Mule Deer Populations/Observations 2016

[Salty]

Well we seem to have beat up the white tail topic pretty good how about Mule Deer?

What were your observations this year and it what part of the province? It seems that they are doing well, better than recent years in some parts of the province. And of course there's areas of concern in region 4 by all accounts, and probably parts of region 5 and northern parts of region 3 from reading the annual forecast in BC Outdoors.

So what's your observations? My observations are limited being in the middle of a move this year but I did hunt about 6 days worth in region 3 in the cascades and to the east and spotted several mule does only. I saw a lot of area devoid of sign other than cattle, but did see some fresh sign including some big buck tracks. I got out once when the snow came and found pockets of quite a bit of sign and some real decent buck tracks again. Also I did a quick day trip near Vernon in 8 where I'd been quite a bit over 10 years. I saw a couple groups of mule does in an area I've not seen them before. I jumped a large mule doe on a walk in the woods and the area she was in was just littered with scat and tracks. That was good to see.

What are you guys seeing out there?

[Glenny]

I found they were not coming out till after dark, Kamloops area. Jumped some in the timber and the jack pines but couldn't get a point counts. Figured they were completely nocturnal..super moon?

[BCHunterFSJ]

Region 7b; never saw a legal buck while hunting. Only mule deer seen were along the Hudson's Hope road and in close proximity to Fort St. John (my backyard). Mule deer north of FSJ almost seem to be extinct...

[Fella]

I saw around 400 does over two weeks in Region 3, everyone in my group got a buck and we saw 10 or so that walked. All bucks were way up high and away from the main roads.

[Stillhunting]

I wasn't able to make it out as often as years past, because of work and family, but I was very happy with the quality and quantity of bucks that I saw. I didn't see as many does as I would have expected, though, but that probably has something to do with the spots I hunt as I learn the area better every year, and focus on where the bucks hang out more. I hunt an area that is winter range so maybe the mild weather in November hadn't pushed the migratory deer down yet as well. I have a feeling I would have seen even more deer had I made it out in December.

[Buckmeister]

I tagged out early in Oct for a change on a very small buck. It was the 8th deer I had seen and the 4th buck. I always let the little ones go, but this year I didn't in order to make my wife happy. I am regretting it however as when I took my friend out moose hunting in late season we saw two beauty bucks, one a cranker, and all kinds of sign. I love hunting mule in the late season, so I kinda missed out on it this year, looked like a good year.

[Elkaholic]

This year I have seen more muley bucks in the area I hunt than I have in a long time. Tried to get the son lined up and quite a few but nerves got the better of him on his chances. I would say its a good sign for the area I hunt as they have become few and far between in the last 15 years.

[Rob Chipman]

Given some of the graphs that came up in the whitetail thread I think we need to also have guys indicate how many days they spent hunting to get a better picture.

[Everett]

Mule deer in the Columbia trench are definitely on the rebound and seem to be taking range back from the whitetails.

[CaribooBC]

5-1 The migratory Mulies moved early, before Oct 1st. Not leaving much chance in the GOS. The few remaining deer were concentrated in and around civilization. Saw lots more Wolf sign than deer sign in many areas. Overall numbers seem to be in a hard decline.

[Salty]

Given some of the graphs that came up in the whitetail thread I think we need to also have guys indicate how many days they spent hunting to get a better picture.

Agreed Rob his would definitely qualify what we're hearing the more information the better. Without giving up one's honey hole of course. ;)

[guest]

I left the Poor Bastdard Mulies alone for a change, and wacked 3 of the Nasty Bully coarse Deer called the White Tail. Even the wife took a WT. Gotta do all we can for the MD.

hoping our handy work grows more of the Mulies :-P Should see a marked change in the population soon. Lol

Wow these WT are Tasty!

CT

[boxhitch]

Top end of 8-22 seemed pretty typical for numbers, though action has been higher than normal elevation for late Nov/early Dec.
Dec 10 storm and snow seems to have pushed them down below 1500 m. level.
Saw some rut action story-in-the-snow Dec 3 @~1600 that could only be either two bucks fighting, or one lucky s o b having his way with a herd of does.
Enough scratching and digging going on, with spectators, looked like a bar fight scene, only thing missing was the blood.

8-24 offered up the typical easy any-bucks with little effort

[Bugle M In]

Lots of does w/juvinilles....which is good to see, although it would be interesting how many of the yearlings carry over into spring.
Not as much wolf sign, as compared to the last 4 years.
Lack of snow, big time, as I hunt lower down by Nov 11th,so the plateau was also lacking almost any snow...should have been 2 to 3 ft...historically.
There were a few bucks with does that week, but for me, the largest was a "big"3 point.
I left the barely legal 4 point alone.
Some spikers and 2 points and 2x3's.
My buddy never could pull the pin on a 4 point with does.
Spent 4 days hunting around the 11th Nov.
Went up for 2 days following weekend, deer seemed lower, below 1100m, but again, nothing big enough, but rut activity was still going.

Several bucks taken by other's the next week after that just around 1100m to 800m, but buddy cancelled, so didn't get out, but my other buddy, stayed for 10 days at
that time.

