Those of you who have hunted both mule deer and whitetails, which one of them is harder to kill? I have taken many whitetails and black bear but never a mule deer. Are they as hard to put down as a whitetail can be? I am thinking about broadheads. I like big 4 blades for whitetails but may go to a two blade for this hunt. I am thinking about a less than perfect shot. I know a great shot will put anything down quickly. Please share your experience with mule deer.

Not the answer your looking for, but Id' say mule deer. I've had them plenty close but then they caught me, or winded me. That "bounce" has saved them many times. A whitetail would be in the freezer. My bow arm just isn't trained for up and down and forward.

I've hunted whitetail a lot more than muleys. My experience w/ mule deer was that they are less skittish, do not jump the string, and are a slightly larger target. If you have an effective whitetail rig I wouldn't change a thing on it to hunt muleys. However, I am a big proponent of two blade heads.

I believe what you are asking is: Does it take more for them to die after the shot?...not which one is harder to get a shot at? I've killed a few mule deer and they seem to be similar to whitetails in my opinion. Whatever you have used for whitetails should be fine for a mulie. Good luck.

Mulies go down faster. The weight of those antlers makes 'em drop right over on their noses.

Really?

Depends on the whitetails you're used to. I've seen whitetails dressed out at as mch as #235, but I saw an old picture of a buddy's grandfather and several other guys next to a meat pole with 5 bucks, every one of which dressed out north of #300. So if the average buck where you are dresses out at under #150, you might recalibrate your expectations as to the size of the animal you're after.

I think a large 4-blade might be asking a lot if you hit some decent bone. But maybe a pretty standard 2-blade with some modest bleeders, if you're concerned.

IMO, big mule deer bucks are more difficult to get close to due to open terrain and other factors. You often have to shoot either uphill or downhill as well, more so than with flat country whitetails (obviously not always). I'd say a heavy arrow with a large two blade from a greater than 55# pound bow would be best for mulies. They are anything but easy, and I have missed more than I've taken due to their extreme sensory awareness including hearing. They USE those big ears very effectively. Very tough to get close to compared to whitetails that occur in brushy or forest habitats esp. from trees like most WT hunters employ. I don't know of anyone who uses a tree stand for mulies. A lot of times they are in sagebrush, and you can belly crawl within range, but the shot will usually be 30+ yds. Good luck. Best time to hunt them: November during the rut. Find does, and you find nice mulie bucks during that time. Bundle up tho., its Nov. in the Rockies!

A 4 1/2+ mountain muley is a challenge sand much harder to hunt in that terrain. They are also far less predictable then a Whitetail.

This is hard and easy once saw a MD take 22 shoots and then the throat was cut it was terrible. Of coarse more than half those heads were dull also. Poor deer was like a pin cussion he just didn't want to go to sleep.Big Ol MD on his way down hill terrible way to go and get wasted in MT. Pathetic sad to see and be involved too. It suc.

Every animal is different that goes along with each hit as well.

A different hunting experience is all. I would use what I am use to.

I prefer bleeder blades. In the fall in the Rockies, we have a ground covering that starts to turn red with the first frost. If most of his bleeding is internal and not hitting the ground it doesn't help you.

There is nothing in the united states that you cant drop with what you have.

Equal to Kill. Whitetails harder to hunt.

Equal to Kill. Whitetails harder to hunt, all things being equal, ie, hunting, stalking from the ground.

each has its own challenge...that is why we do it!

I hunt mule deer with exactly the same equipment I hunt whitetails...I often find both species in the same field here in Alberta...we have big whitetails and even bigger mule deer...my buddy already saw a mule deer a couple of weeks ago he figured had 140 inches of antler growth...he is a trophy hunter and knows antler size

DDave

Here is a typical mule deer in my garden...does it look tougher than a whitetail?

DDave

do not over think this. a well tuned arrow 8-12 grains per pound will put down whitetail or mule deer.

