Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 190" Col Mule Deer Hunt?

John I have never been to Sonora but am aware of what's there in the right places. I have hunted Alberta several times and would like to go back because that's one of the places I have seen some of these top end bucks.

That guy who hunted Sonora 9 times before killing his buck underscores how hard it can be. That's dedication!

I can recall some very large mule deer seen where I hunt in Wyoming that folks saw but which then just vanished for a year or two....until they were spotted once again.They are very good at avoiding being seen even if they are living in the same general vicinity..

One advantage to going to Canada is that,as far as I know licenses are available through outfitters as opposed to a draw so if you get in a "rotation" with an outfitter,you can go every year, or as often as your pocket book can stand it.None of this mule deer hunting is cheap today,and some hunts cost as much as a good plains game hunt in Africa.

I had a lease over in Eastern Colorado with two other people for 3 years so have been in that country. It definitely is a great bet to kill a buck on this class.

Cumminscowboy brings up a good point about bucks that are "big" but fall through the cracks when it comes to score.Of course the scoring language is just a frame of reference so that we know what caliber of buck we are talking about;anything that approaches 190-200" of bone on his head is going to look stupendous and not easily forgotten once you see it,even if he does not "net" that high.

As the old saying goes......"nets" are for fish.

Great posts JB and cummins, and I couldn't agree more. I've had guys come to camp with a high number in their mind, in spite of having never killed anything over 150. When we showed them several bucks in the 180-185 class they about crapped their carhatt's. When we told them they what they were looking at they became uninterested........pathetic IMO.

JB got me thinking back a bit.....I'm addicted to matching wits with big mule deer bucks, I admit it. Except for my Sonoran buck, I have never killed the biggest bucks I've seen.

I once got invited on a guided mule deer hunt in Wyoming by another guy who had never killed a good mule deer before, but happened to work for a firm willing to pay for both him and me.

It was the other guy's first guided hunt, and he somehow figured that $3500 (which isn't all that much for such a hunt) meant he would be looking over several huge bucks, and taking his pick. I'd taken some good bucks before so told him he could have the right of first refusal. Barely into shooting light we saw a buck that I would have taken. The antlers were probably 27" wide and almost as high, with long tines and fair mass, and even had decent brow tines for a mule deer. The only flaw (if you could call it that) was one of the back "forks" didn't fork, but instead was a single tine probably 18" long.

If it had been my choice, I'd have started a stalk right then, but despite both me and guide (a guy in his late 50's who'd been around quite a few mule deer) saying what a good buck it was, my partner didn't even respond. Instead he looked bored.

We hunted for another day and a half, and didn't see any larger bucks, at which point my partner decided he had stuff to do back home, so after lunch got in his pickup and headed out. That afternoon I got lucky and killed a buck of about the same size as the one he'd passed, though with all the usual forks.

I found out a couple years later from the outfitter that the other guy came back the next year, and his guide put him within 200 yards of another big buck. This time the guy decided to shoot, but it turned out he'd sighted-in his rifle with very different ammo than the stuff he had in his pockets. He started searching for even one round of the "correct" ammo, and the buck eventually got bored and left. They never saw it again.

I suspect he thinks "expensive" mule deer hunts are a ripoff.

I have hunted some of the best big buck territory in this country, both on my own an with guides. I'm still looking to break the 190" mark. I hunted the Deseret Ranch in Utah for years and saw some good bucks, but never pulled the trigger on one. Part of my problem is I haven't been able stay off the trigger, until recently that is. So maybe it'll happen. At age 72 it better happen soon The good news is I'm am hunting a great area and getting to know it well. God, I do love to hunt!

John,

I was helping on a guided hunt one year, kinda doing horse wrangler stuff.

Anyway, we were DEEP, about as deep in the wilderness as you can get in Oregon ... the very headwaters of the Imnaha River.

On opening day, we were barely out of camp and going by the side of a large glade when I spotted a really nice mule across the open space. We got the horse string stopped and had a pow-wow. "Who wanted to stalk and kill the buck?"

Turned out none of our guys wanted to tag-out in the first half-hour of a $4000 hunt and none of the guys thought it was "decent."

My friend, the outfitter said, "Sh1t, he looks damned 'decent' to me, in fact, that's maybe the best deer you'll see all week."

They still passed.

The outfitter looked at me and asked, "Steve, do you want that deer?" And I allowed as how I did.

He said, "Give us twenty minutes ... that will get us by the opening an up on the next ridge. Then stalk him and kill him if you can."

By the time twenty minutes was up, the buck had climbed a point and was laying in a small north. It took maybe an hour to use the wind and the lay of the land and get over him.

Then I got a good look at him ... Holy Crap, he was just one hell of a buck ... one I'd tale any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

The shot was maybe 75 yards and slightly downhill. He was almost asleep and kinda doin' that rocking thing with his head ... I placed the bullet just under his skull. He just rolled over in his bed and joined eternity.

No kicks, just dead.

He was just a clean heavy 4X4 with four-inch eyeguards and lots of gorgeous pearling on the bases and way up the main beam. Width was 28-inches and height was 28-inches. Just one hell of a heavy and gorgeous mule deer.

