Muley Beds?

[Jksprint]

Guys,

How often, if ever, do you find that muley bucks bed in the same place as doe's? I was hunting in Eastern WA this week. I was hunting off a ridge with several finger draws coming down to a 3/4 mile flat area with scrub and timber and some sage and then a canyoned creek bottom. I did not see a single antler, and I was set well before first light and left after dark. Visibility was pretty bad at the beginning and close of hunting hours so I couldn't see much anyway. I patterned the doe's though they bedded in the same dense brush in the bottom of one of the draws each day. I was hunting solo. I wondered what the likelihood is that the bucks were bunkered in there and the does joined them midday? Or is it more likely that they were somewhere up high still completely separate? I am wondering whether I should have given up my spotting location and gone down and beat the bush to flush em out.

Thanks for your thoughts!

JK

 

[HighDesertSage]

The bucks here in CO are just starting to show a bit of interest in the does. Not really rutting, but hanging out close by. They usually are alot harder to spot and take some dedicated glassing to find. This past weekend, I found 15 does feeding on a hillside. After 5 min of glassing with the binos I could not find a buck. I set up the spotter and started picking apart the sage. About 20 minutes later I found a decent 4x4, and then ten more minutes after that I found a reeeeaaaaaaly nice 4x5 hiding in the sage. The stalk got messed up by some other hunters, it happens though. So I would bet that they are close. Just harder to find.

 

[Jksprint]

Thanks. That's what I figured. But the cover was thick and deep and unless they got up on their own or were pushed out I would never find them. I didn't know if it was better to give up my shooting location and try and flush em or not. Tough call. Ultimately I froze my butt off and went home with an unpunched tag. On to the elk I guess.

 

[5Speedjim]

I'm hunting near Casper Wy and last week I didn't see any decent bucks with does. On Saturday it was like somebody flipped a switch, most of the groups of does had bucks with them