Alpine mulies hide out in the timber during hot weather right?

[MichelD]

Buddy and me went up to our favourite alpine spot for the weekend.

Aside from having to winch the land cruiser up out of an extremely steep water bar we got stuck in it was an awesome trip even though no animals died. We hiked hard up the hills and back for two days and yesterday planned to pack up and leave and just as we were packing my partner looked up on the mountainside we'd been scrutinizing for much of the past three days without seeing a thing suddenly yelled "deer."

That place runs hot and cold and some years we see nothing, other times there are deer present. So far all we had seen was a couple two points farther away from camp.

I've always been told that deer bed down in the timber during hot weather and you will rarely see them in mid-day unless you happen to be in a good vantage point to catch a glimpses of them when they get up briefly.

Anyway, this guy was about 1 1/2 to 2 kms away up on a ridge and walked into the middle of a plain steep gray scree at 8:30 in the morning and lay down flat on his side in the blazing early September sun and just basked there for two hours.

Even with the 60 power Swarovski scope the best we could put on his head was a solid three points or maybe an iffy 4-point so we didn't make a play for him.

It was a lesson for sure. And if we hadn't seen him leave the trees and lay down in the scree, if you had just happened on that spot and glassed those hills, unless you knew he was there it would take superior spotting skills to pick out a gray deer laying down in the gray scree.