How far do summer mule deer move?

DoeNob · Aug 15, 2016

I've been under the impression that high country mule deer do not move around much at all while they have their velvet on, once it strips, they gone. Is this generally true? What's your experience being able to find deer in the same place in the first half of September that you located in August?

Have found a few decent bucks out scouting but I can't get back to them for another month now, just trying to formulate my game plan.

Thanks!

DW · Aug 15, 2016

LAST EDITED ON Aug-15-16 AT 06:35PM (MST)[p]The switch flips around the last week of August in my experience. If I could just put a tracking device on em in early August. Maybe that's how some of the big boys do it?

BillyBoB · Aug 15, 2016

LAST EDITED ON Aug-15-16 AT 05:00PM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Aug-15-16 AT 04:59?PM (MST)

I'll take a stab at this one.

From my experience....I don't think those deer necessarily disappear or are gone. In fact, my experiences shows they are still around. But there are a few things to consider why some might think they are gone.
1-Velvet antlers and those reddish colored coats make them easier to see while in the summer. They standout more.
2-After losing their sensitive velvet and their summer coats shed to a tan color, it can be comfortable for them to hide in thicker vegetation when that velvet isn't getting bumped and banged around. I believe their antlers are more sensitive with velvet. Making them more vulnerable to stay out in the open more. Those fall season, tan coats make them harder to see. The blend into most terrain much better.
3-Vegetation begins drying up and their browse feed is less abundant causing them to stick to smaller areas. Cooler temps also lead to less trips to the waterhole.
4-Archery hunters around the hills can shut things down quick.
A big mature, smart buck will only need alittle bit of pressure to go complete nocturnal. But they don't necessarily move to a different area code.

But for the most part, undisturbed deer will hang out in the same general area even into October when there is frost on the ground.

Its the really cold temperatures along with several inches of snow that will cause deer to begin moving or migrating. Or a significant amount of hunter pressure that can really slow down any movement.

Just be patient after they rub and take more time to glass. Usually they are there. They just get harder to find.
Understand that their habits do change but not its usually not drastic.
Good Luck

"Wildlife and its habitat cannot speak. So
we must and we will."
Theadore Roosevelt

dillon · Aug 15, 2016

+1 BillyBoB

It depends on the buck, but the ones I have focused on tend to stay close to their summer ranger until it starts getting really cold up high on the mountain. I killed a 5x6 in 2005 that I chased with a bow and I killed him in late September in the same area where I first saw him in July. I have had bucks move to find water when the water hole went dry.

Good luck.

Dillon
www.dillonhoyt.com

letmgetbig · Aug 15, 2016

I think some are like me and don't like to travel much. And some like to travel and move around a lot. If you can find the ones that stay put, it's easy to keep an eye on them.

NorthernUtahGreyGhost · Aug 16, 2016

Read David Long's book, "Public Land Mulies: The Bottom Line" - He talks about how it has been proven that most high country bucks live within a two-mile radius of their summer patterns. They don't move far and this has definitely been proven in my experience!

Last year my buddy killed a high country 190 buck on September 24th not 500 yards from where we first found him on July 24th. They definitely go into hiding more and hang out in the thick stuff for a large part of the day and/or become more nocturnal but they are still there until snow starts flying or the rut gets into full swing. Just be patient and glass, glass, glass. Don't give up and go back to camp at 10:00 in the morning, deer typically feed 4-5 times throughout a day so once it cools down in the fall they are often times moving at 12:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon when most people are back at camp catching some extra zzz's.

Hunt_the_West · Aug 16, 2016

Pretty solid advice above^^^.

Founder · Aug 29, 2016

My experience would have me agree with most of the above.

Brian Latturner
MonsterMuleys.com
LIKE MonsterMuleys.com on Facebook!

cabinfever · Aug 31, 2016

Timberline bucks don't move far. Desert bucks are a different story.

BrowningRage · Sep 1, 2016

From years of hunting and years of being here on MM I can tell you one thing for sure, there are no absolutes, and sometimes, not even good guesses.

If you are talking about a resident deer herd, they don't move from summer all the way through winter range.

If you're talking high country, some guys I know who hunt Muzzy hunts in Sept are still hunting bucks in the same areas they were during summer.

I think it's reasonable to think that deer might change some of their patterns between July/August, and September.

Come late October, they will usually do a full-on migration to the "breeding grounds"...

"Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!" 2 Ne. 28: 24

DoeNob · Sep 1, 2016

>Read David Long's book, "Public Land
>Mulies: The Bottom Line" -
>He talks about how it
>has been proven that most
>high country bucks live within
>a two-mile radius of their
>summer patterns. They don't
>move far and this has
>definitely been proven in my
>experience!
>
>Last year my buddy killed a
>high country 190 buck on
>September 24th not 500 yards
>from where we first found
>him on July 24th.
>They definitely go into hiding
>more and hang out in
>the thick stuff for a
>large part of the day
>and/or become more nocturnal but
>they are still there until
>snow starts flying or the
>rut gets into full swing.
> Just be patient and
>glass, glass, glass. Don't
>give up and go back
>to camp at 10:00 in
>the morning, deer typically feed
>4-5 times throughout a day
>so once it cools down
>in the fall they are
>often times moving at 12:00
>or 3:00 in the afternoon
>when most people are back
>at camp catching some extra
>zzz's.

Thank you for the reminder, I had loaned that book out to a buddy, got it back and read it. If the deer I have in mind isn't killed in archery season, I'll keep after him in that drainage.