12A west vs 12B west

LR31 · May 7, 2020

As a resident with 8 points, I’m looking into applying for a 1st Rifle hunt in 12AW or 12BW. The 450 tags in 12AW concerns me but what is the potential in 12BW in the early hunt? And yes I expect to go guided since it will be my only Kaibab deer hunt and then it’s back to Coues.

huntazido · May 7, 2020

12AW & call Duane Adams.

Blank · May 7, 2020

What are you looking for in a deer? Having a guide and the extra eyes looking will help to find nice ones. There are more good to great bucks in 12AW than 12BW, but there are some in both units. They have similar draw odds at about 8-10% on the early hunt and 2% on the late hunt. I have hunted 12BW late once, and early twice and seen big bucks taken on all of the hunts, but a lot more people are happy to tag meat bucks in 12BW the first few days and go home. If the weather cooperates and you get early snow in the Forest, there can be some good movement down into the 12BW low country

LR31 · May 7, 2020

Yes will definitely call Duane first for guiding on the Kaibab. I’ve followed him for years. Same with D Martin.

SlowElk · May 7, 2020

I'll have 8 points next year as a resident. That should get me into 12AW early hunt, rifle, right? Or has point creep driven the minimum up past the 2018 level?

LR31 · May 7, 2020

Last year it took 9 pts for a resident to be 100% and with 8 pts you had 47% chance of drawing 12AW for early rifle hunt. Also, note that last year the tags numbers went from 500 to 450.

Setcams4u · May 7, 2020

Last year my Dad drew 12AW Early with 8 points in the bonus pass. It was a great hunt. In my opinion, our expectations were set too high. There are huge bucks in the unit but that time of year it's tough to get eyes on a giant. We had a blast and my Dad did get a great shot at a monster but missed due to broken scope from a fall. Most successful hunters had small bucks.

Here's a look at a few examples from last year.

Setcams4u · May 7, 2020

Oops...sorry about multiple posts of the same picture.

LR31 · May 7, 2020

Thanks for the great pics, was hoping they were triplets not duplicate pics. Hope your dad had a great time in some fantastic country.

Largebull · May 7, 2020

Here is a 12a west late buck from 1 1/2 years ago with Duwane Adams. I was 63 and hadn't been up there in 20 years. It was a no brainer and I got lucky with only 11 Res . Points Good luck.

Largebull · May 9, 2020

Note ,to You guys with a Kaibab or strip tag this year,this buck was taken on a drought year and grossed 184 . Guys were turning in their tags that year. with the point guard. Not me. if You have a tag this year there are going to be more 200 inch bucks around . ,But remember not behind every tree. . Good Luck...............Bull!

LR31 · May 10, 2020

Bull, that’s a great buck and sure looks bigger that mid 180’s. Have you heard anything on the early rifle hunts in 12AW and 12BW. Would like to do late hunt but don’t have the points and not willing to wait. I will definitely call Duwane.

Largebull · May 10, 2020

The Early hunts are tough, alotta scouting needed. Deer can be anywhere,but mostly high and thicker. The late hunt is all Glassing.Last Duwane killed a couple great ones on the early hunt I beleive. Good Luck. Kaibab is a magical place. ..............BULL!

Bwht4x4 · May 26, 2020

I had the early tag in 2015. The Kaibab is always a fun hunt, but it's still no where near what it was back in the late 80s or early 90s.

I passed on numerous smaller 2 pts, 3 pts, and 4 pts, and ended up taking a small 4 pt near the end of the hunt. IMO not really worth 7, 8, or 9 pts. Even though there are quite a few tags, we only saw people on the roads. The 12AW unit is giant and 450 or even 500 hunters are spread out from one end to the next. The only place where we saw a lot of hunters was along the western rim where you could glass off into the lower country. Lots of folks road hunting down there for some reason, when it seemed like most deer were on top or in the oak transition zone.

buckhorn · May 26, 2020

What about 12 B? Is it comparable to 12 B West? Thanks

StickFlicker · May 27, 2020

12B includes 12B West. I believe the eastern portion of the unit has more resident deer (although still relatively few resident deer in the unit at all). Most deer migrate into the unit during the winter. 12A has far more resident deer, in the event the weather doesn't cooperate. Unless heavy weather comes in time for your hunt, most 12B bucks will be on the smaller side, if that's important to you.

buckhorn · May 27, 2020

If you have a 12 b tag can you hunt 12 b west also?
I assume they would be separate hunts just thought I would ask. Thanks

StickFlicker · May 27, 2020

Yes, it is somewhat of an unusual unit in how they apply the hunts. The west portion has more deer, but there are some resident deer in the east part they are trying to target. But they don't want a huge number of people to be able to hunt them on the east side and potentially wipe them out, I suppose. At least that's what I understood to be the case. I've only hunted the west. The east part contains some more difficult to access terrain from what I understand.