hi, has anyone out there hunted migrating mule deer coming out of yellowstone park? any info will be appreciated. thanks.

siulhunter

To tell you the truth there aren't many deer left in the park. I have hunted the southern end of the park early in the year(September) and all I seen were wolf and grizzly tracks. All the country surrouding Yellowstone is wilderness and if you're a non-resident you'll need a licensed guide or Outfitter.
With that said there are some nice deer taken in the backcountry every year. The deer on the southern end migrate over 100 miles to there wintering grounds. The deer on the east side migrate 50 miles and more.

Sorry can't give you any information about the Yellowstone Park boundary in Idaho or Montana.

Steve

Elk are about the same. East side, you don't see the elk numbers of 10 years ago.

Deer do migrate into Sunlight, northeast area. Limited quota draw and late hunt of course. There are some big deer, but only 25 tags.

Those mule deer migrating down the Yellowstone River out of the park do so very late in the fall and early winter after the deer season is closed. Most come off the Lamar and Specimen Ridge country in YNP and the Beartooth Mountains that border the park on the north. There are a few good mulies seen on winter range on the upper Yellowstone, but generally not the quality of SW Wyoming and points south.

Last year after hearing about the migration for years from my hunting buddy we went. We hunted Lappalli Creek which is the migration route down into the Cody area in early November. Beaten down deer trails were every where. They had had serious snow in September and all we saw in a week were spikes, forkes and one small 3x4 that I took for meat for the sister-in-law. Did see sheep almost every day and Grizzley every day without fail. We were just too late. This was validated by the thousands of muleys you could find driving the hills just west of Cody where the migration route dumps out of the mountains. He has hunted there 5 or 6 times over the last 20 years with great success.
Area is sick with beetles, half the trees are dead and many down making the trails very difficult.

quote:

Area is sick with beetles, half the trees are dead and many down making the trails very difficult.

All the way to the park. THat whole valley is ripe for some huge fires. Some serious logging needs to take place. Actually the Big Horns have some areas that are just as bad. A big fire cleaned some up last year in the Big Horns above Shell. It burned everything, right before winter set in the ground was still black with no trash. Now there are 40+ inches of snow on it. The thaw will be interesting.