Good muley hunting books?

E

ElkScout

Guest
Anyone recommend some good books on hunting Muleys?? I'm looking for books that focus on hunting them in the Rocky Mountains both during the early seasons (high-country) as well as during the rut.

I've been pursuing elk for so many years that I need to brush up on Muley's... hoping to draw a trophy area this fall and want to read about them even if I can't hunt them for months.

And don't worry, I'm doing more research than just readin'!!

Thanks much!

Steve
 
There are a lot of books out there that pretty much say the same thing but one I like is Hunting Open Country Mule Deer by Dwight Shuh...it is more oriented to the bowhunter though. There are some others by Prothero, Varner, Eastman, Zumbo...the list probably goes on.
 
Don't buy anything from professional hook and bullet rag/mag writers unless you want rehashed info from 1980's Outdoor Life mag. Eastman's book is decent for the novice but if you are an experienced elk hunter in the public land of Colorado, no worries.

Especially avoid anything by Prothero. He is well versed in "fiction" if you know what I mean. Its amazing. He writes likes he is a mule deer ninja, sneaking up on bucks in the timber and killing them in their beds with surgically precise marksmanship. If he hunted half as well as he writes, how come its been 20 years since he last killed a decent buck. You keep seeing his same stories with the same 25" heavy horned 5 point. That buck has gotten some mileage. He does write well however and his stories flow nicely and are descriptive in nature. Come on Walt. Kill another buck, PLEASE!
 
High Country Mule Deer is a excellent book I have come acrossed and really applied to my hunting which in turn I killed bigger bucks. $25.00 is the cost.

mule.gif


NBJB
 
Finally somebody that agres with me about Walt Prothero. The article he wrote entitled "Decline in the Desert" for Sports Afield a year or so ago is one of the most rediculous articles I have ever read in my entire life. His books just are not that much better, I want to hear from a guy that consistantly puts big deer on the ground.

Drum
 
I just picked up Mule Deer, Pursuing the Gray Ghost by Jim Van Norman and Tom Carpenter.

They do a great job on spotting mule deer and devote three chapters to What, Where, and How to look for muleys. They even include draw outlines of key muley parts to pick out deer in the field. Also included are a section of color photos with hidden deer for you to find.

Just started it and seems like a gooder.

Ed
 
I have all those books, and quite frankly none of them are up to much, especially the one by Jim Van Norman, and Tom Carpenter. It is lame as hell.
I agree with the guys on Prothero also. He is a good writer, but he's clear full of it! He makes it sound like he can track down and .270 a buck anywhere anytime. Where is his latest big buck? There ain't one!
Eastman is full of himself. He has a few good strategies in his book, but it is pretty much for the high country in G and H of yesteryear.
Zumbo is a nice guy. I have personally hunted with him for a week. He hasn't killed a big buck in his life, and he'll admit it. How can you write a book on how to kill big bucks if you've never killed one?
I know, this is negative, but it's pretty true.
I enjoy reading, and I have read a lot of hunting books, and there is yet to be written a truly good book on trophy mule deer hunting.
Get all those books and read them, it will entertain you, but don't expect to be enlightened to the point that you can slay big bucks every year.
Deerbedead
 
deerbedead,

I have read most of these books, except Zumbo's. If killing a big buck was as easy as reading a book, we'd all have monsters on the wall and the author would be big time rich. I think if you can find some good points or learn something new from most of these books. Your critque of the authors however are pretty accurate. You can also pick up points from your buddys, father, outfitters and right here on MM.

I disagree with you on the Van Norman and Carpenter book. I think they do an excellent job on spotting deer in the field.

Ed
 
Bigbull1, in my opinion the deer spotting techniques in Van Norman's book are for people who have never hunted deer before. I guess if someone needs an explaination of what a deer's ear looks like, or another part of a deer's anatomy, then it is a good book.
Of all the books mentioned, I felt like this one was the lowest on the list of books to buy.
I am a sucker for hunting books, so I buy them all any way. A good book is better than turkey hunting on the tube any day!
 
