55 mule deer october hunt

tagsoup · Jul 1, 2010

I drew a 55 mule deer tag for the october hunt. It will be my first time hunting the unit. But I have been in the unit a few times. I plan on going on a scouting trip in august. I have been looking at google earth and like the looks of the Jim Sage Mtns. I read somewhere that the Jim Sage Mtns are more of a wintering ground. Does anyone know if this is true? Are there deer in there during hunting season? What is the ATV traffic like in unit? I will be hunting the last 10 days of the season and im not sure what I should hold out for. Is a 170" buck out of the question? I have no problem passing up smaller bucks but if a 160" buck is what I should expect I don't want to pass one up if I see him. If anybody can give me some ideas of some areas to check out that would be great?
Thanks for any help,
Tag

deepforks · Jul 5, 2010

ate my tag from there last year. could have shot a bunch of smaller bucks. put a stock on a MUNGSTER, but he made a fool out of me. we focused a lot of time glassing and working the big basin on the south side of pomerelle (below the look out tower). we actually saw a ton of bucks in there...plus 3 HUGE bull moose. the entire backside, below the look out is chaparral. early mornings and evening they just started coming out of the woodwork. we saw a few that were trigger worthy.....probably mid 170" to low 180"....just never got on them. plenty of 4 wheeler access. most guys we saw back in there, wouldnt leave the trail. so use the wheeler to get you in and glass, glass, glass. find a good buck and hoof it. i would look into it. bring your windshear clothing with you. ha ha ha

tagsoup · Jul 6, 2010

Thanks for the reply.

tagsoup · Aug 27, 2010

Anybody else have any advice. I made a scouting trip to the unit a couple weekends ago and saw a couple good bucks. Man I love that country. Can't wait for october.

highmountain · Aug 27, 2010

I would hold out for a good one. It sounds like you have the time so glass and keeping moving till you find the one you want! Anything over 170 I would be shootn if it was me. Great country and good numbers of deer. Hope you score!

oneshotonekill · Aug 28, 2010

Hope for a cool Oct. Any type of warm weather, really hampers that hunt. Heard of one buck over 200 taken on the early hunt. But nothin' else. Good luck

one shot

tagsoup · Aug 28, 2010

Thanks for all the reply's and PM's. You guys have given me some good ideas.
Thanks a lot,
Tag

IDmuleys · Sep 28, 2010

LAST EDITED ON Sep-28-10 AT 10:34AM (MST)[p]I grew up there and have hunted in the mountains around Malta my whole life. Jim Sage is very spotty hunting in October. There are some good deer on that mountain but not a lot. If we get some weather then it changes the game. That unit holds deer in the 200" range. I would hold out for at least a 170 class buck. Late season is best so you are on the right track. I would spend some time glassing the south slopes of Mt. Harrison. If we get a good snow storm then check out the south end of the Jim Sage mountains. My dads place has one buck that is pushing 34" and is a 5 X 4 but it is in another Unit. But they are around. I have shot a buck that scored 177 over there. Some bucks that my family has killed around the malta area include a 30" 7X6 and an 8x8 that is 35" wide and scores 215. So good ones can be had. While you are there go check out Chad Clark in Albion. He has a taxidermy shop there and you can see some of the bucks that come from that area. He shot a pig on Harrison two years ago that had 50" in mass measurements alone.

bucksmut · Oct 1, 2010

Soup..
I have this tag as well and have scouted a bunch up there this year. Should be a good hunt from what I have seen so far. I am more local than you are and will be hitting the first week and if unsuccesfull every subsequent week so when I get to a computer after I get back from the maiden voyage I will fill you in with what I found out. Good luck. Hope you kill a monster.

Usually this hunt is best with a little snow so we need this 80 degree stuff to give it a rest!

treedagain · Oct 6, 2010

well, any luck in 55 this yr...

tagsoup · Oct 6, 2010

Thanks bucksmut.

tagsoup · Oct 15, 2010

Any news yet?

bucksmut · Oct 19, 2010

Tag PM sent.

tagsoup · Oct 19, 2010

Thanks.

tagsoup · Oct 21, 2010

I'll be there tomorrow mourning to begin my hunt. Hopefuly i'll come back with some pics to post. Thanks to everyone that gave me help.
Tagsoup

bowhunt · Oct 28, 2010

How did the hunt go?

tagsoup · Oct 30, 2010

It was a lot tuffer hunt than I thought it would be. The first 3 or 4 days I never saw a buck bigger than a 2pt. I would see anywhere from 35 - 50 deer a day but couldn't find anything bigger than a 2pt. Then on day 5 I spotted a good buck a long ways off. I didn't get to look at him through the spotter but he looked like about a 25ish wide buck that was tall and fairly heavy horned. He slipped into the brush and I headed up the hill after him to see if I could get a better look at him. I never saw him again. That night I found a good 4pt with really big back forks and good fronts about 24 wide. He was a soild 160 buck. There wasn't enough light left to put a stalk on him so I came back in the mourning to try and find him. I was unable to find him. But I did find another pretty good 4pt. He was also about 24 wide. But didn't have as good of forks on him as the one the night before. He was still a good buck to me. He would have scored in the low 150's. I decieded to put a stalk on im and again was unsuccesful. That afternoon my dad said that he wanted to go home the next day. He was worried about my mom. My mom's grandmother is not doing very good and could pass any day now. I said that's fine but I wanted to get a buck before we left. So that evening we went out and found a small 3x4 that after another long stalk I was able to get. Thanks to everyone that helped me with this hunt. I wasn't able to come home with the high scoring buck that I wanted but I am still very happy with the buck I got and the hunt that I had.
Tagsoup