Tips from HuntWA Pro's on Deer hunting location setup Appreciated

[cowboycraig]

Hunting in Kapowsin (Western WA) first off. There are Deer all over the place, trick is to get one in front of sights.

I am hiding out of sight and Rattling and Doe Bleating now and than. Have some Estrus spray, and have hosed down the area. Have not worked this area much with trail cams, but know that Elk are walking through every day. They have left ruts in the ground from traffic. Figure the Deer use it also.

Just for fun adding this video of Elk walking through area
Majestic Elk wonders by trail cam
https://youtu.be/vKUSZlz-wmY
 
Area is 50 yards off side of hardly drivable road. Like the area because it is quiet, trucks don't make it much further down this road and usually give up before this spot. This is a natural clearing next to old cut (Cut in 2007 via Google Earth) with heavy game trails through it. Good Earth picture below describes best. 

Any tips from the pro's out there on hunting this area? Have kind of given up on the younger cuts the Deer don't seem to be in them during hunting hours. Now 10pm to 3am there is a party in the young cuts but Deer are GONE during hunting hours. Wanting to hunt hard, but want to make sure my efforts make sense. Would stand on my head if it gave an advantage I was sure of.

Location via Google Earth (Cut is from 2007)


Kapowsin Hunting Spot October 26, 2015
https://youtu.be/Mkb2BQFL9D4

Slightly different location than in video in same area I am working.


Thanks!
Craig

[JimmyHoffa]

(not a pro here)  But the wind would make a big diff, as well as the sun (hunting more morning or evening).  Is there a line of rubs anywhere along the edge?

[cowboycraig]

(not a pro here)  But the wind would make a big diff, as well as the sun (hunting more morning or evening).  Is there a line of rubs anywhere along the edge?

Everyone on Hunting-Washington is a Pro

Have found rubs in the area, but not in this exact spot. A bit down the road but not a good location to get the drop on a Deer. Having a hard time finding rubs in general. There are Deer around, a good deal of them. But have not worked this spot enough with Camera's to know for sure they walk through. It was a "Plan B" location and should have scouted it more.

I do note the wind and work with it best I can.

[runamuk]

Pay attention to the air vectors and then I would sit and watch the edges.

I wouldnt be bleating and using scents and rattles but thats just me and I am not even an amateur let alone pro.  If you want to use anything I would haul in apples or cob.  But mostly I would try and figure out where they are bedding.  I havent hunted blacktails in a couple years but I was finally getting them sorted out when I moved to muley land. 

Best advice I have had was slow down, now slow down some more, and when you think you are slow enough just stop and watch more move less.  When I learned to creep on foot I saw a lot more deer, deer I had walked right past every morning 

[cowboycraig]

Pay attention to the air vectors and then I would sit and watch the edges.

I wouldnt be bleating and using scents and rattles but thats just me and I am not even an amateur let alone pro.  If you want to use anything I would haul in apples or cob.  But mostly I would try and figure out where they are bedding.  I havent hunted blacktails in a couple years but I was finally getting them sorted out when I moved to muley land. 

Best advice I have had was slow down, now slow down some more, and when you think you are slow enough just stop and watch more move less.  When I learned to creep on foot I saw a lot more deer, deer I had walked right past every morning 

Thanks. Have been hitting the glassing harder.

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[fishngamereaper]

Rattle/Bleating often times will spook deer before they get to you. Avoid over the counter scents, there is no guarantee they are similar to scent of deer in the area. Best advise is stay at, don't contaminate your clothes before hunting, food, fuel, smoking etc...try still hunting into the timber/along edges...sitting for blacktail is like watching water boil for me. Gotta keep moving to find them.

[fishnfur]

I am most certainly not a good hunter, but I've listened to others and read a ton, so take my advice with a big grain of salt:

The warm weather seems to be keeping the deer bedded most of the day.  If it was freezing out, you'd be seeing a lot more deer.  Because it is so warm, the critical times to be in the woods are the first few hours of the day and the last couple.  Many of the deer will get up sometime during the day to stretch, pee, and eat a bit, so being out all day make sense if you have the time.  If you are still hunting in your blind, you should probably move it, because you have saturated that area with human scent by now. 

Elk in the area may not be the very best thing to have in your chosen spot.  Many times the deer will get out of the way of the elk and feed/live on the fringes, though there was a discussion recently about how some big bucks hang out with the elk, possibly for security or some other unknown reason.  If I see a lot of elk sign, I move on to another place.

If it was me, I wouldn't sit in just one spot without having concrete evidence that deer are using the area a lot.  I'd figure out the wind direction, get inside the timber - around 30 -50 yards in, perhaps more, on a deer trail (not elk - though deer do use elk trails for travel, they eventually leave them and use deer trails), and move ultra slow and quietly into the wind and scan the entire are with eyes and binoculars between steps.  A couple hundred yards an hour rate in prime territory is a good rate of travel.  Sitting awhile in an area you can see some distance gives you a better shot at not bumping the deer.  Look about 18 inches high as you travel - look for holes in the sword fern where deer may be bedded, or under clumps of vine maple or hazel, or any other thick vegetation that would be hard for you to get into.  Those are the areas deer like to hide/bed in relatively flat areas.  Bucks generally bed in an area where they can have the wind at their back and see out in front of them quite a ways - that generally means hillsides rather than flats, but they should be sticking closer to does now or very soon, so you really just need to find does, then look for a buck nearby.

