Honey Hole??

[Jimmy33]

The final part of this is to tell no one of your area and minimize pics. My two sons are the only two people who know my spot. That's why I have to haul deer out by myself or have two young boys help. They hunt it also.


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[Miles]

Deer- mulies in particular are my passion. I don't like to hunt where I see people. I would rather hunt an area with one nice buck and no people than 50 nice ones and 50 people. This is my first requirement. I look for rugged country in isolated areas. This sounds cliche, but it is absolutely true. This keeps big deer feeling safe, and people out. I like low deer densities. This tells me that there will be less people there because people get discouraged easily hiking their butts off, in rough country, not seeing deer. I have, in my honey hole, gone days without seeing a deer. Furthermore, in my experience, lower deer densities mean bigger bucks. I have hunted areas in Idaho, New Mexico, and most recently in Washington and found this to be true. The spot that I am currently hunting has produced, in four years, 2-150's, 1-140, and 1-170 class mule deer. I


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I've had success using the same thought process.  While low deer densities should make it harder, I feel it's easier to hunt without other hunters around messing things up.  When I finally spot a buck, it's usually a mature one.

[Boss .300 winmag]

Deer- mulies in particular are my passion. I don't like to hunt where I see people. I would rather hunt an area with one nice buck and no people than 50 nice ones and 50 people. This is my first requirement. I look for rugged country in isolated areas. This sounds cliche, but it is absolutely true. This keeps big deer feeling safe, and people out. I like low deer densities. This tells me that there will be less people there because people get discouraged easily hiking their butts off, in rough country, not seeing deer. I have, in my honey hole, gone days without seeing a deer. Furthermore, in my experience, lower deer densities mean bigger bucks. I have hunted areas in Idaho, New Mexico, and most recently in Washington and found this to be true. The spot that I am currently hunting has produced, in four years, 2-150's, 1-140, and 1-170 class mule deer. I


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I've had success using the same thought process.  While low deer densities should make it harder, I feel it's easier to hunt without other hunters around messing things up.  When I finally spot a buck, it's usually a mature one.

 

[cooltimber]

I love hunting the natural flow of gravity, the quarry are also inclined. These pinch points are a must to have as they provide a natural flow of travel. that's when thing's come together we hope.
     
  You all have noticed coming to the end of a game trail, it just seems to have disappeared. Ever hunted in a circle to find out why.
my three P's, patience ,persistence, perseverance. Rolling terrain, steep, spring's, wetland away from roads lead to honey hole's. Doesn't matter wetside eastside.
   now a serious factor, I try to hold to is ,go where no man goes. Ever heard one of your hunting party say, I'm not going there, your nuts' Well other hunter's think that too. That's why I'll go there.
    30 years ago  my new hunting partner, said #$it why did you shoot him here,I said, well because that's where he was.
   

[Boss .300 winmag]

I love hunting the natural flow of gravity, the quarry are also inclined. These pinch points are a must to have as they provide a natural flow of travel. that's when thing's come together we hope.
     
  You all have noticed coming to the end of a game trail, it just seems to have disappeared. Ever hunted in a circle to find out why.
my three P's, patience ,persistence, perseverance. Rolling terrain, steep, spring's, wetland away from roads lead to honey hole's. Doesn't matter wetside eastside.
   now a serious factor, I try to hold to is ,go where no man goes. Ever heard one of your hunting party say, I'm not going there, your nuts' Well other hunter's think that too. That's why I'll go there.
    30 years ago  my new hunting partner, said #$it why did you shoot him here,I said, well because that's where he was.
   

 

[Jimmy33]

Cool timber...I felt the same way this year when I saw where my buck landed. A week removed and I'm ready to go shoot another one in the same spot. How quickly we forget. That's why I don't have a hunting partner, just my boys and they are more man than most men


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[Seabass]

I bow hunt on the east side of the state and I hunt white tail exclusively during the late season. I coach football and that makes September/October a no go for me.

