Kansas Mule Deer
Kansas Mule Deer
Pictured by Joshua while on an early season archery whitetail hunt.
Nick with his first ever Mule Deer.
Kansas Mule Deer hunting is largely unknown primarily due to the limited non-resident tags limiting magazine article writing.
For those self guided hunters that do draw a Kansas tag they will be rewarded with the private land in the right region of the state with the right type of habitat and the option of pre season scout and/or hunt on their own.
Part of the advantage of our organization is the staff that will ensure all are where they need to be for what they want to hunt. Non-resident hunters must draw for tags and apply for them in May. Success rates are low and when a hunter does draw one he should consider it the only one he will get his entire lifetime. The wise hunter will also conduct as much scouting as he has time to do.
There are two seasons on the same tag. An early muzzleloader only season in September. A second season overlaps with the modern rifle season that starts as early as the last Wednesday in November or as late as the first Wednesday in December and runs for two weeks.
Those with Kansas Mule Deer tags should pre season scout for not just the reason this one Mule Deer tag may be their only tag, but also that in Kansas unlike mountain or arid Mule Deer, ours are highly habitat specific to a very small home range. Those that scout before their hunt will have a better selection of bucks to hunt.
Mule Deer range from the northwest Kansas leases to south central Kansas. In northern Kansas they range as far east as Cloud county, however in this fringe zone their numbers are greatly limited.
This picture shows four Mule Deer (highlighted center of photo) sheltering in a dry wash. This is typical south central Mule Deer Habitat.
This same wash as before show in the opposite direction of where the Mule Deer above were photographed.
This particular draw demonstrates very well just how habitat specific our Mule Deer are. A similar draw with thicker brush exists just a mile or so up this very draw and it draws the line to where the Mule and Whitetail deer inhabit. The trees seen at the bottom of the draw are much larger than they appear in the picture. Most are well suited for tree stands.
The draw pictured above is the one in the aerial and this topo map. These pictures due to scale are deceptive as this is a big area where every little draw could shelter a dozen animals while most will not. Selecting a right turn over a left may reveal the best Kansas Mule Deer rack ever seen or not even seeing any deer all day long.
Continuing through this section will provide additional detail on our Kansas Mule Deer habitat and some success photos. In this part of the country where the Whitetail Deer is king, Mule Deer take a second place in terms of pressure. That combine with the low number of available Mule Deer tags leaves a lot of lease land un-hunted each season.