Wyoming Medicine Bow Deer hunt

Good luck everyone.

I also drew this tag this year, planned to start a post before I found this one. I would also appreciate any advice anyone has. I called the biologist and spoke to him and he recommended focusing on the forest for rifle season. We drew W last year and took decent bucks but the pressure in 82 where we spent a lot of our time was pretty high. We have never been to the unit before but have a scouting trip planned before the hunt. Can't wait to get out in the mountains again.
 
FYI for those of you considering 82 this next year there were some discussions of some potential changes at the Green River public meeting as well as the mule deer working group meeting.

The idea won't look anything like any current seasons. Involves a unlimited "limited quota" system which you have to pick a week you want to hunt rather than the full two week season. Stay tuned on that one.

You can see a brief mention of it in the Baggs MDWG meeting minutes linked below.

https://wgfd.wyo.gov/WGFD/media/content/PDF/Regional%20Offices/Green%20River/BMDH-MARCH-2017-MINUTES-FINAL.pdf
 
I read that, thanks. It might not be a terrible idea after the pressure we saw. There just aren't a lot of places to get away from it with all the roads there.
 
Deleted, didnt realize it was bump but pics dont delete...lol
 

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For you guys that hunted this unit, what did you think? It was our first trip out west so I don't have anything to compare it to. We saw 5 or 6 shooters. 2 of which were on private. Saw lots of wildlife but not nearly the number of deer I'd hoped for. All in all it was a great experience though.
 
My buddy got a smaller 4x4 and I missed a good buck. It was a longer shot and my buddy grabbed my Leicas and ranged the deer only he ranged the buck above the one I was shooting at 440yds. I held for that and shot over the deer I was on. It was a simple mistake that we learned from. I could have shot some smaller bucks but I really didn't need the meat that bad so I held out hoping for a good one. If both of us had tagged out early we would have had to go home and wouldn't have got to keep exploring. We did a 3 day late August scouting trip and then hunted the last week of season. In that time I saw 3 bucks I think would have went over 140". Two scouting and the one I missed. We saw a lot of does and a small buck or two most days.

A few things I learned:

The unit is pretty heavily timbered. When I was there feed was plentiful enough even in the timber that deer really didn't have to come out to much to feed except when the snow was on. I saw quite a few deer feeding back in the timber not really in clearings. It makes glassing tougher than some other units I've hunted. We got 15" of snow the first night I was there and then it got warm and windy after a day. Then snow got real crunchy and made stealth tough in the mornings.

The day before the season ended we hunted the morning and then headed out as another snow was falling. That was a bad plan, all the elk hunters were moving camp in that day. We had some pretty good delays getting out due to giant camper trailers or toy hauler trailers being jack-knifed on the hills. The road got snow packed and then it got warm enough it got real slick on top. It's worth remembering if you hunt that area and get weather. We had a 14ft gooseneck stock trailer behind my Ford to haul our UTV in. It was easy to maneuver but not able to maneuver around a jack-knifed rig on the narrow roads.

Having a saw in your vehicle isn't a bad idea. I took my little Stihl 14" saw in the UTV with a fresh chain and 3x we opened a road up where a beetle killed tree fell across a "main" road. Once coming back to camp and twice getting out to glassing points. A hand saw would have worked fine twice but one tree I was sure glad to have the chain saw.
 
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Attached are a few pics of unit 80 deer, I haven't had a tag there for deer but elk hunt it almost every year. These fellas are regulars on my trail cams, these pictures are a few years old but last year during archery elk we saw a several studs in the same area so they are still around. If you're ever in Saratoga around dusk do yourself a favor and just drive around the football field with a camera. You'll see several muley bucks that'll make your jaw drop.

View attachment 72135View attachment 72136View attachment 72137

That bottom one is a stud in my book, love the look!
 
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