Help Planning a Trip

[Rxtim83]

Looking at potentially planning a western trip for mule deer with my brother, rifle hunting I think would be best for our first time out. Would really appreciate some input on which state may be best for a DIY hunt and maybe some areas to look into?? Long time whitetail hunters, but never been out west.

 

[cmahoney]

Following


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[PNWGATOR]

Buy Robby Denning’s book “How to take the best buck of your life” and follow his recommendations.

Something to consider is where you’re coming from. No sense in driving through a lot of mule deer opportunity to get to different mule deer opportunity.

 

[outheretryin]

Hunt the mule deer country closest to you. I would rather hunt a "decent" unit within 6 hrs of me vs a "great" unit 12+ hours away. use gohunt to filter hunts and units that fit your timeline and hunting technique. a summer camping trip into the area to drive roads and get a feel for the country would be more beneficial than any info someone else would give you. Also try and choose a unit that you can get a tag easily, that allows you to maybe do a couple hunts in the next few years.

 

[Rxtim83]

Guess I should have stated earlier, we will be coming from PA. So ANY mule deer ground will be an improvement on what we have available here lol.

 

[PredatoronthePrairie]

What states and regulations have u looked into?

 

[TheGreek]

Looking at potentially planning a western trip for mule deer with my brother, rifle hunting I think would be best for our first time out. Would really appreciate some input on which state may be best for a DIY hunt and maybe some areas to look into?? Long time whitetail hunters, but never been out west.

Deer factory units in CO.

 

[Indian Summer]

I would suggest the Frank Church Wilderness in Idaho. Great place to get your feet wet and decide if western mountain hunting is for you.

 

[PNWGATOR]

I would suggest the Frank Church Wilderness in Idaho. Great place to get your feet wet and decide if western mountain hunting is for you.

As much as I love the Frank and all Idaho wilderness areas, I personally would not recommend any wilderness area in Idaho as the quality and quantity of game is simply not there for a first hunt in my opinion.

Lots of units in Idaho and it’d be worth a look, but personally I’d recommend steering clear of the wilderness here.

 

[Dioni A]

I would suggest the Frank Church Wilderness in Idaho. Great place to get your feet wet and decide if western mountain hunting is for you.

I couldn't think of a worse place to go right now. It's got to have some of the lowest deer density in the entire state with the worst access. Burnt timbers incredibly hard to glass deer in and it's incredibly rough country for a guy from back East.

 

[Indian Summer]

Shush!


Ok how about the Selway? Or in Montana the Bob Marshall? You can rifle hunt during the rut in September!

 

[cmahoney]

I’d look at AZ in the units around the Grand Canyon.


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[Rxtim83]

Appreciate the responses!

 

[WCB]

Shush!


Ok how about the Selway? Or in Montana the Bob Marshall? You can rifle hunt during the rut in September!

Mule Deer rut in Sept.? Apparently I've been about 2 months off every year!


Op-Go online and look at states with Mule Deer. Realistically you will be looking at WY, MT, ID, CO. MT. Plan for a couple years out or go through each states draw odds on the website and figure out which one you can get a tag in quick. There are a couple states East of those that have opportunity but it will take you 4yrs minimum to draw up to who knows.

There are enough resources out there and even threads on this site that you really shouldn't need to ask states and even areas for just an opportunity at a Mule Deer.

 

[Bachto]

I would decide what kind of hunt you want and work backwards from there. Do you want to do a drop camp backcountry style hunt? do you want to hunt them in the open country? Do you want to do a camp and do day hunts? Are you wanting to do this next year? 3 years from now?

GoHunt is a great resource.

If I was in PA, I would look at the eastern plains states to do my first mule deer hunt.

 

[TheYukiYama]

Are you wanting to go next year or starting to plan something a few years out? Some states/areas practically require some years of points to draw as a nonresident. I live out west but have always hunted the same areas and recently started looking into other states and I’ve narrowed it down to CO and MT (but I also have friends/family there so may be biased). Seems like those states have pretty good deer populations and public access and tags that you can get pretty easily if not OTC.

 

[westonhoma]

Buy Robby Denning’s book “How to take the best buck of your life” and follow his recommendations.

Something to consider is where you’re coming from. No sense in driving through a lot of mule deer opportunity to get to different mule deer opportunity.

As someone who read this book this summer and then was able to punch my first muley tag a few weeks ago on a DIY trip in Colorado coming from Pennsylvania ..... this is a great tip !!

 

[westonhoma]

Big question is, have u built points? If not, maybe start with Colorado. That way in a year or two, you all can draw the same unit as a group. Your not going to find OTC mule deer tags for nonresidents in the typical western mountain hunting states (CO, WY, MT, etc). The Frank was mentioned for Idaho but good luck trying to use that online "OTC" system when tags go on sale and think u will be able to get the same unit with other guys (if you all even make it into the system and out of the waiting que)

OR you can take the advice of others and hunt other states that have mule deer where tags are easier like the Dakotas I believe (do not know much about). Arizona also has OTC mule deer tags.

And yes GoHunt is a great tool for all of this information. Definitely recommend if you really want to get into it.

 

[TheYukiYama]

hunt other states that have mule deer where tags are easier like the Dakotas

Very difficult to get an any deer tag in any decent unit with public land in South Dakota without points. Many of them take a non resident 10points or more.

 

[westonhoma]

Very difficult to get an any deer tag in any decent unit with public land in South Dakota without points. Many of them take a non resident 10points or more.

Its funny, over the past week i just started looking at their draw statistics. Very surprised to see how difficult it was for nonresidents to draw tags in the western part of the state. I am currently doing more research on SDs website. Arent the archery tags relatively easier?