Mule Deer 2017 - Advice Needed

[Elite7]

Hello Everyone!

My wife and I went to Wyoming to hunt antelope this year for the first time and had a blast. I posted pictures of our hunt in the picture forum! We are now in the process of planning a mule deer hunt for 2017. I am wanting to know what everyones thought are regarding hunting Wyoming in early to mid Octover vs Montana mid to late November? We are looking for areas with good succes rates and a chance at seeing some bucks. I am leaning more towards Montana because i believe the mule deer will be rutting at this time?

I also had a question regarding access to BMA's in Montana. How does one get permission to hunt these lands and is there a certain date people can sign up or when do people generally sign up? I also remember reading somewhere on this site that you should print the BMA maps before they are deleted and reposted in August of next year. Is my memory correct or am i completely incorrect?

If anyone has any other advise or recommendations, please let me know. We can't wait to get back out there!

Thanks!

 

[farbedo]

Here is the tradeoff IMO. In Wyoming, there are early seasons and you don't usually have weather issues to deal with. November in Montana is cold, windy, and potentially very snowy. However, the deer (both whitetail and mule deer) are rutting for most of the month. Small to average bucks can be found most anywhere in either state with some work. Big bucks are a different story. Wyoming probably produces bigger bucks on average and more consistently. Montana has more variety for hunting with fewer special draw areas.

BMA access is specific to that BMA. Type 1 is sign in and hunt access. Type 2 have special rules and those change or are differenct BMA to BMA. Get the book this year, and the access information so you can plan next year. You should still be able to get one sent to you so you have the whole access guide. Otherwise, you have to wait until August next year to know the rules for each BMA.

Jeremy

 

[Duck-Slayer]

Great info., but don't forget about Idaho. There are some great opportunities here for deer, both draw (no points here) and OTC, check out the regs, you have desert hunting all the way up too 10K backpack hunting and all the stuff in between. Good luck,
Matt

 

[antlerradar]

Hunting the rut can be both good and bad. The rut can concentrate hunting pressure around the middle of Nov. Last year the wife and I did a big loop drive of the Custer the first part of Nov. and only ran into two groups of hunters in trucks. Did the same loop two weeks later and ran into over a dozen trucks full of hunters and passed a half dozen camps. Montana may have five week season but much of the hunting pressure lately is concentrated in to two weeks.
hunting the rut will shift the chance of success to be dependent more of luck than on how much effort you put into the hunt. You can scout all summer and fall and if you wait until the rut that buck you found in Sept. is likely to be miles away in mid Nov. Walking in to remote road less country is likely to be no better that hunting close to roads. Where I live in Eastern Mt there is no place that a person can't walk to in 2 or 3 hours. A buck traveling and looking for does will cover that distance in less than an hour. Just off the top of my head I can think of a least a half dozen real good bucks that I located in some of the most remote country on the Custer in the summer that were shot from or real close to a road in Mid Nov. If you are new to the place you are hunting it is likely that you are far better off hunting the rut. The more you know about your hunting ground the less you need the rut to be successful.
The bucks will be were the does are. Does tend to favor the most productive land. The most productive land is almost always private land. The number of does in river bottom hay fields is far more that the number on public land. It is not even close. This is difference is made even greater when FWP issues region wide doe tags with no restrictions to try to ensure that does are harvested where numbers are highest.
Bucks will leave the public to rut on the private. I have located dozens of bucks in the summer that traveled out of the public and down to the private to rut. One of those bucks went five miles. I would not be surprised if some bucks travel farther. If you have access to the private all the better but if you are hunting the public you could be hunting where bucks were two or three weeks ago.

 

[BlakeA]

Hunting the rut can be both good and bad. The rut can concentrate hunting pressure around the middle of Nov. Last year the wife and I did a big loop drive of the Custer the first part of Nov. and only ran into two groups of hunters in trucks. Did the same loop two weeks later and ran into over a dozen trucks full of hunters and passed a half dozen camps. Montana may have five week season but much of the hunting pressure lately is concentrated in to two weeks.
hunting the rut will shift the chance of success to be dependent more of luck than on how much effort you put into the hunt. You can scout all summer and fall and if you wait until the rut that buck you found in Sept. is likely to be miles away in mid Nov. Walking in to remote road less country is likely to be no better that hunting close to roads. Where I live in Eastern Mt there is no place that a person can't walk to in 2 or 3 hours. A buck traveling and looking for does will cover that distance in less than an hour. Just off the top of my head I can think of a least a half dozen real good bucks that I located in some of the most remote country on the Custer in the summer that were shot from or real close to a road in Mid Nov. If you are new to the place you are hunting it is likely that you are far better off hunting the rut. The more you know about your hunting ground the less you need the rut to be successful.
The bucks will be were the does are. Does tend to favor the most productive land. The most productive land is almost always private land. The number of does in river bottom hay fields is far more that the number on public land. It is not even close. This is difference is made even greater when FWP issues region wide doe tags with no restrictions to try to ensure that does are harvested where numbers are highest.
Bucks will leave the public to rut on the private. I have located dozens of bucks in the summer that traveled out of the public and down to the private to rut. One of those bucks went five miles. I would not be surprised if some bucks travel farther. If you have access to the private all the better but if you are hunting the public you could be hunting where bucks were two or three weeks ago.

One of the best/most informative posts for someone coming from out east I've read on here in a long time. Listen to what Antlerradar says. The guy knows what he is talking about! Great stuff.