We weren’t 300 yards from camp when my friend Brad stiffened into his groove.
“There’s a deer over there,” he whispered, grabbing his bino and aiming it upward. “It’s just a huge 2-point.”
But over Brad’s shoulder, less than 70 yards away, I could see another deer feeding with its head down.
As I shot an arrow, I replied, “What about that other deer?”
At the same time the 2-point moved downstream, joined the other buck, and both slid into the timber below us. So we carefully moved towards where we expected the deer to be and within a few minutes moved them. This time they were only 40 yards away, but the buck had seen us too. Their ears and eyes were focused on us, front legs closed straight. Now we can see that the “other buck” was a nice 4-point – probably a 150-class buck still in velvet. When the 2-point moved back a few yards I went into full draw, hoping the commotion would distract from my movement.
We had been hunting for a full 15 minutes, on the first day of the Utah general archery mule deer season, in an easy-to-towable unit, and in a popular national forest not far from Salt Lake City. Now I just needed to find a window among the pine trees into which I could shoot my arrow, and my mule deer hunting dreams would become a reality.
If you’re an eastern whitetail hunter like me, it’s easy to form a grandiose idea of western hunting. After all, Americans have a tendency to fantasize about high adventure in the West. When those fantasies are combined with endless podcast episodes and social media posts about how great it is to hunt elk, antelope and mule deer, it makes for a potent cocktail.
But a more serious look at DIY western hunting reveals that it’s not always as much fun and certainly never as easy as it’s made out to be. here’s why.
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In many units, the success rate is extremely low
That 4-point buck never stepped into the open, and both deer eventually became stuck in the wood. While trying to sneak into an ambush spot later that afternoon, I hit a different buck – even larger – in his bed. Both failed opportunities hurt badly, because I knew they were probably the only real opportunities I would get, at least from a statistical standpoint.
The success rate for archery hunters in that unit last season was 4.2 percent. If you’re looking for a public field during the normal season in the West, the odds are also against you. For example, in Colorado (the state with the largest elk herd), the average success rate across all units and all take methods in 2023 was 16 percent.
This doesn’t mean that out-of-state folks can’t have consistent success when hunting public lands in the West – just that most of us will eat our expensive nonresident tags.
And remember that game density varies greatly from region to region. Much of the West faced a brutal winter in 2022, which wreaked havoc on mule deer, elk and antelope numbers. many units also Hunting opportunities closed in 2023. It will take several years for game numbers in those areas to recover. In the unit I was hunting, the mule deer population objective was 25,000 deer. Current population estimates are only half of this.
You’re going to have to deal with the pressure of hunting (and partying)
When we arrived at our national forest campsite at noon the day before the opening, I was a little surprised to see a fleet of RVs and campers scattered around the area. I know, it was inauguration eve, but this place had the atmosphere of a popular campground on the Fourth of July weekend. There children were speeding on four wheelers and brothers were taking off their bikes. There were also a number of hunters scattered about, preparing their gear and firing arrows at targets (the sound of the arrows hitting the rocks added to the atmosphere).
Brad could tell I was skeptical about the situation.
“It’s like this every weekend,” he reassured me. “Deer are accustomed to it. Some people who hunt with this unit leave their hunting clothing in the smoke, because deer are accustomed to smelling campfires.”
And Brad was right. That first night of scouting we saw a few deer not far from camp, including a shooter buck. A man passing us on a four-wheeler saw our scene and shouted over the roar of his engine: “I just saw two big deer running across the road, I almost ran into them!”
Public lands are used in the West, especially at the beginning of hunting season when the weather is still good. Wherever you go, expect to see hikers, trail riders, campers, and other hunters. But don’t be discouraged when you run into these people. Part of the challenge is figuring out how to hunt around them. Animals have figured out how to live around them.
I was especially cautious one evening when I was wading into what I expected to be a deer bedding area. As the sun began to set behind the mountain and things began to feel Correct, I heard a man scream “Hoo-hoo!!!” From across the bay. When he yelled again I estimated he was on a dirt bike trail about 600 yards away. He screamed twice more before crushing a beer can with his forehead for good measure or doing whatever people do for fun.
“Every weekend is like this,” I reminded myself, quietly waiting for prime time. But no deer were in sight, so I headed back to camp in the dark.
Simply traveling the distance on foot probably won’t help
If you are reading this thinking, Brother, you’ve got to keep hammering and going deeper, So I would argue that it’s good that you’re listening to hunting podcasts. But it’s more complex than that.
It is true that in some cases hiking deeper into the forest can help reduce hunting pressure. But these days, with the benefit of OnX, everyone can explore and access those same backcountry meadows, saddles, and waterfalls. When it comes to digital scouting, there are no secrets.
Many of the locals, who have hunted those wild areas for decades, have horses and are ready to ride them to places that will make your flatlander legs tremble. Furthermore, the younger generation of serious domestic western hunters seem quite happy to walk through the valley of the shadow of death if it means they can find a big mule deer buck on the other side. Many of these young guns have structured their entire lives to give them the best opportunity to hunt mature bucks and bulls on the same land you plan to hunt.
So don’t expect to find an untouched honey hole just because it’s far from the trailhead. No matter how far you plan to move, focus your strategy on hunting around other hunters, don’t walk away completely from pressure – it’s unlikely to happen.
Hunters who have consistent success put a lot of time into
Posting on social media about the keys to DIY western hunting success isn’t much fun: It takes years of acquired knowledge that only comes through diligent scouting and tough hunting season after season in the same unit.
Cliff Gray, a former outfitter and current hunting YouTuber, makes some great points on this topic in the video below. Don’t let the video title fool you: What Gray is really talking about here is hunting hard consistently over the course of several seasons to find success.
Hunting Giant Mule Deer – Anyone Can Do It, Here’s How
Even influencers who post honestly about DIY Western hunts often get a good amount of help from locals and friends with extensive knowledge of the area, or have invested a lot of time in the area themselves. No one should blame them for this, but it is important to know that you cannot just walk into a normal unit and expect to find incredible prey. Hunting can also be difficult in limited entry units. For long-term success, it’s usually better to choose a unit that you can build on every year (or every few years) so you can learn it over time. If you choose wisely and hunt hard, you will start killing bucks or bulls in due time.
My friend Brad is using this strategy himself. After giving up his previous deer unit due to hunting pressures, he opted for a unit and a tag program that allows him to kill two deer over the course of three years. This first year of hunting was essentially an initial investment to gain knowledge for those future seasons. Nonresident hunters should develop the same kind of multi-year plan they do for hunting in the West.
But… you may still get lucky
And yet, hope burns eternally in the heart of the eastern deer hunter. As long as you have a tag and time to hunt, there’s a chance (albeit small) that you might shoot a buck or buck on public land on your own.
I saw it firsthand during a DIY muzzleloader elk hunt in Colorado several years ago. One of my cousin’s friends was more or less tagging along on our hunt and killed a 300-plus inch bull in a popular unit that was easy to draw at the time. The local taxidermist said it was about as large a bull as he had seen come out of that public area in many years. With incredible luck and a good shot, the kid did it completely on his own.
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This could be your fate too. But even if that’s not the case, you can still have a great time exploring those big western landscapes – as long as you have the right expectations going in.
