Desert Mule Deer Range

[Noworries]

I came across a desert Mule Deer during the January season that is certainly worth attempting to pattern. I was curious if anyone knew the approximate home range for desert Mulys? Should I be concentrating on 2 square miles or 20? Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

 

-Noworries-

[Noel Arnold]

It might depend on were they live. I live in the Wickenburg area and the big bucks that live in the flats can roam a long ways. Also with this drought, when we get the summer monsoons they might move miles to get to a area that gets good rain.These are called greenbelts.

Noel

[Lance]

His range will depend on his food. There is usualy water around do to tanks of every kind. (but not allways). Once you find what they are feading on and the area he is doing it in , then you can find which of the water holes he prefers. Use some trail cameras.

His food will likely change allot between Jan and Aug and Jan again. Basicly spend lots of hr's scouting for these things and don't git discouraged. The more time you spend the better chance you will get lucky. I would start with, why he was where he was in Jan. It wasn't just because of the rut. Go find his antlers and post a pix for us. good luck.

[HEADACHE]

I just read a neat article abour that.

Some bucks will move all over the place and some bucks stay put most of the time.

 

I imagine their personality as well as pressure of any kind plays a huge roll in that.

 

so YEAH! 2 miles or 20 miles ! ! !

[mulie hunter]

These guys are hitting it right on the head, food, water, shelter. And when the big boys get pressured they head for the thick cover and are rarely seen in daylight hours.

[TwoGuns]

send me the gps coordinates of that big muley and i will help you come up with a pattern. no worries, eh?

[Noworries]

I seem to have misplaced those coordinates. If I come across them you'll be the first to know.

[azhuntnut]

In January, I also found a big muley that was hanging in the same general area for a couple weeks. I think he was there due to all of the doe's in the area. I have hunted this same place for four years, and this was the first time I had ever seen him before. Even during my November deer hunt, I didn't see him. I think these big bucks come out during the rut and then head back up into the big mountains and stay there until its time to mate. David

[bullwidgeon]

I once followed, found sheds, hunted and tryed to keep an eye on a ginormous desert carp a few years ago. Over 3 years he moved around quite a bit, over 6 miles from North to South and about 3 and half miles East to West. The ground is all completley flat and unglassable where he lived unless you had an elevated tower in the back of your truck or climbed a powerline pole. There were also long periods of times where I couldn't find so much as a fresh turd or track in the greenbelts he called home but the next month or sometimes week they would be covered with sign, so I am sure he moved around to more than just the places I saw him. I havent seen him in 2 years but I also kinda stopped looking.

 

Bret M.

[.270]

i know ya'll will holler, but big desert muleys are the hardest animal to hunt i've ever come across. i mean real desert deer. and big ones. they will flat go underground sometimes it seems. this past season i worked my butt off after 2 different ones. never even got a glimpse of em. they were never together, but came into the same few waterholes at night. only time i ever wished i had a trail camera. they'd tease me with tracks ever 3 or 4 days around the waterholes. but i could never find em. bout wore the shoes out on my horse and did completely wear out a good pair o' nikes in 10 days. and we all know that i'm the best hunter in the world. then around the first of the year my ol' man saw em both. starting to look for does i assume. at least i know they'll probly be there next year. as far as their range, i've seen bucks a good miles from where i saw em before. maybe farther. where i hunt, there is always a big migration, depending of feed, weather, rut, and i imagine whatever the mood o' the deer happen to be. Lark.

[mulie hunter]

.270 your 100 percent right! The big desert mulies love the flats choked with mesquite and all that other brush! You've got to become a skilled tracker like they are south of the border, and that doesn't always work either! Now 'bout you be the best hunter, well.....