So I spent the last two days hunting an area that I've spent a little time in scouting this summer. This area features a ridge with a low pass on one side, and a small peak on the other - about two miles long in between. To the south of the ridge is a long river valley, heavily forested and not really huntable. On the north side of the ridge is a series of creek drainage that drain into a river valley further to the north.
My spot got some snow last week, maybe a little over a foot. All of it on the north side of the ridge. The valley to the south remained free of snow (or what little fell melted off by the time I got there)
I got up on the ridge on Monday, starting at the low pass and making my way to my usual campsite around 5,000 feet near the small peak. There were deer tracks all over the snow. It was hard to take a step without stepping on deer tracks.
On the hike up the ridge, I stopped to take a break, and was looking down the south side of the ridge, when a big doe stepped out of the bushes about 40 yards below me! I stood and just watched her until she waddled off into a stand of trees on the slope below.
So in about two hours of my hike I had seen a ton of sign and a big doe.
That was the last deer I saw. I made camp on the snow (more than expected) and in the night my sleeping pad sprung a leak. I had to wake up every 40 minutes or so to blow air into it, otherwise I was just sleeping on snow with just a layer of tent material and a deflated pad between me an it... COLD.
Anyways I bailed Tuesday afternoon after spending most of that day glassing the creek basins to the north. I could see tracks trailing from the creeks below all the way up and over my ridge.
My question is, do I go back up there and spend the weekend hunting the same area, or is it likely that most of the deer have bailed out and headed over the top of the ridge into the greener and less-snowy river valley to the south?
Based on the number of tracks, I'm inclined to think there are still a lot of deer in the area, but I'm new to deer hunting and I'm not sure if those that have remained in the creek drainage are going to just hunker down... or bail out to the south... or what?
Any advice about mule deer behavior in snow would be helpful! Thanks!
