Mule Deer Tips?

K

K98STER

Member
Rating - 100%
6   0   0
Location
Coquitlam, British Columbia, CA
I am just getting back into hunting after a 25 year sabbatical where I was too busy with work. I grew up in Wisconsin where you just had to find a good farmer to let you sit next to his corn field and boom!....you had a deer.

I am trying to learn now about mule deer and had a blast this year being out in the BC wilderness even though I saw nothing living....just lots of old sign. I'm already gathring that mulies are nothing like hunting the white tail deer that I am so familiar with.

I would love to hear from some successful mule deer hunters on tips for finding these elusive creatures. Either way, I will always enjoy being outdoors, but bringing home some meat doesn't hurt.
 
Were you hunting mule deer in the interior or blacktails in the coastal rainforest?

At any rate your assumption that they're nothing like the whitetails you're used to is right, but have no fear! BC has them too! (although not in region 2)
 
Suther said:
Were you hunting mule deer in the interior or blacktails in the coastal rainforest?

At any rate your assumption that they're nothing like the whitetails you're used to is right, but have no fear! BC has them too! (although not in region 2)
Click to expand...


Yes, you’re right, it was black tails in the rain forests. I’d love to hunt the interior, but it’s more of a commitment to drive that far. I honestly had never heard of glassing until I moved here. Anything I needed to see was going walk down the path I was sitting by right in front of me. I do really like the new challenge, but who’ll feel much more confident once I’ve seen one while hunting. I’ve seen them frequently while hiking in the summer.
 
Logging cuts, good binos, lots of patience.

Usually lots of action (relatively) early and last light of day, around the edges of the cuts.

If you can afford to put in time in an area, you soon learn where they bed down, and can walk in on them.

Most of the really big deer are up in the higher country. Tree line, and above, for as long as they can. The weather and the girlies, brings them down low, and a lot of the decent deer that get got around here, are traditionally in transit between their usual digs, and the winter feed and ### areas. And some grow up on alfalfa fields. :)
 
Ya , blacktails can be a tricky critter..... ghosts of the coast
elevation is key early season, they like the alpine
getting closer to the rut and also if snow comes early up top, mid mountain and plateaus mid mountain. Gullies and draws are good places to look for sign.
I find blacktail and mule deer hunting different.... but I still like to hunt them both the same way.
That is to find sign of high traffic routes and pick ambush spots in likely areas. Play the wind and become part of the nature you are hiding in.
In the rut.... the bucks are where the does are.....
 
Fraser valley/mainland blacktails can be found at all elevations at any time depending on where you are. Google earth some areas up off of the FSRs and go still hunt. Slow like molasses and be sure to play the thermals, if the wind isn’t in your favour you won’t see em before they vanish. Find and hunt the sign.
 
trevj said:
Logging cuts, good binos, lots of patience.

Usually lots of action (relatively) early and last light of day, around the edges of the cuts.

If you can afford to put in time in an area, you soon learn where they bed down, and can walk in on them.

Most of the really big deer are up in the higher country. Tree line, and above, for as long as they can. The weather and the girlies, brings them down low, and a lot of the decent deer that get got around here, are traditionally in transit between their usual digs, and the winter feed and ### areas. And some grow up on alfalfa fields. :)
Click to expand...

Great stuff...thank you! I'm itching to get out again and start scouting when the snow goes away.
 
45ACPKING said:
Ya , blacktails can be a tricky critter..... ghosts of the coast
elevation is key early season, they like the alpine
getting closer to the rut and also if snow comes early up top, mid mountain and plateaus mid mountain. Gullies and draws are good places to look for sign.
I find blacktail and mule deer hunting different.... but I still like to hunt them both the same way.
That is to find sign of high traffic routes and pick ambush spots in likely areas. Play the wind and become part of the nature you are hiding in.
In the rut.... the bucks are where the does are.....
Click to expand...


Thanks for the tips. The areas I hunted late season this year had a fair bit of sign, but none of it fresh.
 
Wentrot said:
Fraser valley/mainland blacktails can be found at all elevations at any time depending on where you are. Google earth some areas up off of the FSRs and go still hunt. Slow like molasses and be sure to play the thermals, if the wind isn’t in your favour you won’t see em before they vanish. Find and hunt the sign.
Click to expand...


Excellent info...thanks. Pardon my ignorance, but what is the FSRs?
 
K98STER said:
We drove and walked a ton of them in fall of 2018. I'm guessing that the lack of cold weather posponed the rut until after season closed and kept the bucks from running around like chickens whith their heads cut off.
Click to expand...

The rut peaks around November 10 no matter what the weather is doing.
 
Cold weather having an effect on the rut is a myth.

In reality, science has proven the rut is induced by the number of daylight hours and its receipt on the retina of the animals eyes (does).
While mule deer will start shedding their velvet in September (northern BC), the rut does not kick in until November. When the does receive the proper amount of hours of daylight, it induces their estrus cycle and will allow the bucks to breed. Of course the bucks will have gone through their pre-rut rituals of velvet shedding, tree rubbing to build neck muscles, and dominance hiarchy fighting before the does are ready. You will see a lot of smaller/younger bucks chasing does around early, but the bigger/more mature bucks usually won't show up until the does are about ready.

Get a good pair of binos (best you can afford) and be prepared to do a lot of glassing, even at short range in the thick brush. I use 10x binos even in the thick brush.
As said, move slowly...very slowly. Even as slow as a step or two at a time, and then glass. All around you. Look for just a bit of the deer; an eye, an ear, part of the back or leg. Blacktails are small animals, compared to the mule deer. And both blend in to their habitats very well.
Use good scent control and watch the wind constantly.

Where the cold weather helps in the hunting is prior to a cold fron moving in, the animals will be more active and out feeding more, getting ready to lay low and weather out the coming storm or cold snap. This means they are more visible in open fields and cuts where they can get at more grass and higher protein food sources. On windy days, if they are out, look on the leeward side of hills, ridges and brush blocks or forested patches where they are sheltered from the wind. On really windy days, they will be hunkered down and not moving.
Also, the first warmer/less windy day,they will beout again foraging.
Don't forge####er sources. If available, they will use it vs eating snow.
During the peak off the rut (usually around full moon), be prepared to hunt all day, as the bucks willbe cruising looking for that hot doe.
Rattling, while a common method used for hunting whitetails can be effective on mule deer as well. I have rattled mule deer in many times over the years.
 
K98STER said:
We drove and walked a ton of them in fall of 2018. I'm guessing that the lack of cold weather posponed the rut until after season closed and kept the bucks from running around like chickens with their heads cut off.
Click to expand...

I think the lack of cold weather kept the bucks up high last season.
 
Walk the ridge lines and glass the open areas, tree lines, and valleys. Start well before the season. Most of the big bucks will stay relatively close to a home territory. They can move and be bumped a long ways from home, but they tend to return to that home range. When I hunted the southern prairies, I usually could find my buck hanging within a particular spot in one particular coulee, and in the foothills or mountains within one particular drainage. Often, the bucks I kept tabs on could be found within a square kilometre any time I went out spotting. Of the 7 big guys I have taken, I killed 5 of them within 100 metres of where I saw them the first time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom