Old School Mule Deer Hunting Strategies That Work

My hunting partner and I had just topped out on a sloping bench covered in sage and juniper with some brushy hillsides above. We were doing a quick scan of the area to see if there were any deer in view. Not sitting down and picking it apart with binoculars but simply a check before moving higher up the mountain. My friend, also named Mike, quickly spotted a big buck working across the sidehill through the brush and above us at close to 600 yards.

We were out of range. The buck was moving through thick cover, and long-range rifle shooting only really existed in the military and law enforcement sniper world at the time. We had Remington rifles in .30-06 and .270 topped with 3x9 Redfield scopes and our glassing optics simply consisted of Leupold Wind River binoculars and no spotting scope. Slinging lead at this buck didn’t even occur to us at this time and in this era.

What we did have was 2-3 inches of fresh snow and a couple of young dudes that fancied themselves as budding deer trackers. Some legendary hunters from the past had gained some prominence in the outdoor world through their tracking skill. Notably, Ted Riggs on the Arizona Strip and the Benoit family back in the Northeast made life hell on mature whitetail bucks, stacking up big deer consistently.

We climbed higher, located the buck’s track, and found it very easy to follow on some game trails winding through the brush as the sharp-edged, blocky tracks led up towards the timber. We were entering a section of the mountain forested with Douglas fir and aspen with some serviceberry and chokecherry brush. Under the canopy of the evergreens, the snow cover was pretty light, as the needles caught much of the snow before it hit the ground. The buck was starting to wander around a little bit as if he might be seeking out a day bed to lie up for the day.

Intuition and Instinct

Mike and I stopped to discuss and decided he would climb higher on the side of the mountain while I was to continue tracking the buck. I gave Mike about 15-20 minutes to get in place, and I continued on the big muleys trail. The tracks side-hilled through the trees and into a small brush-choked ravine that seemed to be about 70-80 yards wide. I had slowed my progress in the thick brush and was hoping not to blow the buck out in a location Mike wouldn’t be able to see him leave.

One second all I heard was my boots squeaking in the snow, and the next was the explosive sound of the buck busting out of cover and bounding up the opposite hillside. The sound of a big heavy muley charging up the mountain at close range had startled me, but the shock of Mike’s gun going off a few seconds later took the excitement to the red line. He let out a whoop that left no doubt he connected with the big buck. “DID YOU GET HIM?” I hollered. Mike yelled back, “I GOT HIM! HE’S HUGE!”

We both scrambled across the draw as fast as we could, but Mike had the elevation on me and he beat me to the buck by seconds. I can still remember the massive body of the buck on the ground facing away and Mike rushing up to grab the buck by the antlers, spinning the head around to show me.

It was as exciting of a moment of hunting that either of us had ever experienced, and the emotional rush and adrenaline spike literally brought tears to my eyes. This was a hunt and a moment we had dreamed of since we were teenagers. The unsuccessful hunts and hard lessons learned from failure didn’t matter a bit and time stood still for two twenty-something year old mule deer hunters that morning.

Learning From Experiences

Admittedly, we were young and naive to what it took to hunt mule deer successfully. What we lacked in knowledge we made up for in effort, desire and enthusiasm. We figured we just hunted hard and finally got lucky putting down a big mature mule deer buck. Now, I can look back at the hunt that November morning and see that we actually put some pieces of the puzzle together and utilized a few different tactics to successfully hunt that buck.

• We got up early and put distance between other hunters and ourselves.
• We climbed close to 1000’ of elevation in the dark with an unmarked and unconventional access to the spot as opposed to access via trailhead.
• We hunted a spot that was isolated by terrain but not distance.
• We were in a place where deer might be at first light and spotted him before he spotted us.
• We actually got aggressive and actively tracked the deer as opposed to taking a passive approach of sitting and glassing at a distance to try and pick up the buck bedded.
• We combined still hunting with, in essence, a mini deer drive that pushed the buck into a shootable position.
• We used marksmanship honed by years of shooting 22 rifles and BB guns as youngsters and didn’t rely on a curated modern shooting system. Mike killed the buck offhand at less than 100 yards on the move with his .270 Remington pump action rifle topped with a 3X9 scope.

There are lessons to be learned here, and they are quite obvious in my opinion. There is nothing wrong with standard modern hunting tactics, which primarily involve world-class optics and a spot-and-stalk strategy. But I will admit right here that sometimes the risk of simply still hunting, tracking and stalking mule deer has been overlooked by myself and others in the last couple decades.

There is a tendency to naturally gravitate towards high points and obvious glassing positions in hopes of picking up a buck at distance and getting into shooting position. The rewards can be obvious and this is a solid hunting strategy. But what I also know is by simply prioritizing this kind of hunting tactic, we naturally gravitate away from terrain that is more difficult to hunt, yet might hold the buck of our dreams.

Tracking

Tracking is a skill that is very useful and worth the effort in the right conditions. Sometimes after big storms break and deer are on the move into the lower country, hunters can find themselves in conditions that offer tremendous opportunity, visibility and good odds of actually seeing the animal they are after. Years ago I was hunting after a night of heavy snowfall that left a foot of fresh snow covering the landscape. I spotted a big buck making his way towards the winter range. I was sitting and taking a much needed rest after slogging through foot deep snow all morning and spotted the buck sneaking through the lodgepole pines.

The buck spooked as I tried to get off a shot, catching my movement in his peripheral vision. He bounded off in the knee deep snow in characteristic stotting jumps typical of mule deer when spooked. I got on the tracks and spent the day moving through timber and aspen groves, hoping to catch up with the buck. I finally lost his tracks on a canyonside covered in elk tracks from the 80-100 cows and calves working the terrain. Reluctantly, I then dropped down the steep canyon wall, grasping small aspen trunks to keep from falling and sliding.

I crossed the gin clear creek in the bottom of the canyon and climbed up the opposite hillside that was a mix of sagebrush and mountain mahogany. Settling in for a much needed break after the day's exertion, I snacked on a Snickers and glassed the aspens on the opposite side of the canyon from where I sat. The buck was a horizontal dark line in a sea of vertical aspen trunks. Soon enough I put enough of the details together that I could make out the buck and how he was positioned. A shot lane presented itself and I threaded a bullet through the branches and trunks, hitting the buck in the neck as that was the only real opportunity I had.

The hunt was similar to the first one I described, albeit without the mini deer drive, but produced similar results for me. Mule deer hunting in the modern era is more difficult than ever with decreasing overall numbers and lower buck to doe ratios from heavy hunting pressure. Hunters put in an incredible amount of effort and have all the latest and greatest equipment (yes, me too), but sometimes a deliberate effort to think outside the box is required. Augment your standard “spot and stalk” hunting strategy with a thinking person’s approach and some old-school creativity and you might be rewarded with an old school buck. The kind we all dream about.

---