← Live Wild with Remi Warren
Live Wild with Remi Warren
Ep. 154 | Cruising Buck Mule Deer Tactics
00:34:12
Listen as Remi gives some of his best advice on Mule Deer tactics.
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Remy Warren
Foreign I'm Remy Warren and I've lived my life in the wild as a professional guide and hunter. I've spent thousands of days perfecting my craft. I want to give that knowledge to you. In this podcast we relive some of my past adventures as I give you practical hunting tips to make you more successful. Whether you're just getting started or a lifelong hunter, this podcast will bring you along on the hunt and teach you how to live wild. This podcast is brought to you by Mountain Tough and Yeti. A lot of the tactics I talk about here require you to be in top physical shape. So I partnered with Mountain Tough to help get you ready for the mountain with their science based hunter specific training app. You'll get in shape and mentally tough able to tackle any hunt. Because we really believe this will help you be more successful. As a listener to this podcast, we're giving you six free weeks to get you started. Just use code livewild hey livewild listeners. I just wanted to let you know that I've got some awesome new designs on my livewild apparel, including a really cool elk graphic that's on some yeti yonder bottles, hats and T shirts. We've also got some other new stuff dropping as well, so if you're interested, go check it out my website, Remy Warren.com and just thank you guys so much for all the support. Welcome back to the Live Wild podcast everyone. I can't believe we're already in the thick of it. We're in the middle of hunting season and right now I've got one thing on my mind that's chasing big mule deer bucks. If you guys are interested, I just released a video this week from his late muzzleloader hunt with my buddy Josh. If you want to get fired up for chasing mule deer, it's an awesome hunt to watch. So that's available to you guys. You know, I think this time of year and many places across the west, even across the country, deer starting to go full send into the rut. So we're going to dive into that rutting buck behavior and we're going to look at tactics for pulling a mature buck out of the woodwork by utilizing what I like to call live bait, also known as pockets of does. So we're going to look at the stages of buck movement and how to effectively hunt from for right now. But before we do that, I'm going to dive into some scouting reports and share some stories of mine from this past week in the field. I know last year I talked A lot about. Well, if you've been following the podcast, kind of giving reports along the way, different hunts that I went on last year. And it seemed like last year neer did not rut. It was like the weirdest year I've seen on record. I knew there was good bucks in certain areas, and yet I struggled to turn up deer even during when should be the best time to look for him. It was like young deer, immature deer, and very little rutting action. I mean, I really struggled to turn up good deer across multiple states in good units. And these are places where I knew that big bucks existed. Now, we kind of came off of a big winter. There's a few other factors that maybe contributed, but for the most part, it was just a strange season. Last year I really struggled with mule deer, saw plenty elk, and I thought last year I had some good mule deer tags. Like, this is the year of mule deer in my mind. And yet I had, I had good deer tags and all I saw was elk. So this year I said, I'm switching it up. I'm going, I'm putting a big focus on elk this year. And you know what I mean. I've been seeing some phenomenal mule deer bucks. Now. I think that there's a few things working in favor of the deer this year. Earlier in the season, like a lot of archery seasons, some of those September seasons, early October, it's been hot and the hunting has been difficult for the most part. I think a lot of good bucks survived this year in a lot of places. Obviously it's not the same across every state, every region, what have you. But also there was a fairly mild winter followed by a decently wet spring in a lot of places. So antler growth, I feel like boosted this year. There's a couple places that I've been scouting, places that I don't have tags but would guide in maybe more like very limited entry mule deer units. And I've been keeping tabs on certain bucks over the years and you know, know, know the deer movements and habitat and habits in these, in these particular areas really well. And I, I think like this year in a lot of places, especially down south in the more deserty units that got some good rainfall. You. Even in certain parts of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, like there, there's some good places where the winter wasn't crazy and the spring was pretty decent. And I feel like it just boosted the growth potential of. Of bucks that maybe had good genetics and then they just, just boosted this year. So I've seen more. I Think I've seen more big bucks this year than I have any other year in the past that I can think about maybe like 2005 or something. I think was probably similar to this. It's been a while. It's been a while since I've seen like a good year like this. And I think part of it is just there's, you know, maybe some of those deer that last year were in that 165 class and then they've just grown that 20% where they're bumped up to the high like mid-170s or even those bucks that were