We found this superb video about hunting Montana mule deer during the rut. Mule deer present unique challenges compared to their whitetail cousins. They inhabit rolling hill county and mountains with a million places to hide. You won’t get them by clinging to a tree stand as a general rule. You have to go out and find them.
As you’ll see in the video, which is very well produced, host Jason Matzinger spent weeks hiking Eastern Montana’s badlands to find his buck. Jason shares some insider knowledge about when, where, and how to get up close to these elusive animals.
There are a few things I’d add to Jason’s narration. While all the usual deer cartridges will do for mulies, they can get quite large. I recommend at least a .308, and the .30 caliber magnums are never too much gun for these bruisers. If you insist on the 6.5 or 7mm cartridges, use as heavy a bullet as possible to take advantage of those calibers’ high sectional densities to ensure sufficient penetration, in case you have to take a quartering shot at longer ranges.
Weather, as you’ll see, is crucial to mule deer hunters. The right weather will make or break a hunt. Hunters need to take mule deer country weather seriously, it can kill you if you’re not prepared.
While mulies are habitual to a degree, you can’t set your watch by them like whitetails. Best bet is to hunt an area for three days in a row, minimum. They tend to come back to the same general places on a seventy-two hour cycle, but as I said, mulies are not always predictable. They will adjust their habits based on weather, forage, and hunting pressure.
If you want a unique challenge, hunt mule deer. You’ll never forget the experience. Now, let’s watch this great video.
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