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Sam, your deer probably breed with Canadian deer... Nice dig I'll take our north of 49' bucks! What are you packing for mule deer medicine JeffO? Dam! I'd sacrifice my right testicle for a mulie like that!
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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SamO they have the ability to pull the sneaky routine on you Because the younger animals are relatively easy to see and prone to mistakes, folks get the impression that big, mature mule deer should be "easy"...far from true and a real trophy class mule deer is one of a small handful of the toughest animals to kill on the continent. "Pressure" (and darned little of it)will cause a big buck to move and change locations.....we have seen them do it,and a mile or two is not unusual. My pals spotted one at distance making a move from a canyon some Utah boys had hunted through that morning....they saw were he went,and after lunch made the move on him, the only approach being a steep climb from below;hardly ideal but the only option. I shuffled around after an approach under cover, and he broke from his bed at 50-60 yards and I had him (can still see the crosshairs but delayed because I only knew he was "big" but could not tell enough about him....that was dumb,and I should have killed him because we saw him seconds later rimming out at 300 yards and he was a 200 point + nontypical. Another lesson learned and I try to shoot based on frame anymore, rather than excrutiate about exactly what he is....if he is "big" a guy knows right away,and should kill him right away because you won't get a second chance. If you chase big mule deer it takes a lifetime to get it "right", and of course that never really happens...you will learn every year until you drop dead. Edited for: Sloppy sentence.
Last edited by BobinNH; 06/20/12.
The 280 Remington is overbore.
The 7 Rem Mag is over bore.
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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pretty much what Bob has said has been my experience but cause im unlucky as hell so far ive just seen the big bastards through a spotting scope not the rifle scope, they always give me the slip when i try and put a sneak on them.....one of these days ill get one though......like others said smaller bucks are easy.....most years i have my pick of skinny 3x3-4x4's often real close to a road but anything with any size and mass is smart.....
ive often come across them in spots you just wouldnt think of for the deer.....ran across one real smart bastard on a flat with only a single large juniper bush for cover and no way to get within 800 yards of him cause the only cover between me and him for 360* was grass 2 inches tall......he musta spent all day, everyday of the hunting season watching every hunter in the country drive by....
Last edited by rattler; 06/20/12.
A serious student of the "Armchair Safari" always looking for Africa/Asia hunting books
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Campfire Ranger
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Don't believe Bob......mule deer are dumb and everyone who's hunted them at all knows that. You shouldn't have any trouble smacking a bomber first thing. They just stand around looking at you. Good Luck.
It is irrelevant what you think. What matters is the TRUTH.
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Campfire Ranger
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Jeff_O: One will look long and hard to find pine in the Steens unit. Juniper, yes, but pine no.
My advice, get as far from roads as possible and break out the binos and spotting scope. I'd suggest hiking the rim south from the Wildhorse lake overlook and hunting a large several squre mile boulder field immediately south of Little Indian gorge. Lots of springs, a great view in 3 directions for spotting, and after the first day, one will likely not see another hunter. That area though will require setting up a backpack camp.
The ridge between Big and Little Indian gorges is a good sit and wait spot (folks hunting the bottoms push deer back and forth), and could be done with about an hours walk each morning from the Wildhorse lake overlook. Have fun,
Last edited by 1minute; 06/20/12.
1Minute
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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
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Yep, they're dumb as a box of rocks!
I agree totally with what Bob just posted about shooting 'em if they look big, and not trying to guesstimate stuff like score. Too many hunters get hung up on spread or score when a big old heavy-antlered buck is right there in front of them. I've killed a few nice typicals over the years, but what really appeals to me now is mass, which generally means an older deer.
Anymore I will happily take any buck with heavy beams, even if he's a 3x3 with a 22" spread, though most people prefer their first good mule deer to be a typical 4x4 with a spread as close to 30" as possible. Nothing wrong with that either!
