Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Mule deer do's and dont's

Good suggestion, thanks. I use my binoc's constantly, my 8x30 Swaro's, while blacktail hunting but it's more to peer through vegetation- IE, it's at close range.

Those aren't ponderosa on the west side? Are they fir or something?! Dang.

A big thanks for the details.

What are your thoughts on the east side canyons? I've been up those... seen cougar and found a buck skull; also seen the biggest junipers ever way up top. Just huge. I'll try to find some pics. Anyway are those east side canyons worth consideration?

I've never been to the area that you are talking about, but if it is ponderosa then there will be deer in there. My family had a cabin around Sisters, OR in the 90's and those ponderosas were full of deer.

1minute would know. I was picturing ponderosa but they must be something else. Most of my Steens tromping has been on the east (sage & juniper) side...

Agreed on Sisters- deer all over right around there!

One neat thing about Steens... there's wild horses for target practice and bullet testing!

Not to hijack the thread. But is the deer unit(s) around sisters a difficult draw area (Metolius specifically)? I haven't lived in OR since I was 14 and I didn't start hunting till I was 16 so I have no clue. Our family would go on "Deer rides" to look at the deer and I feel like we would see 50+ deer every evening driving around on dirt/gravel roads. Seems like it would be a good place to hunt.

Unbelievable experience shown in this thread for sure - I can only add that the two biggest mule deer my family has killed have been in some nasty, nasty country, traditionally where you would not set up for an extended glassing session (lack of visibility into pockets, too small an area to setup, etc.) Basically, we would never have glassed up these deer; we ran across them traversing to other areas we wanted to glass. Both were shot offhand.

I am willing to try to add to this great thread in "new-to me areas". I can only share what I do to hunt which has allowed me to be very successful in filling tags over the years in locations unknown to me or relatively unknown with little scouting opportunity.

Google Earth is your friend and is a game changer in scouting - Make sure you get the USGS topo layer which can be downloaded from a google search for free. There are lots of other layers that can be helpful too.

I probably do 10 hours a week in google Earth scouting areas where I have a tag and sometimes for areas where I don't have a tag (I am a map-reader in my sparetime). Changing aerials also gives you a view of different times of the year (dependent on what time of the year it was flown) and may reveal seeps or vegetative expressions that may not be obvious in other aerials -

Once I go in the field and I can see the country that I've aerially scouted, I'll usually go back and refine my Google Earth scouting since country on the ground is often different "feeling" than what you get from aerial interpretation. Then I'll go back into the field and really hardcore scout which will entail camping/glassing/approach locations for areas I want to hunt -

There is one drainage north of the north loop road (Mud Creek I think) that supports some fir. A hold over from the little ice age about 400 yrs ago. The majority of the mountian (either side) is western juniper, aspen, and some mahogany. Hunters for the most part will be within a mile or so of the loop road complex on the highest portions of the mountain.

The northern portions of the Steens unit are not as well known or traveled. The Riddle and Anderson mt areas can have some good bucks. They're most easily found bedded above the alfalfa pivots on the lower ground (Virgina and Happy Valley areas). The roads there can test ones rig, so an extra spare tire might be a good thing. That is not an original thought, however, and there will be early season hunters in those areas as well. They too will clear out after the first couple of days though.

The east face is good, but one has a near 4,000 ft jump from top to bottom. It takes a mans man to hump that country. Access can be an issue with a good deal of the lower east face being deeded land (Juniper, Mann, Alvord, and Wildhorse ranches). On the west side of the unit, Roaring Springs Ranch blocks access to a good portion of the south end, and they do not tolerate trespassers.

Glassing is the way to go on near any part of the the mt. One can wear himself down to nothing trying to walk something up. The first two days of the season, there will be lots of movement due to hunter numbers and activity. Sit and wait in a high traffic zone is a good tactic then. We've had several spot and stalk efforts blown early on by folks wandering through and unknowingly bumping our target. After the second day, one will pretty much have the place to themself with better odds on spot and stalk opportunities.

As to glassing: Any locale during the AM/PM feeding cycles. If the weather is warm, any source of shade during mid-day (rocks, rims, trees, or clusters of shrubs). With cool weather, they will simply plop down anywhere.

Some of the large open flats hold big bucks. The big boys are fond of bedding right out in the open where anything within a mile will be spotted. The issue is finding a suitable spot for glassing and then referencing where the buck is as one stalks into a featureless plain of sagebrush or grass.

Come equipped to do a good bit of the season. A weekend venture in unknown terrain is not much of an experience.

Metolius unit is usually a sure thing with 2 points for a resident.

I live and work in the unit, and have seen a dramatic decrease in deer numbers. I don't hunt the Metolius unit, as I believe that there are better choices a bit farther east.

Not that there aren't some bucks around of course.

Wonder what Jeff Zero's gonna do if he actually kills one. Bring wife and daughters?