Wheat Fields?

[MuleyMadness]

Does anyone hunt eastern WA Muleys in wheat fields? I have been for the past few years with great results only problem is the deer havent been the monsters that I am wanting.

[popeshawnpaul]

Yeah.  I have a friend with about 5k private land all wheat.  Good muley hunting with a few big ones every now and then.  Not a high buck to doe ratio I've noticed out there.  It's not uncommon for me to see 400+ deer a day with only a few bucks...  There are a few whopper whiteys out there too.

[bobcat]

In open country like that it's not likely that many bucks will get old enough to grow a decent set of antlers. Unless there is a lot of private ground that never gets hunted.

[Houndhunter]

we do a bit out by wilson creek, guy we know owns 5k acres and a few other little peices here and there

[DOUBLELUNG]

They are out there, a mature open country mule deer buck with exceptional antlers is in my opinion the hardest animal to hunt - or even see.  Completely nocturnal, avoid other deer except during the rut, and even then they are nocturnal.  Know to bed in such a way their antlers are not visible.  Most of the few I've seen live have been from a long distance during the rut, from a helicopter, in headlights or a spotlight, or after they meet a bumper.  I've never seen one from a vehicle during daylight, any time of the year.  

My coolest sighting ever of a giant open country buck was less than 1/2 a mile from my house in Wyoming, in an alfalfa field.  My wife and I were taking an August evening walk along a county road, the wind was right and we weren't talking.  Wish I'd had a video camera, he was in velvet, about 32" wide, and 20+ total points, a big, heavy typical frame 4-point with lots of trash - my dream buck.  We watched him for about 10 seconds before he saw us, even though we were 80-100 yards down wind, silent, and had stopped walking as soon as we crested the rise and saw him.  When he saw us, he immediately and completely disappeared, straight down, in 20" alfalfa, like a submarine going underwater.  Even though I lived there 5 years, and mule deer were both my passion and profession, AND I spent a lot of time looking for him and have no doubt he lived his entire life except perhaps the rut within a mile of my house in a mixture of ag fields and overgrazed rangeland, that was the first, last and only time I ever saw that buck, and I'm at least 90% sure he was never shot, and 99.9% sure he wasn't legally harvested.  

The few I've seen harvested (maybe 20 or so over 15 years of working game checks), a few interesting observations: 1) nobody who killed them was hunting them or even knew they were in the area; 2) a pretty high proportion are killed by young hunters without mentors in "bad" areas to hunt, 3) typically it was the only deer seen that day by that hunter or group, and 4) they had no idea it was there until they nearly step on it, it came up at a dead run, and somebody got lucky getting a bullet into it.  

I killed one in Douglas Co. - unfortunately in April, with my work truck, pre-dawn.  Based on tooth wear, I believe he was 7-9 years old, a massive-bodied beast, with antler growth just starting - two big lumps of cauliflower-looking velvet about 3" diameter each.

[jackelope]

i have been hunting open wheat country for the last  7 years or so and i  have not seen any big mule deer. i saw one decent 4x4 in august 1 year with 3 other nicer than average 3 points, and a few real nice whitetails. lots and lots of deer, lots of legal bucks, but no big ones. this would be total of probably 3000 acres +/- of wheat/crp/pasture land.

[tlbradford]

The fields aren't usually too great, but the draws around it can be.  By hunting season the big bucks are usually in the fields after sundown, and have left before sun-up. 

Houndhunter, who do you know in WC? 

[Head-shot]

Where I grew up in Eastern Oregon I hunted wheat fields and never did see too many big rack bucks. Now when you would go up to Enterprise or La Grand area or over to Heppner it was like night and day. Ive seen lots of 30" bucks taken from the Enterprise area and many many big boys from Heppner.  

The wheat field bucks were not hunted real hard but still were puny rack wise. I think it may have had something to do with the minerals in the soil/plants.  

But in S. Dakota I hunted in some wheat fields and there were some MONSTERS out there. Both Mulies and Whities. That's why I say that about the mineral deficiency.

[Houndhunter]

The fields aren't usually too great, but the draws around it can be.  By hunting season the big bucks are usually in the fields after sundown, and have left before sun-up. 

Houndhunter, who do you know in WC? 

i'll send you a pm

[wastickslinger]

I have a few times over the years. Seems the big boys stay pretty well hid. I drew ritzville late muzz a few years ago. I saw 300 deer a day and 50 being bucks. I killed the second biggest one I saw that week, it was a 22" 4X4. majority were small bucks. Some of the biggest mulies I have seen have been in the wheat down south of Pullman on the snake.

[jackelope]

Some of the biggest mulies I have seen have been in the wheat down south of Pullman on the snake.

wish i could find them.
 

[wastickslinger]

I'd like to see one in season and not in a spotlight.

[bobcat]

Some of the biggest mulies I have seen have been in the wheat down south of Pullman on the snake.

wish i could find them.
 

I've seen some monster bucks down there but that was back in about '96 and '97. That was when we first started pheasant hunting there. I haven't been there for 3 or 4 years now, but the last couple years I hunted pheasants there (and deer a little) the big bucks seemed to be gone. Well, not just the big bucks, but bucks in general. I don't know what happened but in just a few years the deer numbers there declined drastically.

[wastickslinger]

The whitetail numbers keep growing, that is the problem. Most of the places we use to hunt mule deer from 1999-2003 while I was going to WSU have been infested with whitetail.

[E-Town Hunter]

There are a few mature bucks that hang around the dry land wheat fields and scab lands in grant county. The only problem is 85% of the land is private property and more and more of it is going toward private hunting clubs every year. Like everyone is saying, the buck to doe ratios aren't very good and the mature bucks are very nocturnal. They don't get that big around here for nothing. They aren't stupid.