I am blessed to know many of the finest mule deer hunters in the country. Some of them you have heard of, like Brian Barney and Guy Eastman. Then there are some that you haven’t and probably never will because trophy mule deer hunters are often a secretive group who don’t want their names drawing attention. Which brings me to what I consider the best perk of my job, it is learning about how these consistent killers have grown over the years and regularly put big bucks on the ground. This article is all about the tactics that I or some of the best I have ever met employed to kill mature, grey faced, strong scoring mule deer almost every single season.
Tactic 1- Live With The Deer!
Every good mule deer hunter does their best to live with the deer. They scout in the summer, they hunt them in the fall and they go to winter range to find out which grey faced brutes lived through the deadly game of high country hide and seek. Finally, they spend the spring watching the transitional ranges to learn their travel routes to help find bucks when the snow gets deep and it’s time to leave the high basins.
When time is limited or geographic distance makes regular observation impossible, summer scouting needs to take priority. Two of my biggest high country mule deer were scouted ahead of time. I knew those bucks were living in the basins I killed them in and they were not killed by accident. In 2018 I spent more time scouting than I did hunting because I killed my buck the second day of the season.
Regularly spending time observing and learning the patterns and behaviors of big mule deer will lead to more trophies taken. This tactic is what separates the average hunter from the guys who take the upper echelon of mule deer regularly.