Let me tell you a story about my very first out west hunt. I have spent my whole life growing up hunting whitetail in Oklahoma with my dad. We have had years of success, lots of good bucks have hit the ground, and countless memories have been made. I am now 24, and while whitetail season is always something I look forward to, it has lost some of its luster for me. I enjoy going still, and especially now since my wife has taken up the love of hunting. But I wanted something more. In 2021 I drew for the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge Walk in Elk Hunt. It was an amazing once in a lifetime experience! My dad younger brother and I had an amazing time and had huge success! My dad and I both tagged out on nice bulls the first two days! This is when I started longing for more during hunting season.
The very beginning of this year I jokingly threw out the idea of applying for a western mule deer hunt to my dad and brother, to my surprise they both wanted to apply for a tag and see what happens! We did a lot of research deciding which state we wanted to focus on for our first trip, we decided on New Mexico since it was a short drive away and tags were not expensive. We looked at draw odds in all the units for what seemed like months, and finally decided on Units 34, 32, and 37. We applied for rifle and muzzleloader tags thinking with a gun in our hands it would give us a better chance to punch tags.
Unfortunately, my younger brother had to back out on applying for the draw because he got accepted into a A&P mechanic program that he had been on a waitlist for. My dad and went on with our applications, paid our draw expenses and played the waiting game. We waited for what seemed like years just hoping for a conformation email. Then it happened! I got a call one morning from my dad while I was at work and he had excitement in his voice, I remember him saying you might want to check your New Mexico Wildlife Department account! So, I took a break logged in and sure enough! We drew a muzzleloader tag for unit 32! I was thrilled, it was finally happening! We were going out west for the first time to hunt!
Neither one of us owed a muzzleloader, so we began scrambling to find the rifles we wanted. We both purchased nice long-range rifles and peep sights to pair with them, spent time researching loads, and sighting them in. The time we spent learning about black powder rifles has convinced me that this is a style of hunting is something I can get behind. It has been a lot of fun learning about what all goes into these guns.
Being a whitetail guy all my life I knew very little about Mule Deer, knew very little about their habits and how they lived, let alone how to find them and hunt these beautiful animals. So, I began reading articles, watching YouTube videos and reading books to understand more of these animals. I had convinced myself the hardest part of the hunt would be finding deer in an area I had never been, because so many people made mule deer seem like an easy animal to hunt. Boy was I wrong!
The very beginning of this year I jokingly threw out the idea of applying for a western mule deer hunt to my dad and brother, to my surprise they both wanted to apply for a tag and see what happens! We did a lot of research deciding which state we wanted to focus on for our first trip, we decided on New Mexico since it was a short drive away and tags were not expensive. We looked at draw odds in all the units for what seemed like months, and finally decided on Units 34, 32, and 37. We applied for rifle and muzzleloader tags thinking with a gun in our hands it would give us a better chance to punch tags.
Unfortunately, my younger brother had to back out on applying for the draw because he got accepted into a A&P mechanic program that he had been on a waitlist for. My dad and went on with our applications, paid our draw expenses and played the waiting game. We waited for what seemed like years just hoping for a conformation email. Then it happened! I got a call one morning from my dad while I was at work and he had excitement in his voice, I remember him saying you might want to check your New Mexico Wildlife Department account! So, I took a break logged in and sure enough! We drew a muzzleloader tag for unit 32! I was thrilled, it was finally happening! We were going out west for the first time to hunt!
Neither one of us owed a muzzleloader, so we began scrambling to find the rifles we wanted. We both purchased nice long-range rifles and peep sights to pair with them, spent time researching loads, and sighting them in. The time we spent learning about black powder rifles has convinced me that this is a style of hunting is something I can get behind. It has been a lot of fun learning about what all goes into these guns.
Being a whitetail guy all my life I knew very little about Mule Deer, knew very little about their habits and how they lived, let alone how to find them and hunt these beautiful animals. So, I began reading articles, watching YouTube videos and reading books to understand more of these animals. I had convinced myself the hardest part of the hunt would be finding deer in an area I had never been, because so many people made mule deer seem like an easy animal to hunt. Boy was I wrong!
