blacktail--timber or clear cut

[wooltie]

Well the last four days of October are near, the time when bucks should be running like crazy after does, and my question is:

Do you kill the majority of your bucks in the timber or in a clear cut?

The timber is just that--tall trees, ferns/moss/vine maple/the crap that entangles your legs, all over the ground, often thick restricting visibility to less than  20-30 yards.  Also includes old growth, but old growth typically kills everything on the ground, so nothing green grows.

A clear cut could be wide open, or full of 3-4' fireweed, or stacked with 3-6' christmas trees--the point is you can glass and see into it, often 100-200 yards or more from your vantage point.  And you look for deer moving through or bedded down.

Little background on me--I killed my first BT buck by luck, in a clear cut while he was passing through w/his does.  Then I switched to hunting the timber.  I've spent plenty of time cruising the thick stuff, finding trails, poop, rubs, beds, all the usual sign.  But I've rarely seen deer in timber, let alone a buck.  Now, I suspect that I haven't seen deer in the timber because I haven't done the 'take two steps, glass everything, take two steps, glass everything, repeat' approach.  So I am working up the desire to cover very little ground, but cover the ground thoroughly LOL. 

For those of you who do kill bucks in the timber, have you found that moving that moving two steps at a time is the only or most effective way to hunt the timber?

[deerhunter_98520]

I'm hunting strictly clearcut/ reprod with small openings unless I see one go into a patch of timber i let them be in their bedding area

[outlawbuck]

Every deer I've killed has been in a clear-cut. I've spent time in the timber and seen plenty of deer including bucks just never shot one in there yet, not for lack of trying eventually my patience runs out and I screw up.

[Old Man Yager]

Good question, got me thinking, only 3 of the Blacktails I have killed were in big timber, several more in 25-30 ft tall reprod, and the rest in clearcuts.

[boneill]

I haven't hunted a ton of BTs, but I've shot two dandy's in two years hunting clear cuts. First light and last light are key in a cut! Someday I'd like to move on and learn how to hunt timber, but I have WAY more confidence hunting clear cuts.

[fishnfur]

I have little luck in both.  I'm hitting reprod tomorrow (and I hate sitting on reprod).  I think big timber is harder, especially in these damned W. Hemlock forests that have been thinned, then grow a whole new set of smaller hemlock in the understory.  No wait...., the big timber with seven foot tall salal and evergreen huckleberry up in Mason and Kitsap is worse than the hemlock.  No wait......... 

Backyard bucks are hittin' the dirt pretty hard today.  Nice ones too!  Perhaps that should be a category here.   

[ElevenBravo]

I just spent the evening trying to place myself between a bedding area and some open feeding area and at no time in the 500 or so yards I covered and 300 or so feet of elevation I covered did I have any shooting lane more than 15 feet. I found the biggest piles of droppings I have ever seen, along with clear, well worn paths, but I believe it's best to let it go. However, I am seriously considering buying a tree stand for deer and elk next year.  I will stay on the does and wait for the bucks to start running around. As a side note, I have a couple areas full of ferns and other low greenery that are very promising. Good luck.

[wooltie]

I read a lot.  I read this board, listened to Haugen.  Read Boyd Iverson.  Seems you can get a BT buck in either a clear cut or the timber.  Clear cuts seem straightforward: you find one with food and decent cover, then wait for them to move through or pick the cut apart to find one bedded.  Timber is another story.

All the comments and 'advice' I read about hunting the timber point to taking one or two steps then glassing as much as possible, looking for parts of a deer.  The deer could be standing or bedded. 

I've never implemented this technique consistently over several seasons, so maybe I should start.

I just get tired of hunting clear cuts, next to roads, finding land that maybe people won't go to, behind locked gates but then some people have keys.  Hunting timber sounds like a good idea, a way to get away from people and truly expand the huntable area--

Just wonder if the 'take a step or two, then glass everything' is truly what needs to be done to 'get er done'.

I think so.

guess I can try the last four days.

[bobcat]

I've only had luck in timber on rainy, windy days. I've tried it on nice days but I really just don't have the patience to go as slow as I should. Last year we had a pretty good storm on October 31st, lots of wind and rain about as hard as it can rain. I was able to walk up on a buck and shoot it less than 30 minutes after parking my truck. If it's not stormy, I pretty much plan on hitting the clearcuts, and that's how it looks like it will be this coming weekend, so I'll most likely be sitting in a clearcut somewhere.

[Ingwe]

I started hunting blacktails when I was a kid 1963. All my dad and grandfather did was hunt the brush and timber behind grandparents place so that is how I learned to hunt.. It was mixed alder, maple and nice second growth timber with a lot of vine maple. We had well over a section to hunt. I was taught to hunt slow and look. My dad and grandpa always got big bucks and after I learned patience, I got a lot of nice bucks. Then the timber was divided and some logged every few years. So I learned about hunting clear cuts. Got a lot of deer out of the clear cuts especially after 6-8 years of replant. But my favorite way is to hunt timber. But not much mixed timber to hunt anymore as state and timber companies spray so much. Plus I am getting to old to hunt like I used to.

[elksnout]

Last five of my bucks in seven years have been taken in big timber.

[Turner89]

I hunt the clearcuts. I've seen bucks in the timber, but its usually after hunting season.  I enjoy getting as far out as I can, and camping on a clear cut all day.

[JDHasty]

I hunt open areas.  Actually I successfully hunt open areas.  I don't have much success in the timber. 

[fishnfur]

I read a lot.  I read this board, listened to Haugen.  Read Boyd Iverson.  Seems you can get a BT buck in either a clear cut or the timber.  Clear cuts seem straightforward: you find one with food and decent cover, then wait for them to move through or pick the cut apart to find one bedded.  Timber is another story.

All the comments and 'advice' I read about hunting the timber point to taking one or two steps then glassing as much as possible, looking for parts of a deer.  The deer could be standing or bedded. 

I've never implemented this technique consistently over several seasons, so maybe I should start.

I just get tired of hunting clear cuts, next to roads, finding land that maybe people won't go to, behind locked gates but then some people have keys.  Hunting timber sounds like a good idea, a way to get away from people and truly expand the huntable area--

Just wonder if the 'take a step or two, then glass everything' is truly what needs to be done to 'get er done'.

I think so.

guess I can try the last four days.

Many hunters break up the day into smaller manageable pieces.  Four hours in reprod at first light.  Move to the timber and still hunt, with occasional calling (can or rattle/grunt) for four hours, then finish the day in reprod.  I can't still hunt longer than 4 hours or so.  Trying to move slow and quiet is very stressful.  There's a lot of opportunities to mess up at every step. 

Some guys hunt the timber by going a hundred yards then sitting quietly and hidden for a half hour or so (in a spot where you can see a ways).  Move another hundred yards and repeat.  Mid-day is a good time because the bucks are often cruising between 10:00 - 2:00. 

[PolarBear]

Timber. 95% of a mature bucks life is spent in timber or brush.