Hoping to get some advice from experienced Mule Deer hunters if I'm doing thing right or wrong. I never had a mentor, and my friends seem to be on opposite spectrums of hunting tactics. This is my first year and I'd love to hear your take. I have read some of the forum posts, and tried to apply it - I will be going out periodically and hopefully make adjustments based on any feedback. ALL FEEDBACK APPRECIATED!
I went out with my brother to over 1700m elevation at 6am in MU-8 to hopefully find a big buck. We saw tracks, then a doe and 2 fawn right away, so parked and watched them move down the ridge a little into the forest.
We decided to sit and glass in hopes a big buck might be around and be coming for her. Wind was coming from North, down the mountain - where we expected he might be following from. After about 3 min, a jeep with 2 other hunters came on the same road and I had to move the truck, they were going up ahead of us, to the lake in the area, which we would also be hiking to. They were friendly, and we didn't put up a fuss hunting the same area, lots of cut block around.
We decided to go up the ridge, with the doe's last location still in sight, walking in the crunchy snow, into the wind. We glassed as we climbed, and didn't see anything, no sign. We made it to the tree-line and I knew the lake was behind. There was a trail to go through, so we decided to follow the trail, which was pretty narrow through the think wood, but only 500 meters deep to get to the lake. No sign except for some deer tracks that crossed the trail in the middle. To follow those tracks would mean smashing through trees, somewhat dense, but thin trees, so maybe doable - but it wouldn't be silent.
We decided to carry on to the lake because we didn't know which direction the tracks were going after crossing the trail. We arrived at the lake edge and nothing, no sign of anything. We decide to walk the edge of the lake until we can circle back, and run into the new hunters we saw, who were sitting prone ready to take anything coming to the lake in a sparsely treed meadow section. We wave and leave them alone and head back to the area of the doe we saw. Hiked back down while stopping to glass periodically. We probably hiked a 3 km perimeter up and down to where we started, with some fair elevation on the way up.
We see the doe and her two fawns again, as she's pretty chill and NOT spooked by us at all. She even crosses right in front of my truck. We decide, since there's lots of fresh snow and cut blocks around, to go drive around until we see some tracks for a new starting point. It's probably 9-10am at this point, after a good 3 hours or so in the first location.
Nada, only see some hare and coyote tracks. Glass a few ridges and nothing. We go up to almost 1800 meter elevation, and I turn around because I don't have snow tires on yet, and it's getting way deeper. Had to head back to town as I only had time for a morning hunt, so we had to stop around noon - 1 ish
So questions are:
Should we have stay put in the section knowing we had a doe in area?
Should we have split when the other hunters came in area?
Are Bucks interested in a doe that has a couple fawns, or will they leave her alone?
Even though it wasn't possible that day, should we try the same area an hour or two before sunset?
Should we have tried to stalk in the forest?
Am I too high for this time of year?
Or are bucks still high elevation?
Any advice is super appreciated. Anything useful that I learn I promise to pay forward. Super stoked hunting, regardless of the outcome. Would love to fill my freezer, but I also enjoy just getting out there!
Cheers!