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Dec 6, 2008

Unlikely Unit Spits Out GIANT!

This buck was taken in Arizona's Unit 18B and scores just over 90 SCI (hunters buddy Tom Smock poses with the rack above.)

Unit 18B isn't known for producing 90 inch bucks on a regular basis, but it does have the genetics to grow mid to upper 80 inch bucks each year.

We actually guided Tom Smock in this unit a few years back and he took a great buck that scored in the mid 80's! (it would have been 87+ had it not broken a tip.)

I'm not sure about the name of the hunter who took this buck but there are a few more pictures of the buck posted over at the Coues Whitetail Forums.

We don't recommend this unit for a few reasons:
  1. A large portion of the unit is the BACA Float which no one can hunt without permission and a trespass fee.
  2. The unit is divided, rather oddly, into three distinct sections for antelope. Traveling from one to the other is very time consuming during scouting.
  3. Very few 90's have ever been recorded from this unit. Obviously, from the photos, you can see that it can produce 90 inchers, but the past says it's more an exception than a rule.

3 comments:

Blake Lanoue said...

I have always said 18B is a sleaper unit for big bucks, but I don't hunt that unit for exactly the same reasons you posted.

Eli Grimmett said...

Yeah, 18B is definitely a unit that could hide a big buck. In fact, I've heard rumors of more than one 90+ somewhere in the unit in just the last few years. If we have spare time next season we may spend a little more time in 18B.

Blake Lanoue said...

Every year I hear there is one on the Float, but you can't get access to hunt it, or even to see if the buck really does exist.

I never hear of one being killed, though, so I am starting to believe that whoever sees these bucks simply just doesn't know what big really is.

My brother had an 18B rifle tag several years ago and we never saw anything over 82 and we scouted a TON of that unit before his hunt.