Mule deer hunting tips?

[rp672]

I'm a whitetail hunter from IL, considering a mule deer hunt in the coming years. I've never done much spot and stalk before (all stand hunting in IL), so just wanting to get some general advice on mule deer hunting. Leaving this very open ended as I'm really not sure what questions I need to be asking. Any pointers?

 

[RockAndSage]

Definitely not trying to be a jerk in this response, but the single best tip I can give you is to read every thread in the Mule Deer section going back a year or two, and more if you can handle it. It's absolutely packed with some of the best information you could ever find, anywhere, on hunting mule deer.

 

[BH107]

Buy @robby denning book.

Amazon.com

 

[MuleyFever]

Also https://www.amazon.com/Hunting-Open-Country-Mule-Dwight-Schuh/dp/0912299231

 

[PNWGATOR]

Buy @robby denning book.

Amazon.com

Buy both of his boooks, David Long’s book and listen to every podcast Robby, Dioni and Travis (I’m sure there are others too) have done on mule deer hunting.

Then pick a unit close to you where you can get a tag every season and get afield and go hunt.

 

[TaperPin]

Mulies live in such varied terrain it can help to know what topography you enjoy hunting and focus on that. Not only is that more enjoyable, but you become more proficient in that niche. At first everything is new, but if it doesn’t quite seem like a good fit, trying a different type of hunting can be more personally rewarding.

I enjoy hunting ridges that concentrate bedding areas in ways my brain understands, while certain friends hunt a part of the state where foothills meet aspen patches without well defined ridges. These friends have a pile of 30” deer, so it’s been quite effective. When I join them, my intuition isn’t well developed for that type of hunting and it’s just not enjoyable, or productive after years of trying to make it work. Some ridges can be glassed and I also like those that are hidden from long range and have to be still hunted.

Other friends focus entirely on dry foothills almost entirely sage draws and some Pinion Juniper (PJ). I’ve met guys that specialize in heavily covered brush hillsides, or agricultural adjacent herds, or rolling heavily timbered terrain, or even mountain creek bottom deer that are bedded down low and feed up away from the creek bottoms. In each case it takes some experience and good fit with how your brain works to understand them well enough to find older deer consistently. In the end we tend to lean towards what produces the best results.

A big regret was a monster non typical seen in the middle of nothing but miles of nondescript heavily timbered rather flat terrain with multiple small springs and tiny patches of browse scattered all over it. He grew old because it was incredibly hard for hunters to understand how to find him. At the time I spend many weeks going over maps, visiting it, brainstorming how to hunt it and after that season wrote it off as a low percentage area even with one good deer somewhere in there. To this day it makes my gut hurt to be so close and not have the ability to figure it out, and my ADHD isn’t patient enough to just mindlessly still hunt it all season. Lol

 

[Brad1974]

I'm a whitetail hunter from MO, and my brother and I have taken hunting trips out west for the past 3 years, mostly mule deer hunting. Man, I say just figure out what it is you're looking for and go for it. We decided before planning any trips out west that we were going 100% DIY, no guides or anything. Think about what you really want to get out of your trip, and make it happen.. sooner than later. My brother has a Go hunt subscription, and their hunt planning tools and draw odds information and such has been extremely helpful.

I had my first mule deer tag in September this year during the 2025 WY archery season. Last year I went to CO with my brother during his muzzleloader mule deer hunt. The areas we hunted in CO are very different than the areas we hunted in WY. Make sure you know the different regulations of any state you might consider hunting.

If you're looking for getting in to the high country, CO is a great place for that. We spent our time at 11-12,000 feet in some beautiful country, going in with 10 days worth of food and everything we needed in our packs. I was able to spot some bucks and sent my brother on a stalk that he would have likely been successful had he followed the plan I gave him... ha! WY on the other hand has high country, but alot of it is wilderness area that you aren't allowed to hunt as an out of stater unless you have a guide. My WY hunt was more of a high desert hunt. It was BLM land, 4x4 roads everywhere, and you could cover alot of ground looking for bucks. Even though I was told it would be really hard to find legal bucks due to numbers being down since winter kill several years ago, I was able to fill my tag with a nice 4x3 with eye guards... You'd call that a 9 pointer.. ha!

This forum is a great resource. I've posted several times in the past and the folks on here have been very helpful. s some others have said, search and study the archives. As far as learning how to hunt mule deer, probably two of the sources I got a great deal from is Remi Warren's Live Wild Podcast, and recently discovered a youtube channel called Backbone Unlimited. Both of those are heavy on the thought processes, planning, tactics, and all of the things you need to be successful once you do go.