Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting What will a shooter look like?

I have successfully hunted elk in Colorado several times but this coming season I will also be hunting mule deer, for the first time. I have never had a chance to chase mule deer anywhere. Also, oddly enough, I have never seen a mule deer buck during any trip that I have made to UNIT 66. All of my hunting experience in Colorado has been on the Powderhorn Primitive Wilderness Area.

This time around I will be hunting on several private lands through family/friends in the Cotopaxi area (using that area as a central base but hunting a very broad area outside Cotopaxi). I may be on my own for a lot of the actual hunting so pointers/pictures from someone experienced in this style of hunting and HOPEFULLY experienced in that area of Colorado would be appreciated.

Basically, as an eastern whitetail hunter at heart and an experienced Colorado elk hunter, I am looking for a standard for a respectable mule deer in the Cotopaxi area. Pictures would be fantastic and share whatever information that you might have on what is just run of the mill versus respectable versus exceptional.

It all depends on what the place holds or has for potential.

Around here private makes it WAY easier to find a good mule deer buck compared to pretty much any/all public land. Which in turn makes it a lot easier to hold out.


I would want to see actual deer taken(recently) from the specific ranch and then draw my own conclusions.



Here are a few pointers.


Look for horns out past the ears, look for mass/depth of forks.

Don't judge a buck when he's running off with his ears back.


Main thing is try to find one with decent mass, chances are he's a mature buck.


Lot's of 20" dink 4x4's that will look big but don't shoot!

Sam put in some really good, practical advice.

I have been and lived in mule deer country and seen a decent amount of them more than I have hunted them.

Real big ones - look real big and don't leave you guessing.

Google up some pics and try and get a feel for the look and relationship to head/ears etc.
A quick search for 120" mule deer yielded this pic (no idea who the guy is)

But this is a good example of the ones you'll see more easily... but (in my opinion, if you're dropping cash on the non-res tag) might want to think twice on before pulling the trigger.

+1 on Sam's advice too. deep forks and mass will tell you a lot, spread past his ears while he's looking your way is a plus.

I would be shocked if there are many folks here who even know where Cotopaxi is. I used to fish the Ark a lot when I lived there and hunted north and east of there, so I am familiar with the area. There's some BLM up Tallahassee road that has some decent bucks, but that might be a little east of your unit. it's gonna be steep country most likely, so be in good shape. Black mountain isn't bad if it's within your unit, you'd have to double check. but if you have private land to hunt that may well be your best option. if there is anyone on these ranches you can talk to prior to your hunt with advice, on where they see deer and what size to expect will help a lot. hunting a 180" deer won't do you much good if there isn't any over 150" around.

A shooter looks like whatever makes your socks go up and down. It's up to you. Not your friend, not your dad, you!

You only have to make yourself happy.

It can be a fun time chasing horns if your area has mature bucks. It's easy for us easterners to be fooled because mule deer simply grow bigger horns than whitetails....mostly.

I think there are not a lot of places in the west today where this buck could comfortably be passed up, although they do exist...especially of a guy is a hard core mule deer hunter

He was spotted at about 800 yards,and one quicky look through the bins and I estimated him to gross about 180...which is pretty much what he ended up measuring. A 180 class buck is not easy to find today.

What season? The archery and muzz hunts can be pretty good

2nd rifle, hunting elk as well

Here's what usually happens. The 1st pic is what a shooter looks like when you're sitting in front of your computer 2 weeks before the hunt. The 2d pic is what will be an acceptable shooter after 3 or 4 days of hunting and seeing no deer.

I found when I started hunting Muleys, I grew up in WT country, that the big mature bucks almost always had huge bodies compared to does. Of course big bucks of any species will be bigger than does on average but Mule deer seemed much more extreme to me. Where I grew up an average WT doe would weigh 100lb on the hoof and a mature buck would go 150ish. When I started hunting Muleys I found the does and young bucks to be around 150lbs but the first big old roman nosed buck I killed was over 300, he just dwarved the two does he had with him.

Another thing to ask about with the locals if you get a chance is the width potential of the area antler wise. Width is a big factor in determining a "trophy" Muley for most folks, and everyone wants to shoot a 30"er. But some areas just don't produce the width due to genetics or nutrition or whatever else, that doesn't mean there aren't trophy bucks just that they might have different characteristics than what you see in the magazines. The area my family hunts in southern CO for instance has produced lots of nice bucks since Grandad started hunting it in the 50's but rarely produces the classic wide glide bucks like the Uncompagre. I think that out of somewhere over 100 big bucks our bunch has laid low only 4 or 5 have broke the magic 30" mark, lots of heavy 24"-28" wide 4x4s though.

In the end have fun and shoot whatever suits your fancy, wish I had a buck tag for CO this fall.

laffin!

Here are a couple of the nicer deer taken over the last few years from the area I will be hunting. (Next 2 pics)

(Fist pic of two deer seem well above average to a WT guy like me.)

(Second pic has a buck that measured 35" spread and seems like a beast to me.)






This is the last buck that my brother in law took off of the ranch (Next 1 pic)



These are on the wall at my father in laws cabin and all three came from the ranch (Next 2 pics)







As you can see, I have an idea of what a nice buck from the area looks like. I'm just fishing for info on what you personally would consider respectable. Big plus for information on bucks from that particular lo-cal.

The 35" buck is obviously a toad. The 3 on the wall are all good bucks, Looks like you have some good genes there.

I'd try to be patient and look for something like those three or larger.

BTW a big mule deer will be hard to find. Be patient and glass hard. They can hide under your nose and you will never know they are there.

The two in the first picture look immature to me. I would pass.They are youngsters near as I can tell.

shoot what ever makes you happy.

This^.

For me, I'd treat it like a once-in-lifetime opportunity and try for somthing decent, provided the area has any good bucks.

When you see the buck and you get all excited and start looking for the rifle, he is a shooter.

As was already pointed out, that would be dependent on how close to the end of the season you are hunting...

Try to find out what class of buck is average for that ranch. As others from WT country have stated, any decent muley will look big to you.

In general, the ears on a mature buck are 24" wide. You can use them to roughly judge the antler width. You can have a fantastically tall rack that's no wider than the ears and is a great trophy.

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