Big Muleys. Where to go?

[haugenna]

Response to PacificNWhunter's request for more info about the High Hunt buck photo:

Okay,  You get drop camped into almost any spot that has great bucks.  Hunt your but off; glass, hike and climb.  The big boys don't often walk into camp soooo out climb everybody and check the spots that no one in their right mind would go.  Pack your self in and you spend most of your time dealing with horses and you probably wouldn't have enough stock to pack in a comfortable camp.  

The Hunt: Get to camp and start glassing, hiking and climbing.  Oh Yea, pass up bucks until you see the one you want.   The buck in the photo above is 28" wide and probably scores in the 180s; tall and good mass.

Most hunters we see just "sit in camp" and have a great time  They really don't affect our hunt.

Muleracks,

I see your email is icicle outfitters.  Are you the face behind the rack or the packer?

[Ironhead]

Non-Resident Aliens can't hunt Mule deer in Saskatchewan.

[high country]

just because we come from a state run by demoncrats is no reason to call us all aliens

[actionshooter]

Response to PacificNWhunter's request for more info about the High Hunt buck photo:

Okay,  You get drop camped into almost any spot that has great bucks.  Hunt your but off; glass, hike and climb.  The big boys don't often walk into camp soooo out climb everybody and check the spots that no one in their right mind would go.  Pack your self in and you spend most of your time dealing with horses and you probably wouldn't have enough stock to pack in a comfortable camp. 

The Hunt: Get to camp and start glassing, hiking and climbing.  Oh Yea, pass up bucks until you see the one you want.    The buck in the photo above is 28" wide and probably scores in the 180s; tall and good mass.

Most hunters we see just "sit in camp" and have a great time   They really don't affect our hunt.

Muleracks,

I see your email is icicle outfitters.  Are you the face behind the rack or the packer?

 Kinda sounds like a commercial 

[haugenna]

Nate,  The photo is from one of the drop camp hunters.  Packed 8 bucks out of drop camps this year; this is the best one.  The photo was sent to us by the hunter.  There are still some great bucks in Chelan County.

I got the email you guys send out reporting all the hunts with all the photos.  It read 9 of 33.  You guys do a lot of emailing of pictures and locations that makes it difficult for us DIY guys.  Too many emails saying, these bucks were taken out of "this location" to potential clients.  All of that gets forwarded all over the internet and there are 31 people in a drainage the next year because a big buck was taken there last year.  

I understand you have to run a business though.  

Nice buck.  Congrats to the hunter.  

[muleracks]

Haugenna,  We appreciate the feedback but we don't give out any information that we don't want everyone to know.  Most hunters avoid the spots we mention so they aren't camping on top of our camps.  Solitude is one of the reasons hunters enjoy the High Hunt.  There are so many great spots and very few of them are secrets.  If people know where our camps are, they can set up camp somewhere else and usually do.  So many great spots go unhunted; especially in the Alpine Lakes and Henry M Jackson Wilderness areas.

[257 Wby Mag]

If your after a booner, looks like Eagle County Colorado. Start putting in for points, or buy a landowner voucher. Jicarrilla if you got the funds. Right ranch in Sonora as well. Montucky is the best bang for the buck for reasons high country already outlined, though booners are rare. Still good bucks in Idaho, its close, you can hunt it every year, and theres no point system, so you won't be waaaaay behind folks if you start applying for special permits. Folks do good in Alberta too, if ya got the $$. Good muleys are the most sought after biggame animal right now, good luck in your quest.

[Earshot]

WASHINGTON'S NORTH CENTRAL CASCADES

Stay close to home and hunt the big boys.

I've pass on many small legal bucks on the high country hunts looking for that one. but only pull the trigger once but that's a long story.

[Tony 270]

Alberta, they can grow some big bucks up there.

[WDFW-SUX]

CO/WY

[BlackRidge]

Alberta, they can grow some big bucks up there.

Yup, that gets my vote 

[bushmaster]

western North Dakota. I have seen 3 deer from ND, 2mule and 1 white. They were straight fat ass pigs!!!

[Pathfinder101]

I have only hunted Montana and Washington.  Had a great time on the Montana, but didn't see any mashers.  Just watching the thread...

[Gutpile]

western North Dakota. I have seen 3 deer from ND, 2mule and 1 white. They were straight fat ass pigs!!!

Didn't even think of the Dakotas. that'd be interesting.

[Pathfinder101]

Hey Gutpile, here is my line of thinking...

To get a chance at a really good muley, you have to either:

1.  Know someone with good land (I don't)
2.  Get lucky (not much of a track record there)
3.  Draw a "good" tag

That pretty much leaves me with the "drawing a good tag" option.
ID doesn't do "points", so it's a straight up lottery every year and their prices went waaay up the year before last (that puts me back in the "lucky" category, which I mentioned before, is not my strong suit)
OR does points, but their prices also went waaaay up this year (I put in this year, and didn't get drawn.  Was expensive.  Don't know if I can swing it again next year)
MT only allows you to build points AFTER you draw the deer tag (which statistically only happens every 4-5 years), and for their best big muley units, the odds for Non-resdients are atrocious (2 to 3%)
CO wants the $ up front, and it's a looooong drive, and there are a lot of guys with max points in the pool
NM also started wanting their $$ for the tag up front, which made for better draw odds this year, but I hadn't budgeted for it
Havent looked into AZ or UT
WY however allows you to buy "points" ($40 for deer), meaning that if you don't want your name to go into the draw for this year, you can just buy the "point" that you would have gained by putting in and not being drawn.  Plus, WY's point system is only 4 years old, so if I start buying now, in a few years I will have enough points to draw a "good" hunt.

So, for now, I am going to hunt Washington, Montana, maybe Idaho next year and cross my fingers and hope to get lucky, but I am banking on having a real good hunt in WY in a few years....