September Muley Alpine Hunt

[BigSlapper]

So ...
I've hunted a ton but not in the alpine. I've scouted, for the past 2 months, several areas that I think will produce and have seen some decent bucks although not one 4x4?.
Any tips from you alpine "gurus" would be helpful and welcome !
Top 3 things to do ?
Thanks in advance ...
BS

[Brambles]

1.) Be sure to Glass Early morning get setup before first light, they won't be in the open for long.

2.) Keep glassing, just because you don't see anything at first doesn't mean he's not hiding behind that little bush, it takes almost nothing to hide a deer and its suprising how little time it takes them to cross a hillside and much less to cross a small opening.

I watched two 4point mulies in a new spot this morning cover an alpine ridge in 2 minutes or less. If I hadn't seen his ass behind a tree first I wouldn't have known they were there and might not have been glassing the right spot when they made a break for the ridge. But I tell you, when they skylined themselves on the ridge it really made my morning.

3.) Glass from a distance so you can A.) cover more terrain B.) not alert the deer to your presence. Its not just about finding big bucks, its about hunting them when the season opens, so if you go stinking up the area then you could possibly either push them out or make them use their secondary areas which could be anywhere from higher remote areas or in thick nasty timber.

[Alpine85]

- Just enjoy every minute of being in the alpine.

- Once the sun is up and the deer are bedded. Change direction and glass into the sun, you can now glass the shaded spots where they will bedded.

- If he is in a difficult spot and you think he will forsure bust you on a stalk, just back off and come back the next day.

[Big Bucks]

Brambles Had some good points, another one that i do is after all the deer have bedded down wich is usally around the 10 Oclock time I will slow walk through the ridge tops that hold alot of the trees , And i mean slow, And you will be supprised at how many bucks you will see up close and personal . Bring an extra pair of wool socks so you can take your boots off if there is no snow , it's amazing how quiet you can be . The deer have alot of excape lanes so be on your toes .

[hunter1947]

Just one more thing to add .

Keep your eyes open and glass the last hour of shooting light ,I have had some big mossy backs show up just before you lose shooting light.

[dino]

the alpine is a great place to study deer.I can sit and watch even the small guys for hours. Some of the most exciting hunting for sure. http://s233.photobucket.com/albums/ee306/heydino/?action=view&current=IMG_0381.jpg

[guest]

As said, first light of the day is best, glass glass and glass again. I have found they either head down into the timber or bed front, back or inside of the alpine clumps. I have glassed these clumps to spot an ear or antler, keep watching for movement. They will often stand to stretch, turn around then bed again through out the day. Alpine hunting is usually spot and stalk, with possible long distance shots depending on cover. Other times I have spotted deer bedded in the wide open to take advantage of the wind from the flies. Some thing else that keeps me going back to alpine hunting is the ratio of bucks to does. Early season is often 9 or 10 to 1. Some of my most memorable and certainly most scenic hunts happen in the alpine, BUT getting up there is another matter. On opening week ( sept 1st ) we have quite regularly watched the bucks sparing, setting up the pecking order. In one group of 10 bucks and 1 doe, the 4 - 4 pointers in the bunch were subdominant to the HUGE 2 pt. that went well past his ears with huge forks, he was boss man. My last 5 pt. I shot in the alpine was the 43rd deer we glassed in 3 days, with only 6 does in the total. Just have fun, pick out the best one, wait for them to bed if possible and move in. Slow and steady.
Good luck
C/T

[Timberjack]

1) don't sleep in - be in position for glassing at first light. Use your spotting scope to the best of your ability - pick a spot you think they might be and study it before moving the scope.

2) get above them. takes muscle and sweat but it is your best bet. Start training about two months ago:grin::grin:

3) look in the goat beds and high up where you might expect to find goats and sheep. especially when it's hot out. remember it doesn't take much for a deer to come down a couple thousand feet for water/food at night, but theywill go right back to the windy spot on the ridgetops to get out of the bugs... Lots of deer will be spotted in the most god awful rock bluff infested cliffs you could ever imagine!

good luck and have an escape route for those early snows!

