Mule deer terrain question

[targetpanic]

I am planning my first trip out West for mule deer next fall (2018) with my wife and 1 other friend. We will be going to SE MT. I have a very general question for anyone familiar with that area or the terrain/cover in that area of the State. I am trying to do as much research, reading and google earth scouting as I can. When I am looking at Google earth, I really don't know which type of area I should be focusing on more. In the 2 pics below are mule deer more likely to live in the more open type country or the more forested type country. These are both approx 10,000ft views of 2 random places to show the different types of cover.




Thanks guys. Any other advice for first time Mule deer hunters is very much appreciated!!

 

[Irish52084]

Whatever one has fewer roads and hunting pressure! Mule deer seem to use timber and open country well and they seem less picky about it than whitetail, at least in Washington.

 

[johnp]

On a real dry year , the one with the best water. Another factor can be how heavily stocked the area is with cattle .

 

[targetpanic]

Thank you for the responses guys!

 

[mtnrunner260]

There are some articles on Go Hunt about using GE for Mule Deer hunting. Pretty sure you can sign up for a free trail right now if you don't have it.

 

[antlerradar]

Since this is your first time hunting mule deer I will assume that you will not be holding out for a big deer. If so I would look for rough terrain with in a few miles of alfalfa fields. There will be plenty of deer feeding in the fields and bedding in the rougher terrain. Your second map is a good example with the fields to the west and north. The fields to the north are a bit far away however and deer are likely not making it that far south before they bed down.

 

[targetpanic]

Since this is your first time hunting mule deer I will assume that you will not be holding out for a big deer. If so I would look for rough terrain with in a few miles alfalfa fields. There will be plenty of deer feeding in the fields and bedding in the rougher terrain. Your second map is a good example with the fields to the west and north. The fields to the north are a bit far away however and deer are likely not making it that far south before they bed down.

No we are not looking for big deer. I would be very happy to find a good representative buck. Is a 140"ish 4x4 more than I should expect for this area?

 

[JLS]

In your first image I would look at the upper end of the cuts, where they start to fork a lot. Especially where there are ledges.

 

[antlerradar]

A 140 four point is doable with luck or some effort.
If you don't get out of the truck except to get rid of your beer a 140 will take some luck.
If you walk, leave the truck in the dark and get back after dark and spend a lot of time wearing a hole in the backside of you pants, you should have a reasonable chance at a average four point.

 

[targetpanic]

A 140 four point is doable with luck or some effort.
If you don't get out of the truck except to get rid of your beer a 140 will take some luck.
If you walk, leave the truck in the dark and get back after dark and spend a lot of time wearing a hole in the backside of you pants, you should have a reasonable chance at a average four point.

I have no intention of road hunting LOL. Thank you for your posts, I know a lot of people tend to say...SE MT is overrun with hunters and shot out and there are tons of threads (I think I've read them all twice) but I still think this is our best option for a first hunt out west. I plan on asking more questions as I continue my reading. It's nice to get real world responses from people with first hand experience of an area.