Unit 21 (Verde Rim and the Agua Fria)

AZGFD's own unit guide (dated May 2022) describes pronghorn country as high semi-desert grassland. Native grasses and forbs cover the flats, swales and mesa tops. Up toward the head of the watershed it turns to a juniper and grassland mosaic. Juniper and catclaw hold the higher hillsides, and catclaw and mesquite take over lower down. The guide names drought as the main limit on the herd, followed by habitat loss to invasive plants. It breaks the unit into three main areas, so start there.

Marlowe and Yellow Jacket Mesas, north of Dugas

The guide calls this the northern and largest population. We'd put it first on the list. Access is the catch. The route through Horner Mountain Ranch is gone, so don't plan on it and don't cross that private ground. Two OHV-only trails reach the mesas instead. One starts near Cottonwood Tank, off Forest Road 68D. The other climbs onto Marlowe Mesa from Forest Road 9601M, close to Willow Spring off Forest Road 68G, east of Dugas.

Our terrain data lists Yellow Jacket Mesa as a glassing summit at 6,053 feet. Willow Spring Mountain (5,895) and Horner Mountain (5,876) are also on the list. Treat them as places to study on a map. The agency guide doesn't tell you how to use them.

Perry Mesa off Forest Road 14

This is the southern herd. Take the Bloody Basin road east of I-17 for about 9 miles to Forest Road 14, then head south. The first 100 yards are signed BLM 9014. Several side roads off FR-14 reach the mesa. Perry Mesa normally holds the most pronghorn in the unit. A 2017 fire followed by severe drought knocked those numbers down, though, and the guide says so plainly. Go in expecting fewer animals than the old reputation suggests.

Reimer Draw

Reimer Draw is the third population. It sits between I-17 and Forest Road 68D, and between the Dugas road and Forest Road 732. Many side roads cut through it. The guide says it holds a fair number of antelope, but in smaller groups, and the rugged ground makes them harder to spot. It's a good fallback if the mesas are crowded. Plan on covering more country with your glass.

Country to skip

Black Mesa no longer holds pronghorn. Invasive grasses, mustard grass and repeated fires that start along I-17 wrecked it. Sycamore Mesa has a few animals, but the road access is lost and the guide calls it very difficult to reach. Don't spend a day on either one.

The guide doesn't say how the animals shift between early and late season. We won't guess. Our road and town data for this unit also points at different country than the agency guide covers, so we left it out. Navigate by the forest road numbers above.

This is open grass and mesa country, so the hunt is mostly glassing, a long walk, and a plan for the meat.

Glass first, then commit

Pick a high point on a mesa edge and let the optics do the work. Pronghorn on flat grassland show up as pale rump patches long before you can see anything else. The mesa tops and swales on Marlowe, Yellow Jacket and Perry are where you'll find them. Once you've located a group, plan the stalk from the drainage side, because the flats give you no cover. Wind matters more than anything else out here. Keep it in your face on the final approach.

Beating the crowd on Marlowe and Yellow Jacket

The two OHV-only trails, one by Cottonwood Tank off FR 68D and one onto Marlowe Mesa from FR 9601M, funnel hunters. With the Horner Mountain Ranch route closed, most people end up in the same spots. If you don't have an OHV, you'll walk. Walking is how we'd beat the pressure anyway. Get a mile or two past the trailhead and you're hunting animals nobody else has bumped. Make sure you know the legal rules for OHV use on those trails before you load a machine.

Perry Mesa and Reimer Draw

On Perry Mesa you can drive several side roads off FR-14 and glass from the truck at first and last light. Expect to cover ground, since fire and drought thinned the herd. In Reimer Draw the antelope come in smaller groups and the broken country hides them. Glass slowly, work the edges, and be ready to move often. It rewards patience more than miles.

