After the rut muledeer hunting.

[BIGHUNTERFISH]

I was wondering what you guys have experinced when hunting muledeer in Region 3 in early Dec after the rut.I usually never have a tag left or hunt that late in the season so I would love to hear how succesful you have been.Do you find the bucks bed in the heavy timber or do they start a regular feeding pattern to bulk up after the rut.

[BlacktailStalker]

I cant say I've hunted then for mulies, but I would imagine the second estrous is as good or better than the first.
Thats definitely the case with blacktails and elk IMO.

[MattB]

Toughest time of the year to find them in my opinion. Bucks are dead tired after the rut! You may be able to catch a buck if the 2nd rut kicks in, but besides that its a crapshoot!

[troutseeker]

Is thge rut still going on in reginon 3? I'm going there tomorrow for a peek...

[WoodOx]

yup, was yesterday Trout.

[johnk]

For the past five years, with the exception of this year I've had a groundblind set up on the end of a ridge at the back end of an isolated cutblock in the hills above Tunkwa Lake and last year the big buck I was playing cat and mouse with left tracks on the ridge right up to Dec.10th though he was not there during the rut.

I saw him half a dozen times during the summer, gone for the rut, and back there in December. I've found sheds on that ridge which is at 4600' according to my GPS.

During the rut I found tracks that may have been his about 500' lower on a series of fir ridges that had been logged after WWII and the roads/skidder trails are still passable except for blowdowns.

I don't know if they go into hiding after the rut but they definitely go to out of the way spots that hunters are unwilling to venture into.

Back to the logging for a point of interest. According to one of the local ranchers, after WWII the ranchers were given permission to log to supplement their income during the hard times. The ridges they logged are sparse with lots of deer sign but also lots of wolf tracks as well.

[Dirty]

Didn't Dana shoot Mass and Trash on the last day of the season? Hunt until the bitter end. I have heard that late season hunting is some of the best for big bucks.

[Caveman]

My biggest was shot in early Dec., as well as several other decent 4 points the last week of Nov. All were still hanging with does

[mark]

I too have nailed big bucks on Dec. 10, usually with 1 doe in a second heat! I love hunting till the last minute!

[troutseeker]

Wow, unreal day. I didn't see one single deer, or moose for that matter! The only animal I spotted was a skinny, lonely yote and he was too smart to stick around. Barely any tracks either, even in this great meadow at tne bottom af a small valley, it's usually a good bet for a few bambi's, but empty and no tracks...

Weird, as it's an area I know quite well and from which I pulled two mulies last year, and saw lot's of mulies, whitetails and moose too in the past.

I have to say that the area has been logged extensively this year and from the look of the improvements on the logging roads there has been a lot of lumber truck traffic lately. They were opening new roads today and one guy was making a small clearcut all by himself... Pretty sad state of affairs on what used to be a great spot.

Troutseeker

[WoodOx]

trout

I was in region 3 on saturday and experienced the same thing. a few of my hunting locs are hit and miss and some are consistent. go back, try again. all I saw for a lot of glassing and hiking was one buck rutting three does, and that was from 6-2pm.

theyre there!

[dana]

With little to no snow across most of Region 3, the deer are scattered from alpine to valley bottom and everywhere in between. Post rut things always get tough. This year will be exceptionally hard to find a good buck come the end. The year I killed MnT I was hunting in knee deep snow and the rut was way way over. The deer were already in their winter patterns. In a year like this year with no large accumilations of snow in the forcast, all I can say is good luck. I've hunted Region 3 on Dec 10th before in these conditions. T-shirt weather and swatting blackflys. Lots of fun.