What's the trick on Kitsap Penninsula?

[fishnfur]

The last post had me re-thinking my hunting trips in the southern Tahuya Forest and Longbranch areas.  I see tons of good trails and occasionally tracks and dung.  Rubs seem to be really rare and I'll be damned if I can find a moving animal in all that Evergreen Huck and Salal.  God knows you can't walk through that stuff, at least not quietly.  Someplaces it's  8 feet tall!

I've got a beach cabin just past Tahuya and have scouted the highlands above that area quite a bit.  I also have clearcut timberland near Key Center.    I think that I've seen only one doe in umpteen hours in the woods.   I know there's some nice bucks coming out of the woods all over those areas, even with the heavy hunting pressure during modern rifle. 

Am I missing something?  Is there so much human pressure that these deer are just sitting in that heavy brush all day and only coming out after dark? 

Thanks for any light you can shed on my confusion.

[lokidog]

Cameras? To see if they are there and when they are there. I've seen lots of awesome trails through the years that have had nothing on them when I've been there.  Trails last all year even though the animals only use them for part of it.  Good luck.

[hogslayer]

Long story short is yes, the big bucks live in the reprod and thick brush.  Think 30 yrd shot max.  There are lots of deer in those areas.  Bait,cameras, tree stands.

[kball4]

I shot my spike this year around SandHill just walking clear cuts trying to get something to bust out.  Same thing 2 years ago around Cushman.  They usually look around long enough to get a shot.

[fishngamereaper]

Spikes generally are found everywhere, not very wary or smart. Bigger deer are in the thick, places you look at and say , I'm not going in there. Get some cams out in those places and you will see deer. Couple years ago I had a cam on the edge of a cut by a good trail over bait. Nothing but does and bear. Moved it into the thick about 300 yards away and got nothing but bucks.

I know the area above your cabin pretty good, it s a good area if you get to know it.

[TRD1911]

Let me look at some of the maps and I'll send you some info that I learned from that area during late season.

[fishnfur]

Many thanks to TRD1911.  He's hooked me up with some of his scouted spots. 

Your responses confirm what I believed, the bucks are deeper in the nasty stuff.  I too have noticed those great trails all over the place, and generally right where you would expect them.  They seem to stay intact with only occasional use by the deer.  There are a lot of great funnels and juicy looking spots near Tahuya.  Not so much in Longbranch.   
 
300 yards into that brush is likely why I never see them.  I can't imagine trying to get a tree stand back in there without opening up the trails a bit in the off season.  Cams and bait are out of the question as I sometimes go  6 months between trips up North.

I tried a couple of times going in deep, but between the noise and the general sense of being lost as everything begins to look the same, I've generally bailed out of those attempts pretty quick.  I often scout and hunt without maps or compass since I have a good sense of direction and pay attention to landmarks and the sun.  I've mentally memorized the roads and major geographic features too, but those reprod forests start looking all the same very quickly once deep in them.  I'd hate to try to pack a buck out of there while trying to find my own way out too!

Good information though.  Thanks for all the input. 

[SeaRun1]

There are quite a few decent bucks in Longbranch.  We see mostly forkies and spikes on the cameras and they stay mostly nocturnal where we are hunting.

I personally believe there is a lot of poaching going down on the Key Peninsula.

We are on the gun free side of the highway and get rifle guys on camera on private land during archery season.

SR1

[moocher97]

Ive seen a lot more deer actually past Tahuya. My dad had 2 jobs down there and would have deer walk down to the beach where he was working and just look at him! My dads friend who was working with him was coming down for the night to work and on the way in he said he saw a 5 point and since he didn't hunt much we expected the 2x3 but nope he said 5 big points on one side and 5 on the other(he dosnt hunt much)  but it was all private so no hunting 

[fishnfur]

Bums me out when I think about poachers.   I always turn in every suspiscious activity that I see or hear.  WDFW probably has me on their "don't answer" list.

 Longbrach is a cool/weird area, but there seems to be a lot of druggies and rif raf out there.  I've been going out there since the 60's and not much has changed.   Traffic is a little worse on the northern end, but the area seems to be kind of overlooked by the general population.  It seems like there should be a ton of deer out there. but I only see them rarely. 

I have seen dead deer on the beach near Tahuya (never a live one) and have seen a couple of deer attempting to swim across from the N. Shore to S. Shore.  People have told me that dogs chase them into the water, but by all accounts, Blacktail are good swimmers and are probably just attempting to spread out the gene pool.  I wonder if they will hit a trolled spoon?

[floatinghat]

Blacktail are good swimmers and sometimes you will see them swimming from Port Orchard to Bainbridge Island or the reverse.  Anyway, Kitsap is pockets of public but mainly private.  You need to scout and get access where you can.  Don't think there is a trick different for Kitsap any other county with a lot of private land and growing population.  I have some elk areas I would love to hunt, I can't get the access.

I have seen some large sign (tracks) while wandering the U cut Christmas farm we frequent every year.