What’s the Best State for a Big Mule Deer?
This question came from a comment on a previous blog post on destinations for whitetails. These days, a true trophy mule deer is considered by many hunters to be North America’s most difficult game animal to take. So what state should a hunter set his or her sights on to find a monster?
The Record Book Research: If you want to find comprehensive records of trophy animals taken in North America, there’s only one place to turn—The Boone & Crockett Club. Fortunately for us, today’s “book” is a user-friendly online database that allows users (for a fee) to search B&C’s records through detailed queries. A few minutes on the Trophy Database Search gave me all of the information I could handle.
The Rankings: Since we’re looking for up-to-date information, I searched the database for both typical and non-typical mule deer entries made since the year 2000. In order to qualify for the B&C “book” a typical mule deer must score 180 points or better and a non-typical must score 215 points or better.
|
State |
Typical Record |
Number of Typical Entries |
Non-Typical Record |
Number of Non-Typical Entries |
Total B&C Entries |
|
1. Colorado |
207 6/8 |
220 |
306 3/8 |
55 |
275 |
|
2. Wyoming |
206 6/8 |
66 |
285 4/8 |
14 |
80 |
|
3. New Mexico |
213 4/8 |
54 |
248 4/8 |
11 |
65 |
|
4. Utah |
209 7/8 |
44 |
246 2/8 |
11 |
55 |
|
5. Idaho |
201 4/8 |
41 |
257 |
10 |
51 |
|
6. Arizona* |
203 3/8 |
25 |
272 1/8 |
14 |
39 |
|
7. Nevada * |
192 |
30 |
248 4/8 |
9 |
39 |
|
8. Oregon |
202 2/8 |
27 |
248 1/8 |
2 |
29 |
|
9. Montana |
207 7/8 |
23 |
236 6/8 |
3 |
26 |
|
10. Kansas |
199 4/8 |
6 |
237 2/8 |
11 |
17 |
*AZ & NV are tied for number of entries but AZ wins with bigger #1 records both typical and non-typical
The Undisputed Champion: Colorado wins hands-down in every category. Not only does Colorado boast the world’s No. 1 entry in the past decade with a 306 3/8” non-typical, it crushes every other state in number of B&C entries. Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah and Idaho all compare favorably to one another to round out the top 5.
The Good News: Nearly every state that has a mule deer population is capable of producing a trophy animal. The state of Nebraska has only 4 entries over the past 10 years, yet a hunter there was able to take an impressive 230 6/8” non-typical.