right around 170 that have good genetics and then boom, they're just starting to hit their full potential. I've seen a lot of younger bucks that have good genetics where that's like they blew up good forks, multiple points. Just like a really good antler growth year in quite a few places. And we're starting to see, you know, you're starting to see a lot of pictures of awesome bucks being taken this season. For me, where I've been scouting, you know, I don't have a tag. I'm just going out and looking for deer. And I've been, well, this, just like this past week I saw more quality deer and I think of a quality buck as like, man, anything over 170 is a heck of a buck. And then you start to push bigger than that and you're just in an. In a next level. But I honestly think right now though, across the west, the hardest animal to take a big mature animal would be a mule deer buck. Like they're few and far between for the most part. Now, obviously I'm talking about a lim a very limited entry trophy area. But it kind of helps you gauge that top end potential. Doesn't mean that it translates everywhere. But I do think that, you know, it's a stark contrast from last year where I can kind of use this particular area as a barometer. Barometer to say where it's like, okay, what is it like here? Obviously it's not like that everywhere. But using his abrometer from year to year and last year multiple places, I kind of kept running into the same thing. Difficult hunting conditions, poor rut. And this is just me talking out of my mind what I think. Not necessarily anything a biologist has said or whatever. So maybe I could be. If you're a biologist and you could completely refute my theory on this. But I've been around deer and animals and watch the trends long enough that we'll call it being out there biology, I feel like the, the heavy winter the year prior put does into a really bad body condition going into kind of last season. Now the one thing that big winters do do is they, they do offer potential good food sources in the spring so they can kind of start to recuperate. One thing that I've noticed in a lot of units this year is a lot of twins and fawns. So I think that, you know, obviously the deer were bred and I think that they put probably a lot of that energy into, you know, their body condition recovered fairly quickly. Now, I don't know though, what the body condition of those bucks might have been. Those, those bigger mature bucks. I just feel like last year after that hard winter, it seemed like the bigger bucks just sat it out in a, in a weird way. Like, I didn't. I would see good bucks come into does and just not like absolutely rutting hard, which is just my observation. I, I think that some of the does cycled in weird, at weird times because I also have seen like a lot of really small fawns. So like a later cycle pushing those fawns into a. Maybe be born a little bit later in the year this following spring. And so I think that the rut was a little hit and miss a lot of places. There was also full moon last year in the peak time, so I think that that had a little bit to do with it. And now we're into this season where it's, you know, you now have got two years of good spring and you're starting to see the bucks putting back on that, that good antler growth. And I think that, you know, maybe like a good body condition of some of these does might get them to cycle a little earlier than last year. And it seems like the rut's just kicking off. We, we got some colder weather across some of the west. And that's just really like the, the spark onto the fire that got the rut going. I mean, last week I saw a couple different pockets of like, oh, here's some does. And it was already okay bucks checking it. And I one day, you know, looked at this pocket of does and there was like a mid-170s, four point great buck. And then the next day, that same pocket, two different bucks of that same caliber came in. That buck that I saw the day before was gone. And now it's two different bucks just starting to sniff around. But they're in that cruising phase, and that cruising phase is them checking different bucks. Pockets of does turned up like a. A 180 type buck and then a good typical buck in that 190 to. I mean like high 190 typical, maybe breaking 200 buck showed up one that I'd. We'd seen for a couple years now and just never been able to. To take. So, man, it's just been over the past five to seven days. It's just like a light switch turned on. Bigger bucks are coming out of the woodwork and a lot of great deer that maybe had decent potential and just been boosted this season. So that's my hunt report. I have a good. I have a late season mule deer tag that I'm hoping on making good on this year. It's. It's in a decent unit, more of a general unit, but I'm allowed to hunt late on it. So I'm really looking forward to getting out and I'm just hoping that, you know, what I'm seeing now kind of transpires for when I get down on my hunt and have, you know, five to seven days to. To really get after it and chase some running mule deer. I'm just really looking forward to that because when I. When you. When you get a look at a lot of big bucks and you go, it's like, look, but don't touch. It's finally. It's really cool to have a decent tag in your pocket and, you know, hope for the best. Last year I had some decent tags in my pocket. Hope for the best and hunted man. I probably. I think I put in on a couple different tags, you know, on. On some good mer tags over 25 days of hard