So, for the final installment on mule deer record book research, we’re going to take a look at Nevada, Arizona, Montana and Utah. The order of recent submissions also seems to mirror the all time rankings of these four states, with Utah on top of Arizona, which is ahead of Montana, and Nevada bringing up the rear. I know I’ll be leaving out California, Oregon and Washington, but mule deer aren’t even the most numerous deer species in those states.
Utah is one of those states that usually comes to mind when thinking about mule deer hunting, but if you’ve read many of my past articles, you’ll know that I’m not a huge fan of the state of Utah's deer hunting outside of the 2 main trophy areas: the Paunsaugunt and the Henry Mountains.
A 3,800 acre ranch, with a massive 11,000-square-foot lodge that includes 13 bedrooms and a 50 head bull elk herd, finds itself affected by the economy. The bank now owns Tabby Mountain Ranch after the original owners facing bankruptcy lost it.
On Christmas Eve one Salt Lake City family was hoping for Santa and his reindeer, but instead got a buck that had crashed into their home. The Kellers believe that the deer tripped on a window well and fell into their home through a window. While waiting for wildlife officers, they captured several photos and videos. It will be a Christmas they won't soon forget.
For a little bit of a change of pace, let’s talk about moose hunting as a nonresident. Because I’m trying to focus on DIY hunts, I’m going to ignore Canada’s opportunities and resident-only hunts in the US. By limiting our scope to states that offer nonresident moose hunting we have just a handful of places to consider: Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire.
Saturday was a busy day on Antelope Island in Utah, about 200 cowboys and cowgirls saddled up and herded the island's bison. The bison were herded into corrals on the north end of the island, as part of the annual round-up. The bison will be inspected by veterinarians to determine herd health and will receive vaccinations.
I could just title this article, “why Colorado is the best overall state for mule deer hunting," but since that won’t apply to trophy research for elk in future articles, let’s just go with Record Book Research. It had been a while since I last picked up a Boone and Crockett Record book, as my last edition was dated 1996 (Records of North American Elk and Mule Deer, 2nd edition). I was obviously way overdue, and looking at 50 year old records from the heyday of mule deer hunting just doesn’t really apply any more. Anyway, I did finally pick up the soon to be outdated 27th Big Game Awards book (2007-2009), which has the latest deer and elk entries, and wanted to share some of my findings and assumptions with you.
While writing my last entry on easy hunts, I felt that doing a late season or mule deer rut hunt was just too large of a topic to cover in a single paragraph. There are many aspects to mule deer rut hunting, especially as a trophy hunt, but here I wanted to focus on finding those mid to late November and early December hunts for an easier hunt.
I’m an incessant unit hopper. I have a handful of places that I like to return to, but it seems like I’m adding at least one or two new units every year to the rotation. This can be a good or bad thing, depending on what you’re after. Some people like a known entity and stability, others are always after greener pastures. So what I’d like to address in this article is the possible rationale for staying put or pushing on. 
