While hunting quail in Shasta County earlier this month, we came across a group of ten mule deer. They were pretty calm so I was able to close the distance to them fairly easily, even while carrying a camera and tripod.
Near the coast, we’re used to seeing California black-tails, a smaller sub-species, so these inland mule deer, with the same coloring and look, seemed huge to me in comparison.
There was one buck in the group. He was young and not yet carrying a lot of mass but he was a pretty 4×4, almost perfectly square and perfectly symmetrical.
They were all grazing, mostly on the sage brush, and were only marginally interested in my approach. For 30 minutes I inched closer until I breached their perceived safe-zone and one-by-one they slowly migrated off, stage right.
It was a real treat to watch them and was one of the highlights of a great hunt. Enjoy the short video!
Patty Outdoors 