Mule Deer Fanatic

If you live in the United States, you may be surprised about the manner in which  mule deer hunting is handled in Alberta, Canada.  Alberta is divided into five big game zones: the mountain zone in the west, the foothill zone to the east of the mountain zone, the parkland zone to the east of the foothill zone, the boreal zone in the north,  and the small southern plains zone.

It may surprise you to know that there are some real bruisers in the southern plains.  In Alberta, outfitters may control 10% of the available tags.  Tags aren’t abundant anywhere, but especially on the southern plains, consequently Muley bucks can grow to trophy class.

Another surprise for you, may be the fact that the prarie hunting season is four weeks long, but you may only hunt from Thursday through Saturday of each week.  Now, that’s interesting, don’t you think?  The deer get a breather, and they may not know if it’s hunting season or not.

This year, 2007, both Alberta and Montana are having unusually warm weather which is impacting the deer harvest in a negative way. If the mild weather continues through the winter though, it should make for better hunting next year.

Mule deer are found throughout the province, but are most plentiful in southern and western Alberta. They are more common in mountainous areas than white-tailed deer. The Fish and Wildlife Division estimates the provincial population (in Sept.) to be about 133,000 animals. This estimate is based on population counts in selected areas and hunter harvest information.

Seasons