"Hunting Big Mule Deer" book is available for purchase

[SkinnyPete]

Finished the book up last night and I am very happy. Great book and easy to become engrossed in!
Left you a review on Amazon too, I hope that helps!
Thank you again for taking the time to write it, it's great to have a Mule deer hunting book with more than 1 specialized area!

 

[robby denning]

SkinnyPete,
thanks for the feedback and I hope you found plenty to help you where ever you hunt.

The Amazon review always help out and I appreciate you taking the time to leave one. Keep us posted on Rokslide as you apply the techniques.

Thanks again

 

[FURMAN]

I finished a couple weeks ago. Definitely a great read. Robby, you did a great job of telling readers that mule deer hunting is not just like we all see on tv. Sometimes thinking outside the box and always being willing to mix tactics is what it is going to take to kill big deer. I learned a lot and look forward to applying the things you wrote. Thanks.

 

[robby denning]

rfurman24, thanks for reading the book and posting on here. I really hope it makes you a better deer hunter. The stuff on TV is great entertainment, but I don't find a lot of it as it's happened to me in the field. I guess if they had to show an 8 day TV show with only a 30 second climax, no one would buy advertising

Thanks again and all the best in your pursuit.

 

[mainbeam pursuit2]

Ordered the book yesterday, looking forward to the great read.....Van

 

[bosox2850]

rfurman24, thanks for reading the book and posting on here. I really hope it makes you a better deer hunter. The stuff on TV is great entertainment, but I don't find a lot of it as it's happened to me in the field. I guess if they had to show an 8 day TV show with only a 30 second climax, no one would buy advertising

Thanks again and all the best in your pursuit.

I just finished your book this morning, awesome job for sure. I truly enjoyed it and even more the fact that throughout the book it remained interesting by you using your own experiences and stories instead of just being like this is what you need to do and how you should hunt. Was never dry and I would read another if you wrote it.

 

[Bar]

I just finished your book this morning, awesome job for sure. I truly enjoyed it and even more the fact that throughout the book it remained interesting by you using your own experiences and stories instead of just being like this is what you need to do and how you should hunt. Was never dry and I would read another if you wrote it.

It's tough to satisfy everybody. Some guys want nothing but instruction and no stories. Others like lots of stories. It's hard to strike a balance.

 

[Jimmy]

Loved the book, and it got me to sign up here on rokslide. Can't wait until scouting season to apply what I read!

 

[robby denning]

Jimmy, good to meet you and welcome to Rokslide. Glad you enjoyed the book. We'd like to hear about your adventures and the gear that gets you there.

thanks for chiming in. all the best to you.

 

[ianpadron]

Just picked mine up bro, can't wait!

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[mdfanatic1980]

I've read Robby's book a couple times and am very impressed. What an excellent resource and you can learn something regardless to your current skill set. I had further questions and Robby asked that I post them here so we can all contribute and share info.

1. Regarding how you mention deer seek security and safety in thick cover. How do you identify which thick cover to target? Based on quality feed around? If so, this will relate to my next question. Also, once you identify the cover you want to hunt, it seems that you'd set up with the wind in favor and probably start by waiting and glassing waiting for the deer to feed out. Seems like you'd be covering/glassing significantly less ground this way. Your thoughts on this? Also, you always hear "get as far away from the roads as you can" but also read that some deer aren't pressured away just because a road is there. Kinda contradictory...

2. Regarding good/best feed that you mention the older deer will typically find and be at. To me, certain areas all look the same. Sure you'll always have ag fields down low. But for example, say a typical unit in Colorado. You have the high country going into the thick cover and pines that lead to aspen and sagebrush hills. There are miles and miles of this, so how do you know which is "better"? This kind of relates to #1 above, but of the miles and miles of thick cover below timberline, how do you determine which is the best security? Just take time and experience in the unit?

3. Moving slow: what are your thoughts with moving slow, but trying to cover ground. I realize it's best to move slow and cover ground with optics, and once you know your hunting area, this can be done. You preach to know your area and it'll take extensive boot on the ground time to do so, but how do you go about learning a new area, trying to locate the security and good feed, but you need to cover some ground to do so. But move slow also. Thoughts?

