There are a lot, and I mean a lot, of videos on Youtube, etc. about cultivating land to attract and retain white tail deer. I can't find similar videos on attracting and retaining mule deer. Is there such a thing? There are mule deer in my area but not white tail so I wondered if it is possible to develop land that will draw them. I can't even find good videos that show the type of landscape mule deer like, (although I can guess based on the fact that they are around me).

I would also welcome any sources anyone can provide. Videos, books, website, etc. etc.

Thanks for any input.

Where's your area?

Location aside, I'd just focus on drilling some wheat if you can. They will come.

This^

How serious are you, and what acre can you plant?

Two big ones are wheat and alfalfa

They need something for winter time. Up here our mule deer can migrate for a hundred miles in winter to acceptable forage areas.
I would think alfalfa would be a good draw, winter wheat too as stated.
Muley bucks like solitude until the rut, they need some type of terrain for bedding and watching their area.
Mountain mahogany is the big draw up here for their forage in non ag areas.
Alfalfa draws them in in our agricultural areas though too.
They like standing corn as well.

That's my ttake, mule deer are a different critter. I don't think you could attract them, not sure. Water is probably number one.

Alfalfa is king.

Mule deer will use feeders and like BOBO posts alfalfa will attract them. Mineral sites will also attract mule deer.
Low hunting pressure also will attract them, they don't like to be pushed around or looked at too much, mature bucks that is.

Im not sure so maybe I shouldnt chime in. Others can correct me. I think they can be attracted just like WT. Research, as you are, on what to use. Im thinking that one difference might be that Mule deer might gang up on the crop more(and hammer it) than WT so you may need a bigger area...??

Mulies love winter wheat and in our case triticale. If you plant a big enough food plot they'll find it. Much more success with food plots than corn or protein. If you've got 100 acres of wheat on the edge of a canyon they'll come for miles.

Case in point... just a small subset of this heard. I counted 70+ in this field that morning. Wheat was just beginning to come up.

Pretty interesting to see the big groups out on winter wheat fields or other ag fields. They will herd up to good sized groups and hammer it like stated.

Interested in the triticale . Going to look into that. We could do some dry land type planting late in summer/early fall on some meadows. Elk might like it with the deer.

Both like the trace mineral blocks up here, cattle supplements that they always see. Mule deer will readily use the blocks and tub mineral put out for cattle.
I do think crops will draw them in more though. Better nutrition for them.

Try to do some good predator management too. They have fewer twins and coyotes can really do a number on mule deer fawns, mt lions as well up here. They hit the herds hard in winter when they yard up too.

my BIL used to lease out 40k+ acres and guide in the panhandle and used to run a grain drill thru a portion of a large CRP field that came up pretty good. Drew Mule deer in from miles ... at least one known buck that was taken was on game cam about 20-30 miles away

Bobo, was that pic taken in Texas? I ask because, I'm not sure I've ever seen alfalfa growing in our usually dry Texas mule deer country. Montana and Wyoming, yup. Texas, I just haven't seen it yet.

It is irrigated if it's grown up here.

We just feed alfalfa to keep the does around then the bucks show up. Unfortunately many times the season is over before any real rut action. They were eating a 3 strand bale every 4-5 days in 2 locations and I got lucky and had a nice buck eating it consistently before the rut and killed him. If you can plant alfalfa or wheat that would prob be your best bet.

That’s not, that’s in CO. But here are a couple of my alfalfa fields that’s are in TX and Okla, I range between 1-4 sections of alfalfa any given year.

You can grow alfalfa any where, they tend not to do it further south not because of heat/drought but blister bugs. There is a lot of alfalfa from Memphis north to north west. I’ve seen It grown in Erath county also, has I had a 20 acre patch that had alfalfa and lab labs for two years.

90% of Alfalfa is irrigated. It’s only way to get 2-3 cuttings a year aka maximum tonnage output per acre. Alfalfa has one of the highest planting cost out there. I normally get three years out of a planting before needed to re-seed or rotate out. I have mule deer and elk walk through my winter wheat to get to the alfalfa.

If you are not growing for maximum tonnage then irrigation is nice but not needed. Kind of like growing corn to flood for ducks, you are not trying to grow 280 -300 bushel corn, just growing enough to hold ducks through season. Same with dry land alfalfa for deer. Farming and food plots is completely different unless you are STXrancher. He is only one I know that grows for maximum tonnage solely for deer, but he is unique

Depending where you are located. Anything you plant needs rain. Wheat or oats do a lot better with small rainfall. Alfalfa in Texas usually needs irrigation to grow it.
If I were putting in wheat in west Texas for deer I would broadcast the seed and very lightly disk it in so it is just buried. It will come up easier with minimal rainfall and a heavy dew can keep it green enough for deer forage. It doesn’t take much beyond green shoots to draw deer.

Thanks for all the great feedback. I regret not being able to check in sooner to give more info. I'm in far west Texas, so very desert conditions. Like I said I do see a lot of mule deer out here. I have access to one 20 acre parcel and I am looking into getting another 20 to 40 acre parcel a little closer to known mule deer action. It is obviously very arid conditions so formal irrigation is not really an option. I know of one parcel for sale that is in a natural low spot in the landscape and will hold water a little better than the surrounding areas. Perhaps wheat or alfalfa can be planted in a spot like that? I also assume that providing a source of drinkable water would be a benefit as well?

Yes to both. You can plant both at same time also or over seed wheat on top of established alfalfa. When doing either or both via dry land don’t get crazy with seeding rates or depth. Alfalfa is a very fine seed and can be sown. If you have access to a brillion drop seeder, I’d mix both and plant that way.

Awesome thank you