Mule deer hunt starts slow

Deer hunting in southern Idaho either got off to a slow start, or the harvest stats are lagging due to the timing of the opener, or a combination.

Check stations mostly captured early mule deer harvests in southern and eastern Idaho during opening weekend because many elk and white-tailed deer hunters concentrate their efforts later in the season.

Early results were substantially below last year’s opener with 5,412 hunters coming through check stations in mid October and 578 mule deer harvested, along with 47 elk and 21 whitetails, compared with 2019 numbers of 5,058 hunters, 904 mule deer, 40 elk and 63 whitetails.