Muleys or Whitetails

[cmiddleton]

well here in wyoming people say the whity is harder but i think not
i grew up in sundance and hunted wyoming whitetail alot and finding a truely big muley is harder than finding a big whitetail. muleys here are hunted harder and the really big ones are few and far between 180" and up.
whitetails are big at 160" and given access to property that isn't hunted as hard as the muley country you can find them.
the problem is muleys are hunted on land that is easier to get access to or public land. alot of whitetails are in privete land where the hunting is more controlled therefor more young bucks are aloud to grow up.
public land hunting everyone shoots young bucks and it makes for less trophy bucks.
just in the last few years i have noticed more people hunting for the big ones and letting smaller bucks walk around sundance. alot of hunters now are hunting white tails only there and the locals call muleys "carp". due to this i think the size of the muleys taken in the black hills is going to increase.
out in moskie they sold the homesteak privete land and the new owners close it before the rut. its patchworked threw the national forest and will allso help the size of the whitetails. its still open during the muley rut so whiteys are going to have the advantage of that situation.
here around casper the lions and cwd have the muleys hurting unless i start seeing more deer where i hunt i'm going to sundance to hunt deer this year.
i know where 4 nice bucks are here but all could use another year. if they make it past all the other guys.
there is on dandy buck that i know of but i would rather get my son or cousin up on it.{nowhere to hang it}

 

[Dangerous Dave]

I've only seen a couple of dozen or so whitetails in 53 years of being alive on this planet. A bunch in Chicago and 10 or so on a November muley hunt in Montana. They seemed nervous, fast, keyed up and flighty to me. Noticing that, I'm betting that whitetails aren't pushovers. A really nice 12 point ran through one of our pushes, and I was cautious enough not to shoot him because I didn't have a whitey tag. While running shots aren't easy, compared to the way muleys stott and bounce, that 12 point ran in a straight line like a pony -making a pretty good target. But if you BREATHE wrong when you're after a big muley, you're wasting your time. Sometime I'll say something about coastal blacktail deer. I think both muleys and whitetails went to blacktail school. Dave

 

[noharleyyet]

...mix in a little buck fever & a running deer might as well be woodsmoke.

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Noharleyyet, while it's always preferable to have a standing still, broadside target when it comes to shooting at deer, I found out pretty quick that that sort of stuff happens only in dreams and parrallel universes out where I hunt.
I respect your opinion about running shots and won't attempt to change your mind about them. I just want you to know that with a little bit of focused experience and applied effort anyone can accomplish accurate, humane running shots. It's usually the difference between connecting or going home emptyhanded. DD

 

[cmiddleton]

i make running shots on coyotes often, a running deer is a cake walk.
i wouldn't try it with my bow and thats why i bowhunt. if i pack my 300 win deer might have a chance but with the 243 if i see them its over.
people still give me chit for shooting elk in the head with the 300 but none have ever went anywhere.down game over.
i'll stick to bowhunting that make the shot a challange

 

[JohnSWA]

Nice animals, Buzz! I see that you are smiling for pictures in your older years! LOL! Love the youngster pics!!!

 

[1_pointer]

I'd have to say that whitetails are harder to kill, but muley country is harder to get into. Fred Bear said something to the effect that if a whitetail could climb a mountain like a goat or a sheep that you'd never kill one.

 

[T Bone]

In my current state of residence of SD, hunting public ground, it's a crapshoot. Both equally tough, both using similar hunting tactics. I'll take one of each please.

 

[WHT_MTNMAN]

Fred Bear said something to the effect that if a whitetail could climb a mountain like a goat or a sheep that you'd never kill one.

Coues whitetail are pretty fun.

 

[Bambistew]

I hear those coues deer are impossible to kill unless you have a rifle that will shoot 500-600 yards. I wonder how the bow hunters do it?

nice buck WHT!

 

[1_pointer]

WHT- Nice buck! I hunted coues once with a bow and didn't get one. However, that was my first big game hunt 'Out West', so it was quite the learning experience. I did get within about 75yrds of a forkie, but that was as close as I could get. They are definitely on my short list of critters to go after in the next few years.

 

[schmalts]

Here is my take. Ask or look in any record books and see any one man has killed more WT or MD of boon and crocket stature. I bet not many would find guys who have killed nearly as many booner WT than guys that have killed Booner MD. I think a lot of guys are fooled by seeing too many hunting shows on TV where they sit and shoot dinker WT on feeders. That isnt the normal hunting, and not even close on public land. To shoot an all time booner WT on public land your the king. Do it twice and I will warn you now that you will be accused of poaching by many, its that rare. Sad thing is that it has happened so many times that guys who had shot more than one were busted. Noel feather ring a bell?