TJ

[BigSlapper]

... thanks for your comments and thoughts - most appreciated!

[dana]

One thing I've learned over the years is every piece of highcountry is different and the animals behave differently on every mountain. Some mountains get frost early in Aug which kill off the bugs, and kill off that lush alpine veg. The bucks then don't need to be high up in the rocks to be in the wind and out of the bugs, so they chase the lush veg in the subalpine timber because it has been protected from frost. Some mountains are extremely dry, very little water, so the feed isn't as desirable to the bucks. They tend to chose the basins that hold more water or stay in the cool of the steep high elevation timber. Tons of different scenerios given different mountain conditions. It takes several years of putting the pieces of the puzzle together before you figure you've got a handle on how the picture looks. This means scouting is your best asset to learn the mountain in which you want to hunt and the bucks that call it home.
Tons of different ways to scout. You don't need to see a big buck to know one lives there. There are other tell-tale signs of the presence of a big buck. Big bucks leave big tracks. Reading sign is a very important asset to knowing if the basin you intend on hunting holds big deer or average sized deer. If summer scouting hasn't been in the cards, scouting during the hunt is your next best option. Be prepared to eat tag soup and just take in everything that you see. Beds, alpine velvet rubs, licks, feeding areas, water, ect. The more you soak in and learn, the better the hunt will be in the years to come. It has been said that it takes a five year plan to harvest a big highcountry buck. I tend to follow that line of thinking.
While I agree with several of the things posted thus far in this thread, I disagree with the Eastmanism of not stinkin' the place up with your scent. Hogwash in my opinion especially within this province. The highcountry is the most underutilized muley hunt in BC. There are not hoards of hunters pounding back the boot leather like areas of Wyoming and CO. Big muleys here live with the constant danger of lions and wolves and even the odd grizz. Man in the highcountry is the least of his worries. ;) That being said, it is more important to watch your skyline. Scroll the terrain and don't let your silhouette be backlit. A big buck's eyes are amazing, and he bachs up with many scouts for even more eyepower. He detects movement and skylining yourself is a easy way for him to lay low and sneek out the backdoor. Noise is another important factor. They have big ears for a reason. In the highcountry sound travels far. Keep your noise to a minimum.

[Ltbullken]

(1) Don't camp in the same alpine area that you intend to hunt. Put your tent up in the next basin. Bucks will hear and smell you and leave that basin.
(2) Look for pockets of good feed. The ealry frosts could kill vegetation but you will find pockets of feed and may even see a bit of regeneration after a brief warm spell with some moisture. The young grass or plant shoots that start to come up are choice feed. Saw this once in late Sept on the alpine. No deer tracks the days before, a warm spell hit after a rain and the next thing you know there is vegetation coming up - saw deer everywhere.
(3) Glass, glass, glass... good optics are a must.
(4) Know how to bone out an animal as you may have to do that to get the animal out.
(5) Last bit of advice, get fit.

[Brambles]

I disagree with the Eastmanism of not stinkin' the place up with your scent. Hogwash in my opinion especially within this province. The highcountry is the most underutilized muley hunt in BC. There are not hoards of hunters pounding back the boot leather like areas of Wyoming and CO. Big muleys here live with the constant danger of lions and wolves and even the odd grizz. Man in the highcountry is the least of his worries. ;)


This is my theory on this subject

Wyoming and CO. are places with high hunting pressure for sure but the bucks have learned to stay put and let the hunters pass them by, the deer know in that country there are few places deer can go where they won't run into people so the bucks stay put and just use the country differently. Horse trails in that country have made access a breeze and the deer are exposed to more human traffic. The country is more open so if they run then they have a higher risk of being seen.

In Big ol B.C. its no problem for a mulie buck to blow out and never see people again, their first instinct isn't to stay put, its to leave IMO. The bush in B.C. is thicker and the deer can leave without anyone knowing they were there.

I agree that the highcountry of B.C. is under utilized but that doesn't mean the animals are going to be tolerant of human presence, especially if you go pounding through the basins 3 weeks prior to hunting season. There is a time and place for everything but I don't think Mid to Late August is the best time to pound the bush you plan on hunting in Sept.
If come Sept and you've hunted the area and you have suspicions that the deer are held up in the timber then you'll probably have to pound bush to garner some success but other options need to be explored first.

