I have "spot and stalk" hunted mule deer many times. Not much cover on the properties that I had permission to hunt. Some cedar filled draws, a few narrow creek bottoms .... but mostly open grass land.

I always have hunted during the mid November time frame. This seems to be about when the does are in heat and the bucks are bumping them hard, if not full fledged chasing them. The first two hunts I used a well thought of guide. The others were "self guided". He did not use a call of any type. Neither have I. Not sure if it would help.

My suggestion is that if not already, you start saving up and buy the best binoculars that your budget will allow. You cannot get "too good" a set. If you hunt the way that I did, spot and stalk, you will spend hours and hours behind the binos. Often times all I was able to spot were antlers above the brush, or a leg midst the scrubby cedars, or an ear, or the top edge of a back against a bolder .... and usually I was spotting at rather long distances where detecting detail is an absolute premium.

Not sure what shooting skills that you have. I'd go prepared for 400 yard shots. But frankly the longest shot I have ever had to take was about 325. And only once. All others have been under 250. Some under 100. I spent a lot of time and energy trying to close to within 150 and was successful most of the cases.

The other unexpected thing that I encountered was the bitterness of the cold. Coming from the south, near 0F temperatures with snow falling "horizontally" in 20+ mph winds was a whole new deal. One time I went up there it was almost 60F in the day time and never got below 30F. Another time I was there, the the high for the first day I hunted was 3F and the low was -23F four days later. So do your research ahead of time and be prepared.


I did a ton of walking. A good pair of boots in my opinion is a must. Some of where I was was covered in prickly pears. All of it .... the ground was uneven and often I was stalking traveling on very steep hillsides. Don't go "cheap" on the boots.

Good luck.