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High Country mule deer

This year I hunted region g in the Wyoming Range it was an awesome hunt. I passed up a lot of smaller bucks because I know the caliber of deer that come out of there. So I ended up taking a meat buck in the desert near where I live. I don't really know to much of the area in g except what I explored this year. Next year I wanna go hard and do my best to get a big muley since they keep eluding me. This year I am thinking about trying the salt river range on the greys river side, or the hoback. If Any one with experience in these areas would provide some insight or maybe point mr in the right direction via PM. I would really appreciate it or even better if your willing to go on a high country hunt let me know

I don't know with certainty how resident licenses work, but what is generally referenced as the "Hoback" is not in Region G. If it were me, I would not hunt the Hoback if I could get back to Region G, unless I had specific intel on targets there. Lots of Star Valley locals hunt the west slope of the Salts from my experience, and they pull some good bucks out of there. If you had an awesome hunt this year, maybe some of those littler bucks in that spot will be bigger next year... Winter conditions were pretty tough last year.

Oh ya I didn't think about it from a nr perspective the hoback is part of Region H but as a resident you can hunt both.I appreciate the info on the west side of the Salt river range and I've thought about hunting that stuff it's just a little farther away. Maybe ill check some of that out this year. This year was great as far as seeing bucks I just couldn't find the right size and I think the biggest part of me wanting to switch spots is because I kept running into people where I was last year. I even bumped into a guy 7 miles back. I was thinking that the greys river stuff or the hoback would be more remote an maybe less people meaning more big bucks

How high are you hunting? The bucks you are looking for look DOWN on the elk. They live up on top. If you are hunting big bucks only you really shouldn’t be camping at your vehicle. They require more effort than the elk. Spike out up high and glass like it’s a full time job.

Hunted the Greys river area 2 yrs ago. Hired a guide for a drop camp hunt. We went 5-7 miles in on horseback. We still see a ton of hunters. It was very disappointing. Only saw a couple good bucks over a mile away in a small clearing. Watched the area all week never saw another deer there. Again, I was very disappointed.

Rick what elevation did you camp and hunt at? Who was your outfitter? I might pay a guy to pack me in and out.

I will pm u after work.

Havent been on here in a while was surprised to see all the responses seemed liked the thread was dead for a while. Mule power I actually hunted at different elevations trying to change things up when I couldn't find deer. So the first trip out My buddy and myself tried to pack in back on the greys during the archery opener but the smoke was so thick once we got up into some higher upper basins you couldn't glass more than 200 yards due to the fires from Idaho at that time. So we packed up camp and hiked the 4 miles back to the truck and went to our elk spot on the Wyoming range side where it wasn't as smoky and I ended up harvesting a nice 5x5 bull with my bow which was awesome, but no mule deer. The next time we went was the day before the rifle opener and I had a spot picked out where we would hike 4 miles back at 9600ft and from there we could glass a lot from camp and also have and be able to hunt some upper basins a couple miles up the ridge. We got set up and went to go glass the upper basins that evening before the opener and that was when the rain started. We were socked in pretty good up there and glassing could only be done in 20-30 min increments when the rain/ fog would break. The opening morning regardless the weather I hiked the 3 miles back to the top of the ridge over looking a bunch of basins and actually bumped a guy on a horse which was kinda a bummer since he was headed the same way but got there first cuz well, he had a horse. We were supposed to stay back there a few more days but friend didn't bring adequate boots or rain/snow gear and wanted to head out. I should have stayed solo and grinded it out but I ended up packing up with him. He headed out and I went to my familys in Big Piney and went to a different drainage the next morning. I hit that trailhead at 5am and cut off to head up a ridge that would get me to the top of a ten thousand ft mountain where I could put eyes on a lot of country and hopefully find a buck to slay. Up there I did end up spotting five bucks one of which was decent but not a shooter. I did some more glassing and when I couldn't turn nothing up I figured Id get within striking distance of those deer before they came out to feed in the evening in case there was a bigger buck with them that I hadn't seen. So I did and was patiently waiting. When something horrible that happens frequently in the mountains, the damn wind started swirling and I kinda new that my plan was botched but I still stayed till dark and hiked the six miles back out to my truck. That was the first weekend of rifle season. The following weekend I hunted the same basin and did cut a huge set of buck tracks and made a good plan on where Id thought that buck was holing up and where I wanted to be the following morning to try and get eyes on him. So the next morning I followed my plan and hiked the trail a mile then bushwhacked another three two in the dark which sucked balls I must say ,but I wanted a big buck pretty bad. I made it to the top of the ridge I wanted to glass from and was glassing when I heard a bunch of commotion a couple hundred yards away in the trees which sounded like an elk tearing through the trees . Later on I went to go check it out and cut that same set of big buck tracks as well as a steaming pile of turds. That bastard had gotten spooked by some guys that had passed me on horses that morning and had been only a couple hundred yards away in the timber. I hunted that basin a couple more times and could have connected on a buck that was probably pushing 170 but decided to pass. After that I hunted some lower country a couple times with a friend and passed up several smaller bucks. The buck I ended up shooting was on the second to last day and I had him shot and loaded up an still made it to work by 8am. This season was still my best year hunting and harvested two trophy animals but just wasn't able to find that big muley that my heart desires.

Posted pictures of my harvests hope you guys enjoy. I am off to work. Look forward to continuing the conversation

Buckslayer I sent you a PM

Pm'd you back not sure if it sent

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