Mule Deer behavior questions
goosepilot
10/21/09 7:16pm
I have never really hunted mule deer before and have a few questions for you experienced mule deer hunters.
I will be hunting areas in western Dakotas and eastern MT and WY. The area that I will begin hunting is a mixture of rolling grassland, sharp breaks and some partially treed hills/buttes. I observed a group of 8 bucks in late August. Opening morning of archery season I found most of these bucks in the same area, but in in groups of 3 or less. The biggest one is usually solo, but not always. The next 2 or 3 biggest ones tend to hang out with one or two medium or smaller bucks. The last day I hunted i saw 7 of them together as it was begining to snow. I will not get a chance to hunt them again until early to mid November. Will do a week of archery and then roll into rifle season.
What are these bucks likely to do? Will they become more territorial? Will the dominant buck stay and the younger ones branch out? As the hunting pressure increases, will they stay high or go lower onto farm grazing land? Will they stay go more remote, heavier cover, smaller cover?
Do you change how you hunt them later in the season?
I will be hunting areas in western Dakotas and eastern MT and WY. The area that I will begin hunting is a mixture of rolling grassland, sharp breaks and some partially treed hills/buttes. I observed a group of 8 bucks in late August. Opening morning of archery season I found most of these bucks in the same area, but in in groups of 3 or less. The biggest one is usually solo, but not always. The next 2 or 3 biggest ones tend to hang out with one or two medium or smaller bucks. The last day I hunted i saw 7 of them together as it was begining to snow. I will not get a chance to hunt them again until early to mid November. Will do a week of archery and then roll into rifle season.
What are these bucks likely to do? Will they become more territorial? Will the dominant buck stay and the younger ones branch out? As the hunting pressure increases, will they stay high or go lower onto farm grazing land? Will they stay go more remote, heavier cover, smaller cover?
Do you change how you hunt them later in the season?
1,994
Tough to say where they will go or what they will do without knowing the country area. If there FEED freezes they will likely move lower. But they usually won't stay together in groups like they do in velvet. Also the RUT will have a lot to do with where they go or are, not sure when they rut in these areas either?