East Most Mule Deer Range
Contributors to this thread:Mule Deer
From: Zbone
22-Dec-21
Happen to come across about an article about the Mule deer decline and loss of geographical range and wondering how much range they've lost since I was west over a decade ago... Had previously seen them in central South Dakota and central Nebraska before, now how far west to see one?
From: Thornton
22-Dec-21
Decline in Kansas has shrunk a large portion of the state.
From: APauls
23-Dec-21
They’re expanding in Manitoba. Cool to see. Buddy just seen one NE of Winnipeg a couple days ago.
From: Steve H.
23-Dec-21
On extremely bad winters they'll get on a river corridor and keep moving east. Occassionally hear of a few in extreme eastern Nebraska and surprisingly even an occasional one in western Iowa. Nebraska has on their website harvest numbers by county. A few show up about a quarter to third of the way as you head west in Nebraska.
From: John in MO / KY
23-Dec-21
Missouri Department of Conservation says they occasionally make it all the way to western Missouri.
From: Grey Ghost
23-Dec-21
I've seen mulies as far east as the Kansas City KS area, but it's been years ago. The last time I hunted in north central Kansas, it was about a 50/50 mix of mulies and whitetails. Here in central Colorado, whitetails were more prevalent a decade ago, but their numbers have seemed to decline along with the mulie numbers in recent years.
Matt
From: Dirtman
23-Dec-21
Dirtman's Link
One was harvested in WI a few years back!
From: wildwilderness
23-Dec-21
Is that map historical range? Or current?
From: grizzly63
23-Dec-21
Local taxidermist said he shot one in WV. It was a nice deer.
From: Ollie
23-Dec-21
Pretty sure we don’t have mule deer in Iowa!
From: JSW
23-Dec-21
Virtually unlimited deer tags in Kansas has eliminated the mule deer in the central and west central part of the state. That has nothing to do with habitat, simply too many hunters taking out the low hanging fruit.
From: Grey Ghost
23-Dec-21
I suspect most of the mule deer that are killed anywhere east of the Mississippi River come from high-fence operations, or are escapees from them.
Matt
From: Cobie33
23-Dec-21
A young 3x3 was killed during youth season about 5-10 years ago in Jasper County, Iowa which is one county east of the county Des Moines is in. It was brought to the Iowa Deer Classic. A fellow measurer also killed young buck in NE Iowa.
From: Zbone
24-Dec-21
Yeah wildwilderness, have seen the map that Stix shared, but don't believe its current though, likely historical...
From: 12yards
25-Dec-21
One is killed in MN about once every ten or fifteen years.
From: Corax_latrans
25-Dec-21
I’ve spent MANY hours behind the wheel between Denver/Laramie & Mpls - taking both 80 and 90 - and don’t think I’ve ever seen a mulie east of the Neb panhandle. I don’t suppose there’s any reason they couldn’t make their way out along the plat for the Missouri as far as they want to go, but I’ve sure never caught them in the act…
From: Steve H.
25-Dec-21
Corax: if you get off the I-80/Platte River corridor and into the hills, mulies in Nebraska will range much further east.
From: DanaC
25-Dec-21
Are we talking about 'you might see one occasionally' or 'I'd travel there to hunt them and expect to see them' ?
You have an outside chance of seeing moose here but it's the edge of their habitat, not a destination.
From: Zbone
25-Dec-21
Yeah, "I'd travel there to hunt them and expect to see them"...
From: grizzly63
27-Dec-21
There has been a mule deer shot in every county of South Dakota. Thats why there are none left here, keep heading west, you should run into one sooner of later.
From: Deercy
27-Dec-21
I had a cousin see one in Fredonia Kansas a few year ago. It's the only one he has ever seen there in 30 plus years of living there.
