My wife and I are taking a site seeing trip through Utah. I was hoping to go find some big mule deer bucks to show her. It will be the 1st week of October. Does anybody have any suggestion on where to go to easily see some good mule deer. I realize this is a random question but seeing this is such a hard tag to draw and I won't be getting it anytime soon I thought there might be someone out there with a suggestion for just site seeing a few big bucks. Maybe its not that easy but I would enjoy looking.
Paunsaugunt Utah Mule Deer
- Thread starter benjblt
- Start date
JimP
Administrator
By October 1 all the bigger bucks will be in the deep canyons hiding from everyone. The archery hunt will be done, the muzzle loader will be going on. Not to mention the early hunts for limited entry elk. So there will be enough people out in the hills that there will be very few bucks hanging around roads or even out in the open very long.
A lot of people have the perception that there is a 30" wide 200" buck standing behind every tree on the Paunsaugunt. Even if you do get a tag I would shoot the first 180" buck that I saw. If I wanted to see big deer I would spend a week down on the Henry Mountains. In my opinion it is 10x better than the Paunsaugunt plus you will have a good chance of seeing a wild herd of bison.
So just enjoy what you see but don't expect to see very many animals.
Here is a picture that I took out in the Book Cliffs a couple years ago just before the muzzle loader hunt started. Then a couple days later they were no where to be seen. And none of them were really what I would call shooters.
A lot of people have the perception that there is a 30" wide 200" buck standing behind every tree on the Paunsaugunt. Even if you do get a tag I would shoot the first 180" buck that I saw. If I wanted to see big deer I would spend a week down on the Henry Mountains. In my opinion it is 10x better than the Paunsaugunt plus you will have a good chance of seeing a wild herd of bison.
So just enjoy what you see but don't expect to see very many animals.
Here is a picture that I took out in the Book Cliffs a couple years ago just before the muzzle loader hunt started. Then a couple days later they were no where to be seen. And none of them were really what I would call shooters.
JimP
Administrator
I was thinking that if you want to see some big bucks and are going to be in the SLC area take a trip out onto Antelope Island. It is a state park and there is a fee to go out there but it grows some huge bucks. Also it has sheep, bison, and pronghorns out there.
There is a hunt that goes on for the bucks but you have to be a resident or have some very deep pockets. The tag went for $390,000 this year.
http://www.sltrib.com/home/2212820-155/antelope-island-trophy-mule-deer-tag
There is a hunt that goes on for the bucks but you have to be a resident or have some very deep pockets. The tag went for $390,000 this year.
http://www.sltrib.com/home/2212820-155/antelope-island-trophy-mule-deer-tag
Silentstalker
Active Member
I would concur on the island. There are giant bucks out there that the local photographers take pics of all the time. That is where I would go.