Preferred time of season to hunt mule deer

[BluMtn]

Late Nov. with about 4 inches of snow and cold! Perfect recipe for finding a big buck

Sounds like my Montana hunts. Got to love that time of year for hunting big mulie bucks.

 

[Seeleylakehuntr]

It takes a bit of snow to get them out of the high country around here .not a ton of flat ground here either. Atleast where I hunt. Snow and cold mid Nov and it's on like donkey Kong

 

[Gutshot007]

Doesn't sound like many October guys. Running into problems with trying to hunt overlapping whitetail and mule deer seasons . Will be chasing whitetails most of November with bow and rifle in 3 states. Here's another twist . How about post rut mule deer in December with a muzzle loader ? Anyone have any experience?

 

[hobbes]

If you don't want to give up the November whitetail rut, then it sounds like October is when you'll be hunting. Are there many options for a December hunt? I hunted the December muzzleloader hunt last year in MT but only because I did not find a buck that I was willing to kill in November. That didn't improve in December.

 

[hoyt-guy]

Later in Nov, the better IMO

 

[MountainMan83]

I traditionally have hunted mule deer 3rd season CO, which usually works out to be first or second week of November, and have been 100% successful harvesting does. The one year I drew a buck tag, I passed on 3 smaller bucks in hopes of a decent 4 x 4, which I never found. This year I am burning 6 points to hunt a 4th season buck tag in a prime winter concentration area during the last week of November. Based on people's preferences on this thread, it sounds like it should be a prime time to find a good buck - hopefully I can fill my first buck tag!

 

[SoCoMuley]

November for sure.

 

[Ross]

For north Idaho and nwest Montana this

If I had to pick 10 days it would be November 5-15. Thats for mountain/timber country in Montana

My punched tags saying anything around 11/10 can be what a good guy I met on the mountains in north Idaho who lives Muley hunting says HOT MESS days in this window

 

[Gutshot007]

You guys are killing me with the favorite time of the November rut . We are heading out tomorrow for this weekend opener . We'll go with the flow and adapt to the pre-rut. Thanks

 

[muledeerchaser]

Mid November when the rut is going on…….. Big Bucks are on the move looking for the girls…. they might not notice you on the ridge top……….

 

[ih784]

Given the option would you guys rather hunt mid/ late October rifle opener or mid/ late November rut ?

During the rut

 

[Hnthrdr]

Snow is falling in the high country ( and down lower) in Co… pretty jealous of the 2nd season guys getting this snow. Hoping we get a good storm for 3rd!!! This is the kind of weather I want to hunt bucks in

 

[Jaquomo]

Definitely November. My favorite week for rattling and calling mature muleys is the 10-17th. By the 17th they are usually locked on does and pretty visible. I only bowhunt them, but with a rifle anytime after about Nov 10 would be golden. In my experience, the true mature bucks are often mostly nocturnal in October and are traveling doing doe recon until about Nov 12th or so.

 

[AdventureHunter]

November