K
kraythe
Guest
This year I decided to break from my normal habit of Turkey hunting and go for a mule deer. I didnt get my first choice on the draw but managed to get a decent GMU in leftovers in Colorado for muzzleloading season. The GMU was at 10,400 feet in a forrest of mixed pine and aspen, not known for being packed with deer but mule deer can be found all over colorado.
We started by scouting out, basically driving around looking at different areas and trying to find deer sign. We saw some old and some new deer sign and found a spot where access to water was limited to comming down and drinking in the creek. We also found some of what we thought were scrapes but was later told that might be porcupine eating the bark instead. Finally we found some clear signs of deer scat and checked the pellets for hardness to determine freshness.
After deciging on the area, we planned the camp, backpacked in to about 1/4 mile of the main deer sign and set up camp. After some sleep we decide to set out in search of deer at 5:30 in the morning, being in our chosen position before shooting light.
About 1.5 hours after sitting near a clump of trees overlooking a field, my son spotted a fairly large buck behind us. As he is only 13 I had to confirm the size for legality and just got my eyes on him (5x4) and whoosh ... he was off like a soundless lightning bolt. We never heard him approach and despite his speed leaving, we didnt hear a sound. It was uncanny. We tracked his direction for a half hour or so but it was clear he wasnt going to stop in the dense forrest and our opportunity was lost.
The evening we set up on the same trail but now in the woods instead of near the open clearing and waited for 2 hours or more. The mule deer came just before shooting light was over and there were 4 does and a buck. They were so close to us they nearly ran us over but when we tried to aim for a shot, they all bolted letting out a shreik fit for a dinosaur and bounding up the ridge.
That was pretty much all the deer we saw (though we were treated to the sight of two cow moose at less than 50 yards) but each successive day comming back to these spots produced absolutely nothing. We even tried buildign a blind of cut pine boughs in a cluster of trees and nothing showed up.
Now I am looking back on the hunt and wondering what I did wrong. I dont have anyone to teach me to hunt mule deer so I depend on you all. In my second set up was I too close to the game trail and should have backed off? Was there some way to know of the buck behind us before it was too late? They were absolutely ghosts. One moment they werent there and the next my eagle eyed son spotted them.
Could I track them back? When I went up what I thought was the game trail I found large amounts of sign such as a soft spot under a pine with tons of hoof tracks and what seemed like a bed with scat all over the place. Would it have been better to set up in that spot?
When they got scared off should i have given up that trail and looked elsewhere? Should I heve set up on some known game trails in the area instead?
Any advice is welcome.
We started by scouting out, basically driving around looking at different areas and trying to find deer sign. We saw some old and some new deer sign and found a spot where access to water was limited to comming down and drinking in the creek. We also found some of what we thought were scrapes but was later told that might be porcupine eating the bark instead. Finally we found some clear signs of deer scat and checked the pellets for hardness to determine freshness.
After deciging on the area, we planned the camp, backpacked in to about 1/4 mile of the main deer sign and set up camp. After some sleep we decide to set out in search of deer at 5:30 in the morning, being in our chosen position before shooting light.
About 1.5 hours after sitting near a clump of trees overlooking a field, my son spotted a fairly large buck behind us. As he is only 13 I had to confirm the size for legality and just got my eyes on him (5x4) and whoosh ... he was off like a soundless lightning bolt. We never heard him approach and despite his speed leaving, we didnt hear a sound. It was uncanny. We tracked his direction for a half hour or so but it was clear he wasnt going to stop in the dense forrest and our opportunity was lost.
The evening we set up on the same trail but now in the woods instead of near the open clearing and waited for 2 hours or more. The mule deer came just before shooting light was over and there were 4 does and a buck. They were so close to us they nearly ran us over but when we tried to aim for a shot, they all bolted letting out a shreik fit for a dinosaur and bounding up the ridge.
That was pretty much all the deer we saw (though we were treated to the sight of two cow moose at less than 50 yards) but each successive day comming back to these spots produced absolutely nothing. We even tried buildign a blind of cut pine boughs in a cluster of trees and nothing showed up.
Now I am looking back on the hunt and wondering what I did wrong. I dont have anyone to teach me to hunt mule deer so I depend on you all. In my second set up was I too close to the game trail and should have backed off? Was there some way to know of the buck behind us before it was too late? They were absolutely ghosts. One moment they werent there and the next my eagle eyed son spotted them.
Could I track them back? When I went up what I thought was the game trail I found large amounts of sign such as a soft spot under a pine with tons of hoof tracks and what seemed like a bed with scat all over the place. Would it have been better to set up in that spot?
When they got scared off should i have given up that trail and looked elsewhere? Should I heve set up on some known game trails in the area instead?
Any advice is welcome.