Weapon choice and the heat

The success rates in our data are 82 percent for rifle and 48 percent for archery. That gap is what you'd expect on open ground. Bowhunters need a waterhole ambush, a blind, or a long crawl, and the guide gives no waterhole detail. Cottonwood Tank and Willow Spring are the only water names it mentions, and only as landmarks for access. We wouldn't count on either holding antelope.

The guide's one hard warning is heat. Hunt temperatures make it very hard to take an antelope and pack it out without spoilage. Bring ice and coolers, and have the truck close. Skin and quarter quickly, and get the meat cold. Don't shoot an animal you can't get out in a reasonable time.

A realistic day

Be glassing before first light. Find a group, make the stalk in the cool of the morning, and be done before the day heats up. If you haven't connected by midday, rest in the shade and glass again in the evening. Don't push a long pack-out through the hottest hours.

This hunt is won on glass and lost on logistics. The agency guide is blunt on both counts.

Glassing the Verde Rim canyons

AZGFD says quality optics are a must in Unit 21 and a tripod is highly recommended. We agree. The canyons off the Verde Rim are big and steep, and a small herd can vanish in one of them. Pick a vantage with a view into several drainages. Our terrain data flags Tule Mesa, Pine Mountain and the Verde Rim itself as glassing locations. Get set up before first light and stay on the glass through the morning. Check the ridge tops too, since the guide notes elk are sometimes up there.

Don't burn a whole day in one canyon. If you've glassed it hard for two mornings and seen nothing, move. With so few elk, finding a fresh animal beats waiting on a stale spot.

Heat, ice and the pack-out

Early-season hunts can hit the mid-90s during the day. The guide tells hunters to have lots of ice on hand and help lined up before the shot. Motorized big game retrieval isn't an option in this elk country, so you'll pack the animal out using friends with backpacks or pack animals. It's unlawful to let any edible portion of a game animal go to waste. Think about the pack before you pick a glassing spot. A bull in the bottom of a steep canyon in 90-degree heat is a hard problem.

Choosing your access

Forest roads 732, 68G and 68 are the guide's access routes, and the roads are rough. The packet's named-road list for this unit shows highways and gravel roads that don't match the Verde Rim country, so we aren't relying on it. Use the agency's forest road numbers and a current Forest Service map. In the Pine Mountain Wilderness you're on foot, and the trails are remote. That's a long day with a loaded pack, so go in with a plan.

What the numbers say

The success figures attached to this unit are 25 percent for rifle, 22 percent for muzzleloader and 18 percent for archery. The packet doesn't break these down any further, so take them as a rough guide. They fit a small herd in rough country. Archery hunters should expect the hardest time getting close in those canyons, and the same heat and pack-out rules apply to every weapon.

A realistic day

Up in the dark, glassing by first light. Stay put through the morning, then reposition or hike a different rim. Expect to see few elk, maybe none. Finding one is only half the work. The other half is getting the meat cold and out.

AZGFD's unit guide says most whitetail here live between about 3,500 and 6,000 feet, with some animals as low as 2,500 in country nobody would call classic whitetail habitat. That's a big band. The guide also says the herd has been slowly growing, unlike the mule deer. Roughly 60 percent of the unit is National Forest and another 15 percent is BLM, so you won't be fighting for access.

Verde Rim, Squaw Peak and Pine Mountain

Start here. South of Camp Verde, the Black Hills complex on the Prescott National Forest includes Squaw Peak, the Verde Rim and Pine Mountain. The Rim is a big escarpment above the Verde River drainage. Topo data puts Pine Mountain at 6,809 feet and the Rim at 6,370, though the agency guide rounds both high points to about 6,000. AZGFD says the drainages running east off these high points hold good numbers of deer.

For Squaw Peak, go east from I-17 at exit 278 on Squaw Peak Road (FR 732). For the Rim and Pine Mountain, take exit 268 onto Dugas Road (FR 68). If you want to get away from people, the guide points to the Cedar Bench and Pine Mountain Wilderness areas as places to pack in.

