small 4x's

[Colorado Cowboy]

View attachment 923151
Got this off GoHunt..front buck is your typical 2.5-3.5 4x4 in many places. deer behind is probably 4.5 maybe older.

Shoot the 3pt please.

If it's the last day, I'd shoot either one. Why....I love to eat venison!

 

[Slick8]

Great thread, I agree with most above. It's your first muley hunt and you're doing it with stick and string. That makes any legal buck a trophy IMO.

I'm hunting in south-central NM this year which is the land of the 130 class muley but also where a lot of road hunters kill the first forkey they see....I'm not a fan as it really hits the herd hard taking out so many deer. Like I've seen with antler restrictions in Texas, I'd love to see NM make many of these marginal units 4x4 only. I believe you'd see a difference in 2-3 years and impactful change in 5-7.

I'm one to take what the mountain offers but don't need the meat bad enough to kill a forkey. Two years ago I passed on 3 120 class deer then didn't see anything other than forkeys on days 4 and 5. I went home to a big bowl of tag soup but happy to have had the opportunity and a great hunt. The year prior, I killed a 135ish 4x4.

 

[RockAndSage]

@robby denning , would love to hear your thoughts on this (the horn growth/mother nutrition/genetics/water subject).

 

[willfrye027]

@robby denning , would love to hear your thoughts on this (the horn growth/mother nutrition/genetics/water subject).

not Robby here but super interesting subject..but a pretty different topic than OP brought up to be fair. Sounds like OP is not necessarily trophy hunting and wants to have a good time on an archery hunt.

To continue the derail of the thread, I wonder if the desert/high desert places where experienced guys have described deer “blowing up” or really shrinking year to year is a bit different of a habitat dynamic than the more migratory herds that are usually talked about in the big research studies.

A deer in the Wyoming range is going to have pretty darn good feed pretty much every year in the spring and early summer with a receding snow line.

A deer in northern Arizona may be in literal feast or famine during antler growth time depending on monsoons. To the same point, his mother may have had a terribly dry fall and winter when he was in utero and been on the verge of starvation.

The studies supported the massive effect that mother’s health had on expressed antlers characteristics. Take a listen or go read it, it’ll make a lot more sense. Can’t necessarily be extrapolated to the desert stuff except that a healthy mom will probably give birth to a fawn with more genetic (well, epigenetic) potential for big antlers.

 

[RockAndSage]

To continue the derail of the thread, I wonder if the desert/high desert places where experienced guys have described deer “blowing up” or really shrinking year to year is a bit different of a habitat dynamic than the more migratory herds that are usually talked about in the big research studies.

Man, that is a really good point, and would make sense. Apologies to the OP on sidetracking his thread, but hopefully it's interesting to him. Looking forward to reading that study, and listening to that Meateater podcast, should be pretty interesting.

 

[IrkedCitizen]

I am a firm believer that everyone's first muley should be a forked horn especially a youth hunter.

In the scheme of things I was late to hunting I started at 23 using rifles. I killed my first buck with my 2nd drawn tag as I got skunked on my first one. So at 25yo in 2009 I killed my first mule deer buck and he was maybe a 25" forked horn. I was stoked

That said, shoot whatever you want if it is legal and makes you happy.

Here is a buck that my good friend's 76yo Uncle shot in 2024. It was his first mule deer and likely last one due to his fading health. He is from back east and has been hunting whitetails his whole life. Me and my friend were able to get him on this 4x4 with eye guards that doesn't break 120". He made the shot count and afterwards He teared up a little. It was a great trip with plenty of memories made.





All too often hunts are ruined due to the expectations of the animals score.

 

[AHayes111]

Sounds like it could be a great listen. Were they talking the nutrition during gestation, or broader for the doe'

The other thing, is that I just have a hard time believing that you could take any random sampling of buck/doe pairs from different herds across the west, give the does perfect nutrition, and all the buck fawns would end up with more or less equally massive racks. No species works that way, not even humans.

Agree, If nutrition and body condition was the only factor. Every buck that was rased on my alfafa fields would grow up to be much better than avrage. Sadly that is just not the case.

 

[madtinker]

This is a pretty good resource for judging a mature buck afield:

What makes a 160 inch Mule Deer? Basic field judging. - Flat Tops Wilderness Guides

Do you really care if you can tell the difference between a 190″ and a 215″ deer? Me neither. In those situations, I just shoot it! It is more useful when hunting public land to know how to judge a 2-3 year old deer from a 4+ year old mature deer. This is usually the […]

www.flattopswildernessguides.com

Thanks for posting this! Quick read with good info.