Alternatively, and a possibly better plan:  you could go out in the cut, a hundred yards out or so and walk the perimeter of the cut and looks for tracks to determine which areas of the cut are getting a lot of deer action, and where the deer come from.  Once you figure out where the deer are coming and going from, you can concentrate your efforts in that area. This is a good mid-day activity that shouldn't spook to many animals.

It is hard to tell how big the reprod is in the cut on the photo, but if it is around head high or more, you can spend some time in the areas with more thickets of trees.  Get on the downwind side of a clump or section of trees, get on your knees and rattle for a minute or so.  Stay low and listen for movement, look through tree branches for any responders.  They will almost always try to circle downwind of you to figure out who/what you are, so a less densely growing area downwind will give you a better chance to see them trying to get your wind.  Move 100 yards and repeat.  Move slow and look for deer bedded below trees or feeding where they are hidden by surrounding trees.

However you hunt, move slow and listen for anything that might be an animal moving in your vicinity.  Glass to find it, if it is a buck - BOOM! 

[westsidehntr]

I'm no pro, but I would lay off the calls and scents unless you really know what you are doing.

[fastdam]

I also would lay off the calls and scents. Be inconspicuous. When I deer hunt. I cover alot of ground, and look at everysingle thing I see with binoculars for deer parts.  Mid day I walk knobs, hill tops and the tops of brushy draws and try to get them out of bed.  I would not stare at the same spot everyday all day.

[cowboycraig]

Amazing everyone, thanks for the info. This gives me a plan to start working for the rest of the week. Appreciate in the extreme.
Craig

[Thehowler]

Hey Cowboycraig,
Don't remember you mentioning, but do you have a multi season tag?
In my experience in this area, the most buck action I have had, has been from the 4 day late rifle, through the muzzle buck season. Even though I have seen bucks in the second week of rifle, and have killed a few. To me, this area has always been a later in the year type of hunting for deer. Cooler temps, first snow!
This morning, after creeping through some older growth getting soaked, I decided I would go for a road hunt. Yep, busted. Within 1 1/2 hours, I found 2 gut piles within site of the road, given away by ravens.
I have probable seen more does and fawns this year as I have in the last ten, but no bucks during hunting season.
Don't know what to make of it.
All I can say is keep your rifle ready and be alert!

[Humptulips]

I also would lay off the calls and scents. Be inconspicuous. When I deer hunt. I cover alot of ground, and look at everysingle thing I see with binoculars for deer parts.  Mid day I walk knobs, hill tops and the tops of brushy draws and try to get them out of bed.  I would not stare at the same spot everyday all day.

[billythekidrock]

I wouldn't give up on the calls and rattling because it works, but I would make sure I did it sparingly and only in certain situations.

I would play the wind and still hunt that whole patch south of the road in the am. Then move to the north and still hunt that.

I would also pray for more rain.

[cowboycraig]

Hey Cowboycraig,
Don't remember you mentioning, but do you have a multi season tag?
In my experience in this area, the most buck action I have had, has been from the 4 day late rifle, through the muzzle buck season. Even though I have seen bucks in the second week of rifle, and have killed a few. To me, this area has always been a later in the year type of hunting for deer. Cooler temps, first snow!
This morning, after creeping through some older growth getting soaked, I decided I would go for a road hunt. Yep, busted. Within 1 1/2 hours, I found 2 gut piles within site of the road, given away by ravens.
I have probable seen more does and fawns this year as I have in the last ten, but no bucks during hunting season.
Don't know what to make of it.
All I can say is keep your rifle ready and be alert!

No Multi-season for me this year. Kind of feel like I am wasting time out there. Have spent a good deal of time and seen lots of deer, but since modern rifle elk season the place feels empty. Going to hit it again Friday and Saturday (with a better plan from all the help here) and be glad the season is over deer or not
Will keep scouting and trail cam'in until late season rifle.
Before elk season almost ran over a few deer
Now the mock me with their absence

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[cowboycraig]

I wouldn't give up on the calls and rattling because it works, but I would make sure I did it sparingly and only in certain situations.

I would play the wind and still hunt that whole patch south of the road in the am. Then move to the north and still hunt that.

I would also pray for more rain.

N00b question, how does more rain help? Have noticed via cams that at least the elk come out more when it rains.

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[JimmyHoffa]

Rain covers sound, scent and to a degree even movement.  They also like to feed in between the rains because they aren't as vulnerable as during the rain.  And it makes them lose more heat so they need to feed more.