# Mule Deer Rut?



## pheasantphool (Nov 30, 2007)

I want to do a little mule deer rut watching(never have) and I was wondering if I could get some help--So is the mule deer rut about Nov 1-Nov. 15 in Utah? Can you find some bucks that have the swollen necks and watery eyes like you see in the hunting movies? Are certain weather conditions more likely to start the rut? Where is a good place to watch them that is close to Ogden-PM me if you like? Is it possible to grunt them in like a whitetail?

Thanks


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## ridgetop (Sep 13, 2007)

You could check out antelope island from Nov. 15-30.


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## fixed blade XC-3 (Sep 11, 2007)

I'm also curious as if you can call them in with antlers or grunt tube.


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## svmoose (Feb 28, 2008)

I don't think a grunt tube would work very well. Of the two methods you listed I would think rattling would work best -- if at all.


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## hawkeye (Feb 18, 2008)

I have tried calling mule deer during the rut with little to no success. I second the suggestion to try Antelope Island in late November.


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## coydog (Jul 24, 2008)

You might try the Vernon unit, alot of deer and alot of fun to watch. Me and Moose hollow outdoors will be there taking pictures around the first couple of weeks in Nov.


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## HOGAN (Sep 8, 2007)

Everytime I tried grunting it was no good, every deer around stopped and looked right @ me, then they boogied, will not do that ever again. Vernon would be a dream hunt Nov. 7-21. You would get great video of MONSTER BUCKS.


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## bigbr (Oct 24, 2007)

Drew out on a sportsman’s combination permit in Montana a few years ago and had my heart set on killing a big whitetail buck in an area where we hunted black bear that spring. We knew that some monster bucks inhabited the area, because we had picked up some huge sheds. We traveled up the last part of September hoping to call a few elk in and maybe harvest one of those bruiser whitetails. We manage to call in one grizzly bear and only seen a few small bucks and does, no elk.

Called a friend of mine whose brother lives in Great Falls and he lined us up with the elder’s quorum president and we plan on meeting him for a hunt in the middle of November. Our primary mission was to find elk in an area that was known more for it’s elk than anything, although we were told that it held good numbers of whitetail.

We arrived and managed to get our truck stuck out in the middle of what we would find out later to be a wilderness area….ooopsss. It had snowed like he!! and we managed to slide the truck off what we thought was a road and caved the side wall of the truck into a big pine tree. Well after climbing to the top of the peak in the middle of the night, we got out a call to some operator in Bozeman and she relayed the message that we need some chains and a come along. Heaven only knows how we reached someone in Bozeman because it was about like getting signal in Moab from down town SLC. 

Not getting much sleep that night we decided that we were not going to let this trip go to waste and started out way before light that morning. At first light we were sitting in a high mountain pass with about two feet of snow on the confluence of three nice canyons. After glassing for about an hour, in the bottom of one of the canyons, we spotted a herd of about 20 elk. The elk were about two miles away and feeding in a flat. Our angle was bad so we decided we need to move to a better spot. After glassing some more, we could never determine rather the herd held any bulls in it so we decided to move over into another drainage to look. Just before we left, I decided to do a little horn rattling. To our surprise two mule deer does come out of the pine trees and into the meadow at the top of the saddle. I rattled again and a huge four point Mule deer buck come out of the trees right behind the does all stiff legged with his ears forward and in full alert. The buck was around thirty inches wide and very high with decent mass. Going in to full panic mode, we both decided that this was a shooter buck and to heck with the elk. Needless to say we both missed at about 150 yards and to our surprise out come two more big bucks from the trees and they head down into the timber across the meadow into the head of another canyon. We split up and one went to one side of the canyon and I went around the head and started to work my way down just at tree line under the cliffs. 

By this time it was about ten in the morning and it had been about two hour since we split up, I decided after glassing and sitting for the last half hour, to start rattling again. After a minute, I herd some rocks rolling above me and look back behind me to see a two point walking across the shale towards me. I started tingling the tips of the horns together and up out of a scrub pine less than 80 yards away was another big mule deer buck getting out of his bed to get a better look at what was going on. Needless to say I did not miss the second time. Although the first buck we saw was wider and a little taller, the buck I ended up shooting was the most symmetrical, heavy five point mule deer I have yet harvested. His spread was 26 inches and he was a mirror image on each antler with a double white throat patch to boot. 

I have only ever had one other experience rattling in mule deer in Utah and that was on Thousand Lake Mountain. My theory is that mule deer establish their dominance early on in the summer while they are in the bachelor herds, so fighting during the rut is not as common. However, I have found that in areas where mule and whitetail overlap, horn rattling seems to arouse mule deer’s curiosity and they do come in to check things out.

On a couple of occasions, I have had the whole canyon with about twenty five head or so, come single file into me while I have been squalling on a dying rabbit call. The does don’t much like the idea of dead rabbits in the living room. Amazingly, chucker’s will climb to the top of sagebrush to see what rabbit is dying in the neighborhood also. 

Many hunters will tell you that mule deer are not vocal animals, but having been up close as an archery hunter and then around a few habituated mule deer for a few years I can tell you that they make a mumbling sounds back and forth to each other when the are feeding or in groups.

My experience…..Big


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## pheasantphool (Nov 30, 2007)

Where on Antelope Island do you suggest?


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## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

PM sent.


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## COOPERD (Sep 16, 2007)

I am going to have to look through my hunting movies, but I watched one, they made a fawn in distress call and the does came running, with a nice buck following. It must have been during the rut.


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## Shep (Sep 21, 2007)

The last 3 nights about 10:30 at night I have looked out my window and seen a nice little 4X4 chasing around one specific doe out of about 5 under our street lights in the middle of the road. My wife had never seen a buck chase a doe before so she thought that was pretty cool. We sat and watched them for about a half hour. That's the way to do it.


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## HJB (May 22, 2008)

I have the perfect place for you! 
Have you ever heard of Little Mountain down 12th street? There is a little mountain at the very end of 12th street with some awesome bucks on it. It's gov land and untouchable, but provides a great place to take pictures and watch some incredible bucks. I'll be making a trip down there soon, maybe you can follow me down there and I'll show you all the good spots to glass deer. 
Shoot me a PM if you're interested.


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## Igottabigone (Oct 4, 2007)

Shep,
How cool did your wife think it was? Half hour isn't too bad!  :lol: :shock:


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