 

[Ithaca 37]

Take a trophy whitetail and a trophy mulie and put them both in a 20 acre pen with plenty of good cover. The mulie probably wouldn't be that hard to get. You'd be lucky if you ever got a glimpse of the whitetail.

 

[schmalts]

Take a trophy whitetail and a trophy mulie and put them both in a 20 acre pen with plenty of good cover. The mulie probably wouldn't be that hard to get. You'd be lucky if you ever got a glimpse of the whitetail.

Sounds like a good hunt for Tom and Moosie "team high fence"

 

[AZ402]

Take a trophy whitetail and a trophy mulie and put them both in a 20 acre pen with plenty of good cover. The mulie probably wouldn't be that hard to get. You'd be lucky if you ever got a glimpse of the whitetail.

Sounds like Ithaca hasn't hunted many big mule deer.

 

[A-con]

Take a trophy whitetail and a trophy mulie and put them both in a 20 acre pen with plenty of good cover. The mulie probably wouldn't be that hard to get. You'd be lucky if you ever got a glimpse of the whitetail.

?
Finding a "trophy whitetail" that lives his life on twenty acres is no big deal because most of them (whitetails) DO live their lives on twenty acers.
Go find me a trophy muledeer that lives his life, or even more than a few days on twenty acres, good luck.

 

[Ithaca 37]

AZ, "Sounds like Ithaca hasn't hunted many big mule deer."

I started hunting mulies in 1972 outside Rifle, CO, then I lived in Steamboat Springs for seven years and guided about a dozen clients to mule deer over 30 inches wide. Back in the '70s on the West Slope of CO we wouldn't pay much attention to a mulie under 30 inches, unless he was an interesting non- typical. When the winter migration started near Rifle, usually early November, we'd see bucks over 30 inches wide every day. The hunt was tough because we needed about 18 inches of snow to start the big bucks migrating and most hunters couldn't walk very far in those conditions, but the ones who could got good bucks. My idea of a trophy mule deer was one over 36 inches.

I know it's harder to get big mulies now, but whitetails are still smarter, warier, more nocturnal and know a lot more tricks. You ever seen a mulie buck lay down with his chin on the ground and let a hunter walk right by him? Whitetails do it regularly. Ever tracked a mulie that walked in a stream for 50 yards to lose you? I've had whitetails pull that a few times. Never seen a mulie do it. Try tracking big whitetails and big mule deer sometime. Whitetails are full of tricks, mulies don't know any. Whitetails will crawl on their belly to escape detection, I've never seen a mulie do that.

I can pick up a big mulie buck track in the snow and just about guarantee a shot at him, if he's not leaving the country. Pick up a big whitetail buck track and it's usually real tough to get a glimpse of him, even if you can stay with it all day for many miles and he never roams more than a mile or two away from where you started him. I love picking up a whitetail buck track and trying to catch him. I think it's the ultimate deer hunting challenge. Last year I found a track of a nice whitetail buck about twenty two inches wide with ten points and tracked him for three days and never got a glimpse of him. He was a heavy buck for Idaho, probably around 240 lbs live weight. I never could tell how much mass his horns had, but I bet he was real heavy. I never heard of anyone else seeing him and I'll be looking for him again this Nov.

 

[MarvB]

Last year I found a track of a nice whitetail buck about twenty two inches wide with ten points and tracked him for three days and never got a glimpse of him. He was a heavy buck for Idaho, probably around 240 lbs live weight. I never could tell how much mass his horns had, but I bet he was real heavy. I never heard of anyone else seeing him and I'll be looking for him again this Nov.

WTF??? You can tell how wide, heavy, and # of points from his TRACK?? Wow Ith...you should have never gave up guiding- your tracking skill rival the Benoits

 

[carbonarcher]

I was thinking the exact same thing MarvB. That last post by Ithaca37 was the most full of himself post I've ever heard/read. And yes Ithaca, I have seen big mulie bucks lay their chin on the ground to escape detection. And comparing mule deer hunting in the 70's to today, puhleaze......quit bogarting the leaf there Ithaca and pass it around some.

 

[noharleyyet]

WTF??? You can tell how wide, heavy, and # of points from his TRACK?? Wow Ith...you should have never gave up guiding- your tracking skill rival the Benoits

Dare you question an expert forensic ungulatologist? Why I can guarantee you that just from a scrape or a track, any weekend whitey chaser down here can predict boony status without ever seeing the critter.:eek