hunting and never turned up a buck that I was really interested in. And so, you know, those are. Those were in decent units too, or places that I've hunted a bit and. And knew real well. So I think there's a stark contrast between this year and last year. And I'm hoping that that kind of transpires into other places that I might have tags. So looking forward to that. And I think it's always good to kind of, you know, you can kind of gauge, well, what's it doing in my unit compared to what Remy's talking about. Maybe now's the time to. To get out there when the weather starts getting good and take a look around if you've got a deer tag that goes into this November time frame foreign. So let's look at a few of the strategies that we're going to use during this early to mid November time frame. And so everywhere in the country Is a little bit different as you go further south toward like southern Arizona. Those deer rut way later than they do up at the Canada border of Idaho, Montana, wherever. So if you think about mule deer rut, the bucks often act in a few different stages. Now my personal favorite time to hunt bucks is the cruising phase. So I think that you could kind of break it down to the. The cruising phase. And that's when bucks are really on the move and they're just continually checking pockets of does. The good thing about this time frame is anything can pop up often. The nice thing too is like this is particularly the time where I see deer that I've never seen before. There's certain deer that I might know about, resident deer, deer that I've watched over the years. And during this cruising time phase, those deer can be kind of anywhere and deer can sort of materialize out of the woodwork. I think it's a really good time for mule deer to. To turn up a buck that maybe you didn't know about Or a buck that just kind of maybe he was living on private all year and now he's. He's cruising and he's out of that and he might get locked back into some private. Maybe it's a buck that was timbered up all season and now he's starting to move. When they're moving, they're easier to spot. And you know, they're. They're doing a lot of the cruising for you, so they're putting themselves in advantageous places for you to spot. The downside is you may not find that deer two days in a row, and that's really tough. Sometimes they're moving and you see them and you try to go to get in position and they just keep moving. There's. They just disappear, and as quickly as you see them, they're gone. Often what happens is they're moving to try to find pockets of does this time of year. Now, later in the season, like the peak rut, then you've got more of that building up and hanging around does and then more bucks coming in challenging for those does tending does. And then you have kind of this phase where they lock down with does where they. Those does kind of go into estrus and they just almost recluse. And then it kind of progresses a little bit where those bucks sort of have a little recuperation time frame. And then there's almost like a second estrus where they come back out and do a little bit more rutting. But we're going to talk about Today we're going to talk about the cruising phase, because that's a good time is. Is right now. I think that the cruising phase can be really effective time to hunt, but it can also be a tricky time to hunt. So the one. The. The best thing that you can do this time of year is you can locate what I like to call live bait. We're using those does as the attractor or the thing. The reason that those bucks are cruising, when the bucks are moving, they have these routes in mind. It's not always as nilly as it seems, because over the years, I've been able to watch deer in certain areas, and I know that these deer, some of these deer migrate in. Some deer are timbered up, and then at certain points in the year, they start to show back up in the same places, which is pretty wild. Now, it's not based off of a calendar date, but based off of the phase of the rut for that particular year. So when they're in that cruising phase, this is a particular place that this buck shows up to cruise. And the reason is because it's a mineral pocket that congregates deer. So we talked about on a past podcast using nurseries to find big bucks. And this is that time of year when you're going to try to locate pockets of does and those cruising deer also trying to locate pockets of does. The reason that we want to have various doe pockets and we're hunting that lot. I'm using air quotes here. Live bait. Is because it's a lot more likely that when you see that cruising buck, he's going to hang around for enough time for you to make a move. There are places where transition areas, big open areas where you can. You can really glass in areas that don't have does, and you're going to start seeing, seeing bucks, seeing bucks, seeing bucks. And they're moving. But oftentimes it's hard to get on those bucks and you don't re. See those deer. So what I like to do during this cruising phase is I. I try to find different pockets of does and then use those as the. The places where I'm concentrating my efforts. As I see a certain type of buck hit a pocket of does, then I know that that pocket of does is often more susceptible to drawing in that similar type of buck. I don't know why it is. You know, maybe it's just that travel route. Maybe it's the. The hormones and the pheromones that the bucks put is there moving, and those more mature bucks Kind of have that route down, whatever