Okay so that used to be my garden...I kind of let it got back to nature

DDave

While I am at it I might as well give an idea of size potential...unfortunately the snowfall kind of messed up the focus but these deer were also in my yard...my guess was the bigger one would be 350 live weight

DDave

Equal to Kill. Whitetails harder to hunt, all things being equal, ie, hunting, stalking from the ground.

X2

I've always been mildly amused by the regional bias as to what's tougher than what.

I'm in Wisconsin, and here, pressured whitetails are tough...especially so on the ground. Big believer in the "first sit" school of thought. In my hood, it takes one mistake to turn a big'un nocturnal...say...my son's infatuation with checking his THREE trail cams. Amazing the number of big boys on pics 'tween midnight and zero-dark-thirty, never to be seen in the light of day.

The younger bucks...no great shakes putting one down.

My mulie experiences were in Wyoming's Bighorns. Again, youngsters aren't particularly tough to hunt...or kill...both species aren't especially wearing kevlar.

But, just my opinion, truly "trophy" mulie bucks are tough...damn tough...to find, let alone get within bow range and kill. Others have pointed out terrain diferences. My best bud lives in Wyoming and says his local fellas would never see a whitetail in our, Wisconsin, heavy swamps and thick riverbottoms. His words, not mine.

As a Cheesehead, I loved the different methodology required to hunt high country mulies. However, I also like hunting those aforementioned tangled riverbottoms in my home state...eyeball to eyeball with old whitey.

The diversity of terrain and hunting methods for both species is real special to me.

Draw your own conclusions.

If you handle and cook them right they're both pretty tender, although flavor-wise NOTHING beats a midwest whitetail that's spent it's whole life within a 1/4 mile or less of a corn/soybean/wheat field and has an inch of fat under the hide on it's back. ;-)

I think that everyone mostly goes by their experience hunting local deer. If you don't have a problem with killing deer when you want one , they are easy. If you are still learning how to hunt locals, they are hard. I've been hunting the same 15 sections since I was a little kid and to me the mulies that live there are pretty easy. I've drove in State and went to Montana to hunt whitetails and tagged out there also. I think most animals are about the same. I took this picture of big mulies in Utah the last time I was there.

That is a huge mullie, you have the coordinates on that one? How hard it is to draw a tag in Utah? Hunting on the ground whether it is the conditions or the hunting pressure, mature whitetails are tough. Depending the terrain, it is sometimes possible to hunt mid west whitetails with the same tactics as one would use on western mulies.

A good hit will put either down quickly. Neither requires an especially heavy bow or any particular broadhead, as long as it's sharp. With a marginal hit, I think the probability of recovery depends on terrain more than species. Both can be found in either open country or heavy brush. With a truly bad hit, like a gut shot, I think a muley will tend to go farther and be less likely to be recovered.

Desert mule deer are harder than anything in N. America other than Coues Whitetails. They are more nervous than Rocky Mtn. mule deer but the biggest problem is their low population density.

A 45lb bow is more than adequate.

In my limited experience, comparing public land deer, Muley's are much easier - with a gun. I don't know about with a bow.

All animals are hard to hunt

Another vote for equal to kill. Another vote for all animals are hard to hunt. Also, depends on where/how you are hunting them. Will a mulie get out of his bed and stare at you for awhile? Maybe. Will a white tail bust as soon as he senses something is "wrong with the force"? Maybe. It all depends on where/how you hunt them. Are you on the ground with them? If so, are you in a ground blind, still hunting, or spot and stalk. Rabbits can be tough to get a shot at still hunting lol. I've shot some white tail from brush blinds on the ground and tree stands. I've shot mulies sneaking. I've shot white tail does sneaking along corn rows. I even got a mulie that way once. If it smells you before you get to bow range, it's over.. doesn't matter what species. Tactics are what one typically changes, and those are tailored to the terrain first, then to the species you are hunting. It's a challenge either way. Wouldn't be fun if it wasn't. Been busted more than I can count. Missed out on more shot opportunities than I'll ever take. Flat out missed more than I can remember. Have had both species "jump the string". Whatever you can do to outsmart something that spends its life outsmarting predators makes it a win. With so many variables in play against you all you can do is try stuff. Pray for luck and a clean kill.

