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

JeffO....get yourself one of these......no kidding.

http://www.elkinc.com/detail.aspx?ID=4

One other thing to think about is to focus on places that are huntable for your style.
I know you have some still hunting experience, but I suspect it's a different type of still hunting that in dry, leafless scrub oaks or P-J. Not saying one is harder than the other, just different. In P-Js you'll have little gaps to glass, and you'll be looking underneath the trees in the shade most of the time.


In sage flats, you'll have to pick out antler tips above the sage if it's particularly thick. But that too can be nearly impossible depending on the height of the vegetation:



In rimrock country, it's very difficult to get a good angle to view the bases of the cliffs from below. Oftentimes the base of a cliff will have a heck of trail running along. If you can view the cliff from above or level, you'll have an advantage, but that often means viewing from a long-ass way away. If you're scouting has shown a pretty consistent canyon, say one with a good spring in it, and a little heavier vegetation, I like trying to get above the canyon rims and then peer down. But it's a [bleep] to make that work out well, never killed anything by that method and maybe need to stop doing it until I can force myself to slow the hell down.

And I prefer aspens or Ponderosas.

And what people said about mulies being big is certainly true. When it comes to tracks, you'll know right away if you're onto a bigger deer. Of course, you won't know what kind of antlers it has, might be like this huge bodied, 10ish year old buck I killed with no antlers left:


Lastly, the biggest buck I've had in my sights did exactly what SU35 was talking about. I heard him boiling out of some aspens where my partner was still hunting and by the time I saw got him in my scope, all I had was his ass as he hit a tiny strip of spruces. I ran to the other side of those spruces (maybe 10 seconds) to shoot him and he had vanished. I have mixed feelings about not taking the shot to this day(of course this was only a couple of years ago, killing a buck of his caliber in a more ethical manner will let me forget about that).

Still, you'll want to set a goal for yourself and try to stick to it like Bob has mentioned. IF you can get back to this unit in a couple of years, will you take a decent buck just to have one in hand, or do you really need to shoot for a "trophy" to make this hunt worthwhile? And do your partners have similar or different aspirations and how does that work with your goals?
Lotsa guys would shoot this buck:


This buck was literally on the same ridge, but he has broken antler, so who's the shooter in your book?:

Neighboring ridge, different year, right at dark-had to monkey with contrast on these pictures... "satellite buck":
[img]http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp5/richman_mark/DSC02770-1.jpg[/img]

The real buck:

[img]http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp5/richman_mark/DSC02772-1.jpg[/img]


Sattelite buck, with big boy hanging out in the shade:
[img]http://i392.photobucket.com/albums/pp5/richman_mark/TrailRidgebuck-1-1.jpg[/img]

More pics...
Here's the big one in the shadows:

More sage bucks that you'll never see when they bed down unless you're above them:


And hell, here's another nice picture, may as well have some excuse about mountain mahogany or ponderosa, but it's irrelevant at this point:

This buck has freakish beams and a great front. I saw this pic when you posted it a couple years ago and I have always wondered what he was on the other side and how wide he was.

Exbio, stunning pics!

I'd shoot any of those bucks and be happy.

horns from a buck around the average size of most taken around here cause most people are road hunters......its also my wifes first buck which she infact did not road hunt and actually put a good sneak on after we spotted it through the spotting scope a mile off......she has been a confirmed doe serial killer since she was 12 years old but for some reason in 2010 saw this buck and decided she wanted to shoot for horns for the first time ever.....

Those pics lit the fire in my belly to get back after mulies with bow. I sure miss it!

Nice work.

Yes. Great photo essay.

Remember that even though mule deer and blacktail share the same basic antler structure, an average 3 or 4 point mule deer will look like a BIG blacktail. Mass comes with age and maturity. Don't sell yourself short.

On top of what has already been said, and on top of pre-season scouting, I'd be there at least three days early and try to have the buck picked out I wanted to kill on opening morning. I'd also be prepared to stay the entire hunt incase that plan didn't work out.

You going it alone or is someone going with you?

I will be with my two main elk hunting buddies. I doubt they will both stay the whole 12 days, but I will.

I'm going to pack in a spike camp and work at least a few days from there.

However do you find the time....14 jobs and all....

Many ways to live life, young Sammo. Don't get thinking that the definition of "job" always equals "something that rules your life". I've BTDT, several times. There's better ways.

Yeah - that's it. ?????????? WTF

Dude -

Realize that Sammo is joking -

Greg, dudebro, I'm serious as a heart attack....grin

My bad dude -

I continue to underestimate your prowess -

I've benefitted from those "Sam hunters" a few times.

Once crawled up to an overlook in the Missouri Breaks just before dawn and started glassing the big canyon below. After a half-hour, found what a friend calls "your basic mature muley buck," a 4x4 with about a 24" spread, bedded under a juniper on the other side, a third of the way up from the bottom. Was trying to figure out whether to make a move on him, or see if he was going to move when the sun hit him, when a pickup parked right on top of the canyon rim on the other side.

The guy got out, slamming his door loud enough for me to hear it (even with my well-shot ears) over half a mile away. Then he started walking right down the top of a side ridge, never even trying to stay out of sight. I could see him "glassing" through his scope now and then, but after about 10 minutes he glassed and then shot--but didn't follow it up.

The buck had picked up his ears when the guy slammed the door, and had been looking in that direction ever since. At the shot he slowly got up and trotted downhill into the bottom of the canyon. Of course the guy never saw him.

I lay there, trying to figure out what to do and glassing some more. Was about to get up and move when the buck appeared below me at the base of the bluff, slowly walking on a trail 200 yards away. By the time I eased the rifle across my daypack the range was only 150 yards, which isn't very far, even for a lousy 7x57.