Went up beginning of Dec, for 2 days, but no action, not movement, even with the little snow we got that morning etc.
Did find does at 1100m, but no bucks of any size, but plateau was starting to get decent snow level, but still below normal.

So, all in all, spent 8 days hunting Mulies (4pt), as well as hunting partner (8 days)
And my other partner with his son spent a total of 13 days. 13days x2.

So, not the best season, but at least the does and their fawns look healthy, and most does had fawns...say 4 out of every 5 had fawns.
But, as said, don't know what the carry over into spring will be.

Cache Creek/Kamloops/Bonaparte area.

[HarryToolips]

Hunting West reg 4, saw some mule deer which I had only ever seen WT in those parts before, so that was good...in reg 8 saw good numbers of muleys, including lots of yearlings with does, and including lots of bucks pre-season, though not as high as the numbers I had seen when I started hunting in 2009...in reg 8 also saw a couple crankers, though one I saw when I was working and didn't have a gun of course, and another was on the run from me and didn't give me an ethical shot..in some of my areas I frequent in reg3, I saw good good does with yearlings, but not as many bucks as I had hoped...

[Weatherby Fan]

Basically hunted area 3 November 4th to Dec 4th, the rut didn't seem to be in full swing until the 15th and lasted to the 22nd, no snow to speak of this year, seen about a dozen legal 4 pts but all small, 140 class or less, before the rut and during seen a pile of spikes, 2 and 3 pts, I guess the any buck October wasn't to hard on them.

Can't remember how many doe's I seen but it's a lot and most had fawns so deer numbers look positive from my perspective, I attribute the lack of larger bucks to lack of snow through November, normally always see or jump one decent buck, not this year,
I do know of two very nice buck taken in the area, one about 180 and one about 190 class so there was a few around.

[Salty]

Great reports guys keep them coming..

[Glenny]

I saw around 400 does over two weeks in Region 3, everyone in my group got a buck and we saw 10 or so that walked. All bucks were way up high and away from the main roads.


Forgot to mention that...High indeed, way up high.

[Rattler]

Hunted over 20 days during region 4 MD WK season. Saw 24 MD... only 4 bucks and passed on a couple small 4pts. Pretty tough hunting in WK for MD. One alpine trip only yielded 2md does...
Lousy warm weather in November didn't help matters much...

[Salty]

I agree on Novembers weather Rattler didn't help at all

[Sitkaspruce]

Region 7b; never saw a legal buck while hunting. Only mule deer seen were along the Hudson's Hope road and in close proximity to Fort St. John (my backyard). Mule deer north of FSJ almost seem to be extinct...

Saw way more does and fawns than in the last 4 years, but only saw 4 legal bucks and not one was while hunting. The cams showed half a dozen 130-150 bucks, but all nocturnal and all south of FSJ.

They seem to be scattered in small pockets.

Didn't even buy a tag this year, just don't have the drive to hunt them up here......

Cheers

SS

[tuner]

In regions where the any buck seasons were closed, we're seeing a ton of small bucks and no 4 point bucks.

["No Choke"Lord Walsingham]

Not including town Deer, WT or animals present in areas where hunting is prohibited I have seen 30 or so Muley Does (believed to all be different individuals) in the past few months. No 4x, but did have to pass a shot on one of the biggest bodied Muleys I've ever personally seen, which is large, for being a 3x. Several spikers, as many as whitetail. This is Region 4 I'm talking about.

No pics because I don't use cellular products or things that are known to me to generate weird metadata. Don't even have a camera these days. It is nice when threads have them though and there are times when I make a post like this and would include a pic if possible.

I'd like to add I am passionate about Mulies!!! They were the first big game hunt I ever went on as a child, up in 7A. Thanks to all for the reports in your posts.

[Islandeer]

Mule deer in the Columbia trench are definitely on the rebound and seem to be taking range back from the whitetails.
Agree, saw lots of bucks all age classes, including trophy class,the backcountry snow in late October pushed a lot of deer down until that weird 17 degree weather kicked in.

[Cyrus]

saw the lowest amount of bucks ever, especially in Aug Sept Oct. Out of 27 cams I got pics of just 4 bucks and nothing impressive. November there some around but disappeared for the most part before the re-opening (reg 5). The weather was horrid this year thoug so not sure if this played a part, warm and windy most of the time

[Rupert Retired]

Region 3, saw 6 3-pts in the Nov 4-pt season, half were branched on the back, the others on the front main-beam. Many does, and smaller bucks.

[smallfry14]

Lots of young bucks (small 1-3 points), lots of does and fawns, and 2 pretty decent bucks that I couldn't quite get a good look at. Over in region 5 we only had one day, and one morning to hunt but we found an area that looked like it held good mule deer. Toe-draggin buck tracks on top of doe tracks all over in the late season :D Only caught up to 1 doe though before the trip was cut short.

