Mule deer reports

lostinOregon

lostinOregon

Very Active Member
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So, let's start a thread on what you saw this year while hunting. No exact locations, just general areas and if it was up/down/steady from previous years. We spend a bunch of time speculating about the winter and horn growth before the seasons.

Oregon: Down-in a death spiral

Colorado: Steady with deer locations affected by drought. Concerned about winter range conditions.

Montana-eastern: steady

Northern Alberta: Down, age class and deer numbers.

What did you see?

Rich
 
Elk ass is going to cry a river on this one! Expect finger pointing, weapon classifications, season length, camo patterns, hat shapes and huge tears to be thrown around.
 
Hey Deepcolor!

The True FLATTY Comment Must of really Hurt!








I know so many people in so many places
They make allot of money but they got sad faces

It Ain't Easy being Me!:D:D:D
 
You spew so much empty content that I can't recall a flatty comment directed to me. Not doubting just can't recall.
 
>You spew so much empty content
>that I can't recall a
>flatty comment directed to me.
>Not doubting just can't recall.
>

Do You Wear FLATTY's Deepcolor?:D









I know so many people in so many places
They make allot of money but they got sad faces

It Ain't Easy being Me!:D:D:D
 
LAST EDITED ON Nov-29-18 AT 06:43PM (MST)[p]Anyway, moving right along, we saw pretty typical activity in NM regardless of drought conditions. Not sure if antler growth was affected or not.

Both does and bucks seemed very healthy.

Other reports in southern CO were the same for the 4th season hunt.
 
I'll jump in this for elkassian. It sucks in the Uintah mountains. And the bookcliffs. The rest of the state I don't know about but I can imagine. I'm going to have to take up golf, cause the hunting sucks.
 
Yes moving on, my bad.

Have hunted Idaho with friends and my kids starting in September and currently hunting a late archery on my own tag.

October rifle was tough with fewer deer numbers overall , both kids harvested 3.5 year old deer and 2 buddies from the ?boot? also filled their tags on the same age class.

I would say we have an age gap from our big winter kill in 2016. Lots of young bucks running around on this late hunt with less than normal mature bucks, there have been some whoppers show themselves though.

We need a mild winter to fill the age gap moving forward.
 
LAST EDITED ON Nov-29-18 AT 11:48PM (MST)[p]Mild but wet. What I mean is more moisture overall but lots of high elevation snowpack. Gobbs of that.

Not so much the middle to lower areas with that knee deep crusty crap that kills the deer.

The mountains here on the Wasatch front are getting hammered with snow above 7500 ft and lots of soaking wet rain lower than that. Perfect.


This was my first year really ?hunting? areas near where I now live. The pressure is really bad. I see guys where I didn't think I'd see guys. And in these places there were guys off an on again from archery to he end of rifle for deer.

Here?s the sad truth. People who hunt. Who really hunt. I'm talking the guy who is applying for 4+ states a year. The guy who has $4k plus just in optics. The guy who spends just as much time on google earth and onx maps as others do ?gaming?. The guy who has over 10 trail cameras. The guy who thinks ?I'll just get further away from the truck than the other guy?. Overall hunter numbers are continuing to fall. Anti hunters continue to rise.......but hunters like the one I'm describing and his close group of buddies who do the same.....are killing more and more animals then ever. If not for limited units and private there would be nothing left. Steven Rhinella, Jason Harriston, Cam Hanes, Randy Newberg, and even those semi-annoying Hush people are really inspiring the average dude to step it up.

We hunters Stay longer, hunt harder, do more recon work, apply more, buy more efficient gear and weaponry, strive for our own grip and grin picture for their Instagram or Facebook page.

If it were not true then I wouldn't see people with hush hats, tines up hats, and ?keep hammering? shirts on.

I'm one of these people so I get it. I'm not condemning I'm just calling it what it is: We are getting too good at killing the animals we all love. I hate to admitt it but it's almost gone too far. Trail cams, rangefinders, high end optics, the internet, hunting buddies, jealously, and greed are all positively affecting the quality of the hunt and simultaneously negatively affecting the quality of the herds.

I have no idea what the solution is but unless ?opportunity? keeps getting less, then hunting will continually begin to suck more and more each year. This rant sucks, is no help to this thread, and makes me sad but I'm hitting ?post message? anyway.

"That's a special feeling, Lloyd!?

www.s2outdoor.com
www.tojagrid.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY8iBAgry-KrH49Tua4ftbA
 
Is what it is. So true. So true. Im that guy. Hunted 52 days this year. Eliminate game cameras. Cut tags. Reduce outfitters. Join mule deer foundation!!!! Oh ya and.....

Kill lots of lions and coyotes.
 