it is, they're going off a lot of scent and a lot of habitual things that they do year after year. And it seems like certain pockets of does will be more productive. Maybe it's does that don't have as many fawns. Maybe it's a particular like area where multiple bucks have hit it and then that just creates a little more scent in there and draws more deer in as they're cruising. But for whatever reason, when I find a productive pocket, like let's say I find a, a pocket of does and it's got, you know, like a small fork and horn kind of messing around in there, a young buck, I go, okay, that I'll continue to keep tabs on these deer, but I'll also continue to look for other pockets of does. And then I find a pocketed does where it's like, oh, here's a mature buck that's kind of tending and look like being pretty suspicious of these, these does. And it tends to be that when I find that those are the ones that I put more concentration on because those are the ones that end up turning up more bucks of that similar caliber. For the most part, the one that has the little bucks in there and they're just kind of like messing around or maybe not even seeming ruddish. It's not that that that pocket of does can kick on at any second, but for the most part, maybe it's those, those immature deer don't know what they don't know. Whereas the mature bucks are looking for a very specific type of doe doe to breed. And so I find that when you find those pockets that the, the type of like a better age class of buck is really interested in, it kind of becomes a magnet for other age class bucks of similar, like, similar type. There was a particular doe pocket I was looking at last week. Like I said, I, I saw one nice buck there one day, I go back the next day there's two more bucks, both bigger, checking out the same does. And it wasn't like, you know, they were lip curling, they were grunting, they were doing their thing, he's pushing them around. There was a good buck off fringe. And then the next day that those bucks were gone and they're going to check another pocket of does. But I'm assuming that those bucks have a circuit that they're doing, they've got a route that they're planning and they know that these are good potential candidates for whatever reason and they'll probably come back and check Those and then other bucks are probably doing the same thing. So I'll try to find pockets of does ones that are holding bucks of a certain age class, and then I continue to use those as my live bait. That's how I build out my hunt strategy. So, like, I've got a tag coming up, and. And the plan is I've got a bunch of buddies that are going to come help me. We're all going to split up, and we're going to literally. I mean, we're looking for bucks, but we're also looking for pockets of does where is some concentrations. It does where potential glass advantages where we can see that are holding deer and then continue to glass in those places, because more and more deer will start to come out of the woodwork. The nice thing about this time of year is a lot of the deer do the moving for you. You can stay in one place, you can glass. Like, I like to find a good glass advantage that I can maybe cover multiple pockets or an area that's holding a lot of deer and then continually scan that area for longer periods of time. Later in the rut, I actually move more than I do early in the rut. Early in the rut, I like to find a good vantage. I like to cover country with my glass, and I like to, you know, kind of let those deer appear to me. Once I find a deer, maybe it's one that I'm interested in, Then I go, okay, here's where my hunt plan is going to be. And if I had multiple people with me, I would spread out. It would spread out and kind of COVID the mountain because they're probably cruising. If I find him in with some does, like, okay, he's. He's cruising. I'm going to watch him, watch him, watch him until he hits a doe pocket. Now it's time to make a move. Oftentimes when I find a good buck, you know, you go, oh, there's a good deer. And he's. He's walking across this big sage flat and maybe over to some pines, and you go to where he was at. Yet all the does are down in this valley on the other side. And by the time you get over to where that buck was, you, don't turn him up. So what I like to do is I like to keep my vantage, try to watch that buck for as long as possible until he hits something that's going to distract him and hold him, and that's that live bait, that's that pocketed does, because they're going, they're checking, he's going to go and check every, especially a mature buck. He's going to check every one of those does. Maybe they're close to cycle and he'll stay there and he might be there for a while, maybe they aren't, and he's going to go to that next pocket of does. So knowing where those does are hanging and holding in the mountain can be super beneficial to when you find a buck that you want moving in. It can also be super beneficial to planning out your strategy or trying to figure out where that deer went. If you get into position and he's gone, okay, where is the next logical place that he's going to go? He's probably going to be walking into the wind. And where's another canyon or pocket of does that he might go check. And that's the way that I like to hunt during the cruising phase. So it's finding a good glass advantage, getting up high, covering a lot of country. It's understanding and knowing where the pockets of does are. And using that is a sort of live bait to attract