As far as a paunsaugunt tag goes, I drew an October NR rifle tag some years ago. I spent every weekend in Sept scouting and found a 6×7 and a really big 7×8. I knew the canyon they lived in and when they moved in the AM and PM. I did not go near the area for most of the week before but set up camp on the Thursday before the Oct 8th opener. I was out at O'dark 30 on Saturday in my main hide. I saw nothing that morning and only oldish tracks. I went back to my camp and was visited by a game warden who checked my tag and remarked "You drew a NR tag!" He was very insistent that "All the deer leave the top on or about the 5th of Oct every year". " After all its a migratory herd". I said, "I can see the Kaibab (AZ) from here and I know the deer there don't migrate till the acorns and mushrooms freeze out at the end of the month. Its only about 50 miles as the crow flies from here". The warden gets a bit sheepish and said, " They just always leave on or about the 5th every Oct". After spending another 2 days without even seeing a doe it became obvious what the warden was saying. I think the game and fish flies the area and spooks the deer out, probably drops cherry bombs on them to get them to go down to the next level of the plateau. If you're not familiar, the paunsaugunt has a lot off steps or benches. The top is Forest Service, the lowest is BLM, the middle is, private. The ranchers sell land owner tags for big bucks (10,000.00) or more. I asked one if I could pay a trespass fee since I already had a tag. His reply was "$10,000.00." I went down to the BLM area and saw lots of deer including some nice 4×4s but after working so hard and knowing what kind of really big deer are around, I'd work in close and pull the trigger on an empty chamber and watch the deer jump from surprise. Maybe the smokepole season is before the game and fish chivy the deer down to their brothers ranches. Fore warned is fore armed. GJ