This isn't exactly rocket science...you need more does, so you need better habitat and less predators for the does. Not much you can do about the drought though. Habitat improvements and predator management and a reduction of car killed deer is what needs to be done and no doe seasons until herds rebound. You can figure out the buck harvest and the quality of bucks you want by changes in buck tags easily.
 
Utah dedicated hunter tag, Hunted the Pahvant unit all 4 weapon season. I put my tag on an old down hill buck with hardly any teeth and no fat on his body, he would probably have not made it through the winter. Dont know if his age had anything to do with it but both his horns popped off the skull when we loaded him in the back of the pickup truck just like they had been shed. My 2 daughters and son in law had the late hunt, we hunted our butts off but could not find anything that they wanted to shoot. Both my daughters would have killed 3 pt bucks but we just couldnt find any. We sure did see lots of hunters though, and not many deer, deer numbers way down from previous years in my opinion.
 
Utah continues the downward spiral that started in the early 1970's. Less bucks and smaller bucks every year. It is harder to find a doe than it used to be to find a buck. The city deer are becoming a bigger problem all the time though. I have deer in my yard all the time. That very seldom happened 20+ years ago.

Western Wyoming has quite a few small bucks and a few medium sized bucks, but the big boys were really scarce this year, probably due to the recent winter kill.

Also, the elk hunting in western Wyoming was poor this year for some reason. In 8 days of hunting, I didn't see anything bigger than a 4 point rag horn.
 
LAST EDITED ON Nov-30-18 AT 08:53PM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Nov-30-18 AT 08:51?PM (MST)

Utah
Cache dedicated. I literally didn't step foot in the mountains with a weapon until the extended archery so I don't really have any info there.

Wyoming
Hunted one of the western regions pretty hard. I felt like deer numbers were good, with quality being what I'd expect and have experienced in the region over the last 10 seasons. Haven?t received age data results but I figure the buck I killed at 4-5. North of 195 gross, 25 wide.

Colorado
Hunted a unit known generally for good quality and genetics in the center of the state. I found ok deer numbers, in sync with my research. Located 3 of what I would consider quality bucks (180+) and dropped the hammer on the biggest. I haven't received age data but I figure 4-5 also. North of 190 gross, 26 wide.

PS. Both are delicious and absolutely no flatbrims or muleyqueer apparel were used in the taking of either animal!


Sit tall in the saddle, hold your head up high, keep your eyes fixed to where the trail meets the sky...
 
Eastern Montana very bad. A lot of poeple must like to just shoot deer because on public there is no quality of hunt or quality of deer.
 
Have got to agree with Timmy on this one. This was my 40th year of hunting SE Montana. Eastern Montana was devastated by a hard winter a few years back. The deer herds were recovering nicely on private land, but the recovery was lagging behind on large blocks of Public. SE Montana was hit with another nasty winter last year. (Worst I have seen since 1978.) Private herds lost some ground but there is still some decent numbers. Public herds were still far from recovered and last winter didn't help. Add in 11000 hunt anywhere doe tags this past fall and I predict that next fall deer will be hard to find on the large blocks of public and a true trophy buck will be like winning the lottery. A hunters best bet will be to find a small bit of public surrounded by private and hope like hell that a nice bucks wanders off the private when you are there. Option two is to bite the bullet and shell out the money and hunt private.
Eastern Montana is not a pretty picture right now if you are looking for a quality hunt on Public land.
 
Oregon- they should close the deer season in the areas I went

Idaho-really struggles on age class with the bad winter two years ago and the second deer tag option

Colorado- great deer numbers in the area I hunted

East Montana- numbers and quality way down this year. And next year should be worse because I seen a lot of 2.5 year old bucks shot. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with this, but it will hurt age class for years to come
 
>LAST EDITED ON Nov-30-18
>AT 08:53?PM (MST)
>
>LAST EDITED ON Nov-30-18
>AT 08:51?PM (MST)
>
>Utah
>Cache dedicated. I literally
>didn't step foot in the
>mountains with a weapon until
>the extended archery so I
>don't really have any info
>there.
>
>Wyoming
>Hunted one of the western regions
>pretty hard. I
>felt like deer numbers were
>good, with quality being what
>I'd expect and have experienced
>in the region over the
>last 10 seasons. Haven?t
>received age data results but
>I figure the buck I
>killed at 4-5.
>North of 195 gross, 25
>wide.
>
>Colorado
>Hunted a unit known generally for
>good quality and genetics
>in the center of the
>state. I found
>ok deer numbers, in sync
>with my research.
>Located 3 of what I
>would consider quality bucks (180+)
>and dropped the hammer on
>the biggest. I haven't
>received age data but I
>figure 4-5 also. North
>of 190 gross, 26 wide.
>
>
> PS. Both are delicious
>and absolutely no flatbrims or
>muleyqueer apparel were used in
>the taking of either animal!
>
>
>
>Sit tall in the saddle, hold
>your head up high, keep
>your eyes fixed to where
>the trail meets the sky...
>


WE NEED TO BE FRIENDS FOR EVERY REASON YOU JUST POSTED, FROM DEER TO CLOTHING!!!! :) :) :)
 
LAST EDITED ON Dec-01-18 AT 02:21PM (MST)[p]Good thread idea.

