I'm probably one of the ones not real good at aging deer on the hoof, especially mule deer, but he looks like he might remember cattle drives going by.

I grew up in CO and remember when they tried to put antler restrictions on mule deer. It failed miserably and was rescinded. It worked for elk when they went to the 4 pt rule but it did not work for mule deer. Personally I am not a fan of any sort of antler restrictions. You should be able to tag the deer that makes you happy. If you want a fork horn for meat and are willing to punch your buck tag with it then you should be allowed to. If you want to hold out for a big gnarly buck then you should be allowed to. The state should NOT dictate what deer you want to tag. PERIOD.

Anyone on here hunt the archery season for mule deer in the pan handle? Always been curious because my place is on the caprock but I’m trying to figure out how to lure them up out of the canyon. Corn doesn’t seem to work consistently.

Wheat is the best thing if you have a field to plant it.

We used good rabbit hay Alfalfa on Dkershen's place around 20 years ago and wheat fields when we had the rain. They liked the Alfalfa.Rancher had cattle on the wheat and the deer didn't mind at all.

this made me laugh a lot harder than it should have!!!

Y’all throwing out bales of alfalfa or planting it?

How much do I need? Can I do patches or do I need large acreage/fields

It’s a tough assignment. I’ve taken whitetail with a bow but never a mulie. Obviously tree stands don’t come into play in the panhandle. I’ve spent hours in a tripod snuggled up against a big cedar along a game trail leading to/from our wheat field. Got within shooting distance of does and young bucks but never anything trophy quality.

Big as you can manage. Even a small herd of mule deer will decimate a small food plot in a matter of days.

Yeah, that dude looks like he should be drawing Social Security.

In theory, I'd agree with you. But with muleys being much less numerous than whitetails, muleys being absolutely STUPID during the rut, and the fact that on average, muley hunters are not nearly as selective as whitetail hunters, I disagree. It seems everyone wants to claim the novelty of killing a mule deer buck.

In ten years before the experimental ARs, I NEVER saw a "big gnarly buck." I never saw a buck outside his ears or with more than a single fork on each side. And I'm talking about years where I would see mule deer every hunt.

I get it. There are places where a lot of folks on here hunt where they routinely see trophy mule deer. But not everyone can be on a 4,000 acre ranch where the lease members are locked in to only shooting 7+ year-old deer.

We're only here because most hunters have historically shot any muley with visible bone. "I'm not driving all they way back to DFW without a buck in the truck." US-287 gas stations used to be littered with truck beds hauling of dink muleys. If it weren't true, the experimental ARs would have been transparent to everyone. No one would have noticed.

But we did notice, and they have worked as advertised.

Spot on, couldn’t agree more.

I’ve hunted the same place in one of the experimental counties for a long time. Since the experimental ARs were implemented, the quantity and quality of muley bucks I see has skyrocketed. Years ago I’d be happy to see a forked antlered muley during season. Now I may see fifteen young fork antlered bucks that aren’t to 20” yet but will be when mature. The AR rules may not keep poachers honest but they indeed work, especially when there is a lot of hunters in an area, or multiple hunters on the smaller owned places, I.e half section or 3/4 section ranches…

in Theory this would be ideal and the guys who want to shoot forkies can shoot forkies and the guys who want big mature bucks can shoot big mature bucks, but unfortunately that's not reality.


The guys shooting forkies are also shooting mature bucks in the same trigger pull and the guys wanting mature bucks are left without anything due to everyone shooting immature bucks.


Herds need a proper structure and if 90% of buck harvest is of immature animals you won't have one.


The state dictates just about everything to everyone....ie. how fast I can drive, where I can and can't exit, when I can burn a brush pile and when I can't, etc. this is just another example.

try a pop up blind for better concealment. Won't say you will get a big buck but they work better to bowhunt from than a tripod.

If I were bowhunting muleys I would stake out a water hole of some sort. There's still lots of stuff to eat in the pastures, but the gotta have water.

There are panhandle counties i.e. Hutchinson, Dallam that do not have restrictions.

Curious, is any one use scents with any success for Mule Deer in the Panhandle? I’ve seen Moccasin Joe makes two kinds and was wondering if anyone has used these with any success?

I've had hunters show up with all sorts of scents and attractants. Useless IMO.

I have used doe pee on a cotton ball along an established game trail when bow hunting as a way to get a white tail deer to stop and sniff. Helped get the shot presentation I wanted, but wasn't the reason the buck was heading my direction.

Laugh if you want, but put up a feeder and start throwing corn. Mule deer, does and bucks alike will come to corn feeders, just like whitetails. Got too many pictures for it to be a lie.

Texas season really doesn’t encompass rut and the ranches/that do hunt Rut are MLD so they aren’t shooting baby deer. I get the sentiments but I think harvest quality regulations should be set by individual ranches. If your shoot a young deer because the neighbor might then you are that neighbor.

I don’t think we should have spread restrictions for mule deer. Just an opinion l