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When the pressure is on in mule deer country, especially high country, a hunter has to force himself to look at the heavier cover in the area, like that country I hunted the evening of day two.  Even though I didn’t see any bucks that night, I know they are there.  The tracks don’t lie.  While immature bucks will continue to frequent the open hillsides, the big bucks will shy away and look for more timbered country nearby.  

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With any hunting pressure,  big bucks transition from the open high-country into more cover like the broken timber shown in this picture.
To kill one, you have to go where they go.
 

If there is hunting pressure, you might start the first 30 minutes of light glassing the open country, but don’t get discouraged if you only see small bucks.  Just know that the big deer have transitioned into the cover and you must hunt there to kill one.  It only takes a few sloppy hunters not watching their wind, walking noisily, and talking to alert big deer.

(Sorry if the videos are loading slow sometimes- we seem to be getting tons of traffic on this!  Ryan and I are working on it.)

Day 3: Changing areas

 

 

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Robby Denning
Robby Denning started hunting mule deer in the late 1970’s, only missing one season in 35 years. At 25, he gave up the pursuit of all other big-game to focus on taking the best bucks possible. He began hunting the West on a DIY budget hunting an average of 30 days a year for mule deer. Robby loves the hunt as much as the kill and the entire process from research to scouting to hunting. He’s killed four bucks over 200 inches in the last 15 seasons, mostly on easily-obtained tags. He owns a public-land scouting service and runs a private-land outfitting business helping other hunters in their pursuit of deer and elk. Robby has scouted and hunted literally thousands of square miles of mule deer country and brings a wealth of knowledge about these experiences with him. To him, the weapon of choice is just a means-to-an-end and will hunt with bow, rifle, or muzzleloader – whatever it takes to create an opportunity to take a great mule deer. He is also the author of "Hunting Big Mule Deer" available on Amazon. Robby believes all of creation is from God for man to manage, respect, and through which to know its Creator