South Central Idaho: Worst I have ever seen it.

Eastern Idaho: Had a draw tag with season ending Nov. 8th, saw more moose than deer. Never hunted the unit before, but it seemed poor. Good conditions with temps in the single digits to teens, some snow. The best day I saw 14 deer, that includes does, worst day saw 3 deer. No bucks larger than a basket racket 4pt. Never cut a big track.

Southern Wyoming: Horrible range conditions, but deer looked healthy going into the fall, hoping for the best this winter. Saw quiet a few small bucks and one decent one. Cut one big track and hunted that area for 4 days, never saw him.

Colorado: Antler growth not what it was last year. Deer numbers somewhat steady, maybe a touch of decline. Quite a few predators. The larger models of bucks just weren't there this year. Don?t know if it's attributed to drought, predators or overhunting, or all three.

Ate 4 tags this year. I'll put some more time into Elk next year and less time into the Muleys. Some phenomenal elk opportunities to be had if that's what you want.
 
Three and a half weeks out from a knee replacement, I didn't hunt like a I usually do. Not as often and not back where I usually do. Numbers seemed average to the past few years and does, fawns, and bucks all looked healthy. Seemed like there might have been more pairs of fawns than usual, indicating more may have survived predators. I hunt Wyoming G.
 
LAST EDITED ON Dec-02-18 AT 02:12PM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Dec-02-18 AT 02:05?PM (MST)

Deer: GS unit in Utah for me. I've hunted the unit 7 out of the last 8 years. I'm very familiar with the area.
Only difference this year was that I got to help others with their tags on the unit as well.
So I was on the mountain more than normally.
Archery in August and September.....
Saw a ton of yearling bucks. Just little guys.
We did have a big 4x4 run by our camp at 100 yards.
Probably in the 160-170 range. He stopped and posed for me, reminding me that you should always be ready at any time. Lol
Did see a couple nice bucks cresting a hill in the early am that probably would score in the 150-160 range.
So three shooters spotted during archery.
Hunter numbers in the field were average.

Muzzleloader was much of the same but the hunt ended quick with a meat buck harvested on day 2. More hunters in the field noted. But like always a lot of road hunters.
Number of does seemed average.

I did have my first mountain lion encounter which was a first. I bumped into DNR officer and gave location of its whereabouts. He told me there's been a significant increase in sightings and encounters.

Elk numbers seemed average
Conclusion:

My overview would be not much has changed. Still a unit that is worth 0-1 points to draw. The state needs to cut the deer tags slightly and put more pressure on the predators

The DNR needs to increase patrol on trails for illegal activity.
(Taking bikes and Atvs around locked gates)(motor bikes riding closed trails) etc








"Wildlife and its habitat cannot speak. So
we must and we will."
Theadore Roosevelt
 
Spent a significant amount of time on a different unit that I spend a lot of time in where I normally chase elk .
Elk numbers seemed average. Number of mature bulls were fewer.
Deer numbers (especially buck) are horrible for the second year in a row.
State might need to slightly decrease number of LE bull tags and for deer they need to cut the tags drastically










"Wildlife and its habitat cannot speak. So
we must and we will."
Theadore Roosevelt
 
That made me laugh. We can be friends lol.



Sit tall in the saddle, hold your head up high, keep your eyes fixed to where the trail meets the sky...
 
I didn't get around much this year. Went to Colorado for a quick muzz run. Never saw a BIG deer and had access problems with where I thought I could go.

Came back home to WY to hunt archery again and some areas were good, and maybe getting better. Saw quite a few bucks and good population dynamics some places.

The Eastern Plains of Wyoming continue to struggle. I took a drive last Friday and where I would see 300-500 deer in the 1990's, I saw less than 30. Seem bleak. But in other plains areas not near wheat/CRP, things seemed good.

The Laramie Range, unit 64 was worse than I've ever seen it. There's a ranch there where we used to shoot 10 deer in the 90's. We were down to 4 this year and next year only 2. No 4+ year old deer to speak of. But elk everywhere. And no solution to the issue.

So I guess I'd say a varied year. I did shoot a decent buck with my bow and had one of the most fun seasons I have in a long time.
 
I just got back from a whitetail hunt in Northwest Kansas and the whitetail hunting wasn't that great but we saw big mule deer in the agricultural fields without getting out of the truck.

I think we saw four or five in the 180 to 200 inch range. Of course I didn't have a mule deer tag.
 

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