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.” John Steinbeck
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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I'm like MD......I know within 5 seconds if I like 'em enough to shoot, score be damned. This one wouldn't score well, 95 on left, 75 on right, but the dropper and mass did it for me...quickly!
It is irrelevant what you think. What matters is the TRUTH.
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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
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Nifty buck! I like all the extra points on the left antler as well....
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.” John Steinbeck
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Campfire Sage
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Campfire Sage
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I'm like MD......I know within 5 seconds if I like 'em enough to shoot, score be damned. This one wouldn't score well, 95 on left, 75 on right, but the dropper and mass did it for me...quickly!
Trump being classless,tasteless and clueless as usual. Sorry, trump is a no tax payin pile of shiit. My young wife decided to play the field and had moved several dudes into my house
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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I'm like MD......I know within 5 seconds if I like 'em enough to shoot, score be damned. This one wouldn't score well, 95 on left, 75 on right, but the dropper and mass did it for me...quickly!
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Campfire 'Bwana
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OP
Campfire 'Bwana
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You should start learning to glass now. Literally, find a vantage point to glass an area and "read" it like you would a piece of paper. Make a mental grid out of it and really read it. Sometimes you might notice a blinking eye in holes in the brush, or a flick of a tail. Even though most mule deer country is big, you have to glass really small. The trick is to look at high percentage areas vs. areas that won't hold as many deer.
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.
The CENTER will hold.
Reality, Patriotism,Trump: you can only pick two
FÜCK PUTIN!
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Campfire 'Bwana
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OP
Campfire 'Bwana
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Jeff_O: One will look long and hard to find pine in the Steens unit. Juniper, yes, but pine no.
My advice, get as far from roads as possible and break out the binos and spotting scope. I'd suggest hiking the rim south from the Wildhorse lake overlook and hunting a large several squre mile boulder field immediately south of Little Indian gorge. Lots of springs, a great view in 3 directions for spotting, and after the first day, one will likely not see another hunter. That area though will require setting up a backpack camp.
The ridge between Big and Little Indian gorges is a good sit and wait spot (folks hunting the bottoms push deer back and forth), and could be done with about an hours walk each morning from the Wildhorse lake overlook. Have fun, 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?
The CENTER will hold.
Reality, Patriotism,Trump: you can only pick two
FÜCK PUTIN!
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Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
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Jeff_O: One will look long and hard to find pine in the Steens unit. Juniper, yes, but pine no.
My advice, get as far from roads as possible and break out the binos and spotting scope. I'd suggest hiking the rim south from the Wildhorse lake overlook and hunting a large several squre mile boulder field immediately south of Little Indian gorge. Lots of springs, a great view in 3 directions for spotting, and after the first day, one will likely not see another hunter. That area though will require setting up a backpack camp.
The ridge between Big and Little Indian gorges is a good sit and wait spot (folks hunting the bottoms push deer back and forth), and could be done with about an hours walk each morning from the Wildhorse lake overlook. Have fun, 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.
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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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!
The CENTER will hold.
Reality, Patriotism,Trump: you can only pick two
FÜCK PUTIN!
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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.
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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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 -
- Greg
Success is found at the intersection of planning, hard work, and stubbornness.
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Campfire Ranger
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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.
Last edited by 1minute; 06/20/12.
1Minute
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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.
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.
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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I'm like MD......I know within 5 seconds if I like 'em enough to shoot, score be damned. This one wouldn't score well, 95 on left, 75 on right, but the dropper and mass did it for me...quickly! I would add 1Minute to the list...he knows right where to go!
Last edited by BobinNH; 06/20/12.
The 280 Remington is overbore.
The 7 Rem Mag is over bore.
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Campfire Outfitter
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Wonder what Jeff Zero's gonna do if he actually kills one. Bring wife and daughters?
The Mayans had it right. If you�re going to predict the future, it�s best to aim far beyond your life expectancy, lest you wind up red-faced in a bunker overstocked with Spam and ammo.
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