Words of advise if you like hunting whitetails

Don’t ever hunt mule deer.

Ever. Just don’t do it.

It will ruin whitetail hunting for you.

Would love to go but I doubt much of anything will change how I feel about my in general deer hunting.

So will elk hunting

You may be surprised.

I made this same mistake by going bass fishing in Mexico a few times. Really have no desire to beat up the local lakes any longer. Kind of wish I would have never gone.

yeah I know what you mean.

bass fishing was ruined for me a long time ago. the only thing I get excited about anymore is fishing rivers for smallmouth/trout, but I only do that a few times a year anymore

Spot and stalk is just more fun!

Kudu hunting in Africa falls into this category as well.

I have heard that

Went over to a clients house the other day. He has 6 or 7 kudu on his wall, 2 Cape buffalo, 2 grizzlys, 2 elk, several pronghorn, only one whitetail.

I get it

I’ve hunted mule deer in a few states and whitetail in a few and I don’t really prefer one over the other. I do enjoy the change of pace from one to the other but would not want to only hunt one from now on or any one critter for that matter.

The cost of travel, time off ext keeps me from switching fully to elk/ mule deer. Although I am about to head out on my third elk hunt of the year.

I haven’t done it yet, but I’m dying to. Plan on putting in for a tag. Been buying points in Utah for a few years now to cash in on a nice hunt down the road. I want a nice mulie pretty bad.

I'm almost done with sitting in a blind. I gotta get in on this Texas Mule deer thing.

I prefer the spot and stalk from a Jeep method but they both beat the heck out of sitting still in a blind for hours.

I love hunting muledeer. I just can't see setting in a blind over a feeder and shooting a 30" buck but I guess it can be done. I love walking in the mountains looking for them thinking there's a big one in the next canyon.

I made that mistake ( spot and stalk) at a Topless bar one night

Not to hijack the thread but let's hear the story! Lol

Walk point a few times in a combat situation and then tell me how "exciting" spot and stalk is.

....that would be called walk and shot hunting....walk until you get shot. Doesn't sound like fun unless your the shooter.

I love hunting in general. To me there is no animal more majestic than a mature WT buck. I wouldn’t t pass up a mule deer hunt but I’ve spot and stalked WT so can’t be much different. Most people I know who hunt MD drive around in a ranger and spot the deer then drive close and shoot them.

On a side note I agree with DC nothing compares to walking on point waiting to hear bullets zip by your head, it’s exhilarating.

Nope, you are hunting something that will shot back. You are stalking your prey hoping to see him and get the shot off before he sees you.

It’s funny. I hunt other stuff and am borderline obsessed with it. (Mountain hunts and woodcock primarily.)

But I still always look forward to whitetail hunting in November. I don’t think that will ever change.

I understand the strategy DC. I'm happy to say I have no experience doing it, but if your walking point trying to find me and shoot me before I shoot you, your a dead man walking.

First deer I ever killed was a muley. After taking all day to get his [censored] up the mountain to my vehicle (no jeep!)I had all I ever need of Mule Deer hunting.
That's why I am a whitetail hunter.

Meh iv done both but still like WT just as much... I just like hunting in general... just as happy with sitting under a tree and busting Squirrel

Same for me. I'm lucky in that where I hunt white tail spot and stalk works great there as well.

^^Agreed on both

Maybe I've just had unique experiences but I've found Mule deer to be rather dumb. I have shot several and their nature to stop and look back at a disturbance is a major flaw!!! Now white tails rarely if ever give me such an opportunity. I pursue the challenging animal!!!!!

You might want to watch the 2 videos double naught spy posted on the "why?" thread. Lol.

That's the behavior I've seen. What I like about muley hunting is (where I've hunted them) you have to be on the move. Driving, walking, glassing. I enjoy that part. It is physical, and I bet I won't be able to do it when I'm old and beat down. So I'll enjoy while I can.

You mean, hunting public land?

Spot and stalk on mule deer was the beginning of the end for me. Can barely stand to hunt in a blind anymore. When I do sit in a blind I am usually doing some sort of work on my ipad or something.

Up until about 8 years ago getting a mule deer tag in colorado was no problem, after the chronic wasting epedimic it's been damn near impossible. You can get elk tags over counter but need 5 or 6 preference points in most areas for mule deer....

I shot one about 10 years ago, i remember I was so tired and about to give up. I had been hunting my butt of for 2 days and seen nothing but does, while everyone else in camp had tagged out on elk and no one had seen many deer. I sat under a tree, took a break, and said a prayer, God please let there be a deer up ahead. I got up, put my back back on and hiked another half mile and low and behold there was a buck about 100 yards away. I lied down, army crawled a little closer and popped him. You just can't put that feeling into words! I like the public land part because it's a gamble, you don't know if you'll get one, but when you do, especially after not getting something for a couple years and hunting hard, its the greatest feeling in the world. I get really spiritual when I hunt, and have had some of the wildest stuff happen right after saying a prayer.

Apple and Oranges to me.

Have hunted Muleys and Elk in NM, agree it's a blast. But, I still really enjoy settling into a stand to watch a nice patch of woods for WT, especially if my kiddos or a good friend are with me. Love soaking up a nice view. 90% of our stands don't hunt feeders, so that helps. Have to pay attention, deer could pop out from any direction at any time.

