Hunting Mule Deer in October
By Logan Romney
My Experience
Growing up in a state that offered over-the-counter tags every year to residents, I almost didn’t spend any time outside of October hunting mule deer. Sure I loved to get out and watch deer other times of the year but for me, my family and my friends, October was deer season and that was all I cared about in my early years of hunting.
I like to think I grew up right at the end of a golden age of hunting, although I am only 22 years old at the time of writing this, in the last 6-8 years hunting has blown up to incredible proportions. When I was younger, we would go hunting and rarely see other hunter, especially out of state hunters. As I have gotten older, the same places I hunted as a kid now have more California and Utah license places scattered across the unit than resident plates. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, and it is a discussion for another day but it makes it much more difficult to find areas to hunt, especially in October, that don’t have people walking through every drainage and ridge there is. This makes finding deer, especially big deer, a seemingly impossible task.
I’ve hunted October mule deer hunts every year since I was following my dad around on his hunts. I will admit, having a father who was passionate about hunting absolutely attributed to my years of success hunting mule deer because of the areas he showed me and the things he taught me about deer hunting. By the time I was able to drive, I started venturing off into different areas, trying to find new spots in hopes of turning up a giant buck. When scouring country for new areas, I always thought about the type of country my dad would take me when we hunted years prior. I tried to find patterns and similarities in terrain, vegetation, and access. Through the years of searching, I learned more than I could image and I know as I keep working hard to find new areas and learn current areas better, the chances of finding big bucks will only rise.
Where to Start
Mule deer are one of, if not the hardest animal to harvest a mature specimen. Big mule deer are smart, and I mean smart. I used to think, “How smart can a deer really be?…” and take my word for it, big deer are freakin smart. Hundreds of hunters venture into the woods during rifle season and come winter time, giant deer always emerge from the hills quite possibly without being seen during any of the hunting seasons. How?
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We like to think we know what big bucks habits are, but I have come to realize, we really have no idea. Sure, there are people who find and kill big bucks every year, and there are certain patterns and habits that we can try to live by, but I would image all those people would admit that when it comes to big mule deer bucks, there’s always more to learn.
Mule Deer Habits
It’s important first to understand mule deer habits. What are the deer doing, where are they at, and why? We can start during the summer months. In general, deer move very high during the summer months because of the high temperatures and the amount of people recreating in the mountains. Bucks especially will be really high often above 8,000 – 10,000 feet above sea level. Some mountain ranges will vary in size, this means most often, the best place to look is as close to the top as possible. Some states can hold ranges reaching nearly 12,000+ feet of elevation, and yes, deer will live this high in the summer. Come September timeframe, after shedding their velvet, bucks start to move into lower, thicker country. Most often, bucks will drop somewhere between 1,000 – 2,000 feet of elevation. During this time of year, bucks are often solo or in small bachelor groups and are getting ready to rut come November/December timeframe. Bucks are very weary and spend most of their time in thick cover.
Ask any seasoned deer hunter and they’ll tell you October is the hardest time to find mature mule deer bucks. This is because big bucks spend most their time in thick cover and are often nocturnal during these times of year because of hunting pressure and other predators.
Finding The Deer
Now that we know what the deer are doing and why, we can really focus on the types of areas these bucks will be living during October. Different areas and states are going to have different habitats. For the sake of this article, I’ll speak from my experience hunting areas with lots of terrain, sage brush, pines, and aspen groves. This is very common country to find along the Rocky Mountains through Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah and Colorado. I have found the most success hunting areas with a lot of pine cover, most often relatively south facing slopes, with smaller clearings scattered throughout the face. I’ve found that bucks will often live in these thick pine areas and feed across the hillside into these small pine clearings. The deer still feel like they have cover and safety in the pines but they do expose themselves at times when feeding through these open clearings in the pines. This really comes down to the phrase, “looking for deer where others don’t.” Glassing into thick pines all day can be a real challenge and quite frankly, most people look over these areas and deem them as “non-huntable country” because of the seemingly impossible task of finding deer there. I’ve taken some screenshots of country that I have e-scouted that looks like it could possible by good area to hunt because of the cove and access.
I have to say, although this sounds like a great plan, it goes back to when I said there is always more to learn about deer hunting. I have spent entire seasons scouring country like this and not turning up a buck that I deemed worthy for myself to take so, just by following this tactic, it does not guarantee success but it is another tool in your belt for when the deer hunting is tough. I often scout and hunt many different hillsides, canyons, and areas every year. Just because a spot looks good on the map doesn’t mean it will translate to big deer every year. Make sure to have at least a few areas in mind before showing up during hunting season.
Finding the deer in this country can actually be one of the easier parts of hunting big mule deer. The hardest part, killing them. Most of the time when I find good areas with good cover and everything I think a big buck needs, the biggest question is, can I kill a deer in that country? When I’m looking at new areas on online maps, before I even step foot at the spot, I look for hills, ridges, or points that I can both glass off of and be within shooting range if a big buck turns up. My favorite spots are those that I can sit across a canyon and glass into the pines. This gives me plenty of vantage to see everything and also gives me a place to shoot from if a buck happens to show up. Onx and GOHUNT both have radius and line distance calculators in their softwares. I use this all the time to check glassing knobs and rough shooting distances to where I assume the deer will be. Pictured below is an example of using the radius tool and the line distance tool to find the distance from a glassing knob to an area a buck might be.
Just finding a good area to hunt doesn’t mean it will be easy to get a shot at a deer. Look for vantages and have a gameplay if a deer does show up.
E-Scouting
E-scouting is the biggest advantage we have these days. I use OnX the most, literally on a daily basis throughout the whole year. Learning how to read maps and determine were animals will be during different times of year is an art form in itself and can take years upon years of scouting and hunting to learn how maps correlate to boots on the ground. E-scouting is especially useful when hunting new areas and other states when it’s not practical to spend real time in the field.
When starting to scout a new area, it can be very overwhelming because of the lack of knowledge about the area. I always use a few tools that drastically help when trying to understand a unit. I make sure to turn on these layers.
Private lands
Roadless Areas
Trails and Trailheads
Roads and Motorized Vehicle Trails
Historical Wildfires
Timber Cuts
In my opinion, these are the most helpful layers to have on while scouting. I am not going to deep dive into E-scouting in this article but needless to say, it’s an incredibly important part of hunting. I will write an article or two on this topic someday and there are many articles and videos out there about e-scouting tips and tactics.
Wrapped Up
Mule deer hunting is the hardest yet most rewarding hunting out there. I hope this helps you and I hope you find success on your hunts whenever you may be reading this. If you want to watch the latest October deer hunt I went on you can find it on my YouTube channel or linked below.
