Mule deer country starts in the Great Plains, continues over the Rockies and Sierra Nevada, and eventually bumps into the territory of the smaller blacktail along the Pacific Coast. There are also whitetails in much of the mule deer’s range today, plus Coues deer in desert mule deer country. However, the muley is the primary quarry for most Western hunters, pursued annually and avidly. It stands to reason, then, that Westerners know their deer, just as Eastern deer hunters are the real experts on whitetails.
Many whitetail hunters journey to mule deer country every fall, and others dream of a trip out West. With millions of acres of public land, hunting mule deer is a doable deal, but hunters from elsewhere are going into new country after unfamiliar deer. Research…