Rugged Mesa, Hutch Mesa and Red Creek

Southwest of Pine Mountain, whitetail use most of the country along the southern Verde Rim. The guide calls Rugged Mesa (5,653 feet) a good starting point. Take I-17 exit 259 east on Bloody Basin Road (FR 269), then go north on the most easterly stretch of the 44 Loop Road (FR 44). Hutch Mesa (5,761 feet) is reached by turning south on FR 58 off Bloody Basin Road.

Southeast of Pine Mountain, most canyons draining toward the Verde River hold deer. Red Creek gets a specific mention for good numbers. From exit 259, run Bloody Basin Road east and turn north on FR 16. You can also come up from Cave Creek on Seven Springs Road (FR 24) to the Bloody Basin intersection, then head east toward FR 16.

The Cedar Mountains and the Seven Springs burn

Where Bloody Basin and Seven Springs roads meet (FR 269 and FR 24), look at East Cedar Mountain (5,419 feet), West Cedar Mountain (5,448) and the drainages between them and Tangle Creek. North of Cave Creek, deer use much of the country north of Seven Springs. The 2005 Cave Creek Fire burned a lot of it, and AZGFD says deer are now using the recovering habitat. Short spur roads run east and west off FR 24. Walk past them. The guide says hiking a ways from the roads cuts your odds of running into other hunters.

Larry and Lousy Canyons on the BLM

Northeast of Black Canyon City, parts of the Agua Fria drainage hold whitetail, including Larry and Lousy Canyons. From exit 259, go east on FR 269 to the 14 Road (FR 14), then south to FR 610, which is the second large steel gate south of Bloody Basin Road. Turn west on FR 610. This is the lowest, driest option of the bunch, so we'd treat it as a late-season or fallback area.

What to skip

The guide doesn't name specific areas to avoid. Mule deer overlap with whitetail in the same country, so don't count every deer you see as a Coues deer.

Coues deer are small, gray and good at disappearing. AZGFD's guide is blunt about the method: quality binoculars on a tripod, used systematically, is the most effective way to find them. We'd go further and say the glass matters more than the boots.

Glass from midday to dark

The guide tells you to spend most of the day behind your optics, not just at first and last light. Deer get located during midday hours, and a bedded deer is far easier to stalk than one on the move. Pick a high point like the Verde Rim, Rugged Mesa or Hutch Mesa. Work the east-facing drainages slowly, then glass them again. Spot first. Move second.

Early season versus late season

The unit uses a stratified structure, so the choice may already be made by your tag. If you drew early, the guide says bucks are much more predictable because they aren't yet chasing does. You'll also have better draw odds going in, but popular areas can be crowded. Expect company near the easy road access off Dugas and Bloody Basin roads.

If you hold a late tag, bucks are starting to rut and can be on the move any time of day. Very few hunters are in the field then. The tradeoff is much lower draw odds, which you've already beaten. Don't tie yourself to a bedded-buck routine. Sit on a good vantage and keep your glass moving across the whole day.

Beat the crowds in the Cave Creek burn and the wilderness

Along Seven Springs Road (FR 24), use the short spurs to get in, then leave the truck behind. AZGFD says hiking a ways from the roads lowers the chance of meeting other hunters. For more solitude, pack into the Cedar Bench or Pine Mountain Wilderness areas. Scout beforehand if you can. The guide notes that scouting teaches you the roads, the lay of the land and where the sign is, and the gates on routes like FR 610 are better learned before opening day.

Check your species twice

This is the agency's loudest warning. Mule deer use the same areas, and each season officers seize deer from hunters who shot the wrong species. Confirm what's in your glass before the rifle comes up. If you have any doubt, don't shoot.

A realistic day

Get to your glassing point before light, set the tripod and pick apart one drainage at a time. Keep glassing through midday instead of heading back to camp. Make your stalk on a bedded deer if you find one. The packet lists an 18 percent rifle success figure for the unit without splitting it by species, so plan on hard work rather than a gimme. Use Tonto and Prescott National Forest maps to check which roads actually reach your spot.