Empowering Chapters
Collaborative Proposal
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The Quiet Moments That Define Mule Deer Hunting
The truck doors slam. Gear gets tossed into piles. Somebody starts unloading food while somebody else argues about where to pitch the tents. Old friends shake hands, tell stories, and laugh about things that probably weren’t as funny the first time around. Coffee gets poured. Dinner gets started. For a little while, nobody seems particularly concerned about shooting a deer.
The Rut
There is probably no better time to hunt a mature mule deer than during the rut.
The weather is getting colder. Bucks are increasingly focused on does. Deer are moving toward winter range. And, for a hunter who understands what is happening, the landscape can suddenly come alive.
But there is a catch.
The rut doesn’t make mule deer predictable. It makes them different.
Managing Expectations on Limited-Entry Mule Deer Tags
After years of applying, accumulating points and watching other hunters post pictures of bucks you could only dream about, your name finally came up. You have a limited-entry mule deer tag in your pocket, and suddenly you’re holding one of the most coveted opportunities in Western hunting.
How to Hunt Mule Deer in Heavily Roaded Country
More roads don’t necessarily mean fewer mule deer. In fact, heavily roaded country can sometimes make your job easier…..if you understand how to use those roads to your advantage.
The first thing to understand is that roads don’t distribute hunters evenly across the landscape. They concentrate them.
On a Wyoming hunt a few years ago, I was amazed on opening morning by the number of trucks, Jeeps and side-by-sides moving across the unit. Hunters were everywhere. Some were glassing from their vehicles. Others had parked and walked 100 yards down the road before settling in to glass.