but saw nothing of the sort (probably naive to have expected to in the first place). Don't know. I still think that weather shut em down some but this warm-up might well bring em back!

As soon as FR 41 opens up again I'm going to get back in there and re-scout that New River area; I saw more deer back there than I did this place but I also spent more time out there so who knows?

At any rate, good luck AT! Sure hope you stick one!