Mule Deer Are Weird

[Art Eatman]

Well, sometimes.

I took Byron Quick out this afternoon on a little pasear through the back country. I figured I oughta at least find him a darned deer, after dry runs of the last few days.

So, saddling up the Gray Goat, we headed out. Drove here, there and yonder, stopping from time to time to look the country over. No joy. I sorta timed it to get to a particular area in the last hour of daylight, having seen a few deer in that area in the past.

Still no luck. Topping a rise, I idled down and stopped. Time for a rest break (again), anyway. Some 25 miles behind us, of really rough jeep trail. We yakked, stared, and yakked some more. Hmm, time to move on, sez me. Just as I touched the key, I saw a deer. Hmm. Buck? Well, sorta. fork-horn. Big body for a youngun; maybe 120, field-dressed. So, we get out to say Hello. Maybe 50 yards. I warned Byron that if he shot the buck, we'd have to clean him. Well, that solved that problem. Bucky cocked an eye at us; we cocked an eye at him, and we all stood there, looking cockeyed.

By this time we were maybe 35 yards from Bucky. He decided to leave. He took off at what was almost a fast walk for twenty yards. Stopped. Looked. Byron got a photo. We talked to him some more and he wandered off, taking maybe five minutes to get around a hill and out of sight...

Hokay. Off we go, intrepid hunters, still seeking the Mighty Biggun. Another couple of miles, and Lo! And, Behold! Six deer! Two yearlings, two does, a bit-bigger forkhorn, and an almost-shootable 3x3. Maybe 75 yards. So, more cockeyed. We walk and talk, and they say it's time to leave. I'll bet they almost got into a full trot! Lots of stopping and looking back.

Y'know, you almost hate to shoot any deer that stoopid.

Maybeso tomorrow we'll find Ol' Biggie...

, Art

 

[dakotasin]

yeah, well... small mulies are easy to get ahold of. the big 'uns ain't so. guess that's why you're still looking. keep at it - you'll find him.

around these parts, this was a real off-year for mule deer racks. saw plenty of mulies, but nothing w/ real jaw-dropping racks. haven't even heard of anything 25" or more yet. i get far, far away from other hunters, trucks, and etc, so i usually can at least watch pretty good bucks through my glass, and sometimes sit down in the middle of 'em, but this year was just bad for the mules. whitetails around here are having a better-than-average year, but last year was the year of the big bucks. some of the most impressive deer (both species) i've ever seen were seen last year.

anyway, better luck tomorrow!

 

[Cosmoline]

I remember one stretch of trail in southern Oregon where I hiked one summer nearly every weekend. One mule deer would always be hiding in the same bush right by the trail, and every time he'd bolt out of there up the hill and stare at me, flipping his ears. What goes on in those brains, I'll never know.

 

[Greybeard]

Good to see others also think some mulies often pretty stooopid. At least some of 'em tho must catch a few "cautious genes". Ol' Biggie didn't get that way by stopping to have a good look back at ya.

 

[Lennyjoe]

By this time we were maybe 35 yards from Bucky. He decided to leave.

If that happens to me next weekend during bow season I would have to take the shot. I like big racks too but meat in the freezer is better than horns on a wall.

Then again, I did bring back 3 deer that I shot in Missouri. Filled the freezer up pretty good.

Maybe I will wait on some horns this time.

 

[Art Eatman]

Dunno why, but for whatever reason a solitary deer is less likely to put it into fifth gear overdrive than a group. Doesn't seem to matter whether it's doe, little buck or big buck.

The main problem with finding Ol' Biggie in this country is that the density of the deer population is low, and these deer are very lazy compared to whitetail. Much less curiosity. They'll lay up and look at you and not move until you darned near step on top of them.

And my level of ambition to get up on a ridge top just isn't what it was, some years back. What used to be an easy 500-foot climb, isn't.

Art

 

[Byron Quick]

Art,

It wasn't so much the cleaning as the transporting of the meat afterward. And what you had said about the deer population. I wouldn't kill a whitetail buck in Georgia the size of those bucks, so why do it? I've still got deer meat in the freezer.

