Check the articles in our mule deer hunting section. Lots of good info!

And welcome to BGH!

and I've also got an article that is a little more focused on elk in the Western Hunter Blog here:

http://www.biggamehunt.net/blogs/western-hunter/alpine-scouting-early-hunting-seasons

Your primary tactics are going to be getting up high, with a good vantage and glassing what the basins and what is called the krummholz or stumpy little timberline trees.  It means twisted wood in German, but the importance of it is that it provides some of the only shade for the bucks to hole up during midday.  It's very difficult to spot them in this, so you need to be out glassing at dawn, then put them to bed and make your move.

The deer will feed and water in the mornings and somewhat in the evenings.  They tend to feel very secure in this environment, and aren't overly secretive in September in the real high country.  I haven't hunted them like this in a while, but intend to give it a whirl again.  Last year while mountain goat hunting and scouting we got into a lot of high country bucks, and it's pretty exciting to see them out and visible at dawn.

Of course they aren't only up in the really high stuff, but it's much easier to hunt them with primitive weapons this way, instead of random encounters or sitting meadows and brushy trails in country that is much easier to lose the deer when trying to close the distance.

There's a really big buck in the shadows on the left side of this picture:

There's nothing like hunting at timberline.  You'll love it.

I love hunting up there, but i'm still looking for the elevator to get there.

Thanks for all the info and the beautiful pics! I have a lot of studying to do before September!

Awesome pics and advice. I just found this sight last night, seems like y'all have a lot of great info and knowledge here!

I have been seeing some deer up high while scouting for my mtn. goat hunt... mostly does but one buck that is going to be an extremely massive 26-28 inch 4x4 with eg's. The numbers aren't great but that is to be expected. You can bet that next year I will be hunting bucks up high... somewhere in CO. 

You came to the right place good info here.There also sum good books out there like Mike Eastman hunting high country mule deer our David long public land mulies.But read exbio stuff he got going on. No high country hunt for me this year and those pics made me start start shaking like a junky dam i need to go hiking to get my fix.

make sure you do some walking and hiking before the hunt starts.  always a blast to hunt in the high country. 

So who forgot to tell the deer to stand out there like that when I take high country scouting pictures?   Anybody know where I can file a complaint?