A Couple Archery Desert Muleys

[FEW]

I posted these on the congrats thread but it takes so long for that page to load I figured Id post them here as well. I cant resize the pics they look teeny on my PC so if anyone feels like fixing them thats cool!

Here is my archery buck from last december

Mine on the wall

Here is Wes with his buck

I forgot to get my pics from this Octobers deer he is just a fork I shot opening day of rifle season. <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0"> Will post some pics of him sometime!

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 01-13-2003 15:05: Message edited by: FEW ]</font>

 

[Delw]

Cool pics Few.....
man Few did some posting today <img src="wink.gif" border="0">
Delw

 

[Kraven]

Great looking pics Few

 

[Horn Seeker]

Nice Bucks FEW, Congrats!

 

[Oak]

Nice lookin' bucks, Few!

Oak

 

[schmalts]

Nice bow kills. Makes me want to go back for the january season once again, havent done it for 2 years now.

 

[Elkhunter]

Very nice Few! Thanks!

 

[FLIPPER]

Nice bucks

 

[Frequently Banned Troll]

NIce bucks!

 

[Nut]

Yes they are great looking bucks!

 

[Ithaca 37]

Nice bucks!! Thanks for the pictures. Did you put them in the 2002 Kill section yet?

 

[FEW]

Thanks Guys.

Ithica. Yep I put them in the kills section.

 

[AZ402]

Not an easy thing to do, real nice, congrats

 

[KC]

Nice looking deer.

I've wondered just what is the difference between a regular mule deer and a desert mule deer. Is it just that one lives in the desert and the other one doesn't? Or is there some biological difference?

KC

 

[FEW]

I just call them desert muleys because they are in the desert, and thats my favorite place to hunt them.

I wasnt real sure this is what I found, but it seems that someone on here should know the answer?:

The mule deer has several sub-species.

The desert mule deer [Odocoileus hemionus crooki] is smaller in overall weight and antler mass than the Rocky Mountain mule deer. Its habitat ranges in the southern desert areas of the United States into northern Mexico.

This says smaller in antler mass but I see more big bucks in the desert than the pines with the exception of Kaibab. I think the reason there are more big bucks in the desert is probably not because they grow bigger but because they live longer and arent hunted as hard. Both those bucks were 3 years old and alot of bucks up in north AZ dont make it that long, let alone long enough to grow some real horn. We saw some real nice bucks out there last year these guys were actually 2 of the smaller bucks overall.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 12-26-2002 09:28: Message edited by: FEW ]</font>

 

[KC]

FEW:

In Colorado there's a special draw just for desert mule deer and the tags are really scarce. Must be very few of them in CO.

It figures that they might not be hunted as hard because the desert is an unforgiving place and a lot of people might be intimidated by it. I lived in Phoenix for 5 years, did a lot of camping in the desert and learned to love it's stark simple beauty and wild isolation.

KC

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 12-27-2002 09:11: Message edited by: KC ]</font>

 

[FEW]

Interesting. Our tags are seperate for whitetail and mule deer but that is the only distinction they make in deer tags.

Thats cool you lived in AZ must be quite a difference in weather.

 

[schmalts]

I lived in Tucson for a few years when I was a kid. I loved the desert. I spent most of my time in the desert hunting quail with my pellet gun, and didn’t know what a season was of course, but when your in 5th grade and used a pellet gun you only killed on the average 1 quail a week! I seen some pretty neat stuff out there from bobcat to lions, deer to snakes, but the coolest thing I came across was the gila monsters. They are truly a beautiful creature to see close up.
It was also fun digging out packrats nests to catch they and feed them to my snakes! Oh the memories...

I have been back there 4 times to desert mule deer hunt myself, would be fun to swap some stories sometime. Where do you live by chance??

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 12-28-2002 08:19: Message edited by: schmalts ]</font>

 

[YoungRobinHood]

Great bucks

 

[FEW]

Cool. I have never seen a gila monster in the wild. I think they are more common down south than where I hunt. I live in Cave Creek just about 15-20 miles north of phoenix. I mostly hunt around from where I live up to New River Mesa. Some of the only roadless areas in this part of the desert. Both these bucks were shot within 10 miles of my house. I hunted down south for javelina a couple years ago in 37b and some some real nice mule deer and a couple smaller whitetail bucks. Havent been back down there since though.