I saw very good comments on Kirt Darner books. They're hard to find. Anybody has read them can comment further ?
 
Zumbo and good mule deer hunting books do not go hand in hand. The guy has never shot a big muley so I'm not sure why he thinks he should pen a book on that. Books by Schuh are good and the info in Darners books seems sound but not to sure about his character. There are a few guys here I'd buy books from if they'd write them.
 
deerbeedead,
At one time I was living in rural Nevada and got to go look at deer 3-5 days a week, and got pretty good spotting deer. For the past 18 years I live in the burbs and do not get into deer country very often anymore. To me, it is a great refresher.

Personally, I thought the least of Walt Prothero's Mule Deer Quest. Still picked up some things to put in my "tool box" though.


Yeah, sick of the turkey shows myself. Would love to whack one though!

Ed
 
huntsonora said:
Finally somebody that agres with me about Walt Prothero. The article he wrote entitled "Decline in the Desert" for Sports Afield a year or so ago is one of the most rediculous articles I have ever read in my entire life. His books just are not that much better, I want to hear from a guy that consistantly puts big deer on the ground.

Drum
Click to expand...
I would put Walt's trophy Muleys up against anything you've ever taken.
 
deerbedead said:
I have all those books, and quite frankly none of them are up to much, especially the one by Jim Van Norman, and Tom Carpenter. It is lame as hell.
I agree with the guys on Prothero also. He is a good writer, but he's clear full of it! He makes it sound like he can track down and .270 a buck anywhere anytime. Where is his latest big buck? There ain't one!
Eastman is full of himself. He has a few good strategies in his book, but it is pretty much for the high country in G and H of yesteryear.
Zumbo is a nice guy. I have personally hunted with him for a week. He hasn't killed a big buck in his life, and he'll admit it. How can you write a book on how to kill big bucks if you've never killed one?
I know, this is negative, but it's pretty true.
I enjoy reading, and I have read a lot of hunting books, and there is yet to be written a truly good book on trophy mule deer hunting.
Get all those books and read them, it will entertain you, but don't expect to be enlightened to the point that you can slay big bucks every year.
Deerbedead
Click to expand...
Your comments about Prothero are inaccurate and have an aroma of jealousy.
 
I made a post in “After the Shot Game care and recipes” I while back, and it’s hard to not respect the Muley Bible translated by Rich LaRocco. I may be biased but Kirt rewrote the B and C record book and humbly, he inspired the Bible and a few other books well worth the read. If only he could of peaked during the social media/internet madness of today, who knows what might of been. Great book even if it’s laced with fictitious events and bruiser bucks.

004BA781-4620-4C14-9A97-46426A2B58C7.png
 
One of the newest mule deer books, The Edge by David Long and Mike Duplan. David is an archer, therefore big section on archery hunting. Both have taken mega bucks. bought thru Western Hunter magazine.

shoot to center
 
Is David Long the one that use to work for Eastman's - If so I thought he knew how to find and take good bucks. For some reason he left Eastman's and sort of went into hiding or at least I never saw him.
 
Aceman said:
Is David Long the one that use to work for Eastman's - If so I thought he knew how to find and take good bucks. For some reason he left Eastman's and sort of went into hiding or at least I never saw him.
Click to expand...
Yes. No he's not hiding.
 
I got a bunch of tips from Darners book listed several times above that I still use today. The name on his book will put you on more trophy MM than just about anything else! It’s by far the best old school book I’ve read. At the time there weren't any other books available. I haven’t read any of the new, modern day books but I'm sure there are some great ones available.

There certainly is a knack for finding great bucks. If you don’t hunt where they are in the first place you are likely spinning your wheels and may never harvest one!

There are a few hunters like Darner that have a knack for harvesting monster muley bucks. Some of Darners bucks may have been illegal but he knew where they lived and how to hunt them. Back in the day there weren’t many mm fanatics out there. At the time there generally were a lot more high scoring MM bucks available. Most of his bucks were harvested in Colo. The back cover of his book certainly shows the great genetics of what Colo is capable of producing.......hint....hint....CPW!!!!

