Few things in the West are as impressive as mule deer on the move. Each year, herds travel miles between summer and winter ranges, navigating rugged mountains, valleys, and human development along the way. These seasonal highways, known as migration corridors are critical to mule deer survival, and for hunters, they also present unique opportunities.
MDF’s Randy Morrison has a very personal and professional purpose as a California conservationist.
Federal Ammunition has recently launched a ground-breaking long-action hunting cartridge focused on 7mm/.284 heavy-for-caliber bullets, raising the bar for what a non-magnum, centerfire rifle hunting load can achieve. Three numbers quickly back the innovation behind it: 20, 170 and 3,000.
Every hunter hopes for a clean shot, but even the best shot placement doesn’t guarantee an immediate recovery. Tracking a wounded mule deer takes patience, skill, and respect for the animal. Doing it correctly not only increases your chances of success but also ensures a humane harvest.
Ask any mule deer hunter and they’ll tell you: elevation matters. Between 5,000 and 10,000 feet, mule deer country shifts dramatically from sagebrush basins to aspen slopes to high-country meadows. Each band of elevation offers unique challenges and opportunities, and hunters who understand how deer use these habitats will have the best chance at success.
If you’ve never seen a line of mule deer moving across the skyline at dawn, nose to tail, mile after mile, you’re missing one of the last great natural wonders in North America. These migrations aren’t just impressive; they’re ancient. Some herds travel over 150 miles between their summer and winter ranges, crossing rugged mountains, ranch fences, and six-lane highways like they’ve been doing it for a thousand years, because they have.
Healthy deer populations depend on healthy forests and good deer habitat is complex. You may be wondering, “what do mule deer have to do with wildfires?” Turns out, quite a bit.
It’s been twenty years since that hunt, but I can still feel the burn in my legs, the thin air in my lungs, and the pounding of my heart as if it happened yesterday. I was twelve years old, hunting with my mom in the high country, and I was about to take my first mule deer buck.
Success in the high country doesn’t happen by luck. Rifle season comes fast, and by the time the opener rolls around, hunters who have done the homework, the scouting, the glassing, and patterning mule deer bucks, are the ones most likely to punch their tag. The key is simple: treat pre-season scouting as seriously as the hunt itself.
Working within local communities like Burney, California allows the Mule Deer Foundation and USDA Forest Service to accomplish active forest management projects.
Local partners and volunteers contributed to a very successful fence removal project along a big game migration corridor in Arizona.
Brew Coffee, Support Conservation: Hunting Day Coffee Company Partners with the Mule Deer Foundation
The Mule Deer Foundation is proud to announce our partnership with Hunting Day Coffee Company, where 30% of profits go directly to MDF’s mission of conserving mule deer, black-tailed deer, and their critical habitats.