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Author Topic: Capitol Forest?  (Read 7853 times)

Offline MrSmallington

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Capitol Forest?
« on: October 16, 2017, 12:00:29 PM »
Scouted for a good month and found what I thought was a promising area... it wasn't.  Any suggestions? I went south west.
Anyone fill their tag and willing to share a location to camp? on a side note I met a road hunter in a Prius hunting rabbit with a crossbow!  100% serious. looking to head out for the rut. willing to scout prior too just rather disappointed. 

Offline bobcat

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Re: Capitol Forest?
« Reply #1 on: October 16, 2017, 12:31:32 PM »
Why was your "promising area" no good? If there's sign of deer in the area, I wouldn't change areas. The deer are there, they're just not out in the open except at night when it's dark. Deer will be more active as the weather gets colder/wetter and as the rut begins to kick in.

As for camping, it's only allowed in campgrounds. Some info here:

https://www.dnr.wa.gov/Capitol

Offline MrSmallington

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Re: Capitol Forest?
« Reply #2 on: October 16, 2017, 01:40:15 PM »
Why was your "promising area" no good? If there's sign of deer in the area, I wouldn't change areas. The deer are there, they're just not out in the open except at night when it's dark. Deer will be more active as the weather gets colder/wetter and as the rut begins to kick in.

As for camping, it's only allowed in campgrounds. Some info here:

https://www.dnr.wa.gov/Capitol

I was up at 3am with night vision. have an area where there are two decent clear cuts one to my right one to my left. I saw two sets of tracks 3 weeks ago and decided to set up shop to see if anything travels by. at around 10am I got up and  made my way through the woods till 5 and then made way back to watch till sun down.  no life at all. curious if I'm too high? i passed about 6 does traveling into the forest real early to the point they were still walking across paved roads.  I know I have a 19% chance of success but not seeing life at all has me worried.

Offline Grant4068

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Re: Capitol Forest?
« Reply #3 on: October 16, 2017, 02:26:19 PM »
I hunt Capital too (more Southeast part).  I harvested 2 years ago when I got lucky and a spike walked by me just sitting on a little knob where a lot of trails crossed.  Last year I went almost every day, saw the same 2 does over and over but that was about it.  In my two seasons of experience over here (Originally from N.Idaho) I see more deer in the thick areas between the heavily hunted clear cuts.  There is so much pressure that I feel like they kind of just retreat into the ferns and don't move much after a few hours after light.  So, usually I just find spots that are thick as hell,  but that have heavily used game trails and I sit there for a few hours in the morning.  Almost every deer I see is in that first hour or 2 of light and then nothing.  Good luck!

Offline JDHasty

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Re: Capitol Forest?
« Reply #4 on: October 16, 2017, 02:51:28 PM »
I posted this elsewhere, but it applies here too:

I usually tell people who tell me they haven't seen any blacktail:  Well they have seen you. 

Actually probably smelled or heard you, and identified you and they can and will sneak off w/o you knowing they were there.  The other thing is a blacktail can be standing right there looking through foliage at a guy and unless he knows what to look for he can't see it. 

It can seem counter intuitive when hunting in an area in which you cannot see fifty yards in any direction that your binocular is your friend, but believe me your binocular is your friend.  Your sniffer is not going to allow you to identify and pretty much locate a deer, your ears may be a bit better, I heard a buck moving past my stand Sunday morning (I checked the tracks after I quit the stand around noon), so your eyes are pretty much all you have going for you and a binocular makes the difference quite often between seeing a BT deer and not seeing it.



 

Offline MrSmallington

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Re: Capitol Forest?
« Reply #5 on: October 16, 2017, 04:22:07 PM »
good advice. most of Sunday I spent sitting in thicker foliage. I know they are elusive but the lack of tracks and or anything has me a bit down and the lack of time i get to put in to the season this year also has me down. i guess fingers crossed for those hornballs during rut.

Offline deerhunter_98520

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Re: Capitol Forest?
« Reply #6 on: October 16, 2017, 04:39:37 PM »
They like to hide in plain sight also

Official hunt-wa bigfoot field researcher!

Offline MrSmallington

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Re: Capitol Forest?
« Reply #7 on: October 16, 2017, 04:47:03 PM »
They like to hide in plain sight also



AWESOME PHOTO! you best believe i was looking for those pesky smart ones. i was hoping at 3am with night vision id see some movement at least... nothing. i was at a dead end too so not many road hunters... the thick was waist deep so im tempted to rough it through that at 3 and find a trail to watch early morning... only down side is my ford isn't the most reliable ... so i am always stressing if ill get stranded in the woods. lol... im dumb.

