Post-Hunt Analysis - Rookie Mule Deer Hunter

[nastynick]

Hi all - I just put in a first-time mule deer hunt in Idaho, it was an amazing experience but I wanted to gather feedback on the hunt (I didn't harvest an animal, but still considered it successful).
A couple points to make initially, as I know most would probably point to these things first:

1. I was not able to pre-scout, all my scouting was done via e-scouting or by contacting game wardens, biologists, etc.
2. I selected a unit where the numbers in which previous years had decent success, but was likely not going to encounter other hunters (I didn't).
3. It was a backpack hunt, so once we were into our general location - a significant relocation wasn't going to be possible.
4. Hunted between 6500-7800 feet.

Questions/thoughts:
- Through 5 days, we were fogged in (and it rained) for 3.5 days - is there really anything you can do when it is heavy fog? We tried to relocate to another basin - but that was fogged in as well.
- On the first day, we bumped 2 small bucks (which was good to see). We made the mistake of not glassing that area up before walking into it as it was close to camp (1st big mistake).

- Once bumped - what is an ideal next step? they left us, but didn't run off - it was more of a casual exit. They went over the ridge, so not sure where they wound up.​

- We glassed the entire basin that day and didn't turn up any more deer.​

-The fog rolled in, we did our best after that, but glassing wasn't very useful.

Just curious what is best thing to do with Mule Deer if you bump them? When is it time to move out of a region? what do you do if heavy fog?

Interested in any feedback - i'm sure i made countless mistakes and despite having crummy weather for most of the hunt - it was an awesome adventure.

For the sake of saying it, most of my hunting has been midwest whitetail - so feel free to critique or ask questions as i'm sure there is a lot i missed!

 

[Researcher]

Fog sucks. You can “still hunt” but if you arent good at that I would just wait on your preferred glassing point and hope it burns off. Thats about all you can do with the fog. I suck at “still hunting” so I wait on my glassing point instead of wondering around.

Sounds like you didnt bump them very much. They were probably still in the area. Just keep glassing and looking around for them.

I generally like to have 4-5 spots picked out in an area and will switch every 3-4 days if I havent seen anything. With weather issue like that you want to have an area picked out quite a ways away to have a chance at dodging weather.

 

[Newtosavage]

Nothing worse than a fogged in glassing point. Been there and I don't have anything for you other than sympathy. Going up or down - sometimes quite a bit - in elevation is the only answer I know of but a lot of the times that's not an option - esp. if you backpacked in.

That's one reason I set up a base camp near a good road and then just do overnight spike camps. If I get weather that I can move out of, I'll head back to base camp, get in the truck and relocate - sometimes as much as 20 or 40 or 60 miles if my tag covers it. That's what led to success last year when 10" of snow hit right before the opener.

 

[ttltown]

Fog sux. Sometimes the backcountry hunt is purely more about the experience of it than necessarily harvesting an animal. Your options will be limited if certain variables such as fog or no animals are thrown at you. Spent a week in the bitterroots hunting elk and never saw one lol. It was tiring and miserable but we look back on it as perhaps a hunt with the most memories. Being mobile though is a big piece if u are truly wanting to harvest an animal


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[ncina]

Following! I also want to hunt Idaho bad!


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[nastynick]

Thanks all - it was an awesome time and at least there were some deer around, just ran up against mother nature. Fog isn't as bad when treestand hunting and the longest you'd even shoot is 40 yards. When glassing, it's almost worst situation!

 

[Newtosavage]

Thanks all - it was an awesome time and at least there were some deer around, just ran up against mother nature. Fog isn't as bad when treestand hunting and the longest you'd even shoot is 40 yards. When glassing, it's almost worst situation!

It probably is the worst situation when you need to glass. You're pretty much dead in the water until it lifts.

 

[JustHunt]

Take what the weather gives you. You won’t see deer glassing wide open basins when it’s fogged in. But you can still still-hunt in fog and rain. Sure, it helps to know the country so you can focus on a few known buck hangouts, but even if you don’t know the area, better to be hunting than to be waiting.

 

[nastynick]

Take what the weather gives you. You won’t see deer glassing wide open basins when it’s fogged in. But you can still still-hunt in fog and rain. Sure, it helps to know the country so you can focus on a few known buck hangouts, but even if you don’t know the area, better to be hunting than to be waiting.

I did consider this. However, I was nervous about bumping deer that I couldn't see while still-hunting and the fog potentially lifting. Maybe that's an unfounded concern (and if the fog never lifts, it's irrelevant).

 

[Piscatory_4]

Depends on how thick of fog. Sometimes visibility limited to 100 yds sometimes 15 yds. The deer don't see any better than you in fog and the fog dampens sound a bit plus with fog usually not much wind so scent doesn't travel as much. Move 50 yds at the time and glass around a bit then another 50, etc. being as quiet as possible and don't move real fast.

 

[TrueAt1stLight]

Great thread- I'm headed to WY in a few weeks and look forward to connecting with a big buck!