 Mule
Deer Bowhunting Alberta, Canada with Mike's Outfitting
Rifle Mule Deer bowhunting
in Alberta - FAQ
- Which week is the best to hunt?
- How do you hunt the deer? Do you have good bowhunting guides?
- What is typical shot distance?
- What size of deer can I expect to get shots at?
- How many shot opportunities can I expect?
- What's the country/terrain like? Do I need to be in good shape?
- Do you hunt public or private land? How much land do you have to hunt? Is there much hunting pressure?
- Do you guys do much scouting or patterning of the deer before the hunt?
- How do you handle 2 hunters with one guide?
- Do you have a wound policy?
- What clothes are best, what kind of camo? What temperatures
can I expect? Gear list?
1. Which week is the best to hunt?
Either week is great, August 25 to 30 or Aug 31 to Sept 6. It doesn't
matter too much. We usually have lots of good deer spotted and plenty of
places to hunt.
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2. How do you hunt the deer? Do you have good bowhunting guides?
Yes we have good bowhunting guides who use a variety of tactics on the
mule deer. Most years we do a lot of spot and stalk hunting out in the crop
fields but the height of the crop can make a huge difference on the ability
to do that, too short and they don't bed in it, too tall and you can't shoot
them even when they stand up. You do need to be flexible on how you are
willing to hunt them. We use a variety of tactics, tree stands, ground blinds,
pushes, still hunting and spot and stalk.
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3. What is typical shot distance?
Basically you need to be a good shot out to 40 yards. Usually it is
a range found distance and mule deer are mellow in nature enough to allow
you to take your time. The further you can shoot the better though.
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4. What size of deer can I expect to get shots at?
We have almost always been able to provide multiple shot opportunities
at 160 plus score deer and some years it is easy to get shots at 170+ or
even 180+ bucks.
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5. How many shot opportunities can I expect?
It can vary greatly; occasionally we get hunters who don't even get
one good shot opportunity at a big buck. That is usually due to sloppy spot
and stalking and not paying attention to details but it does happen sometimes.
Other times we have had hunters who have had more than 10 good opportunities.
It depends so much on hunter and guide skill level, luck and how big a deer
you are holding out for.
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6. What's the country/terrain like? Do I need to be in good
shape?
The terrain is unlike most mule deer areas. It is mostly flat farm fields
surrounded by heavy woods, more like whitetail country than mule deer. You
don't need to be in great shape to have a good chance for success but it
does help to have the fitness to try all sorts of tactics, it just gives
that extra 10% edge in killing a big deer. The spot and stalk hunting especially
if you do a fair amount of crawling around can be somewhat physically tough.
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7. Do you hunt public or private land? How much land do you
have to hunt? Is there much hunting pressure?
We hunt a mix of private and public land but we don't have exclusive
permission on any of the private land and most of the public land has very
few hunters. We hunt hundreds of thousands of acres and there is virtually
no hunting pressure on any of it during the bow season.
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8. Do you guys do much scouting or patterning of the deer before
the hunt?
Yes usually several weeks of intensive scouting and the mule deer bowhunters
are the first ones to benefit from it all. We pursue the biggest bucks we
have seen in summer scouting. We can pattern where the deer are hanging
out, whether they are bedding in the fields or going back to the trees and
have a great bowhunting strategy worked out before you even arrive for your
hunt.
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9. How do you handle 2 hunters with one guide?
With all the hunting tactics we use it really isn't a problem. One hunter
can be doing a stalk while the other is on the escape route or even sitting
another field trying to ambush a deer. As soon as we kill one deer then
it quickly becomes 1 on 1 guided and then the other hunter can also help
doing pushes, blocking one spot, glassing etc. Great bowhunting guides are
not easy to find and I would rather be on a 2 on 1 guided hunt with a good
guide than one with a non bowhunting guide.
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10. Do you have a wound policy?
Yes we do. You are allowed a maximum of 2 wounds per species. That means
that if you draw blood on 2 animals and we can't find either one of them
then your hunt for that species is over. Of course we always make every
effort to recover any wounded animals and we don't encourage unethical shots.
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11. What temperatures and weather can I expect? What clothes
are best? Gear list?
The normal temperature for the August 25th to September 6th mule deer bowhunt
is highs of 70 to 80 F and lows of 40 to 50 F. It can be hot and dry or
cool and rainy. Be prepared for both. Any bow, arrow and broadhead set up
are fine as long as you practice lots with it before the hunt. The biggest
problem we see with bowhunters is not long range accuracy at targets. It
is more a matter of having FUMBLE PROOF equipment that doesn't screw you
up while you are in an adrenaline fueled panic to get an arrow on and get
a shot. Changing equipment just before the hunt and not practicing enough
with it in a variety of hunting type situations is the biggest problem.
Gear, clothing list:
- Quiet rain gear, pants and jacket with a hood
- Leather, waterproof, ankle high boots.
- Light gloves
- Extra sweaters, long underwear
- Binoculars, range finder, no spotting scope needed.
- Bow and at least a dozen arrows.
- Camo. face mask, practice with it on.
- Dayback
- Camera, if digital, extra batteries, charger & memory cards. We will
not email pictures to you.
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Call Mike to book your next Alberta
mule deer bowhunting adventure
1-780-864-3770
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