First hunt in the books.

[Billy74]

No deer but had a great time and learned a ton.  Got some much needed time alone walking the woods.  My failure came down to lack of knowing what the bucks would be doing.  I was mostly still hunting and did a bit of ambush hunting Saturday evening for about 2.5 hours on what I thought would be a solid trail.  I'll have many questions in the weeks to come but what a great weekend.  I was hoping for another in oct but life got in the way.  I'll be out for late season.
  As a general question, are whitetail (NE WA) mostly just feeding brows where they can?  I know it's best to get them traveling at dusk and dawn but without Ag fields around are they just roaming from bedding to feeding.  Their are a lot of clearings but none seem to be good feeding spots or not better than in the trees.  Other than scouting over time is there a way to know if I'm on a good travel lane.  I saw a lot of fresh sign but didn't know if where they would be going to or coming from. 


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[Bullkllr]

Don't look at it as failing. It is very much a process. Some of our best memories come from days no game is bagged. Sure, you could have hopped out of the truck and nailed a buck in the first five minutes, but that's not the path your on.

Here's to many great hunts

I'm no help onn the NE stuff, but good luck.

[Brushbuster]

I like to hunt late season for Whitetails. They are in the rut & the bucks throw caution to the wind while chasing does & the odds of harvesting a mature buck are much greater. I would get a set of antlers & learn how to rattle them to simulate bucks fighting. You may also want to get some doe in heat scents & maybe a grunt tube (for calling).

One way to check if whitetails are around is to look for scrapes. These are very noticeable during the rut if bucks are around.

Lots to learn.

Good luck!!