i was out scouting for mule deer up here in the northwest and spotted a bunch of rubs super fresh droppings and stuff like that

[Chris Kohler]

i was out scouting for mule deer up here in the northwest and spotted a bunch of rubs super fresh droppings and stuff like that which had me thunking i was on to a big buck but then got to the truck and heard elk bugling would the buck typically stick around if an elk comes into his home and is in the rut.

[Gary Devine]

I bow hunted in a tree stand on the flat tops of White River National Forest in Colorado. We drove up from Glenwood Springs to base camp in four wheel drive trucks with Guide Rudy Steele. I had elk follow mule deer into my tree stand a couple times.

Elk are smart animals maybe they using the mule deer to see if it were safe to walk in to the tree stand area?

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

Mulies and elk are commonly found together. Once shot a very nice muley buck when I kicked a small bunch of elk out of their beds. Picked out horns and shot. Surprised and a bit disappointed to find I had knocked down a deer. Three of them were bedded down just above the elk. It was a legal kill so I was okay. Gutted the buck and then got back on the track. Didn't have to go far before kicking them up again. No antlers (required) so it all worked out for the best anyway.

A bugling bull might be a different matter though. They get downright crazy. Once saw a photo of a white mule that had been killed by a bull elk on the rampage. He threw the mule up over a Forest Service phone line (in the old days they used phones to stay in touch with the fire lookouts). There the phone line was stretched down underneath that dead jack. Many times I have had to go pull my horses from picket into camp because bulls were screaming at them in the night. So, to answer your question I would say a bugling bull would probably at least make a mule deer buck jumpy. It makes me jumpy if one gets close and bellers. I have no doubt that a hot bull with a harem won't let ANYTHING with antlers anywhere near his harem. Hmmm. Okay, sometimes the bulls have to sort of tolerate spikes hanging out on the fringe because if they run them of their mothers will go with them.