MuskegMan
Active Member
- Messages
- 726
Well, I shot my first mule deer. Probably not up to Monster Muley standards, but I was happy with it.
So a little background. Why did I choose 125 in the first place? Well I was one under max points and I was always going to be one under. Figured I'd never draw 102. Logistics looked easy, 90-95% BLM land and rut hunt dates. Huntin' Fool said it was a pretty good unit too. So I burned 4 NR points and ponied up for the special license - yes that $650 clams. This is only my second DIY mule deer hunt. I have mostly hunted Sitka Blacktails in Alaska for the past 30+ years, so a mule deer was on my bucket list.
So I started looking for info on the unit on this site and from HF members who had hunted it in the past. Just about everyone said focus on Gooseberry Creek. That's were most of the deer will be. Turned out to be solid advice.
I decided to come down for the last part of the hunt dates. Everyone said that things really pick up as the rut kicks into gear. This was also spot-on.
Being the find-out-the-hard-way kinda guy. I spent the first two days on the east end of the hunt near Meteetse in the higher part of the unit. Wasn't seeing anything. Ran into a fellow MM'er who remembered a guy from Alaska was coming down for the hunt. He had just killed a hybrid up in the higher part of the unit. The deer still had a little raggedly velvet on the horns.
So I started looking down along Gooseberry and sure enuff I was seeing quite a few deer and some smaller bucks. It's hard to get on the south side of the creek, but there were a few state owned sections on the river bottom. Not many folks were keying in on these areas. The GPS with the WYO chip was an absolute must-have. Met up with some fellow HF members who had be hunting the "walk in" areas. A couple of landowners had mentioned this too and I didn't know what they were talking about. Finally, I picked up the Statewide Walk-in Area supplement (published by WYO F&G) at the sporting goods store. This was the key to my, and several others, sucess.
With this info and my GPS I was able to get on the south side of Gooseberry in the hills and glass down on the river bottom and have direct access to the river bottom in several locations.
Things really picked up on my last three days on the units. Bucks were getting feisty and were herding up does. Never say any knock down drag out buck fights, but watched a lot of posturing and dosidos. Locals said there we the local light, horned bucks who rubbed out on the sage brush, and the dark horn mountain bucks who migrate in from higher ground outside the unit - e.g. the Tetons and Bighorns. I saw one of these bucks on the last day, buck never got a real good looks at him.
Anyway, with 15 minutes of light left on the last day I was going to hunt (14th) I was able to connect with this buck. A hair over 22" wide. a 5x4 if you count eyeguards.
Again, thanks to all the MM'ers to offered advice and to a great mule deer hunting site. Just trying to add my experience and information for others to use.
So a little background. Why did I choose 125 in the first place? Well I was one under max points and I was always going to be one under. Figured I'd never draw 102. Logistics looked easy, 90-95% BLM land and rut hunt dates. Huntin' Fool said it was a pretty good unit too. So I burned 4 NR points and ponied up for the special license - yes that $650 clams. This is only my second DIY mule deer hunt. I have mostly hunted Sitka Blacktails in Alaska for the past 30+ years, so a mule deer was on my bucket list.
So I started looking for info on the unit on this site and from HF members who had hunted it in the past. Just about everyone said focus on Gooseberry Creek. That's were most of the deer will be. Turned out to be solid advice.
I decided to come down for the last part of the hunt dates. Everyone said that things really pick up as the rut kicks into gear. This was also spot-on.
Being the find-out-the-hard-way kinda guy. I spent the first two days on the east end of the hunt near Meteetse in the higher part of the unit. Wasn't seeing anything. Ran into a fellow MM'er who remembered a guy from Alaska was coming down for the hunt. He had just killed a hybrid up in the higher part of the unit. The deer still had a little raggedly velvet on the horns.
So I started looking down along Gooseberry and sure enuff I was seeing quite a few deer and some smaller bucks. It's hard to get on the south side of the creek, but there were a few state owned sections on the river bottom. Not many folks were keying in on these areas. The GPS with the WYO chip was an absolute must-have. Met up with some fellow HF members who had be hunting the "walk in" areas. A couple of landowners had mentioned this too and I didn't know what they were talking about. Finally, I picked up the Statewide Walk-in Area supplement (published by WYO F&G) at the sporting goods store. This was the key to my, and several others, sucess.
With this info and my GPS I was able to get on the south side of Gooseberry in the hills and glass down on the river bottom and have direct access to the river bottom in several locations.
Things really picked up on my last three days on the units. Bucks were getting feisty and were herding up does. Never say any knock down drag out buck fights, but watched a lot of posturing and dosidos. Locals said there we the local light, horned bucks who rubbed out on the sage brush, and the dark horn mountain bucks who migrate in from higher ground outside the unit - e.g. the Tetons and Bighorns. I saw one of these bucks on the last day, buck never got a real good looks at him.
Anyway, with 15 minutes of light left on the last day I was going to hunt (14th) I was able to connect with this buck. A hair over 22" wide. a 5x4 if you count eyeguards.
Again, thanks to all the MM'ers to offered advice and to a great mule deer hunting site. Just trying to add my experience and information for others to use.
