Ineffective Mule Deer Scouting?

[hjcruger]

Hi, folks. I moved to Boise for grad school this summer, so I'll be doing plenty of hunting over the next few falls. I recently got back from a 4 day solo scouting trip in an Idaho mountain range that shall remain nameless. I found over 100 individual elk by my count, but mule deer were few and far between. I ended up coming out earlier than I hoped to because I wasn't seeing many deer, which is primarily what drove me to head back there. I'm wondering if there jut weren't many deer there, or if I was scouting ineffectively. Here's what I was doing:

1) Looking at my map to identify patches of sage and grass in or near timber
2) Moving my camp 1/2 - 1 mile from a glassing knob then glassing the area for one morning and one evening
3) Glassing the surrounding land during the afternoon to look for good big buck hidey holes

Here are a few questions I have:

1) How can I narrow down the spots I should be glassing/scouting? It's big country out there, and I felt overwhelmed by all of the basins I could glass, and would like to focus on the one's that are most likely to hold deer.
2) Is glassing areas that might hold deer an adequate scouting technique, or is there more to it than that? I didn't want to drop down into the timber to look for sign much so as not to bump deer out of their beds. Additionally, I can cover a lot more country glassing than walking.
3) Is glassing a spot for 2-3 hours at both first and last light a good glassing technique, or is midday glassing productive as well?

Any other mule deer scouting tips that I didn't ask about are greatly appreciated.

 

[robby denning]

2-3 hours at first light on is usually enough time this time of year.

Tracks don’t lie. Look for them and don’t be to afraid to bump bucks if your checking out unglassable areas. Sometimes it’s the only way to know if there’s bucks there


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[idahohikker]

Sounds like you have a pretty good idea of mule deer country--sagebrush and mountain mahagony brush at higher elevations. Maybe you were just in units with low deer densities. We have plenty of those. Also, was there hiker, motorcycle, or road traffic around. Were you towards the upper end of the elevation of the unit in summer range? Using a tripod? Skylining yourself? Sometimes you just hit dead spots for areas, too, even if they look good.

Feel free to PM and I can give you an idea of whether your experience seems out of the norm for an area. If you post the area others can chime on relative densities.

 

[hjcruger]

2-3 hours at first light on is usually enough time this time of year.

Tracks don’t lie. Look for them and don’t be to afraid to bump bucks if your checking out unglassable areas. Sometimes it’s the only way to know if there’s bucks there


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Thanks, Mr. Denning. When I head back in I’ll be sure to look for tracks. I’m from Vermont, so I’m pretty familiar with tracking in thick stuff. You mentioned the morning, but not the evening. Do you favor morning glassing? If so, why?

 

[Dioni A]

In my experience a lot of good country in central Idaho is seemingly over run with elk. I don't find many deer in areas that large groups of elk like to hang out in. Best of luck.

 

[hjcruger]

Sounds like you have a pretty good idea of mule deer country--sagebrush and mountain mahagony brush at higher elevations. Maybe you were just in units with low deer densities. We have plenty of those. Also, was there hiker, motorcycle, or road traffic around. Were you towards the upper end of the elevation of the unit in summer range? Using a tripod? Skylining yourself? Sometimes you just hit dead spots for areas, too, even if they look good.

Feel free to PM and I can give you an idea of whether your experience seems out of the norm for an area. If you post the area others can chime on relative densities.

No traffic. I have a bad habit of drawing lines between roads and going into the middle of them all. Very light traffic at most no closer than 3-4 miles. I was as high as I could go (9,300 feet) all the way down to 7,000. My budget doesn’t have a decent Tripp’s in it, but I loop the straps of my trekking poles over the other’s handle and use them as a bipod. That has worked very well for stabilizing my glass. The only time I skylines myself was when I was crossing over ridges quickly, and generally I was at least 1,000 feet above any animals around. All the deer and elk I saw never even looked up when I crossed over the ridge. I think mentioning the area might be incriminating, as it’s the ridge that separates two units. I’ll shoot you a PM with more details.

 

[hjcruger]

I was starting to worry that that might be the case. Thanks. You as well.

 

[Blacknblue]

Thanks for asking the questions. I am also curious about value of different scouting times. Am I better off conserving energy and glassing closer to camp in evenings and then hiking to the highest elevations for glassing at first light? Thanks for any insight? Camp is 2000 feet below primary ridge.

 

[robby denning]

Thanks, Mr. Denning. When I head back in I’ll be sure to look for tracks. I’m from Vermont, so I’m pretty familiar with tracking in thick stuff. You mentioned the morning, but not the evening. Do you favor morning glassing? If so, why?

Mornings usually best this time of year when it’s hot. Eve seems a short window, but I still scout then if I can


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[sdfuller]

I'm in Nevada but I haven't seen much deer movement in the evening until about 30mins-1hr before dark. Mornings I have seen them feeding from 1st light until 11/12:00. I would put more effort into glassing in the morning than evening.


You could always try riding an atv around at 40mph to see what you kick up in the area. I think robby has that technique listed somewhere in his book

 

[excaliber]

This time of year in this heat those deer are moving to their bedding areas really early. The biggest deer are mostly nocturnal anyways and are strategically close to or in their bedding areas at grey light. The problem with many of these larger areas here in Idaho is it all looks so good. It takes allot of time to figure it out.
I've spent so many days glassing areas like you have and turned up very few deer but plenty of elk.

You can move a few miles and be in similar awesome looking country and still not see many deer. It's taken me several years of scouting here to realize most of the great looking country doesn't hold many deer and where I can find them on a consistent basis.

Keep at it and you'll find what you are looking for. The temps should be cooling off shortly which should give you a better opportunity for morning scouting. I'll send you a PM.