Re: mule deer question
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: motodog</div><div class="ubbcode-body">hey guys i saw a really nice buck today on public land.it was one of those as we were driving along a trail he just showed up stories. well i through the truck to park and bailed out after him as he bolted away.i noticed as he was running off he was draggin a portion of his rear leg.so i got to a position to get off a very quick shot and came up with a very clear miss as it was a super hurried shot,we checked the area for almost 2 hour and could find no trace of a hit or any trail.my question is do you think he may of stayed in the same area or close its snowing tonight and was hoping that would help track him.thanks </div></div>
Oh boy, your hunting where I always bag a mule deer aren't you? I come up to Gillette, WY unfortunatley I don't know anyone up there so I tend to hunt on the public land there. I have always bagged my mule deer there off 59 south of the city (if i am not mistaken). We also have decent luck off 59 north east of the airport.
Anyway, off that rant. From my experiences hunting mule deer in Arizona and WY I found they want LOTS of area, and cover a huge area. Here in AZ the Mule deer like the more open area's similar to that of Gillette, one day we tracked a mule deer over 6 miles. He was constantly over 1000 yards out, and at times we lost him, but found him again. It's not hard for me to imagine a mule deer covering 3-8 miles per day easy, but they do "come back around" at some point, you just need to know their pattern. In WY I found that they came back around 3-4 days later, here in AZ I found it was more like 4-5 in the low desert area, but 2-3 days in the mountains. If their is snow involved that usually doesn't scare them off, but when we get more than 12" on the ground, they tend to look for area's with less snow or no snow at all.
I need to come back up your way and drop a few more Antelope (please not in a sea of sage, they taste so nasty then), and a Mule deer! I've always had GREAT hunts there in WY!
