I scored a tag for which I've been applying for 6 years, and my son and I are excited to be heading west in pursuit in mid-November.

I'm a Michigan whitetail Hunter with a few years experience hunting whitetail & pronghorn out west. I am working on PT and shooting skills.

I am wondering if there is a book or two that people here have benefited from reading as new mule deer Hunters as I'd like to maximize the learning experience.

Thanks all,

Efw

I have found Mule Deer Hunting Today's Trophies by Jim Van Norman and Tom Carpenter (1998) ISBN: 0-87341-563-9 to be pretty good. Written in simple terms it also includes many color photos to demonstrate how to glass and spot mule deer. I learned a lot about "scrolling" the landscape slowly to spot game. It also includes some data on individual states but by now is some what dated. For Colorado it mentions over the counter tags which went away many years ago. Good luck filling you tag.

PS Its available on Amazon for less than $10, search by ISBN number.

Personally, I think you can learn more from reading this forum than any book, if you can separate the wheat from the chaff.

It seems like most books and articles don't match my experiences, or the set of circumstances described in them was very narrow. Maybe it is just how I hunt...or maybe not. Being flexible and adapting to whatever a guy has to do (within legal and ethical boundaries of course ) is one of the best attributes a deer hunter of any kind can have.

T

Ah yes the wheat from the chaff... f8 and be there (Arthur Felig)... The problem on this forum is that sometimes you get good general advice but very little in the particular. Also you wind up weeding through various arguments among posters. This book is more of a basic what to look for, how to find them, hunting out West, with good how to photos. I live in Colorado and still found the book very helpful and also applicable to other kinds of hunting. The opposite of most elk hunting books which just seem to repeat the same formula and show you big bulls on the ground but little about how they got there.

It is important for people who have not hunted out West to have some idea of what to look for, such as a buck bedded down in Sage brush or sitting under an overhang. The picture is worth a thousand words. I personally got a lot more from this simple book than I have read on the forum.

Repeating the same 'ol info is one reason I'm not a huge proponent of hunting books for sure...but one gets that here a lot too.

I have not read the book(s) you cite, but may look into them. I still feel talking to the guys on here who know what they're talking about, and also asking folks who hunt in the same type of terrain that the OP's tag would be as valuable or even more so than books. The OP's been around here for a while, so I doubt he'll have trouble finding out who can and can not be relied upon...

Prwlr's advice on glassing and spotting is spot on.
My experience is that many hunters just don't see the deer that are there.
They look for a whole animal standing in a sage flat, or on a hillside, rather than the antlers sticking up out of the sage, or the white butt patch in the trees.
Bring good glass and use it patiently.
If you don't see them, you can't hunt 'em.

Thanks y'all.

At this point I'm taking it all; from the forum and from any books I can find. Have hunted the west a bit have have glass I intend to use a lot.

Goal is to leave no stone unturned as I attempt to learn in preparation for the trip.

I appreciate all the input very much!!

Take a look at Mike Eastmans latest book.
It has a section with tips/ect. for every season.

'Hunting Open-Country Mule Deer', by Dwight Schuh.

Dwight was an outstanding bowhunter, and then branched into outdoor writing. He also wrote a book on elk hunting, 'Bugling for Elk: A Complete Guide to Early Season Elk Hunting', and he together with Mike Lapinski wrote, 'All About Elk'.

The mule deer book will serve you well. I commend it.

David Long wrote a good mule deer book years ago, sold through eastmans. He sold glassing techniques and useful skills for western hunting, no fluff. He was doing the long range thing way before guys of today who capitalize off of it.

efw
You are certainly welcome to borrow my "High Country Mule Deer" by Eastman. I highly recommend it.
When questions arise, my nephew and I always respond--"read the book".
Heck, I might even loan you an experienced mule deer knife!!!!

If I remember, we live pretty close to each other.
Where you going to be hunting?
Tim

Mule Deer Quest by Walt Prothero. Not really a How-To kind of book, but it will get you fired up to hunt muleys!

https://www.amazon.com/Mule-Deer-Quest-Thirty-Five-Saskatchewan/dp/1571572201

efw; if you can find a copy I would suggest Valerius Geist's Mule Deer Country, copyright 1990. Not a hunting book but an excellent book on Mule deer behaviour. I believe that his theory of the evolution of the mule deer has been disproven,that aside the content is excellent and the photos are fantastic.

