Region D Bucks- Small or Big- Post Em!
- Thread starter Wiszard
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wallhanger
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Steve-
My experience was that there were no deer in region D. We were south of Encampment, and saw does here and there. A small buck here in there. But in 6 days of hunting, I'd say we saw less than 30 deer. Beautiful country, but not many deer in there as of yet. maybe the guys that hunt the northern half of D will do better if the migration kicks in.
WH
My experience was that there were no deer in region D. We were south of Encampment, and saw does here and there. A small buck here in there. But in 6 days of hunting, I'd say we saw less than 30 deer. Beautiful country, but not many deer in there as of yet. maybe the guys that hunt the northern half of D will do better if the migration kicks in.
WH
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Texasdeerhunter
Guest
Steve,
We had a great Region D hunt. U missed out we killed 7 out of 8 tags. The biggest was a 5x5 that i was able to take on the 3rd day of the hunt. Dont know how to post pics or i would send one of mine. Did see lots of big deer being taken but most were on privite ranches. Will definetly be back next year if i dont draw a limited tag.
Texasdeerhunter
We had a great Region D hunt. U missed out we killed 7 out of 8 tags. The biggest was a 5x5 that i was able to take on the 3rd day of the hunt. Dont know how to post pics or i would send one of mine. Did see lots of big deer being taken but most were on privite ranches. Will definetly be back next year if i dont draw a limited tag.
Texasdeerhunter
wallhanger
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Texasdeerhunter-
Were you guys on public or on a private ranch? What area of Region D? Obviously you don't need to give exacts and GPS coordinates. More curious about what elevation, what region of region D, sage or aspens and timber, etc. We were south of Encampment at anywhere from 9400 ft. to 8000 feet in the lower country and didn't fare near as well. Glad to hear somebody did well.
WH
Were you guys on public or on a private ranch? What area of Region D? Obviously you don't need to give exacts and GPS coordinates. More curious about what elevation, what region of region D, sage or aspens and timber, etc. We were south of Encampment at anywhere from 9400 ft. to 8000 feet in the lower country and didn't fare near as well. Glad to hear somebody did well.
WH
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wtrollinger
Guest
Hunting in D was really tough for us. We also hunt in the southern part of the region. We saw very few deer in areas that are normally very good, virtually no bucks to speak of. Maybe too warm? Bad winter kill?
Wiszard
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Texas- If you want to email pics to me I can post em. [email protected]. Congrats on a successful season!
I heard that the area I usually hunt (Alcova area) was in the high 70's to low 80's. Way too warm and the guys my Dad talked to said they weren't seeing too many deer.
Steve
T&A Inspector
I heard that the area I usually hunt (Alcova area) was in the high 70's to low 80's. Way too warm and the guys my Dad talked to said they weren't seeing too many deer.
Steve
T&A Inspector
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skiner1
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Just got back from northern region D last night. We hunted on a HMA, and filled 2 out of 3 tags. The two bucks we killed had such small thin antlers that they looked more like east Texas yearlings than Wyoming Mule Deer. I mean small, thin, short horned, more like a whitetail, but had a huge muley body. I'm very confused, but we all filled our lope tags up on the basin, and have plenty of meat. I consider it a success, and don't have to worry about taxidermy til next year.
With the amount of hunters in the area, it's not hard to believe that mature buck sightings are a rarity. There's plenty of private land around for the bigger bucks to take refuge on. To top that off, the bigger, smarter mature bucks won't really move much during the daylight hours unless you step right on them.
