How common are mature bucks?

[NickyD]

As someone still learning about hunting mule deer, I’m trying to understand how big of an area I need to be searching for mature deer. I’m not looking for giants yet, but still trying to hunt mature deer in easy to draw/OTC/general hunts.

I understand there are many variables, but on average how many 150-160” bucks (or whatever is solid but not giant for your area) do you expect to be in a drainage (or an area that can realistically be hunted well in a single day) with good mule deer habitat while hunting, particularly in late October or early November?

Please refrain from listing specific units/states/regions

 

[Andrew12gauge]

I imagine in every major river drainage in the west there is at least 1 mature buck


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[ckleeves]

“Drainage” is a pretty broad term. I just measured a few drainages that I often hunt and came up with 11,000 to 30,000 acres. I’ll agree that somewhere in that 30,000 acres there is a 180” buck. You could also hunt it for 10 days straight and hardly scratch the surface when it comes to finding every single deer in that 30k acres.

You can look thru a ton of deer to find a legitimate, honest to goodness, no BS 160”.

 

[TaperPin]

You can get in trouble judging an area by the number of deer you see, or some population estimate. Walking bedding areas on ridges with lots of deer will kick up a lot of deer, but many won’t be shootable going 90 mph, or all you see a part of an antler, and most you wouldn’t want to - not to mention all those deer are now headed out of the country. There are also many high density areas that are very very hard to hunt - some are essentially a guarantee to get skunked, yet many still try. Other high density areas get hunted hard and there is so much competition your chances are low.

The more area that can be glassed, the more deer you’ll see, but seeing and hunting are two different things.

One area I’ve only seen one buck in a week of searching along a 10 mile ridge, but he was a really good one. Another area was hunted two weeks and another week of scouting and only one deer was found, not only one buck, but one deer. However, he was really really good. Other areas I’ve hunted all season and never saw a deer, but I’m still convinced those are really good areas and would hunt them again based on deer that have come out of there in the past by others. It helps to hunt low density areas for a number of years and trade stories with others to add to the understanding of the area.

If you get frustrated from not seeing bucks, it can help keep your spirits high by glassing easier areas with higher populations, or walking ridges you have a 1 in 100 chance of getting a shot off, not that it’s a good strategy for antlers on the wall.

 

[farmermail]

Not many. A 160" deer is a big buck. This buck is mature, what, 20" 4 point? 120"? If that? I bet 80% or more of mule deer hunters take this deer on opening morning. If you dig up a 4 point, think twice passing it, especially in a general unit.

 

[westslopelaker]

In Colorado, I would expect there to be several 150-160 bucks in a huntable area. If you aren't finding them they either aren't there or you aren't seeing them. 150-160 4x4 bucks are pretty standard in most areas.

 

[AHayes111]

I am convinced if you are seeing lots of deer today you are hunting in the wrong spot.
Bucks that live where there are lots of other deer to attract hunters die young in OTC units.

 

[canyonhunter47]

If you aren't finding them they either aren't there or you aren't seeing them

Can’t argue with that!

 

[MuleyFever]

I would say that 160"+ bucks are more rare than the internet would have you believe. There was a podcast posted here recently that talked about mule deer health/size. The biologist on the show said that even in areas with highly controlled tags the larger bucks killed were in the 160" class, if I remember right.

Are there 160"+ bucks in most places? I would say yes. However, they are not the common buck killed. You have to consider that in an area there are hundreds if not thousands of tags issued. A few people kill good bucks and they get posted all over the internet. The other 99% kill smaller deer.

 

[AHayes111]

I would also say that close to half of the bucks in many places will never make 160 no matter how old they get or how much food is available to eat.

 

[westslopelaker]

I'm going against the grain on the question asked, which was how many 150-160 buck would you expect in a huntable area. I'm my experience there are those type of calibers of bucks around pretty much every season and every year. The question wasn't how big is the average buck shot or would you shoot a smaller buck. I've shot 150 inch plus bucks every year for the past 10 years. They weren't the biggest or only mature bucks available. Just a fat jolly buck that I would appreciate, so I shot him and brought him home to the family.

 

[GreenNDark Timber]

Talk to the biologist in the area you’re hunting. They can tell you the estimated population and the buck / doe ratio. (If it’s not already available on the states website). Ask what their estimated percentage of mature bucks to immature bucks is for the area. Do the math and apply it to the size of the area and you’ll have a pretty good picture. There are variables of course, but you’ll be in the ball park.

 

[ElDiablito]

My son and I volunteered at a game and fish checkpoint and saw every buck that came off the northern end of an Utah general season unit, one day several years ago. This was either the second day or the second Sunday of the rifle season. Of the fifty or so deer brought through, I recall two or three being 150”-170” type bucks. Lots of yearlings and a few two year old bucks.

That said, where I hunt in the same unit, I don’t shoot anything smaller than 165-170. And have killed bucks up to 185”. They are there. Guys don’t know how to find them or can’t pass up the first 2-point they see.

No way to answer the “ how many are in a drainage” questions as that varies wildly based on habitat and hunt pressure.

 

[TheHammer]

Coming from the Midwest, having harvested b&c white tails, it still amazes me every time I see a good muley on a hunt. They typically surprise me as I’m stalking elk. If inches is what you aspire. Go find mounts of muleys to get a general idea of just how big a 160 is. To get above that, typically they need to be as tall as they are wide starting in that 26” + range, with deep forks. Love me the wide ones. Generally you will need to have an idea of how deer eat, sleep and survive in that unit, to navigate appropriately into position. Catch them moving or glass them from a bed. Big bucks are big for a reason. Good luck!

 

[Hnthrdr]

It varies, my experience is limited to Co, I would say pre the last 5 years it would be possible to turn up a 150 class with a few days… these days it seems 150 and up has become harder and harder to find, they definitely still exist, it just takes more work. And based off scoring alone some bucks won’t ever make it. My buck from last year had a great frame I think 24” spread or so, good eye guards and tipped my trigger, haven’t taped him but he might make 130

 

[ckleeves]

My wife had a decent CO tag last year and I would guess we looked at over 150 bucks between a week of scouting and 5 days of hunting. Out of those 150+ bucks only 3 legitimately topped 160”. The past few years have been brutal on mature bucks in CO. Lots of guys throw out 170” like every decent framed 4x starts at 160” and goes up from there but a 170” is a pretty darn big buck. It’s not 2003 anymore where you could drive around for an evening in mid August or late November and glass a legit 180” pretty consistently if you knew where to look.

 

[Hnthrdr]

My wife had a decent CO tag last year and I would guess we looked at over 150 bucks between a week of scouting and 5 days of hunting. Out of those 150+ bucks only 3 legitimately topped 160”. The past few years have been brutal on mature bucks in CO. Lots of guys throw out 170” like every decent framed 4x starts at 160” and goes up from there but a 170” is a pretty darn big buck. It’s not 2003 anymore where you could drive around for an evening in mid August or late November and glass a legit 180” pretty consistently if you knew where to look.

Very accurate statement

 

[sndmn11]

1:100, but NOT 1 for every 100 you see.

 

[GetWestern]

There are a lot of variables here but just to give a reference between me and a buddy last year scouting from early June to mid August we had probably together scouted close to 110 bucks. Out of that many there were maybe 4 that would classify as mature bucks. All in the 160-175 range. This is an otc unit that gets a lot of hunting pressure, they are hard to come by unless you’re lucky.

 

[S.Clancy]

Are we talking Instagram "mature" or bucks that are actually 4.5+ yrs old? I don't think score really plays into the mature buck thing, I've seen, and killed, some old bucks that don't score shit. Statistically prob 1 in 8-10 bucks are 4.5 yrs old.