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My 2016 DIY OTC Mule Deer Hunt

I had this footage laying around so I figured that I should probably put it together to get it off of the computer. I found this unit through a few areas online and we set off with a no quit attitude and a couple tags in our pockets. We vastly underestimated how tough this hunt would be. We had never been in the high county, we had never backpacked and we had never hunted mule deer. Most of our hunt wasn't documented since it was such tough hiking but what we did capture is worth watching. We were in hunt able herds of elk, some big moose and quite a few bear but we never laid eyes on the mule deer we were there for. We got out butts kicked but have been building points and plan to go back in 2019 with a little better tag!

Some cool footage! The bull moose you found was a whopper!

Thank you! The other bull we seen was a big one too. He was just a little farther off. It was a fun hunt and I learned a ton!

Very cool footage, I imagine it was a somewhat disappointing not finding any bucks but the adventure sure looked like it made up for it. The bull was nice! Hope you guys can do this again with some buck luck on your side. Thanks for sharing!

Y’all drove right past several of my favorite spots for mule deer!

GotBowAz---it was a great adventure but I never felt like i was in the hunt. I learned a bunch and plan to work twice as hard in 2019!

Treeline----I wish id have known! We would have just come and hunted with you! lol

Knew right where you were all through your video.

Plenty of bucks summer a little further up to the northwest of where you hiked in but more deer stay along the river in the sage and aspen and are a lot easier to play with. Not many bucks hang in the middle where you guys were most of the time.

Deer numbers in those units are still recovering. Used to be a hotspot for big bucks up into the 80’s and 90’s but overall numbers are still only about 20-30% of what they used to be. Since no logging is allowed in the wilderness and with fire suppression, the habitat in the middle elevations is not very good for the deer.

Treeline--I gotcha. It was a tough hunt but there was great scenery. Im looking into my trying for another tag in 2019 with 3 points so I may have to get ahold of you!

Thanks for sharing.Takes a lot to make a hunt like that happen. Sounds like you had a good trip and I hope the next one puts you in some more animals. Hats off to you sir.

Hard but fun lesson.

Thanks everyone!

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