LAST EDITED ON Oct-24-10 AT 11:35AM (MST)[p]A friend saw a picture of a deer that a guy he knows shot near Savery Reservoir near Rawlins. It Scored 196. I think most of the area 66 bucks have been shot out. I bagged a decent 4 x 5, but it was the only branched antlered deer I saw. You couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting another hunter. Ran into some clown from California. We're talking and one of his cohorts starts talking on the radio in his pocket on how they have some does spotted down the draw. I told him its illegal to hunt with radios. He said I know. I told him if I ran into a warden I'd be letting them know and walked off. I stopped later at a check station and several trucks with deer were ahead of me. They were all 2's & small 3's. The biologist said mine was one of the larger deer they'd checked. I immediately started chewing his ear about mismanaging the area and giving out too many tags. He apparently wasn't impressed as he walked away in the middle of my discussion. It'll be something I bring up at next years spring meeting. I also brought up the radio usage. The warden who was there said he knew where a group of California hunters were and said he'd go talk to them. At any rate, most of the general license deer hunting in central WY sucked from the guys I talked to. The G&F manages these area's for revenue and they really don't care about quality, buck numbers or hunt satisfaction.
Wiszard
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I had the same thing happen to me last year but they were from Utah!! 
I just received some pics from a guy we hunt with over near Casper and the two bucks they shot were pretty weak. One was a 19x19 3x2 and the other was a 23" forked horn. Both bucks are unique but not what you want to see.
Steve
T&A Inspector
I just received some pics from a guy we hunt with over near Casper and the two bucks they shot were pretty weak. One was a 19x19 3x2 and the other was a 23" forked horn. Both bucks are unique but not what you want to see. Steve
T&A Inspector
S
skiner1
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I agree, Saturday and Sunday looked like a traffic jam on 403. We decided to lope hunt over the weekend and let the majority go back to work. You have to get off the roads. There was a 190 inch buck that was shot on the same HMA, so there in there, just not in numbers. The rancher also said they have had a huge cat problem, and I don't think he was talking about Calico's.
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a3dhunter
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This is disturbing to hear about region d, I hunted there a few years ago in 2007, we were there for 7-8 days and saw over 100 bucks.( I think it was 113 bucks)
We were hunting south of Encampment as well.
Most of them were smaller bucks and since I was hunting with my wife for her first time hunting we were never more than 1/4 mile from the road.
I figured in three to four years that area would have a lot of good bucks.
We were hunting south of Encampment as well.
Most of them were smaller bucks and since I was hunting with my wife for her first time hunting we were never more than 1/4 mile from the road.
I figured in three to four years that area would have a lot of good bucks.
BigMass
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I hunted hard for five days south of Encampment. Saw lots of does & fawns and a few small bucks. Lots of hunters.
Then I moved north of Hanna and hunted antelope in 47 with two friends. Saw lots of pronghorn and a fair amount in the 14-15" range. We took three bucks, 14 1/2", 14 3/4", and a 15 1/4". Then hunted deer, conditions were warm, dry, and dusty. I hunted the whole season there hard. Opening day I saw two real nice medium bucks, two decent medium bucks, and a half dozen small bucks. The big boys seemed to be bedding down way before daylight. The rest of the season I saw three other so so medium bucks and a lot of little guys. One of my friends took a solid medium buck, the rest settled for lesser deer. I chose not to fill my tag as I was looking for a bigger buck than I was able to locate.
Then I moved north of Hanna and hunted antelope in 47 with two friends. Saw lots of pronghorn and a fair amount in the 14-15" range. We took three bucks, 14 1/2", 14 3/4", and a 15 1/4". Then hunted deer, conditions were warm, dry, and dusty. I hunted the whole season there hard. Opening day I saw two real nice medium bucks, two decent medium bucks, and a half dozen small bucks. The big boys seemed to be bedding down way before daylight. The rest of the season I saw three other so so medium bucks and a lot of little guys. One of my friends took a solid medium buck, the rest settled for lesser deer. I chose not to fill my tag as I was looking for a bigger buck than I was able to locate.
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skiner1
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Y'all explain this to me please. I'm looking at the forked horn picture above, tall branched fairly wide for a young deer, but the forked horns we saw were about 8 inches wide and 12 inches tall. They had huge bodies, surely they were'nt that young. Is the gene pool that jacked around there? Is it in our best interest to harvest those deer? We were hunting about 45 miles south of Casper up close to the National Forest. Thoughts?