We should have been hunting the quail. Thanks for a great time. I've got to get a telephoto lens for my Canon.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Mule deer are not that stoopid. They are exceptionally good at being mule deer and if they were so darned stupid, they would have already gone extinct.

From a biological perspective, why should they fear humans that are some distance away from them? Obviously, it is because humans can shoot them, but deer don't understand the concept of being shot. It isn't as if those that get shot and escape are able to take that information and pass it on to their young that the stinky 2 legged animals with loud sticks have a supernatural power by which if they can see you, they can hurt you.

Mule deer do not understand ballistics, and why should they. Just what other predators have such powers as man? Then again, a lot of men I know don't understand ballistics either and think it is magic when the put the crosshairs on a buck and kill it.

I have to laugh at the notion that mule deer are stoopid. Somewhere up in the heavens, the creatures that appear to us as clouds are posting how stoopid the two legged stinky animals are, laughing about our poor understanding of danger. Just for fun every now and then, they zap a person to death with lightning, about 60-80 people per year in the US as an average, although the last two years have had reduced numbers. About 20% of lightning strikes are fatal and the 80% survivors often suffer numerous maladies from the strike, many of which are painful or life-shortening.

Kind of like with the buck mule deer, the apparently really stoopid humans are the males that account for 84% of the fatalities and 82% of the injuries. While Florida tops all other states, Texas, surprisingly, is in the top 10 for lightning strikes, injuries, and fatalities.

I wonder how many were out hunting when they were struck? I know of one who was struck while duck hunting, killed, in east Texas near Richland Chambers Reservoir.

...and yet humans keep exposing themselves to the cloud creatures who sometimes strike them down and we don't know why.

 

[Art Eatman]

Well, now, when you get out of a car and walk over toward a mule deer and talk to him and all he does is stare at you, I really doubt his lack of understanding of ballistics has anything to do with it.

Try that with a whitetail and you'll find out two things: First, the reason he's called a whitetail; and, second, how practiced he is at not being there.

Be that as it may, I'm just yarning about one particular day's observation of some young, dumb deer. I've seen similar behavior, though, other days, other mule deer.

Look: When you're maybe twenty yards from a doe and say out loud, "Hey, go on and lie down. I don't shoot women and children," and the darned critter goes maybe ten yards and lies down, it's a bit startling.

OTOH, I've worked valleys with a couple of other guys and had mule deer take off when several hundred yards away, in fifth gear overdrive. That's why I prefer to hunt solo, just easing along quietly. Up close and personal makes for easier shots.

It's all just fun...

Art

 

[Ankeny]

Mule deer can be the oddest critters. I have hunted monster bucks that seemed to have a sixth sense and they just vanish about the time you figure they are in the bag. Other times, I have seen deer act like they are suicidal.

This year I found a decent buck and I got within 365 yards. I checked him over for the longest time as he gazed back at me. I ranged him over and over, ran the distance, wind etc. through my pocket pc ballistics calculator, and I was sure I couldn't get any closer. Anyhow, I decided to pass on the deer because he wasn't what I wanted.

I got up, put the rifle away and got my cheapo digital camera out. It was amazing how close I got to the animal after I decided not to shoot him. I took this picture at about 35 yards. I could have stuck him with an arrow.

 

[Lennyjoe]

I went out today to the area I keep seeing the monster mulie that I see on occasion in a certain area. No signs of him whatsoever. Magine that.

He was almost as tall and just a bit tighter in rack size than the one you took a picture of. I guess I'll never see him unless its the off season. :banghead:

 

[AStone]

Not stoopid, but cool

DNS, +1.

Nem

 

[JShirley]

Beautiful, Ankeny, thanks.

Thanks for the stories, Art & Byron. I enjoyed walking those few convivial steps with y'all.

John

 

[rwc]

... but tasty.

 

[one-shot-one]

the 1st mule deer my father shot

walked right up behind the tree my dad was sitting against, (20 yards may closer) then when dad leaned out to look at him the 4X5 lowered his head and tried to slowly back away, the 7mm bullet caught up to him quickly. his head now hangs on the living room wall and every year at this time he wears a jingle bell collar with his "pet" name on it "stoopid".

 

[Byron Quick]

Darn, Ankeny, just what are you looking for in a mule deer buck? Are you sure you're hunting the right species?