4. How do you play the wind if, as you put it, and as I've experienced myself, you kill bucks in unlikely places? Sometimes I really don't know where I'll see deer, so it makes it hard trying to put together a plan in the morning and obey the wind at the same time.

5. What are your thoughts on scouting a new area? I read the book, and have picked a unit to hunt often and to learn. So this will be my first year in. For sure I'm headed there in late July to if nothing else, learn the roads, logistics, locate spots I've found on google earth, etc. People indicate to scout these deer that you're hunting prior to season, but with typical Colorado type hunting, the deer migrate down as the seasons progress. If you're hunting a 2nd or 3rd season type tag, how does scouting play in other than learning the layout, roads, etc? I think after hunting an area a couple years, you'll know where they generally take cover under pressure, where they go when it's hot, where they go with snow, etc. But what about that first year in the unit?

 

[robby denning]

Hey mdfanatic1980, let's see what I can do. Forgive me on the CAPS. I typed them to insert in your text but realized it might be clearer this way

1. IN DECIDING WHICH COVER TO FOCUS ON, CONSIDER BUCK SIGHTINGS, TRACKS, GAME TRAILS, RUBS, WIND DIRECTION AND CONDITIONS (QUIET OR NOISY). COVERING GROUND (AT LEAST VERY MUCH) ISN'T REALLY THE GOAL- AS YOU JUST MAKE NOISE. AND YOU'RE NOT ALWAYS WAITING FOR THEM TO FEED OUT AS THEY OFTEN DON'T UNTIL AFTER DARK. THAT IS WHY SOMETIMES YOU GOTTA GO IN AFTER THEM STILL-HUNTING, TRACKING, OR AMBUSH.

GETTING FAR AWAY FROM ROADS IS GOOD BUT DON'T OVERLOOK COUNTRY CLOSE TO ROADS. NOT CONTRADICTORY, AS THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF PLACES HUNTERS JUST DRIVE RIGHT BY AS THEY TRY TO GET AS FAR FROM THE ROAD AS POSSIBLE, BUT IN THIS DAY THERE CAN BE MORE PEOPLE IN THE BACKCOUNTRY THAN IN SOME ROADED AREAS. SAW A 175" PUBLIC LAND BUCK IN COLORADO TWO YEARS AGO LIVING 500 YARDS BELOW A HEAVILY TRAVELED ATV TRAIL. HE WAS THERE ALMOST EVERY DAY I CHECKED. NO ONE STOPPED TO HUNT THERE, THEY WERE HEADED FOR THE 10,000 FT PEAK ABOVE, WHICH IS WHERE EVERYONE ELSE WAS HUNTING TOO. I KILLED A BUCK PUSHING 180 ON THAT SAME HUNT LESS THAN A MILE FROM A POPULAR ROAD HUNTERS USE BUT NO ONE WAS HUNTING WHERE THIS BUCK LIVED. ROADLESS AREAS ARE BEST, BUT POINT IS DON'T THINK ONLY BUCKS LIVE THERE

2. TIME AND EXPERIENCE IN THE UNIT IS THE GREAT EQUALIZER. YOU HAVE TO ACCEPT THE FACT THAT YOU'RE STILL TRYING TO FIND A NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK, BUT WITH WHAT I SAID IN #1, YOU CAN NARROW DOWN WHICH HAYSTACK. YOU MENTIONED SEVERAL ZONES IN THAT QUESTION AND I'D WAGER THAT UNLESS THE UNIT IS OVER HUNTED, THERE ARE SOME BIG MULE DEER IN EACH ZONE WITH THE BIGGEST USUALLY IN THE ASPEN/CONIFER ZONE. PROBLEM IS WE DON'T SEE THEM FIRST TIME OUT AND CONCLUDE THEY'RE NOT THERE AND TRY ANOTHER UNIT. NOT WISE

