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Ht. Mountain Update

Drew Ht. Mountain this year and my dad and I spent every day of the first season there. This was my first hunt there so terrain was new, and it took a few days to shift from the mentality of hunting blacktails on the coast to seeing the mule deer. Once we figured out where to look for the deer we saw tons - 10 to 30 plus a day. Hint - the bucks don't like to bed at the base of the juniper trees as their antlers get tangled up in them - so you will only see does by looking there. Bucks like to bed next to the tall sage in the wide open where they have good visibility. Also get high and watch as many bed down in the morning as you can, then wait for the wind to shift and choose your stalks accordingly.

The seeing deer was amazing, the country was amazing. The finding big deer was just not happening. We talked with 12 of the 18 hunters going after deer and only three of us killed a buck. I ended up taking a small forky after a crazy fun and very long stalk with my dad. We almost doubled up on that stalk, which would have been tremendous, but only this deer gave us an open shot.

Biggest deer we saw was a 3X3 and he wasn't but 20 inches wide. So nothing like what family who have hunted there ten years ago were seeing. Ranger there said that was normal - that a 20 inch fork was a solid deer to take and not to pass up any 4x4 you come across as they were few and far between.

Also there were a lot of antelope hunters there at the same time, so while a fun hunt, and we never met another hunter who wasn't wonderful and polite, we did have several stalks blown by other hunters (most of them antelope hunters just trying to get somewhere to glass).

It was certainly a hunt I would do again, because it was just a blast to stalk deer every day and the scenery was flat out amazing. But if you are looking for a trophy hunt draw - look somewhere else. Those muleys are just not grown up enough yet.

thanks for the feedback. I was thinking of applying for this hunt next year. did you get any sense that the hunt would be better during rifle season?

edit - I realized the dates I was looking at in October were for the muzzleloader hunt, not rifle. thanks.

I went on the Hart mountain # 3 hunt last year. It was a great hunt. I saw several bucks pushing 30 inches and one that was well over 30.Had the opportunity to take this buck on the last morning. 26 inches wide and three eye guards on the left side.

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