Golovkin
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2018
- Messages
- 84
Hey guys,
I've been able to take a few decent mule deer in Eastern Montana over the years and this year I get to try my luck in Western Montana with a special draw tag.
My Eastern Montana strategy has been to walk into places using paths that others usually don't tread and avoid the ridge tops and valleys that get predictable human traffic. I've been able to flush up some nocturnal bucks like they were pheasants hiding in the brush. I certainly spend plenty of time glassing and watching doe deer early and late in the day to get an idea where bucks might be hanging out when it gets closer to the rut.
I've found its important to sneak into an area very slowly and try to be less perceptible to all the animals, so that things forget you are there and they won't be afraid to move around a bit. It seems like things don't really "come alive" until you've been motionless, hidden, and sitting there for a long while.
Western Montana draw districts are totally new to me, I hunt the mountains around Helena for elk every year and spend most my time creeping through thick dead-fall slopes at a snails pace to catch elk in their beds around midday. I hardly ever see deer, and its got me wondering how one finds deer in the mountains of Montana?
My instincts (and some research) tell me that this unit will have plenty of deer but it may be a challenge to find 170 - 180+ deer because the older bucks go nocturnal or find private areas to hide in. I'm prepared to spend a ton of time in there during Archery and rifle and don't expect this to be an easy hunt whatsoever.
Some strategies to consider:
1. Driving around - Some will cover tons of ground on the many roads and do a lot of glassing from the truck. I imagine one can see plenty of deer this way, but I'm not sure this is how I want the experience to go and I feel that the more mature bucks have figured this out?
2. Hoof it deep into the back country - hoping a big buck has preferred to live far from roads? Or does everybody think this and therefore the pressure is actually in the places a map would make us all look?
3. Stay close to homes/subdivisions, maybe predators have pushed deer closer to places wolves and lions don't go? Maybe these areas are so close to civilization that they don't get noticed and hit hard by hunters? Some of my best elk spots are just 500yds off a road every hunter must drive to get to a "better spot".
4. Find does late in the evening and early morning and then go tromping around trying to flush up a nocturnal buck? It seems in Eastern Montana that the bucks go chasing doe all night and then just bed down in the nearest patch of cover before the sun comes up. they don't really get up unless something stumbles into them or its really cold and snowy.
5. Tight thick timber vs. more open grassy ridges? South side slopes in the morning and evenings, and hunt the north side midday?
Anyone know of any good resources on Mule deer tactics? podcasts, books etc.?
Thanks guys, and please don't mention any specific locations or units on this thread, If you need more details about my hunt it will stay in PM's as I don't wish anyone's places to be picked up by a google search for the next 20yrs...
Thanks!
I've been able to take a few decent mule deer in Eastern Montana over the years and this year I get to try my luck in Western Montana with a special draw tag.
My Eastern Montana strategy has been to walk into places using paths that others usually don't tread and avoid the ridge tops and valleys that get predictable human traffic. I've been able to flush up some nocturnal bucks like they were pheasants hiding in the brush. I certainly spend plenty of time glassing and watching doe deer early and late in the day to get an idea where bucks might be hanging out when it gets closer to the rut.
I've found its important to sneak into an area very slowly and try to be less perceptible to all the animals, so that things forget you are there and they won't be afraid to move around a bit. It seems like things don't really "come alive" until you've been motionless, hidden, and sitting there for a long while.
Western Montana draw districts are totally new to me, I hunt the mountains around Helena for elk every year and spend most my time creeping through thick dead-fall slopes at a snails pace to catch elk in their beds around midday. I hardly ever see deer, and its got me wondering how one finds deer in the mountains of Montana?
My instincts (and some research) tell me that this unit will have plenty of deer but it may be a challenge to find 170 - 180+ deer because the older bucks go nocturnal or find private areas to hide in. I'm prepared to spend a ton of time in there during Archery and rifle and don't expect this to be an easy hunt whatsoever.
Some strategies to consider:
1. Driving around - Some will cover tons of ground on the many roads and do a lot of glassing from the truck. I imagine one can see plenty of deer this way, but I'm not sure this is how I want the experience to go and I feel that the more mature bucks have figured this out?
2. Hoof it deep into the back country - hoping a big buck has preferred to live far from roads? Or does everybody think this and therefore the pressure is actually in the places a map would make us all look?
3. Stay close to homes/subdivisions, maybe predators have pushed deer closer to places wolves and lions don't go? Maybe these areas are so close to civilization that they don't get noticed and hit hard by hunters? Some of my best elk spots are just 500yds off a road every hunter must drive to get to a "better spot".
4. Find does late in the evening and early morning and then go tromping around trying to flush up a nocturnal buck? It seems in Eastern Montana that the bucks go chasing doe all night and then just bed down in the nearest patch of cover before the sun comes up. they don't really get up unless something stumbles into them or its really cold and snowy.
5. Tight thick timber vs. more open grassy ridges? South side slopes in the morning and evenings, and hunt the north side midday?
Anyone know of any good resources on Mule deer tactics? podcasts, books etc.?
Thanks guys, and please don't mention any specific locations or units on this thread, If you need more details about my hunt it will stay in PM's as I don't wish anyone's places to be picked up by a google search for the next 20yrs...
Thanks!
