Most guides and outfitters and hunters take advantage of a mule deer’s habits of grazing just before daylight and just after dusk. The biggest bucks are usually the last to the feed grounds, sometimes laying in the sage brush and/or timber until the last light has nearly faded. Many times they sneak out after legal shooting light.
In my guiding operation, I have found that during the full moon, mule deer bucks are more difficult to find in the twilight hours.
So, how does one find a big mulie buck in these circumstances? Hunting them in their beds at mid-day. Why waste several productive hours waiting for the deer to ‘move’. Why not go to them?
On the ranch where I hunt, one of the best ways to hunt is to drive or walk the ridges after we have checked the open grasslands early in the morning. On a cool day, deer tend to bed down in the sun; on a hot day try the shady side of the hill. Walk slowly, taking time to glass, glass, glass. Deer are experts at camouflage, and often the only thing you’ll see is the gleam of sun on a horn, or the deer’s grey back.
I have seen buck deer bedded down in cedar draws just off the country road, and along ridges within sight of a ranch house. They bed down on rocky hillsides, and in the heads of dry washes.
Deer often move during the day, depending on the temperature; they will often quietly move from a sunny hillside down into a cool draw, if the day warms up. Sitting on a ridge, using a good set of field glasses, one can often see this movement. They usually don’t more far or move fast, but constant glassing can pay off.
One thing that is necessary for mid-day hunting is good optics. You don’t need the most expensive, but you will need good, clear, glasses with a sharp focus. Ten power or higher is best. A good spotting scope can be invaluable, and a window mount helps inside a pickup. Often, a deer that looks ‘shootable’ through the field glasses can ‘shrink’ when on puts the scope on him. Better scope shrink than ground shrink.
As mulies in their beds usually feel safe and secure, and don’t move unless they are spooked or get either too hot or too cold, one can take a lot of time to glass and scope and judge the deer to see if they want to take the shot or wait for larger game. Mule deer tend to avoid predators by 1) running and 2) laying still and hoping nothing will see them. Many times the hunter can get fairly close and the deer will just lie there, hoping that you didn’t see him. If you do get unlucky and spook the deer, they will seldom go far. Watch the direction he takes, wait for a time, and slowly and carefully walk that direction, looking, glassing and scoping. You may luck on him again.
Once the deer is spotted, take your bearings and plan your stalk. Take into account the wind and the angle of the sun. Wind can betray you by carrying your scent to the deer, and the angle of the sun can cast your shadow before you or create a bad shot by having to shoot into the sun.
If you stalk within a reasonable distance, decide you want the deer, and can take a shot; it is best to take it. If you leave and try to circle around to find a better rest or a better angle, and you let the deer out of your sight, he may be gone. They are experts sneaking away, big rack and all.
One year a hunter and I spotted a large buck laying in a little ‘coulee.’ We watched him for a time; the deer seemed oblivious to our presence. The hunter decided the shot wasn’t what he wanted, so we angled down the draw and back up in hopes of getting a better angle. Guess what? It was a better angle all right, but the deer was gone when we got back to where he was bedded. Long gone, leaving no trace.
When stalking a bedded deer, make sure and take good coordinates. Several times I have come up the wrong cut, or made an error in where the deer was. Once I walked right past a bedded mulie when I misjudged where he was. After I was several yards away, I heard the distinctive ‘thump, thump, thump’ of his feet hitting the ground as he bounded away, down the draw, never to be seen again that season.
Mid-day hunting of mulies can be very productive, if you study the landscape and the habits of the deer. It takes good eyes, good optics, and good stalking skills, but I think it’s a great hunting experience.
