NJheadhunter71

Its just about 2 weeks beforewe leave for or DIY mulie riflehunt in Wy.region R area Oct 15th opener. Just to give you the quick low down on how we plan on doing this is todrive 4X4 f250 dualie withslide in style camper and 4wheeler in tow out there, camp off road, set up camp in the general area where we plan to hunt and use the 4 wheeler on the ORV trailsto get to areasfarther off the roads. The only thing I am not all that confident about is this: should we concentrate on glassing the more open areas or shouldwe cover more ground on foot andspot and stalk the wooded edges more? Someone told me they have more success moving and bumping them and then makingthe stalks? They also hunted the area and said that the bigger more mature deer hang higher up until the weather pushes them down. Is this correct? I am looking at the area on google earth and Iam tring to figure out\cross referencean area on my GPSI want to be but am having difficulty because its so vast not like back east and the deer move though funnels.Someone said find a water hole in the middle of nowhere and you will find deer. Is this also correct? One more thing, my permit says "any deer" does this also meanwhitetail? I want to thank every body that has helped me try to prepare for this trip!

Wheatley

Look in the regulations to see if that area allows whitetail. If you are up in the high country you won't see a whitetail anyway. The two methods you stated should both be used for high country Mule deer. In the early morning and evening hours you will be better off glassing open field edges. During the day walk into the thicker stuff and head for high ridges. Mule deer like that rocky stuff as well and often beed in them during the day. Good luck.

WYOWIRES

Check with the locals and get a fire report. there were several fires on the Big Horns the last couple of months. The BLM or the Forest Service should be able to tell you all the nitty gritty. Good Luck
WYOWIRES

NJheadhunter71

Well the truck is packed, electronics all charged upand therifles are shooting true!We are ready to leave tomorrow morning! I figure we will get there late Saturday night and will wait to setup camp until Sunday morning.
MAN, AMI STOKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wyotimberghost

Good luck!

bronko22000

How did you make out? What methods worked Best? Give us the details.

NJheadhunter71

We drove out and hunted right outside of Lovell and set up camp in the Cotton Wood canyon area in the northern foothills of the Big Horns. I will be honest in saying we had no idea about what the hell we were doing and what to expect! There was such a deverse landscape it was amazing. We had farm fields along the Big Horn river bottomto hunt mulies as well as whitetails but choose to stay in the upper draws and canyons for mulies. We talked to some locals that seemed some what peeved we were even there and then we met some greatguys that basicly told us how to glass them as well as when to spot them. For the most part though we met some really goodpeople that realized we were no different them except they thought we were nuts fordriving all that way for deer. They all said "your drove out here from New Jersey"? for deer? and we just laughed and said YUP.They all assumed we were elk hunting.I found out that mule deer are experts at disapearing and hiding in sage brush. We had some truck trouble which caused us to leave 2 days late and we didn't end up hunting until tuesday afternoon! After we gotour camp in order we did the traditional flip of a coin to see who gets first shot andas luck would have it I was shooting first.We were trying not to road hunt and even would park and glass from above onlyusing the4 wheelersto get from draw to draw. Well we found out that unless you have that "game eye" to be able to spot a deer movein a bed500+ yardsaway on the side of a mountainyouare better off glassing at dawn and dusk. I can also kick myself for notgetting a reduced cow elk tag since in ourhikes to the tops of the mountains we ran into some good big old cows and a couple rag hornsthat were 150 yards from us and never knew we were there glassing them. Well after a day and a half of beating our heads against the sage bush and seeing more tracksthan you can shake a stick at andI finally spotted two bucks making thier way down a draw at dusk. It was pouring rain (I thought you guys don't get much rain!) anda ceiling of clouds were covering up the area pretty fast. Just asI put the cross hairs on the biggest one after closing to 200 yards the clouds rold into the hills and covered them up! I said sh*t time to go in and get them. I stalked to around the last area I had seen them and bam! clounds roll out and I am standing 150 yrds from one heckof a mulie staring mestraight in the face! I hit the dirt (mud) and prepared for a shot. As I put the cross hairs on him and pulled trigger he took a step forward and I shot over him which causedboth deer to high tail it over the ridge into a ravine that to this day I will neverknow how they crossed so fast before I could get a second shot at them.Well, I don't know how to say this but MAN AMI A LOSER!!!!!!!! We over came so much stuff from notknowing were to hunt to the bad weatherconditions to truck issues (we almost boilded a tranny going overroute 14 getting there) to have me blow it at a big ass mulie! Well after we knew what to do and how to getir done with one day left to hunt and...............we scored on a decent 5x6 my buddie took at 100 yards after a short stalk. One thing i found out about mule deer is this: they have alargercomfort zone than whitetailswhen it comes to getting close to them and also they are masters at disapearing! We saw several does that saw us and would just put there heads back down and eat. All in all I can't help but think that we were victorious inour quest for a mule deer even though I missed. I also want to thank you guys for the pointers and also to the two local fellas driving the fast as hell Yamaha Rhino 660 that we ran into in cottonwood canyon the last day thatpointed us to the area where my buddy scored a nice deer.Our friends from back East thought wewere NUTS for going it alone without a guide. When we started sending pictures of the buckfrom our cell phones we started hearing thequestion of are you guys going next year? and do you have room for me next season?We got him back to camp and I quartered himup and me being a taxidermist caped him out in the trailerin 2 hours flat. Attached is a pic. Just for reference sake the buck I shot at was honestly twice this bucks size!

manboy

a guys first muley always seems huge, glad you had a good hunt. muleys are fun to hunt the first few years. after a few it will seem they get stupid. you will also get all kinds of looks when you are from the other side of the states!
again glad you guys had fun!

bronko22000

Gongrats on your friends mulie. And, at least to me, it isn't the kill that's important, but the adventure. As for you missing a nice mulie - well 's**t happens'. I just hope it doesn't happen to me. I'm heading out to WY for elk on Tues. from PA.

*Hiker*

Glad to see you guys connected on at least one mulie. Maybe the next hunt you'll get your dream buck too. Thanks for the photo and stories.