Question about a mule deer hunt.

B

bc2573

Guest
Hi guys,

I am new to the forum, and before I get off onto hunting discussion I want to introduce myself. My name is Brian, and I am from Birmingham, Alabama. I am married with two kids, and I am an electrical engineer with Honda Motor Company. I look forward to conversing with you guys.

Now that the formalities are out of the way let me get on with my questions.

My dad started me hunting Whitetails when I was barely old enough to walk. I have been hunting them for over twenty years, and I have literally taken dozens of them. Anyway, my dad and I were talking a few days ago, and he blurted out, "Hey, I would like to go mule deer hunting someday". You know what, so would I lol. So that's what brings me here. You know what they say....... if you want answers, then go ask the experts.

So here is what I am looking for.

I want to go mule deer hunting, but I am not really sure where to begin. Not sure which state I would want to give them a try in, so any help there would be appreciated. Also, I am not interested in a high dollar guided hunt. That to me is no fun. No offense to anyone who has the money and enjoys these type of hunts, but that's just not my thing. What I would like is to find a private tract of land that the landowner would accept a tresspass fee to let us hunt on his land for a few days. I have heard that public land is not the way to go, but you guys can correct me if I am wrong because I am the rookie in this discussion lol. As far as what I am looking for, it is the mule deer experience. I don't have to take a monster mulie to be satisfied, or even one at all. The trip with my dad will be the most important aspect of this. Now don't get me wrong, if he and I take a mulie, then that would be icing on the cake.

So I guess what I am asking is the old who, what, when, and where question. I have no idea how to get started on planning a trip like this, and if anyone has any suggestion, contacts, or ideas, they would be most appreciate.

Thanks in advance!

Your new friend,
Brian (bc2573)
 
LAST EDITED ON Jan-11-06 AT 02:00PM (MST)[p] HI BRIAN, GLAD YOUR HERE/ ENJOY THE SITE. YOUR GOING TO GET ALOT OF HELP ON THIS ONE, AN POSSIBLY A GOOD MULEY TRIP. YOU CAN GET OVER THE COUNTER TAGS IN IDAHO, COLORADO AND A COUPLE MORE STATES DEPENDING ON WHAT WEAPON YOU USE. YOU CAN ALSO PLAY THE DRAW, BUT THIS MIGHT TAKE A YEAR OR TWO. I WOULD HANG OUT HERE, AND FIRST FIGURE OUT WHAT STATE GIVES YOU A DECENT CHANCE. THEN I WOULD NARROW IT DOWN TO A GAME MGT. UNIT, THEN A AREA OR TWO IN THAT UNIT. THIS PROCESS WONT TAKE TOO LONG IF YOU SPEAK TO SEVERAL FOLKS. ALSO CALL A FEW STATE GAME BIOLIGISTS FOR MORE INFO., AND READ AS MUCH DEER HUNT INFO. AS POSSIBLE. THIS SITE IS YOUR BEST BET TO START. THIS SITE ALSO HAS A DEER INFORMATION SECTION THAT COSTS LIKE 24.95 TO ACCESS FOR DEER HUNT INFO. GOOD LUCK. YD.
 
Welcome to the boards. I know that for a public land tag you can easily pick up a Northern Utah tag in the middle of june for the October rifle hunt. The cost is $263. It's an underrated tag for sure. PM me if you want more info.
Andy
 
Brian, not sure where you reside now, but State land can be very good in the NW -Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Wa.. and also in Wyoming. Basically for mulies, if you don't do the private land thing, just invest extra time in scouting your spot right before the season. The main difference between the whitetails you've hunted and the mulies is that the mulies are migratory. They will move over 20 miles per year. Check with Eastmans' website for good private land hunts. You can't go wrong there.
-Darrel
 
utah draw starts Jan 17th , we've done well in the Southern & Southeastern zones ,,,, southern is a little harder to draw , southeastern is pretty much a gimme and as was stated north part of the state ,,,, welcome and good luck , be sure and post pics
 
Man I appreciate all the great help you guys have given me so far. I am still listening if anyone else has any suggestions.

Thanks everybody.
 
Yukon: All deer tags in Colorado are by drawing only. However, most units are not that hard to draw within a year or so. Apply online the month of March.

I have heard that this link provides some good private land hunts. Never used them myself.

Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Montana would all be good choices.

http://www.coloradoprivateranches.com/


txhunter58

venor, ergo sum (I hunt, therefore I am)
 
LAST EDITED ON Jan-12-06 AT 10:28AM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Jan-12-06 AT 10:26?AM (MST)

TXHUNTER58, NO- NOT ALL TAGS. FOR A FIRST TIMER LIKE BRIAN YOU CAN GET A LEFTOVER TAG EVERY YEAR FOR DEER/ IN COLORADO IF YOU CANT DRAW. SEVERAL UNITS ARE GOOD ON THE LO TAG. MY PARTNER DRUG INTO CAMP A 31 INCH BUCK THAT DROPPED MY JAW, I ENDED UP WITH A HEAVY 25 IN. BUCK ON A LO TAG. I WOULD SAY 10-12 UNITS THAT I KNOW OF ARE GOOD -DECENT ON LO TAGS. SAME GOES FOR A COUPLE OTHER STATES/ OH YEA SNOW HELPS /BUT THANKS FOR THE INFO. YD.
 
YukonDall,

Where is that deer information section that you mentioned on this site?
 
Hello Brian and welcome to MM. This is a great place to get good info. First I would say check out COLORADO. I live here and hunt every year and there are a lot of good areas that you both could draw a tag with no preferance points. If you wanted to start colecting preferance points you could get a left-over tag. I wouldn't waste money on private land tresspass. There is a ton of national forest land, BLM land, and state trust land. Order a copy of the Delorme Colorado Atlas and Gazetteer. I think there only about $13.00 from Midsouth shooters supply. Then when you pick out a area you plan to hunt get the BLM land maps for that area. I would look at hunting third season. There is a better chance of having a little snow and moving the deer around. Good luck and if I can help more contact me at [email protected] _________________________Jovan
 
MM85, ITS A SMALL TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE FIRST PAGE OF THIS SITE. YOU MIGHT HAVE TO LOOK AROUND A BIT, BUT I KNOW OF A FEW PEOPLE THAT HAVE USED IT. IT COULD BE SEASONAL, I'LL KEEP A EYE OUT FOR IT . YD.
 
First off welcome to the site!! Probably one of the best introductions asking for help of any person I've seen. Any of the States like CO, WY, MT, ID, NM, AZ, and possibly OR. You don't want to go to WA because if you put in as a nonres, and don't draw, you don't recieve your draw money back (or so I'm told). That's why you don't see a lot of people putting in for WA. I would check out either CO, WY, or ID. WY is famous for the amount of public land available for hunting quality deer. Good luck!

Michael~All Gods creatures welcome... right next to the mashed potatoes and gravy.
 
>Hello Brian and welcome to MM.
>This is a great place
>to get good info. First
>I would say check out
>COLORADO. I live here and
>hunt every year and there
>are a lot of good
>areas that you both could
>draw a tag with no
>preferance points. If you wanted
>to start colecting preferance points
>you could get a left-over
>tag. I wouldn't waste money
>on private land tresspass. There
>is a ton of national
>forest land, BLM land, and
>state trust land. Order a
>copy of the Delorme Colorado
>Atlas and Gazetteer. I think
>there only about $13.00 from
>Midsouth shooters supply. Then when
>you pick out a area
>you plan to hunt get
>the BLM land maps for
>that area. I would look
>at hunting third season. There
>is a better chance of
>having a little snow and
>moving the deer around. Good
>luck and if I can
>help more contact me at
>[email protected] _________________________Jovan


I have pretty much narrowed down the states I might try to hunt to Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming. To be honest, Colorado is the closest to me and I have always wanted to hunt there.

How hard is it to draw a tag in Colorado? Forgive my ignoarance lol, but what is BLM land. What options do I have if I am not drawn for a tag? I know some states sell "leftover" tags once the draw is complete. Or are you just out of luck until the next year?
 
LAST EDITED ON Jan-13-06 AT 10:00AM (MST)[p]BLM: Bureau of Land Management (Open to everyone for hunting)
On your topo maps, it is a light brown color showing the areas of BLM.

Brian
 
LAST EDITED ON Jan-13-06 AT 11:54AM (MST)[p]To be honest, I don't hunt deer in Colorado that often, but I am pretty familiar with the basic principles.

As stated above, 100% of deer tags are first available by drawing only. However, if not as many people put in as there are tags mean there are leftover tags. These tags are first available to people that asked to be put in for left over tags. After those people purchase any tags they want, then they are available to the general public first come first served.

First, go to this link at the Colorado DOW website: http://wildlife.state.co.us/huntrecap/ It has a wealth of information that includes how many people put in, how many tags there were, and how many left over tags, if any were available.