Also, as far as arrow/broadhead.... accurate for your rig and scary sharp is what works! Getting the opportunity to send it is what counts!

Whitetails in many states are perhaps 20 times more numerous than desert mule deer and hence about about 20 time harder just on that alone. Maybe harder than Coues whitetail and that is saying something. Coues are easier to locate because they tend to have more restricted ranges, but not always.

Rocky Mtn. mulies are a bit dumber than the desert cousins, but it is the routines and the breeding behaviour of whitetails that makes them somewhat easier. For example, you can use scrapes and trails with success and that really helps a lot.

But each has their weakness and if you exploit those, you can be successful.

CMF 3 X2. Never hunted muleys and my biggest here in NJ was 186 which by NJ standards is a goodun'. I know some of the Canadian provinces produce a lot over 200 but I would think those "north" of 300 are a very rare bird and certainly none in CT. How many of youse guys would say that the average muley is larger than the average whitetail which then would make a muley an obviously larger target?

I wouldn't think one is any tougher than the other. They can cross breed so the DNA is essentially the same.

"Those of you who have hunted both mule deer and whitetails, which one of them is harder to kill? "

Really depends on which whitetails you are talking about - 90 lb. Alabama deer, or 275 lb. Midwestern bruisers. Midwest whitetails are as big as muleys anyway. Either can be dropped in short order with a well placed, sharp broadhead.

As for as hunting them, my experience in New Mexico hunting muleys was that they are far easier to hunt than Texas whitetails, but about the same as Illinois whitetails (which after six years of hunting them, I consider pretty dumb).

Not sure you can make assumptions based on species alone.

Terrain, hunting pressure, climate ect...all make a difference.

What makes a good hunter is one that can adapt quickly to environment and species.

A whitetail that is confined to small patches of woods and feeds in agricultural fields is often more predictable than a buck that roams large expanses of forest. Same species, different environment, different food sources.

Same with a mule deer buck that feeds on alfalfa every evening, compared to a high mt buck or desert buck.

I would have to say a really large desert mule deer buck, or a big mountain whitetail from places like the Adirondacks, catskills, northern PA, WV, or Maine , new Brunswick ect....would be the toughest.

Show me a guy that kills a mulie or whitetail in those areas with a bow every year......and he can kill anything anywhere.

Good post shade!

Oh, I see what you're getting at Shawn. Should have put "lbs." after the 186. Sorry for the confusion guys. If it was a P&Y, yes it would definitely rank right up around the top. And it was a wheelie kill a couple of years ago before I took up trad full time.

Shade made a real solid point in regard to woodlot vs BIG woods whitetails. Where I live in south central Wisconsin I have those exact 2 scenarios; my favorite little patch is 40 acres of thick woods with a swamp to the north, a logged woods to the east, open old barren fields to the south, and agricultural crop lands to the west.

Hunting that spot compared to the thousands of acres of continuous forrest in our bluffs is apples and oranges.

Those bluffs are magnificent country...about as close to the high country that I have available...and getting into bow range in an area of several square miles of rugged, unbroken hardwoods is no easy task.

Sure is fun though...til the buck drops, that is ;^)

I think a lot of people are reading the original poster's question wrong. I think he was asking which animal dies the easiest after being hit, not which one is more difficult to hunt.

Unless I'm reading it wrong. :(

A lot of people add up to a lot of interesting experiences.

Thanks everyone for all the responses. I was really looking for a comparison on how these animals die once an arrow is in them, especially with a less than perfect hit. I do know about Whitetails and how tough they can be. I was just wondering if Mule deer were any different. I got a lot of good information form you all. Thanks again!

If you have already registered, please

sign in now

For new registrations

Click Here