Muleys v. Whitetails

[NortherTerror3144]

How different are they from each other? I've only hunted white tail but extremely interested in getting after some muleys. Spot and stalk seems the most popular on YouTube but what type of areas do they bed and feed in?

 

[Wrench]

Assuming this is timber related.

Mule deer like higher elevation with some opportunities to view around them. They will group up more than whitetail and it's not uncommon to see groups of good bucks together well into October.

If you wait till November you can see stuff like this.

 

[Firestone]

I think it depends a lot on what type of country you plan on hunting them in.

 

[huntngolf]

I’d say in general whitetails like thicker cover where they are harder to see, and muleys like more open terrain where they can see their surroundings.

 

[S-3 ranch]

I’d say in general whitetails like thicker cover where they are harder to see, and muleys like more open terrain where they can see their surroundings.

Yep out here on the Texas prairie, mulie deer like the high sunny side of
hills and draws
whitetail are edge dwelling, thick brush to open feeding area

 

[Fordguy]

Lol. On my last trip to Casper they seemed to prefer the in-town areas.

 

[sneaky]

Except for wise old mule deer bucks, they'll run out a ways and stop and look to see what spooked them. A whitetail doesn't care and stops once he hits the next county.

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[Marble]

How different are they from each other? I've only hunted white tail but extremely interested in getting after some muleys. Spot and stalk seems the most popular on YouTube but what type of areas do they bed and feed in?

Here you go...

Hunting Big Mule Deer: How to Take the Best Buck of Your Life: Denning, Robby, Andersson, Kelly: 9780692457955: Amazon.com: Books

Hunting Big Mule Deer: How to Take the Best Buck of Your Life [Denning, Robby, Andersson, Kelly] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Hunting Big Mule Deer: How to Take the Best Buck of Your Life

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[WyoBowhunter21]

In Wyoming the whitetails are mostly found in the river bottoms and lower elevation forests. The muleys can share the same habitat but they are mostly found in the prairie and higher elevations. In some states though it’s not uncommon to found some white tails with the mules a little higher relative to the surrounding area. Southeast Montana is a good example.

 

[EdP]

I have limited experience with mulies having only hunted them once but I found them to be far less spooky than eastern whitetails. I was in Wyoming's Shirley Mtns and the mulies acted almost as if they had never been hunted before. Does and small bucks would just stand and look when an eastern whitetail would have exploded out of there.

 

[Stevek]

In Texas the Mule Deer will move to rainfall or crops, so hunting them is a quite a bit different. Their intake needs and nutritional requirements are very different than a whitetail. So you have to hunt them very differently. Guys who have only hunted whitetails will struggle at first trying to hunt the same cover or food sources. If those deer live in an area of crop land then they will move to the preferred crop or crop rotation that year or season. It is not unusual to see the Mule Deer in the Trans Pecos on open pasture rangeland move 5 miles or so in a 2 week period during the deer season. While many might stay in a 2-4 miles square area most of their lives. In the rut or closer to the rut all bets are off as to where deer will be from year to year. If you get average rainfall in the same months for a couple of years the deer will be in those same areas and on the same feeding patterns. WT and MD cover needs and requirements are quite different. We hunt open grassy flats to scattered brushy cover to very tall brush/thick cover. The terrain is flat to rolling with some elevation but only in a smaller part of the ranch. Mainly ridges and shallow breaks. The mule deer do prefer more open cover and can adapt to a variety of covers or elevations. With the desert mule deer it can really depend on rainfall that year and when it occurred. With elevation changes cause or even drainages that collect rainfall runoffs can move deer or change feeding patterns weekly, monthly or seasonally. One hunting season they may be in the brushy flats whereas next year they may be low in the thicker drainages or next year feeding up on the gravelly ridges. How much rainfall and where it ran off or collected to can effect where they are feeding. An early killing frost can then change all of that and you have to go find the food source the deer are feeding on. Water needs are very different for our desert Mule Deer compared to the WT in that region. Desert Mule Deer have adapted to the desert habitat and lack of water in their habitat. Mule Deer does and very young bucks may go to water every 1 to 3 days depending on how dry or green it is during hunting season. Whereas older bucks might go to water every 2 to 5 days. Mature bucks go to water less often than younger bucks. We found this out from running trail cams on water troughs. We would see deer when hunting that we would not get on any trail cams. After 2 or 3 yrs we stopped using cams due those desert mule deer getting a lot of their water from the plants they are eating daily. I personally think predators have a greater effect on watering and feeding habitats of the deer herd we hunt than we think. IMO, I have found most deer bedded or feeding about 3/4 of a mile from a water source. I have watch them feed into to water from one direction and the feed out a different direction. I think they do this due to the concentration fo predators around water.
TPWD has been doing a research study on mule deer and how their habitat and farming practices in the area they are living effect their movement in two different regions of West Texas. They are mapping out home ranges and seasonal movements with telemetry tracking based off of rain or farm crops. It also documenting bucks and how their antler growth is effected by age, habitat and rainfall. Some of the results are effecting how they are going to manage the statewide herd.

