Mysterious Mulies

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Quigley

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Has anyone else ever noticed this about hunting Mule Deer?
Every opportunity for a shot an a Mule Deer I have had whether with a bow or firearm has been down hill. I thought nothing of it until last fall when a friend of mine returned to Iowa with a nice 4x4 he shot in Colorado. While listening to him tell of his hunt I realized all the deer they had taken were with down hill shots. I returned home to ponder this that night and in every incidence I might have spotted the deer above me, tried to close the gap and had several opportunities to glass them from below but never a shot from below... Each and everytime I have gotten a shot the deer has given up its vantage point and changed it's stategy to head down hill abandoning its pursuer above. Think about your previous Mulie hunts and let me know if you to have seen your shot opportunities develop below you each and evertime.
How many Mullie hunts have started uphill and ended with a Mulie looking back over its hind end at you while making for the low ground?
 
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All kinda directions but mine are shot uphill mostly, cause I try real hard to hunt uphill as dragging a deer down hill is much easier than up. The one this year I had to get out of the way a time or two it was so steep down hill. Makes a hard job easy.
Guys tend to walk ridges a lot and from there you will nearly always shoot down.
 
I've had shots at mulies uphill, downhill, and on the level. I once had a mulie explode from a bed behind a small tree and stand looking at me from 20 feet away -- so close I couldn't see all of him through the scope.
 
I have always found most game is easier to spot from above as you are looking down into cover instead of trying to look through it. Also, the thicker cover is usually in the lower elevations and many hunters skirt or avoid the thick stuff. I think as Eliphalet says it is more a function of where the hunter is and where it is easier for him to spot game; I always see more whitetail in thicker cover which is almost always in the lowest spots around here except when they are feeding.
 
i shot my first deer(mule deer) on level ground about 20 yards away but thats funny how that works out speaking of mule deer this year we saw probably the biggest deer ive ever seen probably over 36 inches wide and at least 11 by 11 if not more with a bunch of does it was amazing but tobad it was the day befor opening day and didnt have permission to hunt just drove by
 
Most of the mule deer I've shot have been on level ground or near level ground. Often moving from one bunch of trees to another.

My 8 year old son shot a 10 point mule deer this year. I saw him feeding about 200 yards away and watched him until he bedded down. We waited a little while and then stalked up on him. My son shot him from about 60 yards away, uphill.

I think the uphill/downhill thing has more to do with terrain and how you hunt, or how you can hunt. On one of my farms the ground is rolling but not big hills, just 10 feet or so up and down. The whitetails and mulies move across the area and most of the shots are fairly level. On my other farm the high ground is on each side of it. The highest parts of the hills are on someone else's property. The mulies come over the hill and down to our place so the shots can easily be uphill. Even if I was on the property line I wouldn't be at the top of the hill. If I owned the place with the hill I would be up there looking for the mulies and my shots would probably be downhill. On public land I would try to get on the high ground where I could look down all around and that would lead to more downhill shots.
 
All different directions and levels for me.
One thing about mulies though, their so curious, they give you that "looking back at you" shot almost every time.
 
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