Scouting summer mountain bucks

[TradLife406]

I grew up hunting the Montana prairie. But this year with a good bull tag in my pocket and my oldest daughter excited to tag along on her first mountain hunt I'd like to find her a good mulie buck.

I've got the last three weeks of the season (last half of November) scheduled for vacation. So I know we should be able to find a lot of good bucks being crazy.

This district is just an hour from the house so I'm trying to spend every weekend scouting throughout the summer.

But I only know about dumb prairie bucks. Nothing about their smarter counter parts in the mountains. Are they going to be mainly up higher like elk in the summer months? North facing slopes?

The area is known to have good for Montana bucks. A buddy shot one a few years ago that was 160'ish. Which for here especially compared to the prairie dinks is a stud.

I probably should reread Robby's book.

It'd be nice going into the season with an idea of what class of deer we should hold out for.

 

[littlebigtine]

If you scout enough you will now what the unit holds

 

[Poser]

I see them out as high as 13,000 feet in the summer.

 

[ThreeOhSeven]

Glass, scout, and glass some more. You will find them up high in the summer but they will have moved by mid November.
I wouldn't only look on north facing slopes. Find the food and you will find the deer.
Read this thread and pick out what they are eating. Once you find the deer, figure out their patterns. Good luck, your daughter will be hooked in no time.

 

[Jason Snyder]

It depends on the terrain. Subalpine avalanche chutes and alder thickets are usually a buck magnet in early August.

 

[Pacific_Fork]

Where and when they move depends on the weather, rut timing, and their distance to winter range. In general Montana winter range is a stones throw from their summer range so I’ve seen them up real high in November. If you scout a good buck your best chance is the opening day in October to get him killed. Just my .02

 

[TradLife406]

It's crazy when I can find elk but not a goofy deer haha. I had one doe in my spike camp last night. Just figured I'd see more deer with as much time as I've already spent in there looking for elk. Got s few other spots to check that should have them though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dylanvb]

I have found deer every year but this year will be my first year with a CO tag in my pocket. Trying to get a couple good scouting trips in before season. How much of a role does elevation play during the summer? It seems like I am always finding deer at various elevations.

 

[TradLife406]

Well boys I'm definitely no Robby D, but I did find a really really good buck this morning!
Also last month I found another that was as wide as his heads and just as tall. I was too slow to get the spotter on him.

Not sure what happened but this mornings buck pics looks worse than a blury Bigfoot pic if you zoom in and close one eye you can find off see a lot of antler. Definitely not a stereotypical Montana dink.

 

[Balderdash]

Not a MD expert, but can share what Ive learned over many seasons of elk hunting early through later elk seasons at higher altitudes:

One of the higher altitude areas I regularly hunt elk in CO has a few really nice MD around. One of the higher areas in that unit that is good for elk till the snow is too deep always holds a couple very good MD bucks and does early in the hunting seasons; however, when we've done later season elk hunts in October/early November in that unit it's rare to see any deer at all in the higher county areas as they presumably have moved to lower country to rut.

 

[realunlucky]

Brad Carter gives out a few of his secrets in this Rokcast https://www.rokslide.com/tt58-scouting-mature-bucks-with-brad-carter/

Sent from my SM-S926U using Tapatalk

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

IMHO it totally dependent on the weather. I almost always hunt deer here in SW Colorado 3rd or 4th season. In 2023 we didn't have enough snow to move the animals to lower elevation until December. In 2024 we had 3 feet on the ground before 3rd season opened the 2nd week of November. You can't depend on the weather Gods for sure!