I'll be hunting mule deer second season this year. DIY on private land around 6800-7000 ft elevation. No ag plots on this property, but there are alfalfa fields within a couple miles on another ranch closer to the river. On X maps shows several water holes and a few meadows that could have good grass. I can't tell how much, if any, scrub oaks are on the property. No game cam pics. No one lives there or will have hunted it before the 19th. 1st time to hunt Colorado and mule deer.

Any tips would be appreciated!

How big of a place is it? that's gonna be of some relevance in how you are able to hunt.

Mule deer are gonna be where you find them. Generally they haven’t started migrating in large numbers yet. We see them at 6000’ feet all the way up to 10,000’ feet during second season.

My advice would be to find a nice meadow where you can see a good ways and look for them comming out of the timber at daylight and in the evening. A lot of times they will be in the exact same spot as the day before so don't rush if you can't get on them or the stalk opportunity is iffy.

I’ve seen some very nice mule deer in southern Colorado. Remember, what would be a good whitetail is a small mule deer. Read up on judging mule deer in the field. A rocky mountain mule deer can push 300 lbs.


How many days do you have to hunt?

Around 1500 acres
19th-27th I left my schedule open to hunt the whole 9 day season, if needed. Going to scout a little on the 17th and 18th.

I've been looking over threads where people have posted pics of their buck with scores. 22-23" ears on a mature buck.

Quite often hunting Muley's and Elk comes down to 90% scouting/glassing and 10% hunting. Good glass and be cognizant of wind direction and thermals rising in the morning and going down at night. They often behave like elk and head to the lower fields at night if there is alfalfa or good grass.

The mule deer are going to feed all night long. They will walk down off of a mountain every night to feed on alfalfa, and then at first light, work their way back up the mountain. The bigger, older bucks will head back up a lot sooner then the little guys and the does. Some of the really old bucks might not even head down to the alfalfa!!! You need to be on a high ridge, as high as you can get before first light and then you need to be glassing as soon as you can see. There should be deer moving from the alfalfa on up the mountain. If you are lucky, a nice buck will be working his way up to where you are sitting, I had that happen once with a massive forked horn that I should have taken, but I wanted a 4x4 and knew of one that I wanted already, so I let him walk right past me. I've had does walk past my so close that I thought about touching them, but didn't because I wanted to see what was behind them. A big buck will push smaller bucks ahead of him too, so look extra hard at a line of small bucks to see if the big boy is behind them. Mule Deer hunting is all about glassing. A friend told me that you shouldn't move your binoculars very much with glassing, but to hold them rock steady on a spot and look at every inch of what you can see by moving your eyeballs, not the binoculars. This is also why buying the very best binoculars is the most important purchase that you can make when hunting Mule deer, or elk in the mountains.

Is this place south of Durango?

Which part of S Colorado? SE will be open country hunting with river or stream beds and ag fields scattered. Lots of grass, dry land grazing as well.

Good Luck