Ep. 489: How to Find and Kill Giant Mule Deer on Public Land w/ Dioni Amuchastegui

Beau Martonik sits down with Dioni Amuchastegui, one of the most respected public land mule deer hunters in the country, to break down what it actually takes to consistently find and kill giant bucks in the West.

They cover how Dioni approaches scouting from the macro level down, why most hunters are picking spots before they understand the area, how to efficiently cover country to find where deer actually are, and what changes in buck behavior through the season that most hunters misread. Dioni also explains why deer seem to disappear after velvet drop — and why it has less to do with hormones than most people assume.

He tells the full story of his buck from last year — finding him on the last day of his last scouting trip, waiting for the exact right weather window, making the stock, missing twice, and putting him down on the third shot.

Dioni also breaks down Deadfall Design, his company making a bino harness holster attachment built for backcountry hunters who carry a sidearm.

Topics:

00:00:00 — Intro

00:04:30 – Who Is Dioni and How He Got Started

00:09:38 – Killing a 195-Inch Buck on His First Serious Season

00:20:06 – What He Does Differently Than Most Mule Deer Hunters

00:28:39 – How to Read Country and Know When to Move On

00:36:16 – Balancing Family, Work, and the Scouting Grind

00:41:51 – Dry Firing on Deer Before the Shot

00:53:56 – Where Big Bucks Bed and Why

01:00:06 – Empty Pockets — Why Winter Kill Creates Hollow Country

01:06:02 – Why Deer Seem to Disappear After Velvet Drop

01:09:09 – Finding the Buck and the Competition That Followed

01:18:28 – The Stalk, Two Missed Arrows, and the Kill

01:31:01 – Staying Focused on One Species

01:34:36 – Deadfall Design — How It Started and What It Does

01:49:02 – Closing

Dioni's IG

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Deadfall Design website

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