3 Reasons Why Late Fall is Great for Chasing Mule Deer Bucks

From a young age, we are taught not to drag our feet when it comes to getting stuff done. However, I would argue that some situations benefit from purposeful procrastination. Take mule deer hunting, for example. Many hunters chase muleys during the early- to mid-autumn timeframe for a variety of reasons. Some can’t resist the urge to pursue these icons of the West as soon as they possibly can. Others are keen to bag a buck before it has shed its antler velvet. Others still endeavor to fill their mule deer tag as quickly as possible in order to engage in other fall pursuits.

However, those who allow the masses to vacate the mule deer woods before they launch their own efforts are often rewarded with some of the best hunting of the season. What follows are three reasons why late fall can be a great time to chase muleys, as well as strategies for each.

REASON 1: THE RUT

Aside from the timing being similar, mule deer rut differently than their whitetail cousins. And even though mule deer embrace some of the rutting behavior traits of their elk neighbors, they still have breeding mannerisms unique to themselves.

THE STRATEGY

Mule deer bucks do not assemble and maintain a harem of females like bull elk do, but they do visit female groups and stay with them as long as females continue to cycle into estrus. They also do not scrape in the same manner as a whitetail buck, but they carry what equates to a mini scrape on their bodies in the form of tarsal glands soaked in urine.

Your strategy for late-season mule deer with rutting still a focus is to hunt for female groups. Bucks will be doing the same. When a buck discovers a doe in estrus within one of these groups, he will stay with that doe for at least 24 hours—longer if she is just cycling into the first phase of estrus. In the peak of breeding, typically mid- to late-November in northerly regions, bucks stick with these female groups as does continually come into estrus.

Early and late in the rut, they do not show as much devotion if they do not sense an estrus doe. They put on their walking shoes and move to the next female group for a check. That move might be a mile or it could be a dozen or more. The fact that a mule deer buck may roam far and wide to find a willing doe gives you hope every time you hunt during the rut. A new buck may show up unexpectedly at any time due to this wandering tendency.

Keep your confidence high even if you do not see a newcomer for a few days. Mule deer roam larger landscapes than whitetails, and even though this phenomenon occurs in whitetails, it has more significance for mule deer due to their farther roaming tendencies. This means a trophy buck you spied on private land could suddenly appear on a public-land tract near you.

REASON 2: LESS COMPETITION

I see very few hunters during my late-season elk and deer excursions in the mountains. Sure, opening day sees craziness akin to a Black Friday shopping event. But four days later and beyond, the excitement wears off as hunters struggle to find game near the road, their endurance fades and their vacation time runs out. By the second week of many Western seasons, you only hear the occasional growl of a distant ATV as you depart from a trailhead. The woods are yours.

THE STRATEGY

Fewer hunters opens a plethora of hunting locations that were overrun just days prior. You can venture farther into the backcountry, as I often do, but do not forsake old hotspots. Visit them again for the very reason outlined in Reason 1: Any doe group could be visited by a mule deer buck at any hour, especially if they perceive less human activity in their area.

This strategy involves your review of the hunting area and determining if the pressure truly has subsided. In a limited-draw trophy unit, hunters may hunt all season in an attempt to tag their best buck ever. In run-of-the-mill and general units, bet on burnout. Regardless, keep a remote option in your back pocket.

My strategy is transitory. During the opener I tend to hunt with the crowds, especially if a targeted buck has maintained a pattern. After a few days of pressure and deer changing behavior, I move to more remote locations. Then, as the whine of side-by-sides dissipates, I again return to some overrun areas for another review.

One year, during the first days of the season, I hiked a large expanse of rolling public sagebrush in my home state of Wyoming without success. In the last days of the season, a buck I had never seen before showed up, less than a mile from easy public access. I crawled to within 100 yards to tag out where dozens of other hunters had tread a week earlier.

REASON 3: IMPENDING WINTER

From Thanksgiving on, mule deer start to slowly decompress from the rut and turn their attention to mere survival. As a buck’s testosterone begins reversing course, it slowly begins seeking out the companionship of other males, refuge and good eats. As you hunt for doe groups, also be aware of the best habitat in the area that will draw tired bucks.

THE STRATEGY

To get the jump on rut-weary mule deer, study migration routes and habitat with high-value nutrition. You may be able to ambush deer along a migration route as they vacate the high country for winter range with ample browse. Nonmigratory mule deer will also adjust their living quarters to exploit the best of available winter food.

First, consider areas where you will find trees and shrubs, especially areas with young growth. Newly logged mountainsides, set-aside winter range and areas scarred by recent wildfire (cool and controlled burns are best) attract mule deer masses. Sagebrush, buckwheat, mountain mahogany and acorns are just a few of the winter food sources mule deer seek out. Also pay attention to any agriculture in an area.

Even in the best of conditions, the winter mule deer diet consists mainly of leaves, stems and buds. These options are difficult to digest and don’t provide enough nutritional value for a buck that’s approximately 20 percent underweight due to the harshness of the rut. Because deer rob as much as 40 percent of body fat to maintain daily energy over the long winter, bucks tend to bed more to conserve energy.

Finding valued nutrition and glassing become mainstay tactics in the late season. Once you find a candidate to stalk, combine your glassing and hunting app to map out a hidden course to shorten the shot. Of course, bucks seldom bed alone. In the throes of breeding, they generally are surrounded by other females and fawns. Later, bachelor bucks help guard the perimeter. Be sure to locate all group members and take into consideration their location as it pertains to your stalk.

Without question, waiting to hunt the late season has one undeniable negative: There are fewer deer on the landscape. Despite the fact many deer find their way into coolers in the beginning days of the season, the positives of late-season hunting offer as many advantages for success.

A Thanksgiving hunt in Montana a couple seasons ago had me hoping to locate a buck with its guard down in a last-ditch fever of passion. Decreased mule deer numbers, vast country to explore and the clock ticking toward the season’s end left me scrambling through badland topography for a last-chance opportunity.

While checking new country at daybreak the day after Thanksgiving, I spotted a band of deer disappearing behind a ridge of badlands. Two hours later, scuffing my elbows as I crawled to a precipice for a shot, I claimed one of my best muleys to date.

---

• This article was published in the November 2024 issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe

---