 

[Tmac]

How different are they from each other? I've only hunted white tail but extremely interested in getting after some muleys. Spot and stalk seems the most popular on YouTube but what type of areas do they bed and feed in?

What terrain do you plan to hunt? Mountains, foothills, plains, ag areas, bad lands, etc. In many cases you can have MD and WT in the same area. So a general idea may get you some more specific suggestions. For example, W SD open country vs N ID timber will likely have different answers.

 

[Rich M]

If you are any good at WT hunting, you will have no problem with mule deer. Might even find it easier due to being able to see them as opposed to reading sign only like we do for WT.

 

[WCB]

depends on where you are at...there are places where you can stand hunt mule deer like whtietails and places where you basically have to spot and stalk White tails like mule deer.

Mature Mule Deer bucks CAN stop and look back when jumped but the more mature the deer the less I would bet on that. Mule deer get a bad rap because you can see them and the does and small bucks are dumber than a box of rocks (and large bucks during the rut but that goes for whitetails also).

Mature mule deer bucks have a very unbelievable ability to cross over a ridge a few seconds in front of you and absolutely disappear in wide open terrain.

 

[Bubblehide]

Were talking Coues deer, right

 

[DunnCoHunter]

I would recommend Dwight Shuhs book “Hunting Open Country Mule Deer” for anyone just starting out. It’s a little old, but still very relevant


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[ChrisAU]

I would recommend Dwight Shuhs book “Hunting Open Country Mule Deer” for anyone just starting out. It’s a little old, but still very relevant


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Can't find a copy for under $100! Must be pretty good.

 

[Newtosavage]

Are mule deer harder to hunt than whitetail and which is best most used caliber for deer hunting.

If you're talking public land, then mule deer are by FAR easier to hunt. I know that won't sit well with a lot of western hunters but that's been my experience. I've hunted whitetails since '79 and mule deer since '98 and my hours/deer isn't even close. A big part of that is mule deer occupy more open habitat so they are just easier to locate. Another big part of that is mule deer just simply are not as wary as whitetails and as was stated above, they will often stop and look back, giving you a shot opportunity. Whitetails just don't do that as a rule. The first mule deer buck I shot watched me draw my bow and shoot him from 20 yards. In my life, I've never, ever had a whitetail do anything like that. Very different critters IME.

As for cartridge (caliber is the bore diameter), I choose the 7mm-08 but any cartridge you use for whitetails will work for mule deer, at the distances they are designed for. If you already have a deer rifle, then you already have a mule deer rifle. However the chance of having a longer shot on a mule deer is greater than on whitetails, so that's a consideration.

 

[el_jefe_pescado]

I can really only speak to alpine mule deer but IMO the most difficult component to mule deer in my opinion is the country they live in and their migratory habits. The fact that they are everywhere and nowhere at the same time can be immensely frustrating (especially during the later rifle seasons when so much can change with one storm).

Whitetails have a much smaller home range and they are more than likely using the same general bedding/feeding areas year round. The maddening thing with whitetails is just because you “know” where a big buck lives doesn’t mean you will ever see him during daylight hours. Does and young bucks are all over the place but the bruisers might be totally nocturnal.



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[ColoradoV]

Got to stick up for mule deer here and well call a spade a spade…

A old muley w a bow - on public land is the absolute pinnacle of hunting. Not going to kill one sitting on your ars, next to the interstate, on private land, over a pile of corn….

Smaller mulies maybe but from the physique I see on 99%+ of the guys who kill whitetails - well I don’t think they could exist for 48 hours much less locate and kill a big buck above 11,000 ft ..

To each their own but there is reason the best hunters in the world say high country mule deer is the absolute pinnacle of hunting..