As these photos show, over the years Rick Forrest has enjoyed phenomenal success on hard-to-hunt desert mule deer and whitetail bucks.

It was 10 years ago when I first met Rick Forrest. For several years prior to that, I’d been using his unique Sonoran bowsight, and we’d talked by phone about desert bowhunting.

Rick’s stories fueled my fire, so a friend and I traveled from Texas to southern Arizona to hunt Coues whitetails for the first time during the sultry early season in August 1997. When we met Rick in Tucson on the first day of our do-it-yourself deer hunt, he shared a few tips on where to hunt. On a topo map, Rick marked key waterholes to explore and ridges to glass. That hunt was a humbling experience.

For a week, my partner and I endured 100-plus degree heat and afternoon thunderstorms that left us hot and muggy. With puddles everywhere, hunting over water was a waste of time. In seven days I saw more rattlesnakes than I’d seen in seven years at home in Texas. We hunted hard but never loosed an arrow. Our lack of success just made me appreciate Rick’s resumé even more.

One thing that stands out in my memory from that trip was Rick’s archery skills. One day my hunting partner and I left the scorching desert and drove to town for lunch with Rick as he and a few coworkers were flinging arrows. At an honest 100 yards, Rick clustered his skinny carbon arrows into a group the size of a baseball. His practice groups were even more impressive at shorter, practical hunting distances. It was easy to see why Rick rarely missed when given shot opportunities on big bucks,.

Today, Rick is still shooting tight groups and still wrapping his tag around big desert bucks. Big mule deer and trophy-sized Coues deer are his specialty, but he also has bagged desert black bears, bull elk, javelinas, Merriam turkeys, and mountain lions. So how does he do it in the cactus-covered hills that intimidate so many others? Here’s a closer look at one of the country’s best bowhunters you’ve probably never heard of.

The Desert Deer Hunter
Rick Forrest was born in Tucson, Arizona, in 1962. His first bowkill, at age 16, was a javelina, and he has taken a javelina every year since. He took his first deer with a bow at age 17, and he has bagged a deer in Arizona every year since 1985. During the week he’s a working guy, but on his free time he hunts with friends and family. His primary hunting grounds are the public lands in southern Arizona stretching down to the Mexican border.

“My favorite time to hunt big deer is during what I call the ‘magic’ time, the rut. Usually sometime during the last two weeks of December, the big muleys magically appear out of thin air. These guys are five to seven-year-old bucks that have managed to survive all the rifle hunts. They didn’t survive by being stupid, or by living in areas where they’re easy to locate. Only the rut brings them out during daylight hours.

“To hunt these deer I usually stay mobile, glassing from high points near the road or big canyons. I look for places where I can see for miles in all directions -- places where my big binoculars can do the walking for me. Most of southern Arizona has plenty of road access, and I like the mobility the roads provide me. I can get from one glassing point to another quickly. I have no problem with hiking into remote areas, but any time not spent glassing is time lost hunting in my book.