Wanting to hunt above timberline, possibly Colorado, for mule deer. I imagine the shots would be longer than average? Anyone done this successfully? Thanks
I've been looking for a good resource on high country mule deer as well. I've seen a lot of pictures of decent mule deer shot by a trad hunter but was still wondering if I needed to be good out to 30-40 yds. for it to work. This quote from Marv seems to have eased my fears....
"Shot distance(s)?
Never over 30 (once in a while I will get wild and shoot 31 yards). Like them 20 yards or under. That's what bowhunting is all about- getting close, and beating the animal at their own game. A lot of bowhunters these days go just for the kill and not the hunt. Hunting! That's what it's supposed to be. Hunting is fun if one just lets it be fun. We all want a kill, but if that doesn't happen it isn't the end of the world. If you have to kill every time out, take a smoke-pole!"
I've been debating whether to completely forget about the compound this year and go traditional or, as it is my first mule deer hunt, stay with what I am most confident in. I guess only practice can tell.....
If you going to shoot under 30 yards, there is no reason to use a compound that I can see. You won't find many Mulies above tree line. You will find lots of them right at and just below it eating and living in the high meadows.
QuoteOriginally posted by Ragnarok Forge:
If you going to shoot under 30 yards, there is no reason to use a compound that I can see. You won't find many Mulies above tree line. You will find lots of them right at and just below it eating and living in the high meadows.
I guess I'm just worried about choking when a good shot presents itself. With sight's I've always had a positive point of aim for me to concentrate on. I'm hoping as I get out in the field more I'll get more confident.
Dwight Schuh wrote a good book on the topic. Order it. I've never seen much advice given on line that didn't rehash what was covered pretty well in that book.
any idea where you can get the Schuh book. I'm hoping to do a high country mulie hunt in the next couple of years also.
http://www.amazon.com/Hunting-Open-Country-Mule-Dwight-Schuh/dp/0912299231
I'm No Authority but From My experience that high up, theres LOTS of wind even during the nice days, Shooting is difficult. Much less Stalking in that type of environment, Here in CO, we have a low growing shrub called (and I know I'm spelling this wrong) Crummoles, that the deer love to bed in It's chest to shoulder height for man and roughly head height for Deer They Always see/wind me before I see them. I'll say it's a beautiful environment but really hard to hunt in...
I think that this type of hunting is the most challenging hunting there is. It would be a great accomplishment to kill a muley at or above timberline. Hope you get a chance.
You sound like a reasonable guy with expectations of just getting an opportunity or two, so just take the plunge and ditch the wheels. Sell it on the aution sites! The minute you get one with wheels you will be thinking that you should have gone traditional. It is more rewarding and I sense you feel that. It is just a deer and the experience is what you are after, as most of us here are. I had a local trad-shop dealer locally just flat out tell me to get rid of my wheels and it was the best decision for hunting I have made. I shot the biggest whitetail I have ever killed with a stickbow and missed others as well. I am glad that I don't look back and wish I had gone with a stickbow instead. It is the thrill of the hunt, and the reward of doing it with YOUR skill that makes it so rewarding!
Good luck!
(http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d43/Hornhunter2/90buck.jpg)
They do live above timberline, this ol boy was at 13,000
yes they are very difficult to hunt, old muleys are smarter then any other hoofed critter,
you take one, on his terms and it is very rewarding
Congrats Scott nice muley.
Awesome animal Scott. Great photo too. Out witting a wise old boy like that is quite an accomplishment!
Looks like good times! That looks alot like the area I would like to hunt. Did you try a spot and stalk?
spot and stalk is the only way you can make this kind of hunting work, you have to watch them bed then go after them, its an all day affair at the least, a few years back I located a giant buck big as I have ever seen, I spent a total of 17 back packing days watching him -waiting for him to bed in a good area, when he did I made a good stalk, was about 25 yds above him just to his left, waited 4 hours for him to stand up, when he did he was quartering away slighty, I rose and shot, the arrow went between his front legs from his left rear, shaved hair and that was that.
the great thing is they will take you to school everytime, the best hunters learn from that
Great buck Scott! WOW!!!!
