S.E. Mule deer

[Jeff336]

Looking for some info on mule deer in the south east corner of the province. This would be an archery hunt in September. I have always been interested in the prairie units. Im new to archery hunting but really looking to go all in.

Looking at the zones east of Lethbridge and south of the trans Canada. So roughly zones 102-106 and 112-118?

How are the deer populations down that way? Would it be worth it to have a WT tag in your pocket as well?

How is access? Are there places that are public a guy could get in on to supplement private access?

Where would some good places to stay be. Either out of a tent or a trailer? Preferably some where that is close to a butcher in case the weather is hot. Maybe some camp grounds I could convince the wife to stay at this summer for scouting purposes.

I know it’s early to be thinking about stuff like this. I just wanna get a jump start on the logistics and hopefully be able to firm some stuff up. Any insight of the area or tips would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[mulecrazy]

sounds to me like you are just fishing for free information. You may want to narrow down your search area to not 25% of the province. lol. Deer are everywhere, you just need to find them. Look at some satellite maps, go for a drive and see what you can find.

[smith88]

Very little in the way of public land. Grazing leases and deeded makes up 95% + of the land. There are whitetails in areas as well. Campgrounds in the Cypress Hills are good, fairly busy in summer. Deer are going to where you find them, like usual.

[macee]

40 Mile Park or Writing on the Stone for camping

[dustinjoels]

Originally Posted by macee

40 Mile Park or Writing on the Stone for camping

Writing on stone is a nice place to visit and scout from. I strongly recommend not using it as your hunting base camp though. Made the mistake of doing that once and the conservation officers weren’t to happy about having dead deer in the back of the truck in a provincial park. Ended up finding a small mobile butcher somewhere that charged $10/day to hang the deer in his cooler.

[mulecrazy]

Originally Posted by dustinjoels

Writing on stone is a nice place to visit and scout from. I strongly recommend not using it as your hunting base camp though. Made the mistake of doing that once and the conservation officers weren’t to happy about having dead deer in the back of the truck in a provincial park. Ended up finding a small mobile butcher somewhere that charged $10/day to hang the deer in his cooler.

That makes absolutely zero sense. There is no such law that says you cant have a dead deer in a pickup in a provincial park. Guys do it all the time in the cypress hills.

[Jeff336]

Originally Posted by smith88

Very little in the way of public land. Grazing leases and deeded makes up 95% + of the land. There are whitetails in areas as well. Campgrounds in the Cypress Hills are good, fairly busy in summer. Deer are going to where you find them, like usual.

Thanks for the heads up. I’ll make sure to renew the i hunter app. Would the camp grounds still be seeing a lot of activity after labour day? I’m really hoping to head down to cypress hills once or even twice this summer with my wife for “hiking” and “bonding”. I’m thinking about focusing around the cypress hills area in 118 119. Thanks for the info. I really appreciate it.

[Jeff336]

Originally Posted by mulecrazy

sounds to me like you are just fishing for free information. You may want to narrow down your search area to not 25% of the province. lol. Deer are everywhere, you just need to find them. Look at some satellite maps, go for a drive and see what you can find.

Your absolutely right i am looking for info. I don’t frequent that part of the province and was hoping to fine some direction. Just like I would be willing to help a guy out In the foothills and mountains. I’m planning on heading down that way this summer for some camping and scouting. Just hoping to get s jump start on the guys that ask where the deer are in zone XYZ. Im not afraid of wearing out some boots or gettin out.

[mulecrazy]

Originally Posted by Jeff336

Your absolutely right i am looking for info. I don’t frequent that part of the province and was hoping to fine some direction. Just like I would be willing to help a guy out In the foothills and mountains. I’m planning on heading down that way this summer for some camping and scouting. Just hoping to get s jump start on the guys that ask where the deer are in zone XYZ. Im not afraid of wearing out some boots or gettin out.

sounds like a good plan for the summer. Makes it a lot easier to give advice when you don't cast such a large net Lots of grazing leases in that area and there are deer in most areas. If that is the area you want to hunt, I have no doubt you will find some permission. Permission is the same across the province really. some guys say no, most say yes. The exception is during very dry falls. 2 years ago it was a bitch to get permission, especially after that fatal fire east of suffield. Guys were pretty jumpy. Its big big big country down there. have some good boots and a game cart for retrieval. We know a lot of the landowners personally so sometimes retrieval with a quad is possible, a game cart is great to have. Tons of campgrounds there, I like fire rock but others are good too. It is usually fairly busy on labour day weekend but it gets a hell of a lot quieter after that.

[calgarychef]

Here’s what I’d do.. take 2;weeks for your hunt. The first week with a bow in your hand then if you haven’t connected switch to rifle. It’s a great way to pre-scout. Except for antelope I haven’t hunted the rifle seasons in that part of the province. I hear it’s pretty damned busy.

[dustinjoels]

Originally Posted by calgarychef

Here’s what I’d do.. take 2;weeks for your hunt. The first week with a bow in your hand then if you haven’t connected switch to rifle. It’s a great way to pre-scout. Except for antelope I haven’t hunted the rifle seasons in that part of the province. I hear it’s pretty damned busy.

You’re assuming he has priority for a rifle tag. Lots of those zones are over the counter for antlered mule deer during the archery season.

[smith88]

Originally Posted by calgarychef

Here’s what I’d do.. take 2;weeks for your hunt. The first week with a bow in your hand then if you haven’t connected switch to rifle. It’s a great way to pre-scout. Except for antelope I haven’t hunted the rifle seasons in that part of the province. I hear it’s pretty damned busy.

Down in that area, bow season is Sept 1st to Oct 31st, then rifle is Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat of November.

[RZR]

I wouldn’t waste my time down in that part of the province. I would be more apt to go around the Jenner area