People assume I’m more patient than I am. They figure anyone who kills big mule deer must be patient. I’m sorta patient, I guess. I can put in three to five hours of glassing without too much trouble. I’ve waited hours for a buck to stand so I can get a clear shot and I’ve waited years to draw a certain tag. If waiting is patience then I guess I could say I have some patience.
However, I don’t think patience is as important as one might think when it comes to the pursuit of big mule deer. Take for example glassing. You’ve got a great set up on a ridge between two basins. With a simple pan of the tripod head, you can glass nearly two square miles of country—so you do, for four days.
Well, you might be considered patient if you pull this off but there’s hardly a guarantee that you’ll kill a big buck as one might not reside in that country at the time you’re there. By day five you’re going out of your mind and ready to head for home and never visit the unit again. You could say that patience actually worked against you in this situation.
Then there’s the guy whom might not be patient enough to glass for four days, but starts scouting in July when it’s 100 degrees in the valley and mosquitos in the high country are thicker than pea soup. He gets skunked every trip to the hills (meanwhile his patient buddy is enjoying the lake). By late August he’s beginning to wonder what it was all worth—then he finds a good buck, a really good buck.
His perseverance through the tough times paid off. Patience will become more important once the season opens and he carefully hunts the buck, but without perseverance, he likely won’t succeed.
Big buck hunting for the DIY hunter can be a lesson in futility. Big mule deer—those four years or older and in hunted units—are tough to kill for two reasons:
1) There aren’t very many in most places where you can count on getting a tag
2) Outside of the rut (and sometimes even during) they are creatures of the cover and can be very hard to find during legal shooting light.
Often you’re going to have to grind out more than a few days and sometimes a few weeks (over one season or several) before you’re going to get the drop on one. While patience is important, the ability to persevere through the tough times—hunting pressure, weather, and the fact mature bucks are like vampires lurking the twilight—is going to get you more big bucks than a whole bucket of patience.
You have to keep getting up when you fall, keep going back, keep trying, and often try again next year if you ever want to kill a big mule deer on purpose. While patience is important, it’s perseverance that will keep you coming back again and again until you’re successful.
You can read more about The Mental Aspect of Hunting Big Mule Deer in my upcoming book “Hunting Big Mule Deer- How to Take the Best Buck of Your Life,”
due out in the next few weeks. I’ll announce its launch right here on the Rok Blog, so make sure you “Subscribe to blog” (upper right) if you’re interested in becoming a better mule deer hunter.
Photo courtesy of Rodsinclairimagry.com
Good advise. Sometimes I lack perseverance.
“…and often try again next year if you ever want to kill a big mule deer on purpose. ”
At this point I will be happy to take one by accident 😀
When will your book be available for preorder?
Hi David,
The book will first be available on Amazon, so we’re not hosting a pre-order. When it’s up, it’ll be available to purchase the same instant. Should just be a few more weeks.
Joe, I know what you mean but I promise you’ll take far more on purpose than you will on accident.
Sound advice, part of the puzzle is finding that small slice of the pie of habitat that attracts bucks annually because of security cover, feed, and less pressure. Very small % of overall range as you know. Thanks for the tips and reminders.
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