Sure Late season your only option is to pound bush, and thats exactly what I"ll be doing come Late Oct through Nov 10th, but IMO early season needs a different tactic.

If your working on a new spot and are scouting it for maybe the next season then taking a walk through would probably be a good idea for the reasons you highlighted but my concern is doing it so close to when the season starts.

But Hey, I'm just trying to piece everything together as I go along, I have my theories about what works and what doesn't and like any good experiment you have to spend some time trying to prove your theories. I just started hunting these critters seriously in 2005 so I got a fair bit to learn yet. But the beauty is I'm doing it my way ( not the eastman way:razz:)and if it works then the rewards will be that much sweeter.

My tactic for this year is to be patient and glass, not to be impatient and pound bush. You said it yourself Dana "your not the type to sit still" that combined with your type of work makes you predisposed to pounding bush so it doesn't suprise me that you preach that method of hunting.;)

[dana]

I can sit still for a very long time if I have something to look at. Not uncommon when I hunt the highcountry that I roll out of my sleeping bag 5 mins before glassin light, fire up the coffee and then get comfortable behind the glass and be there all day until last light. I am not the type to sit still when all I have to look at is a small opening in a heavy stand of timber.
Late Aug is indeed the time you should be checkin basin after basin. They are changing their patterns as we speak. A buck you see bedded in the rocks in July ain't going to be in the same bed come Sept. Their feed has changed. The bugs are gone. The desire to rub the velvet is the start of a chemical change within them that leads them to the rut. Bachelor groups will be spliting up and big ol' bruisers will become loners. The basin you chose in July could very well be empty by Sept. That is why pounding the boot leather now is very important.

[frenchbar]

Sitting ,being patient,lots of glassing ,spot and stalk will give you the best chance of taking a nice Alpine muley I.M.O. crashin around the alpine will result in a lot of bucks giving ya the see ya later.I dont buy into the human scent being much of a factor in wether a buck sticks around or not.From my experinces in the alpine early season the bucks will move from bowl to bowl quite frequently and most importantweather plays a big factor in where you will find them in the early season. J.M.O.

[Brambles]

I can sit still for a very long time if I have something to look at. Not uncommon when I hunt the highcountry that I roll out of my sleeping bag 5 mins before glassin light, fire up the coffee and then get comfortable behind the glass and be there all day until last light. I am not the type to sit still when all I have to look at is a small opening in a heavy stand of timber.
Late Aug is indeed the time you should be checkin basin after basin. They are changing their patterns as we speak. A buck you see bedded in the rocks in July ain't going to be in the same bed come Sept. Their feed has changed. The bugs are gone. The desire to rub the velvet is the start of a chemical change within them that leads them to the rut. Bachelor groups will be spliting up and big ol' bruisers will become loners. The basin you chose in July could very well be empty by Sept. That is why pounding the boot leather now is very important.



My boot leather will be deposited on the ridgetops, I can still check out basins without letting them see me. I still think walking THROUGH a basin should be a last resort NOT a regular scouting technique. Thats in my opinion of course.

Maybe we are getting the issue confused. Your last statement made it seems like I'm implying stopping scouting.
I'm not talking about stopping scouting, what I"m referring to is not walking through his living room, staying high and keeping a low profile.

[frenchbar]

All alpine is different .some flat terrain some steep .There bedrooms could be on the high ridges some in the valley bottoms .so always riding the ridge tops isnt an option imo. Ive hunted alot of different alpine and the tactics change for different terrain,but i try to stay on the ridge tops and stay out of sight more times than not like you say brambles its the way to go for sure.