3. THIS ONE IS RELATED CLOSELY TO THE TWO ABOVE. I WROTE A WHOLE CHAPTER ON "MOVING IN DEER COUNTRY" WHICH IS DIFFERENT THAN STILL HUNTING. YOU HAVE TO KNOW YOUR AREA WELL ENOUGH TO KNOW WHEN TO MOVE AND WHEN TO STILL HUNT. I CAN'T JUST WALK INTO A UNIT AND KNOW EXACTLY WHERE TO STILL HUNT OR JUST HUNT SLOWLY, BUT GIVE ME A YEAR OR SNOW OR A FEW BUCK SIGHTINGS OR SOME LOCAL INTEL ON WHERE BUCKS HAVE BEEN KILLED, AND I CAN FIGURE OUT PRETTY QUICKLY WHERE/HOW TO MOVE. STILL HARD TO KILL BIG BUCKS THIS WAY BUT IT IS POSSIBLE AND REWARDING. READ THE TWO CHAPTERS ON "MOVING" AND "STILL HUNTING" ESPECIALLY THE BOTTOM OF PAGE 189/190.

4. I LET THE WIND DECIDE HOW I'M GOING TO HUNT AN AREA OR AT LEAST CONSIDER IT FIRST. SOMETIMES I BREAK THE RULE BUT I ALWAYS THINK IT THROUGH FIRST AND WEIGHT OUT MY OPTIONS. YOU CAN'T ALWAYS KEEP THE WIND IN YOUR FAVOR, I'M NOT SAYING THAT BUT YOU HAVE TO BE THINKING ABOUT IT ALL THE TIME. I CAN'T REMEMBER ONE BIG BUCK THAT STUCK AROUND AFTER HE WINDED ME, NOT ONE.. AND THEN DEFINITELY OBEY IT IF I'VE SPOTTED A BUCK. CAN'T IGNORE THE WIND THEN AND THAT IS THE ADVANTAGE TO MOVING/GLASSING CAREFULLY AS IF YOU SEE THE BUCKS BEFORE THEY SEE YOU, YOU CAN PUT THREE VARIABLES IN YOUR FAVOR AS YOU NOW KNOW EXACTLY WHERE THE BUCKS ARE AND WHERE NOT TO LET YOUR SCENT GO AND HOW FAST YOU CAN MOVE.

5. FIRST YEAR IN A UNIT IS TOUGH AND WHY I DON'T LIKE DRAW HUNTS AS YOU CAN'T GO BACK AND APPLY WHAT YOU LEARNED ON A REGULAR BASIS. BUT FIRST YEAR I TRY TO TALK TO LOCALS AND AS MANY HUNTERS AS POSSIBLE TO FIND OUT WHERE EXACTLY BUCKS HAVE BEEN HARVESTED, EVEN IF WAS YEARS AGO. THAT'S WHY YOU CAN'T RULE OUT COUNTRY WITH ROADS NEARBY AS IF YOU DO, SOON YOU'RE IN THE SAME ROADLESS PLACE ON THE MAP THAT EVERYONE ELSE IS LOOKING AT.

YOU HAVE TO HUNT AND NOT GET DISCOURAGED UNTIL YOU HUNTED ENOUGH DAYS IN THE UNIT TO RULE IT OUT OR LOCATE A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN FIND HUNTABLE BUCKS. ITS ABOUT 50/50 FOR ME, I’VE ABANDONED AS MANY UNITS AS I’VE BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN. THE ONES I KILL BUCKS IN ARE USUALLY AREAS WITH HEAVY COVER UNLESS IT’S A DRAW TAG WITH VERY FEW HUNTERS IN THE FIELD

