H
hobbes
Guest
This evening I drove to the top of the mountain that I'll be spending most of my time hunting this year for mule deer and elk. I'll be hunting elk there mainly because it is the unit for my deer tag. This will be my first attempt at hunting mule deer, so I will more than likely concentrate on them the first couple weekends unless an elk presents an opportunity.
Anyway, I did not see the activity during the last hour of dark that I had hoped to see from my glassing point, but I did see a big buck on the way up the mountain in the heavier timber. While driving the switchbacks up the mountain, I had just thought to myself, this is the switchback we saw the big buck on last year along with several smaller bucks. When I came around the slight bend in the road, there stood a big buck in the road with a smaller buck up the hill from him. I got the binocs on him pretty quick and got a look from the front, side and rear. Of course the one photo opportunity as he walked off down the slope resulted in a low battery signal and the camera shutting down.
He appeared to be a big 4 point with at least one additional sticker point on one of the front forks. I think he also had eye guards, but couldn't say for sure. The rear forks were very deep and the buck was really tall and swept forward really nice also. I'm not familiar with looking at Mule deer widths, but my initial guess would be at least 25" inside spread.
Considering the location and the exact time of year and time of day as last year, and knowing last years group had one really good buck in it that I couldn't quite get a look at, I'm tempted to say it is a buck from the same group. I will definitely be in the area this weekend hoping to find him again and get a really close look.
Do mule deer consistently use the same area from year to year, much like a whitetail?
Anyway, I did not see the activity during the last hour of dark that I had hoped to see from my glassing point, but I did see a big buck on the way up the mountain in the heavier timber. While driving the switchbacks up the mountain, I had just thought to myself, this is the switchback we saw the big buck on last year along with several smaller bucks. When I came around the slight bend in the road, there stood a big buck in the road with a smaller buck up the hill from him. I got the binocs on him pretty quick and got a look from the front, side and rear. Of course the one photo opportunity as he walked off down the slope resulted in a low battery signal and the camera shutting down.
He appeared to be a big 4 point with at least one additional sticker point on one of the front forks. I think he also had eye guards, but couldn't say for sure. The rear forks were very deep and the buck was really tall and swept forward really nice also. I'm not familiar with looking at Mule deer widths, but my initial guess would be at least 25" inside spread.
Considering the location and the exact time of year and time of day as last year, and knowing last years group had one really good buck in it that I couldn't quite get a look at, I'm tempted to say it is a buck from the same group. I will definitely be in the area this weekend hoping to find him again and get a really close look.
Do mule deer consistently use the same area from year to year, much like a whitetail?