Need help Bad

[jayhunt]

Any Body have any tips for an early season mule deer hunt. its hotter than s!@# we see tons of sign but cant find any bucks. this is my first ever mule deer archery hunt.

[BOHNTR]

Do you know of any water sources in the area away from roads?

[TheGreatwhitehunter]

jayhunt to Muley Madness, when ya get a minute tell us about yourself.

I agree with BOHNTR a water source off of the beaten path would be good to key in on.

[jayhunt]

There arent many access roads. and the ones that are driveable lead to the main water sources. I think They are bedded down for the day by 7:00 am from what ive seen This unit is rough dotted with lots of private yuppie wannabe ranch land. was out all weekend from thurs thru sun and only saw 5 does

[GUTPYLZ]

If you're seeing lots of Does, go higher or lower. Big bucks don't hang with Does right now, except the "Dinks". If, you're seeing lots of sign try stillhunting the canyons. I agree with the others on the water, except I hate hunting water. I don't have the patience for it. Stalking is more gratifying to me. Be sure to glass everything. Look for horns, ears, rumps. They hide anywhere. Once I don't see anything I go to where I don't think any Deer are present. I find that hunters don't like to hunt the sage flats and ridges because they don't have trees. I find these places to be "honeyholes" for me. You will find with a lot of hunting pressure they will seek refuge in these places. I hope this helps you out.

[jayhunt]

The terrain here is rough open flat then turns to steep mesas with cedar and pinon pine trees.Very little water up high. a wind mill here and there down on the flat.

This is the first ever bow hunt for me also a first for mule deer. here in nm its hotter then heck right now.
i m hunting with a high country ultra pro split limb set at 29 inch and 60 pound, easton thunder storm arrows and walmart broadheads. (my hunting budget is tapped) so any advice would be good advice for me since i just started shooting in june. thanks

[m gardner]

It was hard for me to find the bigger bucks this last week where I hunted but after 5 days of tracking and scouting I did find some. They laid up on the knife edge ridges in the breeze to keep the bugs off. I had three close calls but didn't arrow one. One 190 plus trash master, a 170 class 33 inch 3 point with no brows and a 140, 4 point with bows. I finally arrowed a little one in the last 15 minutes to have something to eat. Good luck.
Mark

[MuleyMadness]

Mark,

Sounds awesome, I'd like to see the little one.

[m gardner]

Here's the little one I got. His ears were bloody from all the fly bites he had on them. Mine were too. The back of my neck was raw too.
Mark

[MuleyMadness]

Very nice, thanks for sharing! Enjoyed the story and photo!