New muley hunter

[lastmountainman]

I just joined this site, but have been a big fan since the first season. In fact it was this show that made up my mind to start hunting in the western states. I have hunted in Wyoming for the past two years for antolope and had a blast. My dad now wants to hunt muleys and we decided to put in for two states. I picked Wyoming again as it seemed the best state to get started without any points and having a chance to get a deer. I thought either unit 82 or 25. What do you all think? I think my dad will pick either New Mexico or Montana as our second state as I have told him that I want to build points for an Elk hunt in the next 2 or 3 years. Any other units for Wyoming that has good draw odds\public ground\good harvest???

 

[Gerald Martin]

Welcome to the site! Good luck on your planning!

 

[mixedbag]

alot of the regional tags go without points in Wy.region D has alot of public land and the regions around the Bighorns are suppose to be pretty good as well.You can draw regional tags as 2nd choice and still build points
I did a Montana muley hunt last Nov. and had a blast.deer numbers were down but we still found plenty.i don't know anything about NM.You may want to consider a combo tag in Mt. which is good for both elk and deer and draws at 100% last year with left overs.i wouldn't take Co. off your mule deer list though.Thats were I'd be building points and am

 

[Topgun 30-06]

lastmountainman---You need to look closely at Wyoming because there are limited quota areas, as well as Regional tags like mixedbag mentioned. Unit 25 is on the Region Y tag that can be drawn with no PPs and would be easy to go hunting there this Fall on any public land in the entire Region. I would suggest down in the sw lower 3 units (32, 33, and 163) if you draw the Y tag. Unit 82 is both on a Region W tag along with units 100 and 131 with a 10/1 opener for antlered mulies or any whitetail. It is also a limited quota unit that stands by itself as 82-1 and opens on 10/15 for any deer. It is out of the question for you as there was only 1 NR tag issued in each of the PP Draws last year and the odds were 1.14% and 4.35% to draw it IF you had the max of 5 PPs last year. Go for a Region tag and go hunting this Fall after getting good maps and preferably a landowner chip for your GPS so you don't take any chances on getting a trespass ticket.

 

[pseshooter300]

That is some good advice

 

[lastmountainman]

Thanks for the advised. I was leaning more towards unit 25 area but have looked at the other lower units. I have spent the past two months pouring over stats, odds, havest, and public land maps. My dad is getting old and said he only has about three years of hunting left and wanted to hunt mule deer, so i'm really trying to find a good area (good odds\harvest) this year. I love to walk to the most remote area away from other hunters and enjoy the hunt.
I saw that you all had mentioned Montana, but when I called there office in Bozeman and the Missouri Breaks area, they said it was very hard to get a tag\combo tag around the "Breaks" and that there was small numbers of deer around the Bozeman area. Is this true????

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

Depending on where you have set your goals, you can find a pretty decent Muley in almost any region of Wyoming. I am pretty new to this as well, and to me it seems like repetition in a given area is key, if you hop around each year you will never figure an area out. I have spent quite a bit of time up in Area 25, there are nice deer to be had (My avitar picture was taken in 25). It is really tough country though and the deer are going to be hanging in the worst of it during rifle season. I think your best bet up there is with archery equipment.

 

[lastmountainman]

I saw that you all had mentioned Montana, but when I called there office in Bozeman and the Missouri Breaks area, they said it was very hard to get a tag\combo tag around the "Breaks" and that there was small numbers of deer around the Bozeman area. Is this true????

 

[mixedbag]

Odds are low at drawing a breaks tag.A general combo should go 100% again this year.Hunt elk in the western part of the state,and go muley hunting in the East .I believe you can hunt on a general tag for deer around the Breaks;not elk.your general combo will have both a general deer and general elk tag included.I don't know how close you live but I'd consider 2 trips.Then you can concentrate on one species per trip
I didn't see many deer when I elk hunted the western end of Montana.I'm sure theres places out west in the state where you have a good shot at either