And great story on the one that got away..
I used to love the high country in Colorado.
That is awesome Scott! High country mule deer will be next on my list after I score on my elk!
i know i am probably butchering his name but marve clinke (s/p?)had several articles in TBM on hunting big muleys above timberline...guy seemed like an authority on the subject.
Scott, great deer! to say one hoofed animal has more gray matter than another is like saying one bow is better than another...setting yourself up for an endless debate.
pete-"setting yourself up for an endless debate" only if you have never hunted them
I have as much respect for a big whitetail as any animal out there, but time is usally on your side
time? what time are you talking about?? you spook a mature whitetail (5 yr or older) you just SPENT your time. not going to hijak this thread but a mature pressured whitetail that has survival skills honed to an edge from thousands of hunters, wolves and cyotes chasing him is as tough to hunt as anything on earth. period.
duckbutt's recommendation of dwight schuh's book is right on the money.
Also, when you look at Scott's picture above, if you'll notice the brush that is behind him (I call it willow) that is what deer will bed down in and around. Spot and stalk, oh yea!
I'm pretty sure Scott is refering to the time to hunt. Having hunted both, I believe it's comparing apples to oranges. Your right, the whitetail will leave, but so will a big mulie. Mulies have had the same predators chasing them as the whitetails, add in the lion in the west. The time thing is most whitetails, and I mean most, are hunted from stands relatively close to houses, farms, roads. The buck's Scott is refering to live several if not dozens of miles away from roads. Just getting there takes time, let alone the limited time to hunt them. They are both great animals to hunt and if whitetails lived above timberline, we would no doubt think the were just as cagey. But they don't, and that was what this thread is about, high country bucks.
So good luck jmh, you shouldn't have to worry about longer shots, as long as you use a lot of patience and keep the wind in your favor, and have a little luck on your side ;) . But be careful, those big mulies and the high country gets in your blood, and you'll want to go back!!
Schuh's book is worth the cash.
I've ready Schuh's book "Hunting Open-Country Mule Deer" about 1/2 a dozen times. It perfectly describes what I'm after.
Larry d. jones has some dvds out that covers hunting open country mule deer.
It is using dwight schuh's method, as he and larry are like best friends.
I read Schuh's book and made my first trip to the high country. Everything he said proved to be true, I just had to learn some of the lessons the hard way. Hard to put everything you read into practice the first time. It is a great foundation to build from, though. I will go back.
High country bucks are fun to hunt. The best way to get good at hunting them is to just do it. Everyone has differant ways to hunt them find your style and go for it. I like to glass and ambush,or stalk them while they feed. Alot of people like to glass from a vantage piont in the mornings and stalk them on there beds in the afternoon. Bucks like to bed with a good advantage piont(most can see a whole canyon) with the wind at their back which can make stalking tough. For me I've done better moving in on them once they start to feed moving in behind them with the wind in my face. I just keep behind the ears,eyes and rump changing my direction as the do. Even better is to watch them and know where they are going and set up a ambush spot. Schuh's book is great! Mike Eastman also has a good book on high country bucks but is geared more for the trophy hunter.
I am gonna chime in on this wonderful subject...I have hunted and killed both whitetails and mulies. Here in IL it is an ambush/bottleneck thing for whitetails although I have stalked/killed a couple of nice bucks that were locked up with does. The mule deer hunting I did found me very unprepared for the glassing, stalking, and heartbreak involved with those timberline ghosts. My third year at hunting those animals found me taking a slam dunk shot with wheels at 20 yards. I loved the animal and he has a spot in my den but I regretted not killing him with my recurve. I had just taken up trad bowhunting then...This year it has been 4 years since my first big mulie buck, and since I have no wheels it will be with a traditional bow. I will be elk hunting with a mulie tag in my pocket and if the stars are lined up, the wind right, and I don't screw it up I will put a stalk on a mulie!