[dana]

I'm not talking about walking through basins either. You seem to think that to look for other signs of deer, you need to be hiking right through their living rooms. Like Frenchbar stated, they will be on the move from one basin to the next. Finding those saddles in which they move and lookin at tracks in the soft dirt or mud is what I'm talking about. Burning the leather is done high and you should be covering as many basins as you can with the glass. The human scent thing is what I call BS on. Even when you are on the ridges, you can't stop the swirling winds from taking your smell to any bucks that live there. I don't believe that smell causes them to bail out the backdoor. There are many that believe the Eastman way of no fire, no camping in the basin you hunt blah, blah, blah. I think that idea is hogwash. And I've already tested my theories. I've been at it much longer than just a few years. ;)

[frenchbar]

The thing that will screw you on an Alpine hunt is being SPOTTED !Stay out of sight and you will be alright:smile:

[Brambles]

I'm not talking about walking through basins either. You seem to think that to look for other signs of deer, you need to be hiking right through their living rooms. Like Frenchbar stated, they will be on the move from one basin to the next. Finding those saddles in which they move and lookin at tracks in the soft dirt or mud is what I'm talking about. Burning the leather is done high and you should be covering as many basins as you can with the glass. The human scent thing is what I call BS on. Even when you are on the ridges, you can't stop the swirling winds from taking your smell to any bucks that live there. I don't believe that smell causes them to bail out the backdoor. There are many that believe the Eastman way of no fire, no camping in the basin you hunt blah, blah, blah. I think that idea is hogwash. And I've already tested my theories. I've been at it much longer than just a few years. ;)

I think we got our wires crossed, I thought you were talking about trudging through the basin searching for beds and tracks etc.

I didn't mean "Stinking" the place up as literally as you took it. What I ment was basically making your presence known, be it sound, smell, sight etc.

The area I'm hunting you can't glass multiple basins at once, there was two of us so we did manage to split up and cover two basins during the few precious morning hours.
Friday and Saturday we should be able to knock down a couple more basins. These ones I have high hopes for, they wreak big mulie IMO.

[dana]

Brambles,
When you said stinking up the place, I thought you were giving an Eastmanism. He doesn't like to move around much. But he doesn't hunt the kind of highcountry that I hunt. There is never one perfect glassin spot. I move lots as much of the highcountry I glass is just smaller veiwscapes. Sure, you might be able to glass several mountains from one position, but that does you no good when it would take you 2 days to get to the opposite mountain. I instead scroll. As a new piece exposes itself, I take the time to glass. Once I feel I've covered it off, I move to the next piece or head for another basin. Low impact is of importance. Keep a low profile when I do move. That is when I keep my eyes open for other sign. I make mental notes of beds I encounter and where I might be able see into them from other angles. When you find generational beds, you can be certain that you will find bucks in them sometime in the future. Tracks, mineral licks, water, ect are all important info to have during the hunt.

[Brambles]

Double Post....opps

[Brambles]

Dana

Pretty much the same here, always looking for track, scat and beds enroute from one glassing location to another, staying low and looking in the saddles, skirt inside the trees and cross openings quickly. Mulie Ninja Style:p Source out your glassing locations prior to the morning glassing session so you can see as much as possible. YOU GOTTA GLASS WITH THE GRAIN OF THE TERRAIN.......LOL

I usually move in and out of an area during the heat of the day to have the least chance of being seen. It sounds like you probably move around more than I do, I usually glass and evening and a morning in one ridgeline/basin colony and next trip I pick another ridgeline/ basin colony in the same area to cover. From my experiances the mornings are much more productive than daytime or evenings and you only get one morning on an overnight scout so you gotta use it wisely.

Its gonna be great when it finally pays off, be it this year, next year or 5 years from now. The success WILL BE SWEET:biggrin:

[horshur]

I don't agree with steve about scent...it is the fundamental defense of deer and they are very handy with there nose...conditions change as temps change and a great high ridge above a basin can see a cooling thermal run downhill into his bedroom...being high does not guarantee you will not be betrayed somtimes it will be better to be in the basin at it's foot rather.
however I do not believe that the scent left while moving is a big deal. It's the sitting for a long time with an unfavorable thermal that could be a beacon to the deer who care...
considering a dog can wind a man at over a mile with favourable conditions it is somthing to think about.

also..if you can unravel some of the mystery's of scent..you can predict where the deer may be at given wind conditions.