Mule Deer help

[tomapleleafss]

Never hunted mule deer before and hunting in a zone I've never hunted in. Curious to hear strategies. Not looking for a monster, just like to get outside. I have purchased a couple of trail cams and was wondering if deer bait would works well with mulies? Plan was to find a area where it looks like/see activity then find a place where I can sit on the bait. Pretty good with a rifle so it can be out to 600 yards. I figured the further away I am the more I take the wind and noise out of the equation. If bait works, what is best? I have read peas with some sort of sweetness mixed on common. Prefer something that I can pick up at a Peavy Mart type store. Or should I be planning for a truck type hunt and hope I can find some that I can stalk up on? I will have a fair bit of land that I have permission to hunt on. Thanks

 

[btabin]

I've stalked all my muleys. Got pretty close to them too. All shot within 50 yards (maybe more, I'm bad with judging distances). They're pretty dumb, at least here. I even had one walk towards me before while I was taking a rest in a clearing. He's lucky he didn't have enough meat on his bones for my tastes so I just shooed him away.

 

[savagelh]

They are difficult to pattern after they lose their velvet. They wont consistently come in to any bait. Try to find a nice alfalfa field near cover and watch over it in the evening. Get good glass and spend lots of time behind it. They will bed in sloughs, silver willow and choke cherry bushes during the day or whatever cover they have. They are not dumb at all, especially the nature ones. Like any big game, play the wind and don't forget what those big ears do.

 

[dead meat]

Mule deer can be curious or they can be very flighty, depends on how much pressure has been put on them. Never hunted with bait, as mule deer are numerous in my area, walk through the yard most of the time. My buddies and i usually shoot does within a mile or two of home, a good buck may require a little more looking. Spend some time now scouting out the area you have permission to hunt on, ie good spotting scope or binoculars. Good luck.

 

[Dogleg]

I’d forget about the bait. Go for some morning and evening drives and you’ll quickly find areas they are feeding in and the cover they are using. Bucks that you see with the doe and fawn groups early on are juveniles and retards, but a whitetail hunter might just fooled.Come mid November the big boys start following the does.

If you can find a string of coulies, hills or otherwise rough country it can make an entertaining walk.

 

[tomapleleafss]

Season out here starts Nov 1 for rifle.

 

[Potashminer]

I have hunted Mule Deer a couple times in South West Sask - along Frenchman River - some parts of that might now be Grasslands National Park, so doubt hunting is allowed there? We got some good bucks there in the coulees - just walk and look. Not too much "bush" at all. Several taken in ravines and coulees leading into Lake Diefenbaker - we weren't very far from Riverhurst. Also have taken a few in Western Sask. - maybe still is Zone 46 - West of Unity, South of Neilburg, I think - more bush - used to be huge community pastures over there. Again - walk a lot. Glass a lot. Surprising to us, often pushed out mule deer when pushing bush up there for white tails. No experience using bait, so can't help on that... Does and juveniles sure act stupid - run like crazy towards a bush, then almost always stop and look back, as if trying to remember what was chasing them. I believe the big bruisers are a damn site smarter though - although my son spotted a decent rack poking out of prairie grass several hundred yards out and belly crawled to where he could take his shot. Tests your dedication when you discover how much cactus is within that short grass...

 

[Longwalker]

Yes, spot and stalk is the best way to do it. Bring some good binoculars and learn how to use them. I have found many many mule deer by careful glassing that I would have passed by if I was simply looking out a truck window. Please forget about shooting deer at 600 yards. Mule deer are not targets. A much more realistic practical mule deer shooting distance is shots of 300 yds and closer. Closer its better! Try to get closer. No matter how well you know how to shoot, shooting game at distances that require range finders and wind estimates exponentially increases your chance of wounding and losing the deer. "I figured the further away I am the more I take the wind and noise out of the equation." there is no way that being farther away takes wind out of the equation, it makes wind a bigger and bigger problem. Learn how to hunt quietly, and best of luck!