Another West Texas mule deer questions thread

Hey guys,

The Sanderson thread in this forum got me thinking. I'm headed out to some property with a lot of mule deer for the last three days of mule deer season. It is 4500 acres and has a good mix of canyons and flat creosote bush scrub. We see mule deer every time we are out there, but it's our first year on the property and I've never hunted them. I'm going to get up high and glass in the mornings, then probably hunt feeders in the evening.

Does anyone have any tips or techniques I should try to fill my tag?

Lots of glassing, lots of walking. Never hunted feeders for MD...

I can tell you from my experience from last week, that you got to go to them, they will not come to you. I would say finding water sources is a good idea to keep in your sights as you glass the canyons walls and ridges. We never found them on the bottoms, but rather on the sides of ridges buried in soto bushes and cedars. Pick a canyon and glass in the morning looking for movement and you must use the wind in your face to do so. It's a lot harder than it sounds, but it's got to be well worth it. I'm looking forward in connecting next year.

My buddy Steve in Terrell County had a recent run in with another MD buck, not the big one we were chasing but a very respectable one none the less. He closed to within 150 yds broadside and realized he had his 5.56 instead of his 7 mag. He tried to close the gap to make a great shot placement and then got busted by some immature WT does. Very frustrating.......There is still another day. He got pulled away to go chase a mountain lion on a neighbors ranch. So I'm sure he will be back at it in the next couple days.

Same here.

Be out at daylight and glass like a MoFo. From my experience, they tend to bed close to the top, just off a ridge, hardly ever in the bottoms, or right on top. Little shelf's on a hillside, are a great places to look at.

Hunting has been tough

Walk with your eyes not your feet. It's green and deer have not been moving much

Find a god spot you can see along way and glass, glass, glass

Given that I have three mornings and two evenings to hunt, what should I be satisfied with? I have never shot a mule deer. Someone told me that for Texas, any 4 X 4 buck outside the ears is good. Should I be satisfied with any non-spike buck? To be honest I would like to shoot a big bodied deer to help fill the freezer.

Depends entirely on the ranch.

Some ranches have small racked deer

What county are you hunting?

FYI there are big deer in the trans pecos

I hunt south of Iraan right off I-10. Hunted mulies all weekend this past weeekend with my buddy getting one buck the last day. We drove the ridges and spot and stalked for several days. Only time we had any luck was early in the morning as the deer moved to their bedding spots. Exactly how we caught the buck as he was with a doe. I've finally figured to target the areas they cross and wait in ambush for them to bed.

Make sure you are in good physical shape, mule deer hunting is real hunting.

This is my first one. These fellas are right. Lots of moving and lots of glassing. Mule deer are the color of the earth around them. And yesterday they let me drive my four wheeler to within 30 yards of them before they got up and trotted off. But the good news is that they went 100 yards from me, stopped, and looked back at me wondering what I was doing. I moved so much that a whitetail woulda hauled a$$. The muleys were unafraid.

There are big deer on the ranch. We have seen many nice muleys with 4 X 4 racks outside the ears. Given what people are saying about the hunting being tough and since I have never shot one, I think I'll shoot the first decent buck I get a good shot at, if I even see one of those.

Thanks for the tips. It appears I'll be spending some time behind my binoculars.