Being a whitetail hunter all my life these mule deer are hard for me to judge. For those that know please tell me what you think of this one.
My guess it is an average deer okay on width, height and mass but nothing special. I would also guess not mature yet.

Depends on where you're hunting and what you'll settle for. He looks young and will probably be a great one in a year or two if he survives. However, in areas other than the top trophy units, most guys would probably shoot him this season if they had the chance.

You list Wy. as one of your places, have you never killed a muley?

Wyoming part time for 8 months now. Only shot small mule deer at a ranch over by Buffalo. a at the landowners request to reduce the numbers on her ranch. This year I am on a guided hunt in WY, but one of these days I might hunt by myself and would pass on the deer in the photo. So thus my question on this deer to see if my judging is correct.

So do you have an opinion Crazyhorse? I am guessing you have shot some mulies.

BigB

Where is your guided hunt and is it on private on public land? Also, what is your outfitter telling you to expect as far as max size for bucks where you're going? My guess is that deer will max out in the 150" area at best if he's a true 4x4 with the limited look we have here. Like I said before, most DIY guys would probably shoot him unless they are hunting in the best trophy units that Wyoming has. I would probably shoot him on the public land I hunt out there every year because the bucks where I hunt just don't break 160" very often.

I have shot a couple, but I ain't a trophy hunter. For me that buck would be a shooter.

For someone interested in a trophy, that would be a last day buck on a guided hunt.

I am probably going to miss it by a wide margin, especially with the buck in velvet, but here is my guess. Inside spread maybe 18 inches could go a little more hard for me to tell since the buck is in velvet. As for age I am gonna guess 2.5, no older than 3.5. I am probably off a good bit, but as I said, I don't hunt trophies, I hunt meat and antlers are just an added bonus to me.

If you are going to be hunting with a guide, go with his advice. A good guide is going to put you on to the best animal he possibly can.

Best of Luck on your hunt.

150ish. Looks like he forks nice, but he’s not wide or big. I’d still shoot it, but I wouldn’t mount it.....

well when its rubbed out shoot it and do a ground measurement thats what I'd be doing on that guy

As far as "scoring" goes, since I ain't into the numbers game I don't pay that much attention to anything I shoot. Getting clients on to deer however is a different matter.

Don't know when that picture was taken, but as I stated earlier, once that velvet comes off that rack is going to look a lot different.

His rack appears from the angle he ts standing, to be just barely wider than his ears and does not appear much if any taller than it is wide.

When judging a rack on a live deer, I give myself a good bit of SWAG* room. I am going to go with 125 on the low side 135 on the high side.

On a guided hunt, as I said, in my opinion he would be a good last day buck. Again if you are with a good guide follow his advice.

*SWAG - Scientific Wild Ass Guess!!!!!

quote:

well when its rubbed out shoot it and do a ground measurement thats what I'd be doing on that guy

I see the situation and do not see anything wrong with that solution!!!

Inside the ears probably 18-19" spread.When he loses the velvet those horns will look a lot smaller.I would take a pass.Go in areas where vehicle traffic is restricted and you will find bigger bucks.Course that means walking.

Guided hunt this year should produce a much larger deer than this. I was just curious as to my ability to judge this deer and it appears I am on the right track. This one is with 6 others of which he is the second largest. Have not been able to get a photo of the bigger one.

Thanks for the input.

BigB

White tail or Muley ot takes looking at a lot of animals, alive and dead and even then the "Experts" give themselves some fudge room.

From my experience, both white tail and muley, if you look at enough of them, when a really big deer shows up, there will be no question in your mind.

Best of Luck on your hunt and listen to your guide. Guides like happy/satisfied clients and that does not happen shooting average animals.

As a rule of thumb, a muley will have about 24" from ear tip to ear tip. So if he's not quite as wide as his ears, he isn't usually a shooter but that could depend on the area, year, how many days you have left to hunt, etc.
If on the other hand he shows a couple of inches of horn outside his ears, he probably is a pretty good buck in most places, again depending on the area.
Some of the outfitters might want to expand on that.