Late September/Early October scouting/escouting

[JeffRaines]

So here in Washington we have a muzzleloader season that sits in between archery and modern(I believe it’s last week of September/first week of October timeframe, somewhere in there).

I’ve hunted mule deer in November last year, and I’ve hunted them in September a few years back. I’ve never attempted to hunt them in this time frame.

The area I’ll be in, the bottoms are at 5.5k~ and the tops at 7k. I guess the technical bottom would be closer to 1k but that’s quite a ways away. The habitat is mainly high mountain, with some burned area, thick timber and swampy meadows with some open hillsides interspersed throughout.

Now for the golden question - I’m not asking for your honey hol… oops wrong thread - haha I kid, where will the deer be during this timeframe? Are they still gonna be in bachelor groups at the tops, or would they have started to split off by this time? Will they still be using the hillsides/open areas for food or will they have moved on? Any other pointers for this timeframe? The hunt is 1 week long.

Thanks in advance.

 

[daiello91]

In my experience, in Oregon around that time, they will still be in bachelor groups feeding but transitioning to less daytime movement compared to summer months. As in, out feeding longer in the morning than say general rifle, but less than in June. As well, at that elevation, I expect you will have to weed through areas void of deer to find the pockets of them. Not sure that really helps answer your question, but it's the info I have.

 

[JeffRaines]

In my experience, in Oregon around that time, they will still be in bachelor groups feeding but transitioning to less daytime movement compared to summer months. As in, out feeding longer in the morning than say general rifle, but less than in June. As well, at that elevation, I expect you will have to weed through areas void of deer to find the pockets of them. Not sure that really helps answer your question, but it's the info I have.

Anything is helpful!

Info on that timeframe is next to nonexistent. Everything focuses on summer, august, early-mid September, mid October and the rut. Knowing a little of what to expect is nice. Thank you.

 

[CC11]

Our rifle hunt in Oregon is the end of September and start of October. What I've found is the bucks are still relatively close to their summer ground (if they didn't get ran out during archery season) very nocturnal (especially if previously pressured), and have a small area that they can get all they need and don't have to move too much. We've seen bucks all by themselves, but more often than not the bigger bucks have had a buddy or two with them still. We always hope for cold weather, rarely where we hunt have we gotten snow, but when we have it's made finding them easier for sure.

 

[SureShot]

The bucks should be by themselves or in batchelor groups at that time.