Unfortunately in this day and age it’s tougher and tougher to hunt monster buck locations on a regular basis with the extreme high demand for premium trophy unit tags. A guy often has to be lucky or have years of pts to draw tags, be lucky and know a landowner with tags, have access to prime private land, or have high $ to purchase tags. It may help living in a place like Saskatchewan that only allows it’s residents to hunt exclusive trophy muley bucks each and every year.

It’s pretty easy to be jealous of those that have big $ to hunt areas that produce mm on a regular basis! If you have $ you can hunt trophy MM each year. I don’t know about you but it is somewhat sad that those that have big $ to spend for the right tags usually harvest mm regularly while the ave Joe Hunter twiddles his thumbs waiting to draw tags.

Sometimes it may take a little thinking outside the box to figure out strategies to hunt potential trophy MM areas on a regular basis. Some may be borderline trophy MM units but have an outside chance if you scout and hunt hard. Again, it takes a knack to find MM bucks! Obviously helps if you are scouting and hunting regularly rather than sitting on a couch waiting for a tag!

Although it’s never easy harvesting mm 190+ bucks it certainly helps having a premier tag in your pocket! Some go to the extreme of hiring an outfitter with a posy of guides or that use drones, planes, and game cams to locate trophy bucks. Some wealthy hunters have a posy of hunters searching every corner of a state for MM, hop on a plane while a guide keeps track of a particular MM buck, hunter steps off the plane and into a truck, guide points his finger to a MM buck, and wealthy hunter shoots MM buck. I guess it’s up to the individual hunter to decide for themselves what is fair.

Anyway, you can find an old copy of Darner's it would be a good start. It may be old school but certainly has some finer details that many may overlook.
 
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It’s hard to accomplish what Darner did, I’ve tried to reenact his barn photo shoot and it didn’t do my tuff shed justice. Long live the God Father of muledeer. ? ???

679CD878-FE96-4342-993C-274626C45530.jpeg


EBED0C1B-45F7-4F8C-BC4F-A486DB8CE324.jpeg
 
Kirt Darner banned from hunting and fishing for life. Is he your hero you speak of.
www.outdoorlife.com

Why This Man Will Never Hunt Again

A once-prominent big game hunter and guide whose name and image appeared regularly in national hunting publications and advertisements for hunting rifles will never again hunt, fish or be allowed to own a firearm. Once one of the country's best-known hunting celebrities, the now-disgraced Kirt...
www.outdoorlife.com www.outdoorlife.com
 
It’s incredibly sad when iconic hunters that many of us look up to take things to the extreme and to the point they go above and beyond the law. Breaking regulations that were established to preserve the wildlife they admire so much.

There are a handful of celebrity hunters that have been caught in the act doing this. Some use and abuse regulations or are borderline or flat out “poachers.”

It only takes one infraction that raises red flags that question the hunter’s past accomplishments. Unfortunately it sounds like Darner had a long history of breaking laws. It’s really a shame because Darner’s book is so good!
 
I wouldn’t spend a dime on that POS poachers book. I’d rather kill tiny deer and learn on my own, then support anything a known, convicted poacher has his name on.
 
I don’t think there are many copies available and it’s likely not in print any more. Darner didn’t make much $ off it because there likely weren’t that many published and sold. The only way to buy one is to find a copy on the internet so I doubt he’s making any $ off the few that are available.

I guess it’s up to you whether you buy one or not. It’s not like you are contributing to a poacher because I doubt Darner is making any commissions? Maybe someone that knows more about small quantities of books that were published 40 years ago can chime in? I definitely wouldn’t want to contribute if Darner gains a penny from them though.
 
I have to agree with @jims post #26 if you read garners book you will get some very helpful tips that could help many hunters today.. I met Kurt many many years (early 1980s) ago at a small hunting show in grand junction colo. I had time to visit with him for quite awhile he knows how to hunt big muleys unfortunately huge egos and big money seem to be the downfall of many a good people even to some of the better known big mule deer hunters of today... big egos have ruined more than a few people..anyway garners book is a good read and will still help alot of hunters in today's world..
 

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