The main takeaway is don't think in formulas - A+B=C, meaning if I do A and B, then I can expect C. It doesn't really work that way. Even with all I wrote above, hunting big mule deer is an art, not a science and is why I think some guys struggle with it. It's not exact enough, not predictable enough. They want to hunt hard and think that's what will make it happen, but that's not a guarantee or lots of hunter would kill big deer. Hunting smart is more important. You have to hunt hard usually because there just aren't a lot of big bucks in most units, so you can be doing everything right, and still not kill one every time you try. But as it is in art, the more you apply yourself the more you develop your talent, your knack, your patience, your endurance (mental not physical) the more times you're going to be successful and the more times you're successful, the more natural your decision making process becomes because you have a wealth of personal experience to draw from. I make dozens of decisions a day in the field and they are based on experience and what is happening at that moment. That isn't predictable or even teachable, but it can be learned. Also, consider that hunting big mule deer is really an amateur sport meaning that even a guy with no to little experience can kill the biggest buck in the unit. That doesn't mean he did anything right and I can wager that he will most likely never ever do it again. Not much to learn from that experience. Better to build on what you know and what you learn from other successful hunters.

Hope that helps. thanks for buying the book.

 

[CareyJAF50]

I just got my copy in last week. Really excited to read it and especially hopefully help me mostly on my first trip to CO this year for a second rifle hunt in a pretty migratory unit. Seems as though ill be reading the still hunting and slow hunting through timber over and over! haha

 

[robby denning]

Hey Roksliders, thanks for all the support on the book. Had a great first year thanks to you guys.

Many of you have emailed or PM'd me with requests to evaluate Google Earth images with suggestions on how to hunt. If I wasn't able to get to you, I'm sorry. Just not enough time in the day to do it all.

However, I love the idea of evaluating these images and finally came across a way I can help more people. Our friends over at goHunt.com have the tech-savvy and photoshop tools to make a project like this possible on a big scale.

I've just spent the last week marking up a series of GE images that they'll be sharing on the complimentary portion of their site at Western Hunting - Hunting News and Resources | goHUNT. Should be up in the next few weeks. I covered everything from the desert to the high country. Watch for it and I hope it helps you guys. I'll post on here when it's up and will likely have it on the Rok Blog too.

Thanks

 

[deadwolf]

Robby, just want to say again that your book is top notch. As a guy that travels from Alaska to Montana every year it is very insightful, especially for a hunter not able to fully scout an area in the off season. After the last five hunting season in our area, I now feel a little more confident I'll find bigger bucks than I have in the past, and am already focusing on a few key areas I may have overlooked! I'll be rereading it again in October : )


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[robby denning]

Robby, just want to say again that your book is top notch. As a guy that travels from Alaska to Montana every year it is very insightful, especially for a hunter not able to fully scout an area in the off season. After the last five hunting season in our area, I now feel a little more confident I'll find bigger bucks than I have in the past, and am already focusing on a few key areas I may have overlooked! I'll be rereading it again in October : )


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Thanks deadwolf, I'll go out on a limb and predict you'll see your best buck ever this year! Keep us all posted and thanks again.

 

[ReddingArcher]

I need to order your book today, I just listened to the Gritty Bowmen podcast with you on it a couple days ago and thought it was awesome! Cant wait to read the book.

 

[mcseal2]

I read the book, marked it up with a highlighter, and transferred the highlighted stuff to my muley tips computer file I pack on hunts. Sometimes reading my list at night while on a hunt where I'm struggling gets me thinking of things I may have overlooked. I have notes from lots of muley books combined in the tips list, but this is definitely one of the best. It made it a bigger list with more pages to print off and haul along next hunt!

The tips list is something I do for each species I hunt, as well as keeping a journal from each hunt. When I'm done with a hunt on the drive home I discuss what we learned this time with the others I'm hunting with (or talk to myself if I'm alone) and add more to the list. Someday when I'm to old to hunt out West I'll have a heck of a resource built up over the years!

 

[robby denning]

Hi, I just heard from Brady Miller at goHunt.com, he's expecting to have the GE article published on our around August 2. You can subscribe to this thread, lead post, top of page at "Thread Tools" so you'll get notification when it posts or just keep checking back here.

 

[hersh2209]

hey robby luv your book.... a bit off topic but i was wondering if you've gotten back the tooth you sent off from your big muley lat year rifle hunting? If so how old was he? I might have missed your post if so sorry.. love the website I check the muley forum every day. good luck this fall!