Today we are going to talk about hunting the legendary Kaibab Plateau.
If you don’t know what the Kaibab Plateau is, then get out.
Just kidding. The Kaibab Plateau is one of the most beautiful places in Arizona and is home to one of the greatest mule deer herds on earth. Kaibab also has some of the best populations of turkey, blue grouse, squirrels, band-tailed pigeons, and more, in Arizona. It’s truly a magical place.
Well, I’m here to tell you that you shouldn’t hunt Kaibab this year.
If you got a tag this year (unless it’s for turkeys), I hope that you got point guard from AZGFD so that you can get your bonus points back.
The simple reason as to why you shouldn’t hunt Kaibab this year is due to the fire that happened earlier this year.
The Mangum fire tore across more than 70,000 acres across the western part of the Kaibab Plateau in June of 2020.
Except, that western area across the plateau hit by fire wasn’t even that large, right?
Wrong.
You see, the effect of fire spreads across more land than what the actual fire touched.
Animals are like humans. They don’t like smoke, and they will do anything to reduce the risk of being exposed to flames and smoke.
In other words, the animals have moved, especially the deer.
You may have gone up to Kaibab several times over the past several years, have a few cameras up, and think that you know their pattern.
Sorry, buddy, but their patterns have now changed.
The deer have moved, and there is a good chance that the deer have moved pretty drastically. They have deserted their previous patterns to either get away from the fire or to get away from the smoke, and the same can be said for most other animal species.
I’m part of several Facebook groups that focus on nothing but hunting, and guys (and gals) are already reporting that there are no deer to be found. Hot spots that once always held deer are no more. This isn’t to say that there won’t be hot spots again, but not this year.
Where exactly did the deer go? Well, if I knew that answer for sure then I would be charging you money for it. However, I can tell you that the deer have probably found areas where the wind wasn’t affecting them, where they have plenty of feed, have ready access to water, have cover, and have space.
Is it possible that the deer moved off the plateau? I doubt it, simply because the deer don’t want to travel in lower elevation areas during the summer. With that said, it wouldn’t surprise me if they move off the plateau a little earlier this year.
Let me make a clarification – if you have the time and money to scout EXTENSIVELY, then you will be successful, but then again, these people are always successful. However, for those of us that can’t scout such a faraway place (Kaibab is about 6 hours away for me) than I don’t think it’s worth your time.
If you do decide to hunt Kaibab, you should be expecting to work hard. Harder than normal. The deer aren’t just going to be bursting from the seems as they always are. You’re going to have to work to find them, and those big bucks are going to be even harder to find.
That’s all I’ve got for today, guys. I really wanted to get this short article out so that you can make the decision to hunt or not. If I were you, I would pray that I purchased PointGuard and get my bonus points back and hunt it next year or the year after. If you only had a point or two and got drawn, well then I would hunt it. However, these people already have a huge level of luck with them and will probably stumble across a deer regardless.
I hope you guys liked today’s article. If you haven’t signed up for Jake’s Journal, I think you should. It’s a monthly journal where I talk about topics regarding wildlife conservation, wildlife politics, guns, and anything outdoors. You can find the sign up at the bottom of any page, it’s completely free, and we will never spam you.
As always, I thank you for reading and I will see you next time.