And what did the paid hunters kill? We worked our asses off for a full seven days and they didn't kill a single deer. One of the six guys managed to wound a forked-horn on the 17-mile ride out. We never got the forked horn.

Mule deer, good mule deer, are never a given. Like big bears, they show up when you least expect them and you'd better be willing to take the big one on the first day ... or the last ... or any damned time.

Blessings,

Steve

LOVE the stories.....great stuff men.

A few weeks ago I witnessed a Canadian pay $390,000 to hunt mule deer in Utah, and $320,000 to do the same in Arizona..

Thread has derailed as the OP is looking to burn his points in Colorado,and I did give him my .02 on that via PM.

But of all the places,if I had a choice would be here, and I'd have a great time doing it..Henry mountains.



I've spent a good amount of time there, and it is unlike anything I've ever seen.

Having grown up in Colorado and been able to hike around the high country a little bit and look over quite a few mule deer, I think I can count the number of 190"+ mulies I've seen on one hand (definitely takes less than two hands). I was lucky enough to be able to kill one of them last year, but I'm not foolish enough to think it's a sure thing year after year.

And there's no way I get anywhere in the vicinity of that buck I killed last year without the help of a good buddy. It's just as much his deer as it is mine.

Love the stories, gents.

Awesome picture Rosco, have always been interested in the Henrys.

Pic was poached from the net..If you get the chance to look around there you wont be disappointed.The buffalo can be ornery sometimes tho, and you will see them clear up on the tops. Friend of mine killed one at over 10k a few years back.

August is a great time to look for big bucks while they are still in the "red" and hang out above treeline.

Late summertime is definitely my favorite time to scout them.

Steve,

HA! Yep, you take 'em when you see 'em--if you can.

My biggest buck ever was a 6x6. He had an extra fork on both sides, because the front tine on the back fork also forked--and both antlers match perfectly. He was also the very first legal big game animal I saw on opening day of the 1992 Montana big game season. Hadn't punched a deer tag in Montana during the previous five years, while looking for a really exceptional buck.

This buck was up at timberline on the Rocky Mountain Front, and I hesitated a little, partly because after going that long without pulling the trigger you want to make sure, and partly because (as it turned out) his body was so huge the antlers didn't look as big as they were. But once he was on the ground and I walked up to him, the size of both was obvious.

In fact he turned out to be as big a a 2-1/2-year-old cow elk Eileen killed a couple of weeks later. Have only taken one other mule deer with a body that big since, but that was up in Alberta, where as you know they're ALL big-bodied.

My very best to you and Karen. Was really glad to hear the good news!

Great thread gentlemen. Hopefully the OP got his question answered, because the rest of us have been the beneficiaries of about 200 years of exceptional mule deer hunting experience. I didn't hunt much as a youth and really started after I had joined the Air Force and was out on my own. But at that time, I had a young family and other obligations.

Luckily, I spent about 13 years of that Air Force time in Alaska and it was like they turned me loose in a candy store. When I moved back to the lower 48, work again took up too much of my time. At age 54, I'm trying to turn the tables a bit and spend more time in the field.

My many thanks to you all for the contributions to this and the many other great threads!

Are you a resident or non resident? You have quite a few options either way but if you're a resident you are sitting pretty darn good.

PM sent

I am a nonresident. I really appreciate all the comments and suggestions.

I apply to almost all the western states every year for deer and other trophies, around 30 applications yearly. I have been lucky enough to draw sheep tags in Wyoming (Rocky Mnt) and Nevada (desert), and as a result I am a Grand Slammer. I also have my North American 28.

My one time that I hunted Sonora, I was with a party of 6 hunters that saw NO bucks whatsoever, even though we were hunting a ranch that had "never been hunted before". The outfitter there still hangs around SCI, etc, but his reputation is getting tarnished. A return trip to Sonora is on my bucket list.

I've hunted the Paunsagunt twice, taking one good buck, but I don't have enough Utah points to get drawn in the Henry Mnts.

I am not obsessed with score, especially net, but I am only interested in hunts that offer a decent chance for a truly big buck, so I mentioned 190-class simply to clarify my desires. I know such bucks are trophies of a lifetime, and don't exist behind every aspen trunk. I am lucky enough to have taken 2 bucks in this class, one just above 190 and one just below.

And since I have been accruing points in Colorado and now have 17, I believe I'm getting close to drawing into a great unit. I don't want to squander those points on a middlin' hunt.

Thanks for all the replies, and I'm still open to ideas this year, or perhaps next year when season dates are more favorable.

Good luck man I wish you the best. Sounds like you're a man who knows what he wants and goes for it; I respect that.

Your question spurred some great storytelling from some of the elder statesmen of the site which was great for me even if it didn't get your questions answered .

Seriously I hope you document the trip well and post up pics. Best of luck to you!

My first thought was Todd Rice but Todd hunts areas where the densities are high so you should have at least seen some small bucks so that leaves me thinking that it has to be an area with low densities and a shady outfitter so I'm going to guess Carlos Hermosillo either on the coastal range or way north?

Bingo! The ranch was near the town of Altar.

The biggest mule deer that I've ever seen was being "shoo'd" out of a flower garden by a woman living on the high golf course at Cordillera, south of Edwards.

Edwards where? Sheesh.