TEN SECRETS FOR TAKING MOUNTAIN MULE DEER
Why Optics Play a Major Role in Taking Monster-Sized
Mule Deer
Editor’s
Note: Last week I hunted with Chad Schearer of Central
Montana Outfitters, a guide for 14 years to mule deer,
antelope, elk, bear and fish. He also has an unusual
talent of knowing how to get out-of-shape, overweight,
middle-aged-plus hunters within range to take shots
at the game they're hunting. This week Schearer, who
has had his own outfitting business for 10 years, tells
us the secrets of how to take those trophy mountain
mule deer that so many hunters want to bag. Schearer
serves on the pro staffs for CVA Muzzle Loaders, Mossy
Oak Camouflage, Knight & Hale Game Calls, Trophy
Rock Minerals, Buck Knives, Montana Decoys and Fred
Bear Archery.
3) Let your eyes do the walking. One of the biggest
mistakes most mule deer hunters make is invading the
mule deer's bedding area. I've learned you're better
off to let the bucks have their bedding area. Stay out
of it and away from it. Instead attempt to take the
bucks either as they leave the bedding region or as
they come to it. I remain far enough away from the bedding
area that the bucks can't see or smell me. I do my scouting
out of my vehicle. I spend more time
in my vehicle and less time on my feet for two reasons.
I can cover more ground in a day in my vehicle than
I can on my feet. But just as importantly, the bucks
are accustomed to seeing a rancher's vehicle on the
roads all over the ranch. Therefore, vehicles don't
spook deer nearly as bad as hunters on foot do.
The binoculars that I use are 10X42 Bushnell Elite,
and I like a Bushnell Elite Spotting Scope also. My
spotting scope is very important to me, because once
I find a buck with my binoculars, then I can determine
whether or not that buck is big enough and has wide
and high enough antlers for me to want to hunt him.
My spotting scope is a very-clear 80mm that gathers
a lot of light, and it has a 20X to 60X zoom capability.
Typically, I don't zoom the spotting scope out past
40X, because on warm days when you're scouting, when
you zoom out past 40X, you'll see heat waves that can
distort your image.
I'm often asked why I don't use an ATV to scout, to
hunt from or to carry deer out once they have been harvested.
The reason is quite simple. I believe that you should
disturb the deer as little as possible until you're
ready to take them. We drag all our deer out of the
mountains just to prevent the deer from hearing, seeing,
smelling an ATV. I've found that if you use ATVs to
retrieve your deer and to pack them out, many times
you'll spook the deer worse than if you drag them out.
To keep quality deer on the property I hunt, I don't
want to use any kind of equipment or any tactics that
will cause the bucks to leave the area. I believe with
ATVs
you can run trophy deer out of a region.
4) Look for and hunt only quality deer. I've found
that many people don't know what a quality mule deer
is. When you say quality mule deer to most hunters,
they think you're talking about a buck that has a 30-inch
or more wide rack. But you'll see very few 30-inch rack
bucks in the West today. However, what's more important
than width is the length of the antlers and the depths
in the forks of the antlers. For instance, if you take
a buck that's 26-inches wide instead of 30-inches wide,
your buck is only 4-inches less than the 30-inch buck.
And, if you measure the length of each tine on your
buck, and each one of those tines is 8-inches long as
compared to a 30-inch buck that has tines only 4-inches
long, you've actually gained 4 inches on each point.
On a typical mule deer buck, you'll gain 16 inches on
each side of his rack, which will give you 32 inches
on the height of the rack. Then you'll have a far better
scoring deer than a 30-inch wide buck with only 4-inch
tines. When I'm judging bucks in the field, I'm far
more
concerned with the length of each tine and the depth
between the forks than I am the width of the rack.
Too, I also look at the mass of the deer. Most hunters
prefer a heavy-antlered mule deer as opposed to a buck
that has thin, skinny antlers. I want my hunters to
go after mule deer bucks that will score 140 to 180
on the Boone & Crockett scale. I tell most of my
hunters that they'll see a lot of mule deer buck that
will score 140 to 160 points. If they'll look for bucks
that will score 160 to 170 points on the B&C scale,
they may pass up 20 or 30 bucks before they find a buck
that big. If they're looking for a buck that will go
170 points or more, they'll have to keep their bullets
in their pocket for a long time before they locate a
buck that makes that grade. Where we hunt, you're not
going to see very many bucks more than 180 points B&C,
but you will consistently see bucks in the 140- to 160-range.
To learn more about hunting trophy mule deer, you can
contact Chad Schearer at P.O. Box 6655, Great Falls,
MT 59406; (406) 727-4478 (home); (406) 799-7984 (cell);
email him chad@centralmontanaoutfitters.com; www.centralmontanaoutfitters.com.
TOMORROW: MORE SECRETS FOR TROPHY MOUNTAIN MULE DEER
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