Aspen trees, big sage brush and bitter brush tend to provide some of the better habitat for deer in the mountains around Arco. Also glass the "edge habitat" such as areas where the pines meet the sage. There will be deer in the lower country along private lands of the Big Lost River but unless you have access to private I would suggest looking around 8,000 feet elevation for October. Depending on the part of mountains you are in anywhere from about 7500 to 9500 feet elevation could be good areas to look. There will be some bucks at 10,000+ feet elevation in October but in general there won't be many deer above timber line in October. The best advice I could give you is to learn to use binoculars and spot deer that are a mile or more away. I also try to look for areas with good deer habitat that do not have easy motorized access. In general mule deer will be feeding on the sage hill sides in the morning and evening and in the afternoon they will bed in the pines, junipers or aspen trees. Many of the older muley bucks tend to become more nocturnal in October. If you find a big buck while scouting, he will likely be in the same area when the rifle hunt opens, he just won't be as visible during daylight hours. General season mule deer around Arco isn't an easy mule deer hunt but at least you have the opportunity to hunt. If you have never hunted mule deer and you are holding out for a 150"+ buck you may end up with tag soup.
You will notice that many hunters are only going to "road hunt". They will be driving around in their truck, side by side or 4 wheeler and hope to come across a deer. You can see some deer doing this but I feel like I see a lot more deer by glassing areas the road hunters never see. If you are use to "still hunting" dark timber for blacktail, you could use the same strategy for mule deer in the pines. In general you will find the forest not to be as thick as the blacktail forests. If you do some hiking around the forest you will find more deer and deer sign in areas of forest that have good open brushy hillsides not far away. Do a lot of driving and hiking the next couple weeks before the season opens and find some areas with fresh deer sign and deer.
In general most of the whitetail deer will be in the river bottoms but you can also come across whitetails in the high country. If you don't already have maps, I would suggest getting some. The Forest Service has maps that show open roads/trails. OnX maps would be the easiest option for land ownership maps but you could get the USGS BLM edition maps or forest service map that shows land ownership.
Your other option is to hunt the desert country that is South and East of Arco.
Good luck. I'm sure you will enjoy the mountains and your experience even if you don't find a big buck.
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