Arizona Deer

A hunter's trophy, the head and antlers of a deer, taken in Arizona hangs in the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. The reason it has this place of honor is because of its beauty. It is one of the finest trophies man has been able to preserve to prove his hunting prowess. In the International Show of Heads and Horns this particular deer head was not only considered the finest deer trophy in the world, but the finest trophy of any game species. The deer which wore these antlers was harvested from the Kaibab North National Forest on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Each fall here in Arizona we prépare for deer hunting. Our forests, eleven million acres of them, as well as large expanses of state land, all public domain, give us hunting territory. We are fortunate because we have all this area which is ours to hunt. There are no signs forbidding passing, no signs prohibiting hunting. It is our playground. In Arizona we enjoy the most democratic of privileges, going hunting in season wherever we will. The most favored of places is the North Rim of the The Grand Canyon. The bucks that can be taken in the Kaibab carry better antlers than in any part of the world. The chemical composition of the soil on this mountain is such that when it is transmitted to deer in their browse it develops massive, symmetrical sets of antlers. They are the most beautiful, majestic racks carried by any deer to be found.

The deer north of the Canyon are Rocky Mountain Mule and dress out at fairly heavy weights, occasionally going over 300 pounds.

South of the Canyon is the Coconino-Mogollon Plateau. The forests covering this ridge, running southeast from the San Francisco Peaks to the east boundary of Arizona are ideal habitat for deer. The sub-species ranging this country is the Southwestern Mule Deer.

The Mogollon Rim breaks off into small canyons, forming hollows and points, which offer shelter for gamey bucks.

The smart hunter for deer looks for choice deer feeds, such as brittle bush, quinine brush or cliffrose, vetch and tallow weed. And the brush-covered ridges and breaks running off the Mogollon furnish plenty of this.

Eleven million acres of national forests and vast expanses of state land, all public domain, give plenty of room and cover for deer in Arizona.

The Bill Williams Wildlife Management Area, in the Kaibab South National Forest, just south of Williams carries a large herd of Southwestern Mule. Many hunters are finding sport hunting there each year. Another "hot spot" worthy of the deer hunters' time and study is the Pine Mountain area east of Prescott in Prescott National Forest. This rim country slopes up northeast from the little settlement of Dugas. On farther south, on the brushier and even steeper canyon walls of the Mazatzals, the Sierra Anchas, Rincons, Galiuros, Pinalenos, Chiricahuas, Catalinas and Huachucas the Whitetailed Deer will give the "buck hunter" all he is looking for in the way of a sly, alert, hard-to-take game animal.

Whitetailed Deer are very trim and neat appearing. Not only that, this dainty antlered buck is as slick a gentleman as steps in the woods. He is wont to lie close, until you are almost upon him and then he'll bound out, flirt his banner tail in your face and be gone.

The hunter who can successfully take and dress out this hundred-pound animal is a woodsman, par excellence.

On the lower, more gently sloping desert mountains you can jump the blacktail, or Desert Mule. His fluted antlers are distinctive to his breed.

Occasionally, in the extreme southern part of Arizona a deer hunter can locate a Sinaloa, or redtail. This fellow is a rarity and it is the lucky man who harvests one.

So, buck hunter, if you want venison this year for your table, and a nice trophy for your den you can try for it here in Arizona, because we have "buck country" and plenty of it.