those cruising bucks to where you're looking. And with a combination of those things, you can really time that rut activity and hunting those cruising bucks. Right. This is extremely effective in areas where maybe there's been deer that have been holed up in private for, let's say, resident deer. And there's a lot of ag and other things they're holed up on the private. There's a lot of does often in those private, so they check those a lot. But it's also a good time where they're going to cruise and check multiple other places. A lot of places where there's good mule deer, good mule deer habitat. And then, you know, large sections of private that hold does. Later in the rut, they get locked into those places and don't come off. But earlier when they're cruising, it gives them more potential, potential to be caught somewhere else. Like, because they're continually moving and checking pockets of does until they get find that group that's going industrious. And then they get into that more rut time frame where now they're holding in an area, they're. They're guarding their does, they're fighting for those does, they're fighting for breeding rights. And they're starting to. To go into that phase where they aren't moving as much. So I really like hunting that early part of the rut and catching when they're moving in those type areas as well as areas where there's heavy cover, because areas where there is heavy cover, they can easily lock down or hole up in places that's very difficult to see. And when they do that, it kind of puts you at a disadvantage. You have to move a lot more, and you have to look in a lot tighter spaces, I would say, where you're continually checking pocket, pocket, pocket, pocket, pocket, looking for those deer when they're moving. They're moving from the pockets to pockets. So it allows you to get back, use your optics, and pick apart, and you actually have a better likelihood of. Of turning up that type of buck when they're moving. Now, I think that, you know, having good optics and a good setup is really important for this time of year. I do a lot of glassing through my 18 powers, 18x56 razor HDs, great set of glass. And then I also do a lot of glassing through my spotter this time of year. I like to have those things handy. Sometimes I'll be glassing wide. So, like, my glassing setup for cruising bucks is I'll pick the glassing knob, I'll sit there. I've got actually on my. My chest, my nose. I've got, you know, whatever, whatever you got. Tens, twelves, what have you. And I'll try to get a good look of that country wide, like a good wide view. And I'll have probably my spotter. If I'm looking for like a. A good. A certain kind of buck, not just looking for deer. I'm like, I'm. I'm really looking for a certain type of buck. I will sit back and just watch that country. And let's say, you know, I've got a pocket of does over here, so I've got my spotting scope ready, and I'll continually look through the spotter at those different pockets because you'll see deer. And then one thing I like to do, I like to count the deer and go, okay, there's nine deer. So through my binos, maybe I can't tell what they are, but I go, oh, there's nine deer over there. And then I continually check back in and make sure that there's the same number. I go, oh, there's all of a sudden 13. Now I need to get the spotter out and really analyze what. What else is in there. But having that wider view where I can cover a little bit more country with my binos, if they're moving, they're a little bit easier to see. And then having that spotting scope ready, so if something is moving, I can really Throw the spotter on and just analyze. Okay, what kind of buck is this? Is this big framed fork and horn. You know, I don't want to spend all my time chasing a deer that maybe I'm not interested in. So you've got a limited amount of time to hunt. And this happens a lot where you aren't set up with your optics to check things really fast during this time frame in the rut. And you've got a buck cruising and you can see he's like a big body, big old barrel neck on him, just like dark coat, big frame. And he's walking through the timber into this ridge and you see him with your binos. You go, oh, mature buck, which he is. And you throw the spotting scope on him and you go, oh, he's like a big two by three or big three, like crab clawed, whatever. And you go, maybe that's not the type of buck you're going after. So instead of being like, oh, mature buck, that's, that's a good frame buck. And then you go, you spend your entire day trying to get into position on a deer that you aren't exactly sure what he is. And then you get in there, you go, oh crap, no, that's not a deer that I'd like to take. And you just wasted some prime glassing and prime opportunity to continue looking for what you're out there, what, whatever your goal is or type of buck you might be looking for, you wasted on going after a deer that you would pass up. And so understanding that like having the things ready for this time of year when they're cruising and being able to quickly identify what type of deer that is makes a big difference. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed that podcast. It's just a great time of year to be out in the woods, whether you're whitetail hunting, mule deer hunting, elk hunting, sheep hunting, whatever, whatever tags you guys got, feel free to keep me posted on how your season goes. You can always reach out Instagram, Remy Warren. You can email my hunt emmy warren.com and I'm going to go through a lot of those I'll have to go through at the end of the season, but I've got a lot of great hunting stories coming in some photos. I'd like to post some of those on our blog. So if you're interested and you'd like that, just put yeah, okay, to use on the blog or whatever. I'll start going through those kind of as the season winds down and I'll probably issue a few sweet pieces of live wild gear from our site to those, you know, some of our maybe do like a random draw or something like that. But for, for some of those stories, I think that'd be fun to just share your guys experience with me and we can share those with other people. And I've been getting a ton of great messages. People saying, oh, this particular podcast was the reason I got this bull or this buck. And that. That just fires me up because, you know, I sit here, I'm like, sit here in my garage recording these podcasts by myself and they like, okay, why am I doing this every week? And then I get people success stories and I go, okay, this is definitely worth it. If I can help you guys out in any way. It just makes it makes it worth it for me to help share these stories and these tips and tactics while I'm out in the field. So thank you guys so much. I really appreciate that. Also, thank you guys for all the ratings and comments on the podcast. I noticed on Spotify, I think you can leave comments on particular episodes too. So if you listen there and there's like a episode that you really like, feel free to drop a comment or something on. It just helps me gauge the type of stuff that you guys want to hear about. I feel like I could go on forever about. I mean, I could probably talk about mule deer for every day for the next year. I could do the same with elk or sheep or whatever. So it helps kind of understand the type of things that you guys want to hear about and what seems very beneficial to everyone out there. The parts where people struggle and the things that really help. That always helps me out. So I just want to say thank you guys so much for all the support. One of the other things I wanted to mention too, you know, Vortex Optics, awesome partner with this podcast. You know, they've got. I'd say when we're talking about glassing mule deer, one of my favorite pieces of kit has to be. I don't. I mean, it's just hard because you have to have. If somebody said, do I get binos or do I get a spotting scope? I'd say, probably put your money in your binos because you're going to utilize your binoculars more. Like, that's the workhorse, right? But having a spotting scope, especially if you're, if you're like, hey, I really want to get into mule deer hunting. I want to get into, you know, I'm looking for that next level of, of deer, elk, whatever. I mean, a spotting scope's pretty integral to that. The Vortex Razor HD, like the 22 to 48 by 65, that's a workhorse. Like it's, it's easy to pack. It's that perfect. It's not too heavy, it's not too light. It's got the right range of, it's got the right range of magnification. I would say that that's probably your best all around spotter. Of course you could get an 85, which is great. They're heavier or at 80. The objective lens, like it gathers more light. It's a 20, you get a little bit more. So with the 85 Razor, you get 27 to 60 power by 85. Like it's, it's a glassing workhorse. That's what I like to carry when I'm mule deer hunting. But it's heavy. Like it's not great for a bunch of backcountry applications. It is great for day hunting. So kind of picking the scope that goes with what you like to do. Then there's like the Viper, which is still a really good scope. I've actually got the scope as well. The 20 to 60 by 85, it's a little bit better price point than the, than the Razor. The Razor is just higher quality glass. So there's a lot of great options out there if you guys are interested. I do. I'm a dealer for Vortex optics. I've got a lot of these in stock. We've sold out of some of the binos and some of the other stuff. We're just working on building things slow, you know, so not a ton of inventory. But we do have some of the, pretty much most of the spotters in stock except for that baby Razor right now, which we're trying to get some of those in hopefully pretty soon. So maybe, maybe by the time this one comes out, they'll be on there. So you guys can always check that out. Remy warren.com I've got a whole line of Vortex optics. Everything from, you know, Diamondback through Viper, through Razor. So all that stuff on my website if you guys are interested, looking for some optics for this season, maybe a gift is starting to kind of get toward that Christmas time. I know it's early November, but starting to think about that. So yeah, feel free. If you guys want to support my store in that way, that'd be awesome. I've got a lot of other great live wild stuff on there too. Just as a reminder, we've got Stone Glacier gear in the store. We've got, man, we've got. We're continually adding stuff. I don't want to say exactly what we're adding because might take a little bit longer, but we've got some new products coming out. We've got some awesome gear. I try to just put the best of the best in there, stuff that I really love. So if you guys are interested in any of that kind of stuff, check out the store. Go back frequently. We're going to. We're going to continue to build it, and if there's certain things that you think should be in there, let us know. So thank you guys so much. And until next week, right on Cruising.