Offline Humptulips

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Re: Capitol Forest?
« Reply #8 on: October 16, 2017, 07:19:28 PM »
With the kind of weather we have had so far and being to early for the rut they are not moving yet.
Or more precisely, they are moving during the night and gone at first light.
It will get better as the season progresses.
Bruce Vandervort

Offline JDHasty

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Re: Capitol Forest?
« Reply #9 on: October 16, 2017, 07:22:57 PM »
I have said this before too:

Get Iverson's book and learn it backwards and forward.  It should be marked up, tabbed and reread until you have it down.  They are out of print now and harder to come by than in the past.  I buy every copy I come across at Half Price Book and gift them.  Don't have a spare right now.  I have I & II and they look like my college textbooks all marked up, highlighted and dogeared.  Not my hard back though.  It just sits on the shelf as a keepsake.  II is better, but grab the original if you come across it.  And read and reread it.     
« Last Edit: October 17, 2017, 08:39:10 AM by JDHasty »

Offline JDHasty

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Re: Capitol Forest?
« Reply #10 on: October 16, 2017, 07:32:21 PM »
With the kind of weather we have had so far and being to early for the rut they are not moving yet.
Or more precisely, they are moving during the night and gone at first light.
It will get better as the season progresses.

You got that right!!  I took care of my bratwurst problem on a doe Saturday, but really no daytime buck activity.  I did see a four point buck Friday night that was well into B&C territory, 7 inch forks and lots of mass and width. 

The bucks I know of where I hunt have been hunkered down all day since about the end of August.  If I hunted the first week of Sept I would have been in Fat City, the buck I want was with a big fork horn using the same trail every day at 7:30PM all summer, but has been pretty scarce since the first week of Sept.  I missed him by 15 minutes twice the first week, but in a totally different area than he had been in.  I have people keeping an eye on my spots and I know about where he has been, but he isn't showing at all during daylight right now.   

You are right, they will be back out in a bit. 
« Last Edit: October 17, 2017, 07:28:47 PM by JDHasty »

Offline Mudman

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Re: Capitol Forest?
« Reply #11 on: October 16, 2017, 07:47:22 PM »
Warning check regs in regards to using night vision during hunt season.  Nocturnal for sure.  Not rutting so bummer.  You could try the thick brush where they are likely bedding.  They will blow out before you get a shot most always but then they are located too!  Track n sneaking might yield ya a shot after ya catch up to em, if you do find em.  Most times I hear em but don't see em as I jump em out of beds.  Sometimes I can get lucky and catch up to a dumb one.
MAGA!  Again..

Offline JDHasty

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Re: Capitol Forest?
« Reply #12 on: October 16, 2017, 07:57:51 PM »
Warning check regs in regards to using night vision during hunt season.  Nocturnal for sure.  Not rutting so bummer.  You could try the thick brush where they are likely bedding.  They will blow out before you get a shot most always but then they are located too!  Track n sneaking might yield ya a shot after ya catch up to em, if you do find em.  Most times I hear em but don't see em as I jump em out of beds.  Sometimes I can get lucky and catch up to a dumb one.


I just use my head lamp and go for a stroll.  Make absolutely sure you don't have a bow or gun anywhere near you though and also stay out of the areas they are using.  Just walk past and don't stop if you see deer is how I do it.  I will walk roads and just take a look see what is using my areas. 

I would go in to where they are bedded during the day if I were using a shotgun, but have been after a big buck w/my bow and even though they have been split up since summer they tend to bed in groups and have eyes in all directions when bedding during the day time.

I just have to catch them on the move a little earlier one evening and it's all over.  Or give me a hella storm front moving in to hunt.   
« Last Edit: October 17, 2017, 08:49:06 AM by JDHasty »

Offline fishnfur

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Re: Capitol Forest?
« Reply #13 on: October 17, 2017, 12:06:46 AM »
If it was me, and I only saw two sets of tracks, I'd move on a bit.  Walk inside the perimeter of the cuts at mid-day to see where the majority of tracks enter and exit the cuts.  Then set up so you can have some kind of view/shot on those areas, or as mentioned previously, hunt the thick stuff where the deer exit the cuts - likely the uphill side.  Those does that you saw should give you a pretty good indication where they're bedding, and where the bucks will be passing by once the rut gets going.   The does will likely move from those spots a bit and leave the kids at home while momma goes off to play.

BTW - IMHO - 3 AM is not a prime deer feeding time.  They are likely bedded someplace chewing their cuds.  Most of my trail cam activity over the years at night has been just around dark, 11:00 PM - 1:00 AM, and 5 AM until light.  Also, I agree that it may not be legal during the deer hunting season to use night vision glasses at night, even if you're not carrying a firearm.  Similar to the rule that states you can't hunt withing 24 hours of flying...(or something like that).

“When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.”  - Will Rogers

Offline MrSmallington

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Re: Capitol Forest?
« Reply #14 on: October 17, 2017, 08:24:32 AM »

BTW - IMHO - 3 AM is not a prime deer feeding time.  They are likely bedded someplace chewing their cuds.  Most of my trail cam activity over the years at night has been just around dark, 11:00 PM - 1:00 AM, and 5 AM until light.  Also, I agree that it may not be legal during the deer hunting season to use night vision glasses at night, even if you're not carrying a firearm.  Similar to the rule that states you can't hunt withing 24 hours of flying...(or something like that).

I get up and out at 3 am and by my spot by four. i figure it as a persistence thing. im out there before they are and can scout them coming in.  then i can at least see where they are coming from. follow.  i'm still new so its all trial and error.

 


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