You can also put in for a maybe hard to draw unit as a first choice and a unit that has had lots of leftover tags in the past as a second choice. That way, if you don't get drawn on your first choice, you hopefully will draw as a second choice, and you still get a preference point for that year (when drawing a 2nd choice, not a first choice)

Just remember that if you hold out for a leftover tag, they may or may not be available this year. Sure, if 1000 tags were left over last year, the chances are good you could get one this year.

If I for sure wanted to go to a certain area, so I could be studying up on the area and researching it, then I would put in for an easy to draw unit, and put a left over unit as a 2nd choice back up.

The above link will tell you most everything you will want to konw including how many points it took to draw, but you have to ponder it for a while to figure out the way they post the info.

Also, you need to know that they have changed the rules this year. On easy to draw units, the residents will get 65% of the tags off the top, nonresidents get 35%. Once the intial drawing is held, then residents and nonresidents have equal chances on 2nd choices or left over tags.

Good luck.

txhunter58

venor, ergo sum (I hunt, therefore I am)
 
Hey Brian welcome to the board.I'm sure you're going to get alot of usefull info here.The problem with too much good info is, you can't make up your mind.Each one of us here has a place we call the best hunting spot,county,state or unit and will argue to our grave about it.For example I live in the Az desert and hunt all my mule deer in the desert.In the past between my brother and I we have taken a 216,204,182,and several other bucks over 30" wide.To me this area in Az I hunt is the greatest hunting spot in the country for mule deer and where we hunt is seven hours south of kaibab and six hours north of the hunting grounds in Mexico.I have a friend from Wyoming and has hunted where we hunt and said it sucks compared to Wyoming becuase in Wyoming you can see as much as 30 or more bucks a day.Here in the desert you are lucky to see 2 bucks a day worth looking at and on average 30 to 60 deer a day including little bucks but mainly does.But if you were to hunt 5 days you have a good chance at finding a buck scoring 180" or better. Out west and most of the good hunters here in this forum will tell you these big bucks are on public land and there is a ton of it.So just keep reading,do your home work and I'm sure when you decide you'll make a good choice because no place is really any better than the other. We all have our own little honey hole and it's all on public land whether it be in Idaho,Montana,Colorado,Nevada,Arizona timber,sage,desert or where ever.Just go with your gut feeling and good luck.......Troy
 
Welcome to the board. I would just like to echo a lot of the advice you have already received. Any of the Western States have great opportunities for non-res hunters to hunt mule deer. I would definitely look into hunting public land/BLM land. I live in Utah and hunt both public and private land...and I prefer the public land. Good luck in your pursuit of a great hunt. If you choose to hunt Utah, let me know what unit you are looking at, and I can try to give you a few starting points.

SCOTT
 
Thanks for all the advice guys. I won't be around for a few days. I am leaving tonight and will not be back until Wed night. Going to go chase those whitetails for a few days. The rut is starting to kick in a little and I better get in the woods. Later guys.
 
Brian:

If you are interested in hunting Wyoming, I can give you some suggestions. I am a non-resident who has been hunting WY since 1998 and I have loved every minute of it. There is some awesome scenery out west that you just can't appeciate until you see it in person. I have mainly been a DIY hunter and I encourage you to go that route if that is what you want to do, but I would not discount a drop camp or semi-guided trip if you can find the right outfitter. You can go on a semi-guided mule deer hunt for $1500-$2000 if you check around. I hunted DIY for 6 years and saw lots of game but I couldn't seem to find a buck any bigger than the whitetails back home so I held off and held off and passed up several small forkhorns and small 3X3 bucks. Two years ago, I did a semi-guided hunt on NF lands. In Wyoming, non-residents cannot go into wilderness areas without a guide so my friends and I kind of used that as criteria when we looked for an outfitter. I learned a lot just talking with the guides and figured out what I had been doing wrong. I had been walking too much and glassing too little. 4 of us had 2 guides on a 4 day hunt. We went 3 for 4 on the wilderness hunt and had a great time. Last year, I went back to my DIY hunt and had an awesome time. Saw more game than I ever saw before. I think because I had learned to slow down and look harder. I used to take off walking to get away from the roads and other hunters. I would walk 10-15 miles a day. last year, I just walked 5-6 miles a day and glassed more. Good luck hunting with your Dad. Enjoy every minute of it because the time will come when you won't be able to share that experience any more.

Tim
Searchin' for a 4 X 4
 
hey brian the name here is jordan and if you want to get some good muley hunting go to colorado and hunt in units 61/62 there is some great hunting up there.
 

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