Cahunter805
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Skiner This is my opinion so take it at that. Im not sure where you are from but mule deer bodies are very deceptive to many people myself included. Its hard to compare say a mature texas whitetail body to a mature mule deer. A large mule deer will probably tip the scales at around 300lbs. I think the bucks you were looking at were young deer. I would venture to guess probably 1 1/2-2 1/2. Give that deer a few more years and his body would have filled out a bit more and then all his nutrition would have gone into antler growth.
S
skiner1
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Thanks CA, least I have some hope when I head up there next year. Our rifle season opens tomorrow, and after being up there in that country it's hard to get excited about it. Think I'll just sling arrows for the next 2 months. I'm fairly new to the whole Muley hunting experience, so all advice is appreciated and welcomed!!
Wiszard
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I shot my first mule deer when I was 18 or so. I had only killed blacktails. When I crouched down next to my first muley, I was astounded at their size. I remember thinking that it is bigger than I was! I've killed some not so big bodied mule deer as well...younger deer. The young ones are better eating and are easier to drag out. But I'd take a big one every year if I could!
Steve
T&A Inspector
But I'd take a big one every year if I could!Steve
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sageadvice
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Steve, My good friend here and his Galfriend made the hunt to D this year for both antelope and mule deer. She killed a trophy antelope and a couple does, he took a smaller lope and his does, and they both filled out on younger but nice 4x3 bucks after each passing on several smaller bucks. Said they had a nice hunt not really looking for monsters.
As a side note, While hunting or scouting the Shirlies, they found a couple year old dead-head, 28" 5x5, that looks to me to be a solid 180+ class buck. Not knowing, they brought it back to camp with them. Some passer by's must have seen the dead-head rack in their camp and notified the Dept of Wildlife who sent out a warden. My bud explained how and where he came across the head and the warden let them slide with a verbal warning, even put a official band on the rack so they could take it home. That's it!
Joey
As a side note, While hunting or scouting the Shirlies, they found a couple year old dead-head, 28" 5x5, that looks to me to be a solid 180+ class buck. Not knowing, they brought it back to camp with them. Some passer by's must have seen the dead-head rack in their camp and notified the Dept of Wildlife who sent out a warden. My bud explained how and where he came across the head and the warden let them slide with a verbal warning, even put a official band on the rack so they could take it home. That's it!
Joey
ICMDEER
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We struggled in D this year. The weather was warm and dry, but we saw only about 1/3 of the bucks we usually see. And we're on private lands.
The comments about Game and Fish are on track. It amazes me that all antelope licenses in Wyoming are limited quota, most elk are limited quota, but most resident deer licenses are over the counter and you can hunt statewide. There are too many hunters and too many trophy hunters. Deer quality is eroding in Wyoming and Game and Fish does nothing about it. Please attend a season setting meeting and let them know we'd like to see some quality muley management. And if you get a harvest survey, be sure to let them know how you feel.
I know quite a few people that are finally getting upset over the lack of mule deer management in Wyoming.
The comments about Game and Fish are on track. It amazes me that all antelope licenses in Wyoming are limited quota, most elk are limited quota, but most resident deer licenses are over the counter and you can hunt statewide. There are too many hunters and too many trophy hunters. Deer quality is eroding in Wyoming and Game and Fish does nothing about it. Please attend a season setting meeting and let them know we'd like to see some quality muley management. And if you get a harvest survey, be sure to let them know how you feel.
I know quite a few people that are finally getting upset over the lack of mule deer management in Wyoming.
Wiszard
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When we first started hunting WY 18 years ago or so, for the first 4 or 5 years we'd only be drawn for Region D every other year or so. We'd have to settle for buying left over region J tags. My point is, lately (last 8 years or so), we get drawn for D every year. Too many tags? Less applicants? I'm not sure but I know I'm not THAT lucky to be drawn so often.
Sage- Glad your friends had a good hunt. That would be a cool find....good thing the warden was cool about the dead head.
Steve
T&A Inspector
Sage- Glad your friends had a good hunt. That would be a cool find....good thing the warden was cool about the dead head.
Steve
T&A Inspector
Wyoming Hunting Guides & Outfitters
Urge 2 Hunt
We focus on trophy elk, mule deer, antelope and moose hunts and take B&C bucks most years.
