Hunting in Arizona

I’ve been a shooter for about 5 years now (give me a break — I grew up in the SF Bay Area!), and so far have only shot targets of various kinds.
I’ve been wanting to learn how to hunt for some time, but have no experience whatsoever. Somehow, hunting doesn’t seem like the sort of thing that one merely takes the state-mandated Hunter Education course for. Rather, it seems like it’s the sort of thing that’s taught by some sort of mentor.
The only hunting-related equipment I have at present are boots and rifles (the two most suitable ones would probably be my Remington 700 and Marlin 336, in .30-06 and .30-30 respectively). My Mossberg 500 shotgun is in a “riotgun” configuration, and so probably wouldn’t be suitable.
Is there anyone in the Tucson or Phoenix metro areas who might be willing to instruct and accompany me?
If so, I’d appreciate it you could contact me.

2 thoughts on “Hunting in Arizona”

  1. I only do bird and bunny hunting, but I’ve got a spare double-barrel 12 gauge. Haven’t gone in years, but IIRC, dove season is in September. (Gotta Google quail season.) I don’t shoot bunnies until after a freeze (weeds out most of the parasite-infected ones).
    Larger game tags are usually by lottery and I haven’t bothered since my hunting buddy stopped hunting. I’ve gone javalina hunting twice and enjoyed the camping with friends more than I did the hunting. We had HAM tags (Handgun, Archery, Muzzleloader) so we also harvested some bunnies while we were out there… .44 Magnums really put ’em down.
    Drop me a line if you’d like to try doves this year. I know a coupla good spots.

  2. I’m also interested in dove, quail, and/or rabbit hunting. Last winter I went rabbit hunting a few times on the State Land in Oro Valley/Catalina. Until then, I hadn’t been hunting since I left Louisiana 20+ years ago.
    In fact, I bought a Jeep (a red one, so I could find it out in the desert) with the intention of getting back into hunting.

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