king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Best of 2007 Feb-March 2008 - Index

may have some success with your
Eastern tactics, but may be better
off leaving them home. Wyoming
terrain is expansive and requires a
different sort of patience than what
you’re probably used to. Instead of
waiting in a stand/blind for a whitetail
to appear from the thick hardwoods,
you’ll sit and glass extensive open
country for long periods of time
searching for mule deer. Once you
spot your quarry, you’ll need to
make a stalk to get within range of
the buck. Mule deer rut throughout
November in Wyoming. Whatever
part of Wyoming you hunt, your
optics will be extremely important.
You should also be equipped to take
longer shots than you would for
whitetail.
Q. Hey Mr. Mule Deer, can you tell
me the difference in the scoring
between Pope & Young and Boone
& Crockett?
Cody Lunceford – Vernal, Utah
A. The same scoring system is used
for both Pope & Young and Boone
& Crockett. However, the minimum
score for awards is quite a bit less for
Pope & Young, since it recognizes
records on bow-harvested North
American big game only. Boone &
Crockett’s Record Program includes
trophies taken by bow, rifl e, hand
gun and other methods.
Q. Are mule deer color blind?
Jeff Baldwin – Ontario, OR
A. The debate over deer being color
blind is not new. But, recently,
extensive studies have confi rmed that
deer do have limited color vision,
much more limited than the range of
a human’s color vision. In essence,
deer are red-green color blind. This
does not mean that these colors are
invisible to deer, but rather that they
are perceived differently. A hunter
may perhaps get away with hunting
in green, red, or orange clothing,
but be disadvantaged suited in blue.
There is no question that breaking
As a mule deer buck matures he will often
develop a hump on the bridge of the nose
which is referred to as a “Roman Nose”
up your outline is far more important
than the color of your clothing.
Q. I am a bow hunter and prefer to
hunt over water. However, it seems
that when I sit at water, only little
bucks come into it. I see and hear
about people killing great bucks over
water – do these big bucks water at
night?
Jeff – Reno, NV
A. The fi rst bit of homework you need to
do is to make sure a great buck is using
the water hole you hunt over. Often, if
other water is available nearby, larger
5MR.MULE DEER5
bucks will steer clear of the obvious
water holes and fi nd small water
sources that are less conspicuous.
Once mule deer sense danger or have
had some hunting pressure, their
watering patterns are interrupted and
it is diffi cult to predict when they’ll
come to water. Does and little bucks
may still come into water during
hunting hours; but, by the time a
buck has matured, he has found that
water holes are danger zones. These
big bucks often use the tanks during
the night when it is safest. Your best
bet is to be in your stand well before
light and after dark.
February/March 17