The last deer I killed which was 4yrs ago was a Mule Deer and I was hunting with txtrophy85 so I wished he would have advised me of his findings prior to my hunt.

Try dove hunting in Argentina and then come back and scratch out a 15 bird limit.

Mule deer hunting is fun and it is nice to get out and move around using spot and stalk methods, but it does not take long to spot and stalk 400 acres of whitetail country. Hunting out of a blind, you can hunt all day on 400 acres. Hunting whitetails also offers 2 months of hunting and mule deer season only offers 2 weeks, if you are staying in Texas.

The funnest hunting I do is hog hunting. Get out at night and spot them and then stalk within 20-50 yards with a shotgun and blast them. Its good fun way more fun than sitting in a blind but I still love sitting in a blind waiting on deer too. Don't think that will change any time soon especially since my son is getting close to the age where he can start shooting too.

I hunted mule deer for the first time last January and came back worried that I would lose interest in South Texas whitetail. I was wrong. Still love blind hunting for whitetail, but now I plan to book a mule deer hunt every 2-3 years.

Just being a goofball

Your fortunate.

I All but abandoned south texas

Still love going down there though and messing around but the deer hunting aspect just isnt there anymore

maybe you never enjoyed WT hunting as much as many of us do to start with.

So if you had the choice of hunting whitetail or not hunting at all, would you opt not to hunt?

Nothing compares to hunting mule deer in the mountains of Colorado, Nevada or the Big Bend country of Texas. Have never had a feeder or blind here hunting whitetails. Just sit behind a big live oak and wait until a good buck comes by.

I was ate up with it in my early 20’s.

I did so much of it between hunting for myself and guiding hunters I was in a box blind literally 1/2 the days of the open season

Killed a ton of them and a few nice bucks.

Well naturally I would go hunt whitetail.

Sounds like you just burnt yourself out on it.

I hunted the senderos once. Once was enough for me. All the country looked the same. Every hunt was the same-looking at deer come to corn on a road. Bored me to tears.

That’s a pretty broad stroke. We have creek bottoms, draws, hills, lots of 200 year old oaks, thick brush, open coastal pastures, lush oat patches, and even a mile and a half of lake frontage on our piece of south Texas. But hell, i haven’t hunted anywhere that I couldn’t find something to enjoy about the experience. Maybe it’s because I cut my teeth hunting the heavily pressured planted pines of East Texas. All of it beats a day grinding out hours at the office.

a lot of south texas is the same. Grosvenor is correct in that some places have a lot of variety and are a joy to be on, but much of it is exactly the same.


but that goes for a lot of areas, both in east texas, the hill country and the post oak region.

every area is different and the same

This is me. I'm to the point that I enjoy being outdoors and "hunting" and just watching more than the actual killing. Hell, I killed my buck opening weekend this year and still went several more weekends just to sit in the stand and observe knowing I wasn't going to shoot anything unless a coyote or hog walked out.

I just enjoy hunting. One of my favorite things is to hunt different terrains and environments and trying to learn the animals that live there. Hunting East Texas whitetail is different than hill country whitetail and the panhandle is different than them both. Kansas was an all new experience. Every Ranch I have been on offers something new and different.

I have heard that killing a big whitetail will ruin you on smaller ones. I’m not that way either. I can hunt 150+ deer in Kansas and go back to 120-140” hill country deer the next weekend.

Mule deer and elk hunting sure didn’t ruin whitetail for me. I love em all

I may just be addicted to the mountains and desert.

I would love to get on a big ranch in val verde county or Crockett county where I could spot and stalk whitetail and may book a coues hunt in the near future.

Sheep do the same thing to me. I’ll run over my grandma to get a good look at a aoudad or mouflon sheep


I do enjoy sitting in a pop up or Tripod (my favorite) bow in hand in good weather though

My favorite is in a tree with my bow...but most places I hunt it is hard to find a good tree

Hunting predators at night or a nice spot and stalk squirrel hunt in a pecan bottom, is so much more fun and challenging to me than sitting in a blind and popping a whitetail, there is no comparison. I haven't shot a deer in a decade and may not ever.

That’s true. I have no desire to argue about it and obviously I’m only speaking for me and my limited impressions. Everyone is different.
Of course I will always prefer east TX - I was born and raised there.

If you’re not putting in for the NM sheep tag you need to do so. Costs about $65 a year and you have the exact same chance as everyone else. No preference/bonus point system.
Also look at WY (25% of tags in random draw) - $150 there though.
Also several state raffles (WY, MT, OR, WA, AZ, ID,NV).
Also several conservation group raffles for Dall/Stone hunts (WSF, GSC/O, state WSF chapters).

For about $300/year you can have several “shots”. Kinda long shots - but one day one may hit.

Just a thought.

Yeah I feel your pain.

Trees are a rare commodity in some places

What are these trees yall speak of?

Fence posts, with barb wire for limbs, sometimes real big ones, those are highline poles with power lines for limbs.

Meh, I disagree, I've hunted muleys in the pandhandle and new mexico, I much prefer bowhunting whitetail and their table fare is better