All the best.

GRF

News to me. I'd like to read more on that. Got any links to that info?
thanks.

Ironbender; I'll see if I can recall where I heard / read that. It's been a few years at least I think since I heard / read that.

Thanks.
I thought it was "settled science" based on genetics. It would be interesting to read something different.

Robby Denning (Rokslide): Hunting Big Mule Deer. Like him or not, I think Kirt Darner's books are pretty good from a content perspective.Check out other sites like Monster Muley or Rokslide. Splurge for a subscription to Western Hunter/Elk Hunter magazines. I think it's the best publication of its kind out there. If all else fails, put a GPS tracking bug in SceenarShooter's pack.

efw, I'm not sure where you're going, but I'd get introduced to the game warden and/or bioligist for the area you're hunting and visit with them as much as you can. Muleys are really bad about randomly moving and wandering around.

Yeah he might have been as corrupt as all get out but for pure advise on hunting BIG ,mature mule deer, Darner knew his stuff .He was simply dishonest ;but he knew the animals and how to hunt them....no doubt about it.

I like Prothero........that guy has been at it for years and has killed a slew of big bucks.

ironbender,

Geist's idea about mule deer origins never was "settled science." Instead it was his theory about a possible explanation for the results of mule deer DNA analysis. But because it was published in a fairly popular commercial book, rather than some obscure professional journal, it got some play in the popular press--partly because it was new and "revolutionary."

Among others, another fairly well-known mule deer biologist, Jim Heffelfinger of the Arizona game department, has written about how Geist's theory of mule deer origins didn't pan out. But Heffelfinger isn't as widely published as Geist, so as usual the first theory was accepted by a lot of the public.

This happens a lot. The notion that searing meat when cooking "seals in juices" was published around 1850, but was disproven within the next decade. But it's still promoted by many people, even some professionals.

efw,

I'll add a +1 to both:

Mule Deer: Hunting Today's Trophies by Jim Van Norman and Tom Carpenter
Hunting Open-Country Mule Deer by Dwight Schuh.

Dwight Schuh's book really focuses on bow hunting, glassing, and getting close in open sage brush country. Even if you don't plan to bow hunt, it's a good read. And if his advice can help you sneak up on a buck in the sage brush at 30 yards, I'm pretty sure it can help you get into your comfortable limit for rifle range.

The Van Norman / Carpenter book emphasizes how to glass for mule deer. "Scrolling", "pieces and parts", etc are techniques they talk about to help with that. There's good advice to help you train your brain to key in on specific "patterns" to help spot parts of mule deer rather than the whole animal. While I think that many hunters already do something like this naturally, I think the explicit patterns mentioned for the reader to focus on and practice with do help to beef up your spotting skills.

Also, the "where's waldo" deer pictures are kind of fun.

Thanks, John. Appreciate your view.

The settled science was in quotes as a bit of TIC jab at the AGW argument. Didn't think it 'fact', but thought it was more widely accepted than it seems to be.

John; thanks for chiming in, you saved me some research.

All the best.

GRF

It's one thing to use that glass to find him...but then you have to kill him.

Not always easy.

I have read David Long's articles in Eastmans...maybe his book as well? It has been awhile but my memory is that his writings were very good.

Azar

I like your "where's Waldo" reference. There's one that I still haven't found the second "Waldo".

Prwlr,

That's what I think of every time I look through those photos for the camouflaged deer!

EFW, the book Prwlr recommends has been one of my favorite for useful hunting info. Mule deer hunting is a world of difference from whitetail hunting. Good optics and the ability to use them, being able to understand the terrain, making sure you know where you are (a Garmin GPS with a chip for the state you'll hunt in is very handy), being in good enough shape to travel and to pack out a deer and being able to shoot your rifle well from field positions will tilt the odds your way.

There is not much of anything better than hunting mule deer, and it helps that they live in some of the most beautiful places on the planet. Good luck-enjoy your trip. PM me if I can help

David

Same here. About drove myself crazy the first time I looked at it...

Wow thanks a lot for all the tips on both reading materials and in-field advice I really appreciate the knowledge around here and peoples' willingness to share it!

I've got a big amazon order put together! I own both the Prothero & Eastman books so I don't have to wait until the shipment arrives to dig in!

thanks again everyone I'll be putting all this to good use and let you know how things are progressing!