First real Mule Deer hunt with my son in tow. Terrain Questions.

[Marshfly]

This will be my second year hunting as a Montana resident but first year targeting mule deer. Been doing a ton of E-scouting for a truck based hunt this opening weekend. My 13yo son is a strong hiker but we won't be spending the night backcountry just yet. The type of terrain I'm targeting is basins that look similar to this one on the front range. The plan is to simply find high ground and glass our buts off. Not looking for the biggest bucks but something that will make him smile when it's euro mounted on the wall. Am I on the right path with respect to patchy tree cover, good vegetation mix, etc?

 

[dtrkyman]

Use those young eyes to your advantage! I would have a plan in place to be able to jump glassing spots quickly, he will get bored glassing.

 

[Marshfly]

Use those young eyes to your advantage! I would have a plan in place to be able to jump glassing spots quickly, he will get bored glassing.

Got a ton marked on Onx with a hike trail between them marked as well. Three different basins in the same major drainage marked up that way.

Everything I am researching says that at this time of year, sitting on the glass is way more productive than moving fast and cursory glassing.
Am I wrong there? Finding a buck to stalk and making a game plan to kill him will quickly make up for a whole lot of boredom glassing IMHO.

 

[Dos Perros]

You're ahead of me with your boy, but my approach will be to push him to the point of push back, and then just a weeency bit further. That's probably more in the interest of character development than killing a deer I suppose.

With regard to your original question, that's how I would do it (more open country, glassing). I'd also be prepared to change it up on the fly.

 

[Marshfly]

You're ahead of me with your boy, but my approach will be to push him to the point of push back, and then just a weeency bit further. That's probably more in the interest of character development than killing a deer I suppose.

With regard to your original question, that's how I would do it (more open country, glassing). I'd also be prepared to change it up on the fly.

He's just coming off of cross country season and thin so he can hike like crazy in the mountains. Luckily I get the last laugh when his skinny butt has to help do a pack out. LOL.

So I'm on the right track with that broken country stuff I guess.

 

[BRTreedogs]

Alot of hunting pressure in MT i think pressure after opening day will displace more deer then habitat.
Its a good starting point

 

[Marshfly]

Got to the hunting area this afternoon. Found this pretty decent bull a basin over from where we plan to start the day in the morning. Sitting on private but not far from public. This might turn into an elk hunt.


Full zoom on an iPhone so this is the best pic we get. LOL

 

[IDMuleyKid]

Got to the hunting area this afternoon. Found this pretty decent bull a basin over from where we plan to start the day in the morning. Sitting on private but not far from public. This might turn into an elk hunt.


Full zoom on an iPhone so this is the best pic we get. LOL
View attachment 615573

Update ? Sounds like a good time.

 

[Marshfly]

Update ? Sounds like a good time.

Here it is. Like I told my kid in the truck on the way over, this turned into an elk hunt. LOL
First day hit the glassing knob at daybreak. 30 minutes later find a herd feeding and they made their way across a saddle to the next basin. 1000 yards away. About 10 cows and a small bull.


The next day we hike into that saddle to watch and establish a pattern. The elk came up the far side and fed for a while but never crossed. Same herd. Sub 300 yards.


Opening morning. Back in the same place yet again with the wife in tow. While creeping in right after shooting light we saw a mulley buck and doe and my kid got set up for the 200 yard shot but Miss doe decided she didn't like what she saw and boogied with the buck in tow. Of course, no show on the elk just after 9am like the prior two morning but since this saddle was THE WAY from one big basin to the next and I new hunters would be pushing stuff around we sat tight. 10:30 rolls around and my kid whispers "ELK!" We had agreed that my wife would be the shooter but that went out the window when the elk were moving at a trot rather than feeding. I threw the rifle on the bipod and took a 200 yard sitting shot right in the boiler with a double lung on what was a bigger bull than we had scouted. He stopped but didn't fall so I kept shooting until he did. 4 shots in about 15 seconds had him dead 50 yards from the first shot. Like Form always says, you keep shooting until the animal is dead if you can see them. This was maybe 30 seconds total from first hit to dead. Felt great about that. A mile and 800ft up from the truck. Two trips. Done right as the sun was setting. Absolutely epic day for me and my family.

 

[Marshfly]

What's funny is now that I look at that first picture of the smaller bull, that's literally 100 feet from where the one I shot died. Just goes to show how powerful a great saddle with feed can be for seeing animals.

 

[IDMuleyKid]

Here it is. Like I told my kid in the truck on the way over, this turned into an elk hunt. LOL
First day hit the glassing knob at daybreak. 30 minutes later find a herd feeding and they made their way across a saddle to the next basin. 1000 yards away. About 10 cows and a small bull.

View attachment 617942
The next day we hike into that saddle to watch and establish a pattern. The elk came up the far side and fed for a while but never crossed. Same herd. Sub 300 yards.

View attachment 617945
Opening morning. Back in the same place yet again with the wife in tow. While creeping in right after shooting light we saw a mulley buck and doe and my kid got set up for the 200 yard shot but Miss doe decided she didn't like what she saw and boogied with the buck in tow. Of course, no show on the elk just after 9am like the prior two morning but since this saddle was THE WAY from one big basin to the next and I new hunters would be pushing stuff around we sat tight. 10:30 rolls around and my kid whispers "ELK!" We had agreed that my wife would be the shooter but that went out the window when the elk were moving at a trot rather than feeding. I threw the rifle on the bipod and took a 200 yard sitting shot right in the boiler with a double lung on what was a bigger bull than we had scouted. He stopped but didn't fall so I kept shooting until he did. 4 shots in about 15 seconds had him dead 50 yards from the first shot. Like Form always says, you keep shooting until the animal is dead if you can see them. This was maybe 30 seconds total from first hit to dead. Felt great about that. A mile and 800ft up from the truck. Two trips. Done right as the sun was setting. Absolutely epic day for me and my family.

View attachment 617946
View attachment 617947

Epic! The manageable pack out was the cherry on top.

 

[CorbLand]

Congrats. The first time I took my wife elk hunting she had a spike tag. I told her, you shoot them to the ground and one or two more after that never hurts.

 

[Marshfly]

Congrats. The first time I took my wife elk hunting she had a spike tag. I told her, you shoot them to the ground and one or two more after that never hurts.

I'd much rather process the animal on this big wide open saddle than in the timber where we were in grizzly country. That won't happen if you just watch him walk away. haha.