I have a couple of "honey holes" although they are more like honey areas. Sometimes it turns out that the actual "spot" that I find a shooter isn't conducive to killing that buck so I have to set up somewhere near but not on the "spot".

For me the spots all look the same....almost identical but I only get to hunt late Nov-Dec so that is likely the reason for my findings. When I can find a steepish ridge that has big Douglas Fir with very minimal light penetration, some undergrowth (mostly ocean spray) adjacent to a thick bedding area, a really hard edge, I can almost gauruntee my camera will have landed on the crab.

I typically give my cameras a week to soak. If I don't find a shooter in the first week I pull it and move on. Most of the time I will get the best buck in the area within the first 72 hours. I won't bother to hang a stand in an area that doesn't have a buck I'm not interested in hunting. There have been seasons where I didn't hang a stand until the second week of the season because I haven't located a buck I'm interested in.

Some years I find one right away and I will spend as many hours as possible in that stand. Other years I spend my days allotted to hunting, checking and moving cameras. Two years ago I didn't find a shooter until 13th day of the season. Hung a stand at midnight, got in it at first light and shot him at 9:30 that morning. The spot was perfect and I knew it when I hung the camera. It also looked identical to all the rest.

Sometimes my spots are fairly remote. Sometimes they are, like last season,  250 yards off the blacktop. That buck was living within a 4 iron of a parking lot of one of THE most heavily hunted areas in the unit. When a spot has a designated parking lot, you know it's popular. If the spot looks right, I don't care much about where  it is or how much it gets pressured wishing reason. I will say this, the spots I hunt that receive the most pressure are usually pressured by gun hunters and rarely bow hunters so I'm not usually dealing directly with other hunters while I'm hunting. Hope that helps. 
 

[cooltimber]

good point, that reminds me of a 4x5 whitetail I jumped about 200 yrd's from the truck.. seemed like it was a popular spot to park,you know we have all done it. There was a old apple orchard I was heading to,covered with brush and an old tractor.I'd hunted it the previous year and noticed it had grown over somemore. Every one had gone up the trail.I was walking along, no round in my chamber, and as I jumped over an old irrigation ditch, up he goes heading for the orchard.Threw a round in and down he went. When I gutted him out,you guessed it apple's in the stomach.
    I tagged him and drug him back to the truck. Nobody around, so I made some coffee and had my sandwich.
  That buck knew where he was safe, or so he thought.

[fishnfur]

There's an old saying in gold prospecting - Gold is where you find it.  That seems to apply pretty well to bucks too.

Nice posts all!  Good food for thought.

Seabass - that's a big 4 iron!  I'm impressed..... (OK - jealous).

[Seabass]

Fishnfur....more like a well struck 3 wood. A lot would have to go right for a 250 yard 4 iron. Lol!

[krout81]

I have a late season "Honey Hole" for black tail, and I have killed 9 deer in it over the years.   4 bucks, 5 does.    I see deer every year and lots of sign.  Big timber with patches of reprod, near a thick'n nasty river bottom seems to breed deer very well.  When it snows they get even more bunched up I make several passes though the area every year.   In 2007 I killed a 3x3 and as he went down I saw one the biggest black tail I have ever seen alive standing 80 yards up the hill.  Since it was late season and it was 2 days to the close of hunting in the unit I decided I would come back in Sept and split my time between elk and look for him.   I had never hunted this unit early season, and after 5 days I realized that I was correct to stay away until the leaves fell.  My "Honey Hole"  was a complete bust because there was so much green that you couldn't see 30 yards.  There was sign of deer, but not in comparison to late season I would say it was 60% less active. 

[fishnfur]

Probably/possibly migratory deer, huh?   I think that plays into the seasonal aspect of honey holes.  I kinda doubt they hold the same numbers of deer all year long.




Sea Bass - Dustin Johnson might be able to squeeze 250 out of a 4 iron, but not more than a handful of others.  I was hoping you swung your sticks like that.