Unit 24B

Scout water before you commit

AZGFD says pre-season scouting is very important here because mule deer numbers have dropped over twenty years of inconsistent rainfall. The packet counts 186 springs and 164 tanks in the unit. Springs on the map include Pinto Spring, Oak Spring, Brushy Spring and Horrell Spring. The agency guide doesn't place them, so find them on a topo and go see which ones are running. Check tanks, pools in drainages and livestock troughs too. The guide warns that small, localized sources can dry up in the October and early November dry stretch. A spring that flowed in June may be dust by the hunt.

Glassing from the high points

The unit tops out at 5,247 feet by the elevation data. The named summits run higher, with Pinto Peak at 5,968 and Two Bar Ridge at 5,258. Superstition Peak is 4,959. Deer sit mostly below 4,500, so you're glassing down into benches, draws and basins. Be on your glass at first light. Then sit again through the last hour of daylight. The guide notes the Queen Valley to Superior country offers good glassing with binoculars. Use that. The flats near Roosevelt Lake and the southwest State Trust won't give you that vantage. There you'll cover ground and look for tracks and trails.

Mule deer or whitetail?

AZGFD flags this directly. With so many habitat types, mule deer and whitetails often share the same ground, and it takes careful identification. Don't shoot at a buck you haven't looked over properly. Take the extra minute.

Gates, wilderness and the mine

• Bulldog Canyon (Goldfields): Locked gates, and a free permit from the Mesa Ranger District. The gate combinations come with it.
• Superstition Wilderness: About a third of the unit, in the middle. It's open to hunting but closed to all vehicular or mechanized travel. We'd leave the game cart at home and plan to pack meat out on foot. Confirm with the Forest Service if you're unsure.
• Pinto Valley Mine: Routes change. Follow the public-access markings and respect posted private land.

A realistic day

The packet shows a 22 percent rifle success rate. Plan on that being earned. Glass at dawn from a high perch above a water source you've already confirmed. Move to the next drainage midday. Be back on the glass by evening. Get a Tonto National Forest map for roads and ownership, plus topos for the terrain.

Start with the rule of thumb in AZGFD's unit guide: whitetail live in the brushier ground above 3,500 feet. The guide also says deer have been turning up around 2,500 feet in what used to be mule deer habitat, and that pockets exist anywhere above roughly 3,000 to 3,500. The core country runs from the central to the eastern part of the unit, in chaparral, oak woodland and conifers. Several western ranges hold deer too, but those are high desert and chaparral that can also hold mule deer.

Iron Mountain, Montana Mountain and Fortuna Peak, north of Superior

This is the strongest named area, and it's where we'd put the first scouting trip. AZGFD points to extensive whitetail habitat around Iron Mountain (FS 172, summit 6,040 feet), Montana Mountain (FS 650, 5,543 feet) and Fortuna Peak (FS 342, 5,219 feet). FR 342 shows up in our road data as a 2.1-mile high-clearance track, so don't bring a low-slung rig.

Expect other trucks. The agency says there's plenty of room to get away from the roads, and we agree. Walk a ridge or two off the road and the pressure thins out.

Fortuna Peak is the one that needs homework. A lightning fire burned part of it in the summer of 2005. AZGFD says isolated patches of habitat survived in some drainages and forage has come back in the burn. Scout before the season to see where deer are actually feeding.

Pinto Valley and Webster Mountain, near Globe

Pinto Valley is the access route into whitetail country around Globe. You drive through the Pinto Valley Mine to reach it. The guide calls the route confusing and says it changes continually, though it's usually marked for public access. Pinto Peak (5,968 feet) sits in this part of the unit. North of Globe, AZGFD lists the Webster Mountain area (5,775 feet) as whitetail habitat too.

A small amount of whitetail habitat is private land owned by mines near Globe and Pinto Valley. It's usually posted as open or closed to hunting. Read the signs.

Two Bar Ridge and Campaign Creek, south of Roosevelt Lake

South of Roosevelt Lake, the guide names Two Bar Ridge (FS 83, 5,258 feet) and Campaign Creek (FS 449). This is a good option if Superior is crowded. We can't tell you more about the individual drainages, because the guide doesn't break them down.

The Superstition Wilderness, and country to skip

A large share of the whitetail habitat falls inside the Superstition Wilderness. It's closed to vehicles and anything mechanized but open to hunting. AZGFD specifically suggests backpacking or horseback trips, and calls December a great time for a pack-in hunt.

Nearly all whitetail habitat is on the Tonto National Forest, which covers about 60 percent of the unit. Tonto National Monument near Roosevelt Lake is closed to all hunting, so skip it. The low desert is mostly a poor bet. Dove and cottontail country sits down there, not whitetail. Carry a Tonto National Forest map for boundaries and roads, plus topos for the terrain.

Rifle hunters in this unit show an 18 percent success rate in our data. That's a hard number, and it fits the country. Brushy ground, steep ridges and small deer reward patience and good glass.

Glass from the high points, then hunt the brush

The unit has a lot of summits that work for glassing, including Iron Mountain, Montana Mountain, Fortuna Peak, Webster Mountain and Pinto Peak. Pick a vantage above 3,500 feet where you can look across chaparral and oak slopes. Glass the edges of the brush early and late, then still-hunt or slow-walk the pockets you've marked. We'd rather spend two hours picking apart one drainage than cover six miles of road.

Know what you're looking at. The guide says the western ranges and high-desert chaparral can hold mule deer along with whitetail. Confirm the species before you shoot.

Beat the crowd around Superior

The FS 172, 650 and 342 country draws vehicles. AZGFD says not to let that discourage you, since there's plenty of room away from the roads. Park, shoulder a pack and walk a ridge or drainage off the road. Most hunters won't.

At Fortuna Peak, scout first. The burned ground has regrown forage, but the deer may use the surviving patches in the drainages instead. Find the food and the cover before opening morning.

Water and feed

The unit has 186 springs and 164 tanks in our data, and the springs include Oak Spring, Pinto Spring and Brushy Spring. The packet doesn't say where each one sits, so check them on a topo before you count on them. Whitetail in 24B weathered the long drought better than mule deer did, and AZGFD says permit numbers have held steady for a decade. We wouldn't bet on a single water source. Look for brush, oak and north-facing cover first.

Wilderness pack-in hunts

If you want to leave the road hunters behind, go into the Superstition Wilderness. No vehicles or mechanized travel are allowed, so everything, including a retrieval, happens on foot or by horse. AZGFD says December can be great for this. Plan your pack-out before you pull the trigger.

Access cautions

• Pinto Valley Mine: routes change, so follow the public-access markings.
• Mine-owned private land near Globe and Pinto Valley is usually posted. Heed it.
• Tonto National Monument is closed to all hunting.
• FR 342, FR 225 and FR 1490 are high-clearance. US 60 and AZ 188 are paved, and East Peralta Road is graded gravel.

A realistic day: drive in by first light, climb to a glassing spot, and work the brush from there. Expect a lot of walking and few deer. Pack in everything you need and be ready for a long haul out.