Hey everyone. I'm looking to gain some insight on Muley's. I was born in MT and have lived all over the country thanks to the US Army, but my wife and I came back and settled down in MT a number of years ago. Despite being born in MT, I have never harvested a mule deer. I know the east side of the state has taken a spanking as far as hunt pressure, droughts, and hard winters. Luckily, I'm not planning on hunting that side of the state.
I want to find some mountain Muley's. I know they are in the area, but I have never had a mentor for hunting. Everything I have learned has been on these forums, youtube, podcasts, or talking to people. I have found a lot of success with whitetail and I don't have trouble finding them intuitively.
Specifically my questions around mule deer are these: Okay so you've picked your zone (Or it has picked you). Once you have that information, how do I go about e-scouting before getting in with boots on the ground? What kind of terrain features? What slope orientation should I be looking for? What about feed in the mountains? I found threads on feed in the bottomland sage country, but not as much as mountain muley's. What about water? From my understanding and learning, I have found they are not as reliant on water as whitetails.
If you find muley's, but you're only finding large groups of does with spikes/forkies, where else should you look?
I see all of these videos online of these dudes glassing these deer up, but I have had trouble with my glassing approach I think as well. A lot of the areas I hunt are more of the timbered areas, so I have a hard time finding glassing vantages and glassable ground. When you're looking at a zone, how do you pick it apart for the "hidey holes" that fit or dictate your style of hunting ie; glassing, still hunting, tracking, etc.
Say a zone has a massive ridge running north & south, but has saddles/finger ridges dropping down the east face. I've seen deer on the east face, but does the orientation matter? Will they still find the feed, water, cover, and does? Or will they move to different areas on that ridge system? Just a little lost..
Thank you for any info in advance!
I want to find some mountain Muley's. I know they are in the area, but I have never had a mentor for hunting. Everything I have learned has been on these forums, youtube, podcasts, or talking to people. I have found a lot of success with whitetail and I don't have trouble finding them intuitively.
Specifically my questions around mule deer are these: Okay so you've picked your zone (Or it has picked you). Once you have that information, how do I go about e-scouting before getting in with boots on the ground? What kind of terrain features? What slope orientation should I be looking for? What about feed in the mountains? I found threads on feed in the bottomland sage country, but not as much as mountain muley's. What about water? From my understanding and learning, I have found they are not as reliant on water as whitetails.
If you find muley's, but you're only finding large groups of does with spikes/forkies, where else should you look?
I see all of these videos online of these dudes glassing these deer up, but I have had trouble with my glassing approach I think as well. A lot of the areas I hunt are more of the timbered areas, so I have a hard time finding glassing vantages and glassable ground. When you're looking at a zone, how do you pick it apart for the "hidey holes" that fit or dictate your style of hunting ie; glassing, still hunting, tracking, etc.
Say a zone has a massive ridge running north & south, but has saddles/finger ridges dropping down the east face. I've seen deer on the east face, but does the orientation matter? Will they still find the feed, water, cover, and does? Or will they move to different areas on that ridge system? Just a little lost..
Thank you for any info in advance!