[LYKTOHUNT]

Region 5-2 in the area I hunt not including farmland pitiful amount of Mule deer however Oct 24 did find the only Mulie in the whole country it would seem LOL a nice 5x4 that came home with me, saw more whitetails, even a few bucks,

Hunted a week in mid Nov in 3-27 saw hundreds of Mulies, a fair amount of small bucks including 3 points but no 4 points. no snow to speak of and mild temps, I am curious if next winter if we have a normal amount of snow if things would change in terms of finding bigger bucks.
It was my first time hunting that particular area so have no previous history to look back on.
It was sure nice to see all those deer though, not like my home range

[Salty]

Some encouraging observations here great to see some of R5 possibly doing a little better than a few years back? Still room for improvement though. And some decent reports from parts R4 too which is fantastic to hear. The north Peace.. not so much :( I agree with you guys on a normal winter ie. at least some snow in November where its supposed to be I sure hope we see that which will make quantifying things on the MD front a hell of a lot easier.

[Seeker]

Ran 6 cams in region 8 in an attempt to locate a mature buck and also to try and determine population habits (ex migration times, altitude preferences at varying times of the year, rutting areas and times, etc..) LOTS of bucks at all elevations. Most of the bucks were 2-4 year olds which could use a little more time. 2 cranker's that I would have given a lead pill had one been so unselfish and given me the opportunity. Plenty of does, almost all had twins, so recruitment in that particular area is strong. I have hunted this particular area for over 15 years and never once observed a whitetail. I had two young whitetail bucks on camera this year! Fug! Also a lone wolf....very unexpected but maybe shouldn't have been considering their expansion in recent years.

All in all the deer population appears healthy in this area with a variety in age classes for bucks and great fawn recruitment.

[Bugle M In]

Glad to see that the Does are having "twins" in your area.
That's the one thing I didn't see this season was twins.
Also, on last thing......
I have seen where I hunt, the same thing for the past few years now, meaning, yes, most Does having Juvenile's, during the
month of Nov into Dec, but.......
I never see any sort of "Increase" in the Mature Doe Population.
I always just seem to see the "same amount of mature does year in and year out".

Also, for the hunter's who say the deer "just seemed to vanish" at the end of November.
What I found was that the deer were "Holding Really Tight"!.
Meaning, you could walk the whole mountain side (which is almost impossible to really do), and not see hardly a track!
Yet, as by magic, I would run into a small section, and there, were the deer.
They were just sticking to a 150 yard circular sized area for days. (from the new snow and old snow sign).
If you hadn't hit the "golden ring", you would have sworn the mountain was dead, and the deer had left the valley.
Found this happening in many pockets thru out the valley

[Salty]

I hear you on that one Bugle' its easy to write off an area and have missed some well holed up deer ;)

cheers Seeker lookin good in you part of R8 as well. Wasn't long ago the OK was sucking wind re. Mule deer great to hear..

[markomoose]

Spent 10 days in two seperate trips in 5-14.Late Oct & Late Nov.Saw lots of does and only a spiker late Oct.Late Nov was tough with a bunch of snow & unsettled weather.The deer seemed to be holed up in the thick stuff.Access getting tougher as ranchers are blocking roads with boulders?

[RyoTHC]

Mule deer does were plentiful in 3, lots of smaller bucks as well so that says good thing for the next generation..
White tail far out numbered mule deer from what I witnessed, I spent 11 morning/afternoons out hiking region 3, so limited exposure.

[HarryToolips]

In a very small part of winter range in R8 yesterday while hunting WT saw about 10 muleys, about half were yearlings, 3 of those yearling were with one doe, so recruitment looking good..

[Fisher-Dude]

The three of us (me, the wife, and our buddy) got our 3 bucks in 2 days once we got serious about it. The bucks were 20 - 30 lbs heavier for their age this year - lots of nutrition with the wet summer.

Had some 20 - 25 deer days. Had a few days with few deer, but full moons and mild weather will do that to ya.

I only had one day all season where I didn't spot at least one ungulate, and I hunted just about every day I could including 10 days of holidays.

Overall, I figure I did pretty well, for a lazy road hunter. :-P

[Salty]

Some sweet mule deer road huntin by all accounts thanks for checkin in FD ;)

Thanks all for checking in I hope we get a bunch more takers, reports for much of the province already hopefully we'll have reports for all corners of BC before long 8-)

[.264winmag]

Save for our private property, I spotted more mule deer than wt in regions 4,8 and 3 this year. By a wide margin too, although I was spending more time at higher elevation. Close to 20 muley bucks spotted during legal light while out hunting. There was a lull though, last ten days of oct through first couple days nov I switched to wt as the goofy eared variety seemed to have moved out of all my spots. Nov.8 it seemed to pick up in other spots.

[Weatherby Fan]

The three of us (me, the wife, and our buddy) got our 3 bucks in 2 days once we got serious about it. The bucks were 20 - 30 lbs heavier for their age this year - lots of nutrition with the wet summer.

Had some 20 - 25 deer days. Had a few days with few deer, but full moons and mild weather will do that to ya.

I only had one day all season where I didn't spot at least one ungulate, and I hunted just about every day I could including 10 days of holidays.

Overall, I figure I did pretty well, for a lazy road hunter. :-P

My Uncle Jack was right, you guys in those 4wd jobs running around buggering up our hunting roads, making big ruts so us fat guys can't even walk them.......yep he was right :wink: