Huckleberry Quality Mule deer Tag.

[hunter399]

So I have a friend that got the tag in the draws.
Basically you can hunt mule deer Durring the late season.
All the areas I have suggested to him have been hit hard by wolves and the mule deer in those areas are hit and miss.
Definitely not Great mule deer areas any more.
Since they only give one tag a year it's almost like an oil tag.
I'm definitely would be grateful for any suggestions,pointing in the right direction,Tips,Honey Hole,or any help would be great.
He will hunt the tag with or without help,so no need to get angry about me asking.
PM always welcome.
Thanks
Mike.

[trophyhunt]

With one tag, I hope you guys get some advice.  I know nothing or I would help, good luck. Maybe you guys will find a needle in the haystack.

[hunter399]

With one tag, I hope you guys get some advice.  I know nothing or I would help, good luck. Maybe you guys will find a needle in the haystack.

Thanks for the luck....
5-10 years ago it would of been a slam dunk tag.
But with the wolves in the picture I'm afraid your right about the needle in the haystack.

[str8meat]

Hunted monumental mountain couple years ago, when picking huckleberries the mulies were plentiful as we saw some really good bucks. But when season was open all we saw were wolf tracks. Good luck with permit.

[Ridgeratt]

2020 harvest reports show very little success on Mulies.

https://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/management/game-harvest/2020/deer-individual

[avidnwoutdoorsman]

The problem is that you can hunt this tag early season and yes, muleys are hard to come by in this unit. So I dont know how willingly people are going to give up "their" muley spots.

None the less, sent a PM with some hopefully helpful details in it for your buddy.

I pulled a nice 4 pt muley out of that unit (no eye guards). They are around, just not where you may think.

Good luck.

[baldopepper]

Mule deer around me are concentrated down lower close to the lake. Actually a pretty good herd around, but they hang out mostly on private property. On the late hunt it seems to me they have been pushed heavily down to the private property near the lake. Couple of nice bucks near my house, but they are only big 2 points and that's not uncommon around me. Make sure you look closely before shooting as some of these big two points have nice racks that from a distance make you think they must be legal. We find one dead and left almost every year. Got 10" of snow on the late hunt last year, so come prepared

[Seabass]

I would echo baldopepper...I filmed a really nice buck in that unit last summer. It was in an alfalfa field 2 miles out of Hunter's. I have hunted that unit exclusively for the last 30 years. The buck I saw last summer was the only good one I have seen in 10 years.

I would love to help the tag holder but I got nothin.

[hunter399]

Thanks everyone for the advise. I will remind my friend of the three point rule ,I'm sure he knows though.
The success rate for last year looks pretty bad.
Snow chains on his truck might be needed.
Unless we have a late start to winter.
So I will rely most of the info I got so far.
Any more advise PM me or reply on this topic.
Thanks Guys.

[Mtnwalker]

It doesn't make sense why they offer a mule deer only quality tag, why not make it an any buck tag. Good luck on the hunt

[buckfvr]

"Quality" is the key word there, if a guy wants to make meat, hunt the latter part of late whitetail that overlaps the mule tag so you can opt for meat.   

[hunter399]

"Quality" is the key word there, if a guy wants to make meat, hunt the latter part of late whitetail that overlaps the mule tag so you can opt for meat.   

I'm almost 100% sure he would agree with ya .
And drop a decent whitetail if opportunity presents itself while mule deer hunting.

[Kvw4x4]

pm sent

[hunter399]

Just wanted to bump this up a bit.
His permit opens Nov 3.  So........
When do the mule deer rut normally take place in NE WA or Washington in general.
Maybe some new advise may pop up here as Alot of hunters in the woods ,little more people on HW.
Anyway PM always welcome on the honey hole or just in general,or post it here.
Just thinking if we can time the rut a little his chances will be just that much better on getting some eyes on a mulely buck.
Thank you.

[boneaddict]

About the only thing this tag is good for is burning some points out of the point pool, and because it’s pretty much timed with the whitetail hunts,   It’s not like you are alone in the woods.  That being said,  I’ve seen one hawg on Monumental, and two beautiful 4 points on the hill by Gifford.   Currently you are more likely to kill an elk there than a Muley.   

[boneaddict]

One thing for him to ponder is that the Spokane’s have aggressively been working on the wolves and there are mule deer down that way. If I recall, huckleberry goes down to the line.   No idea what land ownership is like.   That was always the tough thing for me chasing whitetails and moose there. 

[LDennis24]

On another note, I was up on Monumental this August and noticed some cleaned up carcasses on the North side and alot of turkey feathers dumped in an area that had about fifty fish carcasses. Someone was clearly poaching and cleaning up their quarry in that area. The West side off Monumental between the tower and the junction where the old cabin sat on top is usually full of deer. I saw a lot of mule deer from the same areas Bone is speaking of. Don't know if they found alot of poached deer but I still saw plenty of live ones. I also noticed some of the public land up there is posted no trespassing so be careful where you are.

[buckfvr]

"usually full of, and lots of mule"   

[LDennis24]

Lol, yeah I saw plenty of deer up there, some elk too. On the South East side in the thicker timber. I was able to drive almost all of it as I needed access to the tower for work. I couldn't tell you where private land ends and public begins everywhere but I still saw the deer. And on my drives home along 25 I saw plenty of mule deer as well.

[hunter399]

Thanks guys again.
I'll start looking at onx along the river and around a few areas that have been PM to me.
Thanks.

[Kvw4x4]

We hunt Huckleberry, there are mature bucks in that unit.  This is a trail cam picture from this morning.  He wasn’t on this ridge a day earlier when we were there 🤦🏻‍♂️

[LDennis24]

 
Am I seeing something in the background or do you guys think that is a pointy droptine on the right? That's a nice buck anyway, he looks a little lean though.

[Kvw4x4]

Am I seeing something in the background or do you guys think that is a pointy droptine on the right? That's a nice buck anyway, he looks a little lean though.

He’s got a drop tine

[hunter399]

We hunt Huckleberry, there are mature bucks in that unit.  This is a trail cam picture from this morning.  He wasn’t on this ridge a day earlier when we were there 🤦🏻‍♂️

Buck of my dreams right there.......dam unicorn.

[hunter399]

Two day count down.....
My friend is getting pretty excited,maybe too excited.
Got few spots picked out, From some T-cam pics,and some tips I received on HW. Hopefully some of these spots pan out. Opens Nov 3, Maybe rutting, My Friend isn't too picky ,he says 3 point or better legal mulely ,he is gonna pull the trigger and drop the hammer on it.
Anyway wish us Luck.........

[Ridgerunner]

thats a pretty amazing buck right there.  that tag has potential I cant wait to hear how it all shakes out. 

[buckfvr]

I wouldnt be in any rush to notch that tag....

[hunter399]

thats a pretty amazing buck right there.  that tag has potential I cant wait to hear how it all shakes out.

Ya I don't know,how it will pan out.
Been kinda prepping all week.
Truck full of gas/oil/game cart.
Got some ammo made up.
Clean his rifle today/Make sure it's zero and some target practice tomorrow.
Making sure our day packs are as light as possible yet still have things we may need,essential stuff.

After Nov 3 ,I won't post on this topic,unless he downs one,then I'll update.

[hunter399]

I wouldnt be in any rush to notch that tag....

I was kinda thinking the same.
But think he was seeing as Nov 3-6 and Nov 20-24 are the only real quality days without other late whitetail hunters.
And he did hunt a little early deer season with no luck.
So he is getting a little itchy.
But we may go pretty strong at first ,strike out,come up with something better later on. So who knows ,how it will work out,all part of the process I guess.

[C-Money]

Tagging along! Good luck to you and your friend!