Mule Deer and hot weather in Wyoming

[hapycapy]

I will be hunting mule deer for the firs time near Buffalo Wyoming opening day this saturday and the temp will be highs in mid 80s. I know thats too hot for whitetails in the east, but just wondering if anyone can give me some pointers and maybe some of your experiences in hot weather mule deer hunting.
Thanks!!

 

[300 ultra]

you'll have 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes at night. The rest of the time you will have to bird dog them out of there beds..

 

[SBruce]

They'll be bedding in shady area's and north facing slopes. Under sagebrush/trees and cutbanks. Most hot weather muley hunting I've done required alot of walking and jumping them out of their beds. In my experience, they don't bed where they can be seen, so short to mid range shots are what you get. I've seen em jump from 400 yds away to as close as 3-5 yds away.

Not so much long range "range and dial" type of stuff, because when they get jumped out of a bed, they aren't usually hanging around very long. A running shot might be all you get, or they sometimes will stop just before going out of sight for one last look back. The distance they stop at might be 400 yds, it might be 800 yds.? If they haven't smelled you or directly seen you, they might stop at a closer distance.

Since you mentioned opening day, you might have some luck catching them moving up until mid morning, they get pushed around alot on opening day in my experience.

Good Luck, it's fun no matter how we do it.

 

[kcebcj]

Grew up hunting Blacktail in the coast range of California and a normal day there during the season is 80-100 degrees. I hunt Mule deer exactly the same way as I did Blacktail back then and have been very successful. If your hunting where the bucks are what you will notice is they are to their beds sooner (they spend less time eating during the summer and early fall as they aren't fighting the cold) and don't move quite as much in the heat of the day. Don't over look south facing slopes as bedding areas. The sun this time of year is getting to the south and there is a lot of shade on south slopes and the springs run later as there is no timber to suck up the water.

The moon will be in your favor as its new today. If you hunt where other hunters aren't you can jump shoot bucks all day. Good luck.

 

[hapycapy]

Thank You for your advice, I feel a little better about my chances to get a nice deer. We also have antelope tags so im sure we will have a great time.

 

[Greyfox]

I just got back on Monday from hunting in Buffalo last week. Two of us filled our tags with three good Antelope. We also thinned out some whitetail does. Great place for some good long range shooting. Not much wind in this part of Wyoming. Two other hunters in camp scored on a good mulie and an antelope each with bows. Could not hunt mulies with a gun last week but saw a lot of good shooters. The antelope were out and moving all day. Mule deer bucks were out in numbers first and last two hours of the day. Mornings were 30-40 degrees, ,75-85 degrees mid day. Didn't deter the mulies, or whitetails at all. My first time there and a fabulous place to hunt!

 

[Triple BB]

Just did a mulie hunt in warm temps. The deer were bedding a lot earlier than normal. By 8:30am, most were down. We spent the rest of the morning sitting high spots looking into timber trying to find bedded deer. They came out just before dark in the evenings. Way too much time to kill during the day...

 

[Oliveralan]

What is considered "warm"? Apparently it will be cooling off a little over the next week, or at least that's what my wearer report says.

Movement early and late, deer bedded in brush, sounds like whitetails here in VA!

 

[SBruce]

I'd say (this time of year in my part of Wyoming) that anything over 70-75 during the day is warm. Reasoning is that we've already had some nights below freezing or just at freezing.

I've had some luck seeing movement during mid day when there's a cold front moving in, or the daytime temps are below 50.

 

[Oliveralan]

thanks SBruce. predicted temps are around 70F. Unfortunately i'm still not certain if i will be able to go or not due to school/ college obligations....

Never thought i'd contemplate bringing my 12ga to WY!

 

[SBruce]

thanks SBruce. predicted temps are around 70F. Unfortunately i'm still not certain if i will be able to go or not due to school/ college obligations....

Never thought i'd contemplate bringing my 12ga to WY!

LOL! Yea, as soon as you get that 12 in your hands, one will stop and look back from 400 yds away.

Closest muley buck I ever got (when I was young and agile) was 5 paces after a very slow careful stalk, shot him in the neck with a 270. Gotten a few under 50 yds, because they jumped out right under my feet. The one in my sig was hit at around 350 and he wasn't stopping for nothing, so I had to make a running shot on him............hit slighty low, so we tracked him, and my final shot was about 50 yds. He was hid out under a 3' tall cutbank and let me get right on top of him literaly before he jumped out. When I saw him, he was close enough to spit on!

Once they jump, they can put alot of brush and ditch between them and us in just a couple seconds, so if they haven't spotted you directly or smelled you, sometimes they'll stop a ways out and look back before going over the horizen.

Hopefully you can make it out.

 

[Oliveralan]

Very nice buck you have in your sig! Good successful story to go with it too.

Sounds like (if legal for big game in WY) my 9mm S&W M&P on my hip with my 6.5x47L or 6.5mm Voodoo on a sling would cover most avenues! Heck, with the voodoo, 400yards is only 13" of drop (200yard zero), hold a mil high and let 'er rip!

Thanks for the advice, while antelope will be the main target, I do have a deer buck tag burning a hole in my pocket... And any advice or stories to help profile these deer , and hopefully help fill the tag, is much appreciated!

 

[hapycapy]

Thanks again for your comments, I was lucky enough to harvest a great 6x5 on opening day at 325 yards when he stopped to give the fatal last look before he went over the top, even with a 90 degree high for the day. If someone can tell me how to post pics on here I have a few.

 

[Magnumitis]

I'd like to see those pics. Do you have a photobucket account?