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Jeff: Decades back, my father commented that a deer practices being a deer, 365 days a year. He has an advantage over a fella, who practices being a deer-hunter some 4 or 5 days a year.
In other words, you must get out and go critter-watching. That will do more than all the videos ever filmed.
Learn to do a rock-imitation. Or learn what sort of footwear works around your cactus to protect your feet, but lets you walk quietly. Many of my deer were taken by walking up on them during the middle of the day, from as close as 15 to 20 yards.
Lots of public land in AZ. Take (minimum) a .22 Mag or .223 and a coyote call. No matter how good you get at "varmint calling", you'll never hurt the coyote population.
You have a fair number of javelina. They are easy enough to get close to, and a .357 works quite well.
Or just take a camera and a coyote call. The look on a coyote's face when he learns he's been "had" is priceless!
Learn to read sign, to identify game trails to and from springs or seeps. Start out with the sandy areas around/in washes/arroyos, as the tracking is easier. Find a little seep spring, locate a good "settin' and lookin'" spot cross-wind of the spring, and practice your rock-imitation. You will get some great photographs! Cross-wind, because many critters approach from down-wind.
Critters don't trust their eyes and ears nearly as much as they do their noses. A coyote will almost always circle and approach the caller from down-wind.
Mule deer does and small bucks will run off in most any direction when startled. Big bucks will almost always (there ain't no "always" with deer) take off upwind and/or uphill. If bucky heads downwind or downhill, he'll eventually turn and head up. Cut him off and wait for him to come to you! Mule deer bucks are generally lazy, and lay up just below the downwind crest of a ridge, near a saddle. They can escape through the brush in the saddle, running upwind...Sabes?
Go to a library and browse the Ernest Thompson Seton books. They're about a hundred years old, now, and are focussed on the northeastern US, but there's a wealth of outdoor info in them.
Whether you explore the Superstitions or the Cochise Stronghold area or the foothills of the Mogollons, there's all manner of critters to watch for. Mostly, you just gotta get out there and watch.
Best regards, Art
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