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Stalking Bedded Mulies

All the pieces of a hunt and stalk must come together to put your bow tag on a good mulie buck, but with patience and lots of attention to detail, it can be done on a consistent basis.

By Tim Herald

Stalking bedded mule deer with a bow is certainly one of North America’s toughest hunting challenges, but when successful, it is one of bowhunting’s most rewarding endeavors. All the pieces of a hunt and stalk must come together to put your bow tag on a good mulie buck, but with patience and lots of attention to detail, it can be done on a consistent basis.

The first part of a successful mulie stalk is to find a good buck. If possible, get out and glass deer with a quality binocular or spotting scope from a distance so as to not disturb the deer. Glassing food sources such as alfalfa or draws leading back to bedding areas are good bets. If possible from your initial position, try to watch him bed. If you must, shadow him from a distance, taking care not to bump him, and follow him until he beds.

Once the deer is bedded, you need to make your most critical decision. You must assess the position of the bedded deer and determine if you can make a successful stalk. First and foremost, determine the wind direction and whether or not you have a possible approach given that wind direction. If the wind is wrong, abandon the stalk and try to hunt that deer another day. You don’t want to bump him out of the area. If the wind is right, you can begin to formulate a plan. Another factor to remember is that if there is a good breeze, it will help cover some of your noise.

Look at the terrain surrounding the deer. Many times mulies bed under cut banks, below small cliffs, in the shade of large boulders, etc. These are ideal stalking situations. It becomes tougher when a buck is bedded on a sage flat or in a milo field. At this point, you must plan your stalk and usually do a lot of crawling below the line of vegetation.

Use any available landmarks to help direct your stalk into the deer’s position. A tree in the horizon, a certain rock, anything that will help direct you to the bedded buck will be a huge help. Sometimes you can see the deer’s antlers the entire time, and though this is great for knowing where he is, it is also dangerous because he may be able to see you.

So let’s say you watched a good buck bed down, the wind is right for an approach and you have lined up a landmark that helps you stalk within 100 yards. Now things get crucial. For the final phase of the stalk, I recommend that you either take off your boots and put on an extra set of heavy socks or wear a pair of fleece slip-on stalking moccasins. You want to be able to feel everything under your feet before you put all your weight down so as to not break a stick or make some other noise to alert the buck.

As you cut the distance, use your rangefinder often to check how far you are from the buck. If you can see his antlers, range them. If you can see a rock, tree or bank he is under, range that. You must get within your comfortable shooting zone. Once you are in close enough to be comfortable, you must make one last big decision.

Do you wait for the deer to stand up to take the shot, or do you make him stand up? If you wait on the deer, you may wait for hours. He may also get up with no warning, and if you aren’t ready the entire time, you could lose your opportunity. The wind could also change and give you away. On the other hand, if you make a noise or throw a rock over him to make him stand, he might get up and give you the perfect shot, or he could simply bolt up and be gone. It is a personal decision that each hunter must make in each individual situation, and it is a tough one. I do highly recommend shooting only standing deer, as a bedded buck offers a much different target as far as where the vitals lie.

On a trip to Montana last year, I saw a hunting companion watch a buck bed on a sage hill. After checking the wind, my buddy took three hours to crawl to 30 yards. He ranged the deer’s antlers, got to his knees, drew his bow and whistled. The buck stood up, and Curt made a perfect shot. The hunt took almost four hours.

Later in the fall in Wyoming, I found a good buck bedded in a small draw up against a huge boulder that was as big as a garbage truck. The wind was blowing up the draw, really whipping and making lots of noise, so I could come in from behind him with no worries. I made a loop behind the deer and was able to literally walk right up on top of the huge rock. My hunting partner watched me from a distance, and when I was in position on the rock, he walked into the draw 200 yards down from the buck. His scent drifted up the draw, the buck stood and stretched and I had an easy 15-yard shot from just above the mulie. Game over!

All mulie stalks don’t work like that, but if you use your head and assess each situation, you will eventually get it right. Far more stalks end in failure than success, but learn from each attempt and your trophy will be all the sweeter when things do work out. Stalking mulies with a bow is an active and exciting hunt, and I personally can’t wait to get out there and try it again this fall.

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