What 3 states would anyone recommend for a mule deer hunting trip. Be nice to get one over 150" but a decent buck will do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, we will be trying to go next year.

Not a state, but Alberta is God's gift for mule deer hunting. The cost is more because you have to hunt through an outfitter, but there are so many world class deer there is ridiculous.

The 3 states I'd choose would be Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. Don't overlook western Kansas either

Ks doesn't allow nonresident mule deer hunting I believe. But we do have some nice ones.

Sonora, Mexico for a Big One. All three states mentioned above are excellent choices. Starvalleytrapper on here can hook you up for a western Wyoming hunt. DIY I can give you directions for a mulie in Wyoming but not sure you would want to get in there due to terrain Built for Mt. Goats.

The first question you need to ask yourself is how long do you want to wait to draw a tag? There are several good states for Mule Deer but in my experience its hard to find a really good buck in the areas where it is easy to draw or you can just purchase. Nebraska has some very nice Mule Deer, and I have seen some nice mature mule deer killed out of Colorado. I believe that Colorado is fairly easy to get an out of state tag for. Wyoming has good deer too but the tags are pretty prices and the areas that are easy to draw are also heavily hunted, that being said a person can still find some decent deer in those areas. I cant really say about Montana though.

Nebraska is ok if you have access to private land.

The public is a $##t show. We sell unlimited permits. So more hunters than places to hunt.

We would prefer not to draw a tag just buy one. The terrian won't bother me but my dad want take well to tuff terrain.

The part about how long you want to wait to get a tag is stop on. Nevada has some of the largest bucks I have seen, but getting a monster, will take time and money you need to buy a license and put in for a tag. Now the next thing is what kind of hunt do you want to do. Here in nevada you can do archery, muzzleloader, or any weapon. Archery can be the most challenging, but the easiest to draw. Muzzleloader is kind of in the middle on how hard it is to get a tag. Any weapon some zones you might die before you can get a tag as a non resident. Utah would be my next choise, I have seen some big bucks come out of there, I don't know how hard there draw is or how long it takes. Then I would go with Wyoming, agen seen great deer out there just don't know how hard it would be to get a tag. If you want ease of tag and the chanse to get a big one and fill the freezer I would say Montana or idaho, both offer over the counter tags and draw.

Rifle hunt only. I know it's going to be tuff but dad want to go do it and I think it would be a good opportunity to make some good memories. I know he want be around for ever.

Montana to be honest is a waste of your money. Utah, Wyoming and Colorado would be the places that I'm familiar wit that has quality bucks.

I would look at Wyoming. NR region applications. Which usually will include 5 or more units within that region. Although some of the units may fall under limited quota units. But that should open more ground to hunt. Plenty of BLM and State lands. You may have to do some hiking? But eastern half of the state has lots of lower elevation. Best of luck.

Thanks hiking dont brother me or my sisters boy friend, if need be I can go find some bucks and then go get dad. Thanks for all the info I will start looking in to it all.

This but I will add If your goal is to get dad a deer maybe the outfitter draw would be of use. For Nevada you don't have to be in the very best units or have late season tags but plan on spending lots of time and miles to get big deer.

Colorado

This is what folks don't realize has happened.


You can't just decide to go hunting.

You have to plan years ahead and get some points built up.

And it's only going to get worse.

You will not be able to just buy a tag in Wyoming. As far as I know you will need to put in for the draw, not positive about NR drawing odds but I would imagine it could take as long as two years for a sub-par area and maybe as long as 6 years for a better area. I would still recommend looking at the G&F websites for some of the states mentioned on here. There may be one that is an over the counter tag... but I know that Wyoming isn't. Don't forget Idaho either.

Marty B is 100% correct, this will only get worse as more people begin to look at out of state hunts. I would recommend for anyone lookin to hunt areas that they start buying points now. Most states as far as I know will allow a person to buy the points only, in most cases the points are pretty reasonable. Then do the research and plan your hunts, if you start building points for all the hunts you want to do in different states now and you do some research and talk to the G&F you should be able to plan different hunts based on when you will be most likely to draw.

Yep, idaho is another one with otc tags. I had a cousin that lived there, but died now and several family members went hunting there and did ok.

When i was going to Colorado, all tags were otc, but now just left-overs as i understand it. Been a few years since i've been out, but last i heard ya could pick-up some.

I just got home from western ks muley hunting we were about ten miles from Colorado. There's some nice mule deer in that area. If you get a deer tag for eastern Colorado I don't think there's much public land so u would have to get on some private but there's not a ton of hunting pressure with some really nice deer.

I hunted Wyoming region “C” last year and was successful. Both in draw and filling my tag. I did have to pay the additional cost for the preferred draw tag in order to guarantee the tag. About an additional $200 or so.
You can apply for preference points in Wyoming until October 31. Tag applications for NR is not available until after the first of the year and go until May 31