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Thread: Post-Mortem Of A Failed Mule Deer Hunt

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
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    Pemberton BC
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    1,522

    Re: Post-Mortem Of A Failed Mule Deer Hunt

    Doesn't sound like a failure to me.
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  2. #12
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
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    Squamish
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    Re: Post-Mortem Of A Failed Mule Deer Hunt

    I agree with Gatehouse. Sounds like a great hunt. I'm not sure what is better/worse-- seeing a nice buck that you don't shoot on the first day of a hunt or the last day.

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  3. #13
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    South Surrey
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    377

    Re: Post-Mortem Of A Failed Mule Deer Hunt

    Sound like a pretty cool first hunt.

    I would have to ask. Why would you go down to where you spotted the buck and walk all around in his bedroom. I get the excitement part of seeing a nice deer, but you may have pushed him out of the area. Deer are "generally" feeding in the morning and evening with some sleeping and digesting during the day in normal undistrubed area. Food for thought and discussions!

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Jun 2019
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    10

    Re: Post-Mortem Of A Failed Mule Deer Hunt

    Quote Originally Posted by sakohunter View Post
    Sound like a pretty cool first hunt.

    I would have to ask. Why would you go down to where you spotted the buck and walk all around in his bedroom. I get the excitement part of seeing a nice deer, but you may have pushed him out of the area. Deer are "generally" feeding in the morning and evening with some sleeping and digesting during the day in normal undistrubed area. Food for thought and discussions!
    We didn’t walk “all over his bedroom” until after we tried setting up within shooting distance of where we saw him for one night and morning after we first saw him. After seeing nothing for those two sessions I made the call that we were likely wrong about that being a feeding area, and we decided to walk casually through to gather information (and see if we happened across any creatures). It was a decision born of uncertainty!

    That’s a very good point; it is entirely possible that we did push him off or make him wary by moving in too close! It may have been better to try to sit back, see him at distance and perform a stalk to intercept him instead of setting up an ambush so close to the sighting. We did see plenty of active sign (fresh scat, footprints on-top of our boot prints from our movements the day previously) so I expect we didn’t spook him entirely from the area.

    Would you suggest avoiding walk-throughs of the corridors around the area early in a hunt? I’ve heard conflicting advice on this.

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Posts
    1,041

    Re: Post-Mortem Of A Failed Mule Deer Hunt

    Glass, move, glass, move, glass, move. Mulies are pretty dumb and very hard to see when bedded down under a tree. Changing angles and looking at new ground will increase your odds. Even if you do bump one chances are you'll get a crack at them as long as you don't chase them out. I hunt them like grouse with my bow. Just jump them out of there bed moving slow, they'll stop a little ways off and you can shoot them like that as well. The more experience you get the easier it is.

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
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    Re: Post-Mortem Of A Failed Mule Deer Hunt

    Quote Originally Posted by Aaron600 View Post
    Windflow goes downhill in the early morning transitioning to uphill in the late morning/afternoon and back downhill towards the evening...
    In all my years of hiking the mountains of the interior of BC, wind flow was uphill in the AM and downhill in the PM.

    https://meteor.geol.iastate.edu/clas...unt-valley.pdf
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  7. #17
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
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    South Surrey
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    377

    Re: Post-Mortem Of A Failed Mule Deer Hunt

    Quote Originally Posted by Shannaleri View Post
    We didn’t walk “all over his bedroom” until after we tried setting up within shooting distance of where we saw him for one night and morning after we first saw him. After seeing nothing for those two sessions I made the call that we were likely wrong about that being a feeding area, and we decided to walk casually through to gather information (and see if we happened across any creatures). It was a decision born of uncertainty!

    That’s a very good point; it is entirely possible that we did push him off or make him wary by moving in too close! It may have been better to try to sit back, see him at distance and perform a stalk to intercept him instead of setting up an ambush so close to the sighting. We did see plenty of active sign (fresh scat, footprints on-top of our boot prints from our movements the day previously) so I expect we didn’t spook him entirely from the area.

    Would you suggest avoiding walk-throughs of the corridors around the area early in a hunt? I’ve heard conflicting advice on this.
    Mule deer bucks don't get old by being dumb. They probably have an escape route for every approach to their bedding area. So noise, scent, and sight are most of our downfalls when try to stock up on a big old deer. If the deer are not pressured they may just go about life in their little piece of nature and when they are out feeding at dawn or dusk you have a chance at them. That being said sometimes you are just going for lunch and you see Mr. deer. I believe that you have to have a plan and cover all aspects of that plan before moving into the area. I would think that depending on how your hunting party is set up have a shooter covering the logical escape routes is a good idea. It sounds like you have the good attitude and are on right path so keep trying and try not to watch your feet when walking in deer country.

  8. #18
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
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    Haney,BC and anywhere you can hunt in BC out of the rain !
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    Re: Post-Mortem Of A Failed Mule Deer Hunt

    Quote Originally Posted by Shannaleri View Post
    Hm, that's interesting. I think I'm stuck between patience and restlessness right now. I don't yet have a good sense for when it's productive to trust the spot and wait or when it would be better to stand up and move to a new area. It's interesting to note that you and others might move around more. Next time I will try to understand the feeding zones much earlier and cover more ground. It makes sense; there was a ton of promising spots I never really laid eyes on.
    Did you see any other hunters were you were ?
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  9. #19
    Join Date
    Jun 2019
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    10

    Re: Post-Mortem Of A Failed Mule Deer Hunt

    Quote Originally Posted by Weatherby Fan View Post
    Did you see any other hunters were you were ?
    We saw one group of two who showed up on day 3. They appeared to be hunting the west slope. There were some ATV’s on the next ridge over where there were some old roads/trails, and we may have heard an ATV or two lower down but it wasn’t too bad. We were solo up high with the exception of that group.

    At this stage I am aware that areas which I recognize as “probably a good place to hunt” are likely accessible & obvious enough that we will not be entirely alone.

  10. #20
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    Oct 2010
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    Re: Post-Mortem Of A Failed Mule Deer Hunt

    My experience when there’s that much traffic in the Alpine mature Mule Deer move on pretty quick, it looks like you covered a lot of ground, you need scout that area from a distance for a cpl days before it opens and see the movement of the deer and plan accordingly, but if you go walking all through the area where the deer are you just pollute it and as you seen your opening morning buck disappeared in short order.
    7mm PRC soon to be the most popular cartridge in North America

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