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Nice offer to help him out. Awesome! If I took him out, he'd slit his wrists after the first couple hours. Here's a good off-season read. It's a WT book, but it accurately covers how all deer use terrain and cover as they move, and the best ways to hunt these features. Save some money and buy used. https://www.amazon.com/Mapping-Trophy-Second-Herndon-Paperback/dp/B011MAZX4E/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1541047480&sr=1-2&keywords=mapping+trophy+bucks
Yes, a few hunters are very skilled at this craft.Yes, sometimes you will get lucky.Beyond that, hunting success is directly proportional to the amount of time spent hunting.I truly believe this.
Some great advice in here! I have a couple cams and admit I need to improve in their use. They are a great tool and will give you an idea of whats in your area. BUT.... IMO unless you are running a very dense web of cams or hunting certain areas that lend themselves to very effective scouting. Locating all the animals in the area is tough. BT bucks by 3.5 years old become almost exclusively nocturnal, and masters at keeping their footprint to a minimum. In 22 years of hunting I have killed 3 bucks that I patterned during the summer, only one was mature and all were killed during early archery. Case in point..... This past summer I had located a couple real nice bucks, seeing them several times feeding in the mornings during July and into august. BIL had several trailcams in the area and NO pictures of these bucks even though one cam was setup near where the bucks frequented. He also had a couple bucks on trailcam that were never seen live. Due to his schedule he took a buck on the 22nd and it was a buck he had on cam, a younger 2 point with eyegaurds. I ended up hunting this past Saturday. I got in the area I had seen the bucks in the summer, albeit a nearby area where I thought does might be frequenting, and found sign of a good buck working and eventually cut tracks that were very fresh based on conditions. I figured it for a large buck due to trees he was raking and his foot, but after catching up to the buck and ultimately killing him he was not a deer I was familiar with at all. We had never seen this buck in scouting or trailcam. He just showed up. Whether he had been there all summer and we never saw him, or came from 3 miles away I have no idea. I hunted where I assumed a buck might stage based on doe location and he was there. My point being don't give up and OBEY THE SIGN. Tracks, trails, scat, rubs, etc.... is going to be your most important tool in locating and by sign it must be fresh sign. Summer scouting is an excellent way to locate animals and will build confidence you have animals in a given location, but a move of a few hundred yards because of food preferences can seem like miles in heavy vegetation. If you don't have fresh sign move. If you have fresh sign the deer are around, ask yourself WHEN are they there and HOW can I see them. And if at all possible hunt at least the first 2 days of late buck.
Quote from: blackveltbowhunter on October 31, 2018, 11:25:53 PM Some great advice in here! I have a couple cams and admit I need to improve in their use. They are a great tool and will give you an idea of whats in your area. BUT.... IMO unless you are running a very dense web of cams or hunting certain areas that lend themselves to very effective scouting. Locating all the animals in the area is tough. BT bucks by 3.5 years old become almost exclusively nocturnal, and masters at keeping their footprint to a minimum. In 22 years of hunting I have killed 3 bucks that I patterned during the summer, only one was mature and all were killed during early archery. Case in point..... This past summer I had located a couple real nice bucks, seeing them several times feeding in the mornings during July and into august. BIL had several trailcams in the area and NO pictures of these bucks even though one cam was setup near where the bucks frequented. He also had a couple bucks on trailcam that were never seen live. Due to his schedule he took a buck on the 22nd and it was a buck he had on cam, a younger 2 point with eyegaurds. I ended up hunting this past Saturday. I got in the area I had seen the bucks in the summer, albeit a nearby area where I thought does might be frequenting, and found sign of a good buck working and eventually cut tracks that were very fresh based on conditions. I figured it for a large buck due to trees he was raking and his foot, but after catching up to the buck and ultimately killing him he was not a deer I was familiar with at all. We had never seen this buck in scouting or trailcam. He just showed up. Whether he had been there all summer and we never saw him, or came from 3 miles away I have no idea. I hunted where I assumed a buck might stage based on doe location and he was there. My point being don't give up and OBEY THE SIGN. Tracks, trails, scat, rubs, etc.... is going to be your most important tool in locating and by sign it must be fresh sign. Summer scouting is an excellent way to locate animals and will build confidence you have animals in a given location, but a move of a few hundred yards because of food preferences can seem like miles in heavy vegetation. If you don't have fresh sign move. If you have fresh sign the deer are around, ask yourself WHEN are they there and HOW can I see them. And if at all possible hunt at least the first 2 days of late buck.This is great info! Thanks a ton! So would you check for fresh signs than just sit and wait? It would you come back another day?
At the risk of sounding like a know it all I'll offer my formula. I'll also offer up credentials in the form of a record of not getting a blacktail two years out of 53 seasons. Those years I was laid up by accidents.1st find the deer. Look for sign, tracks and rubs. Sounds simple but it takes time and don't find just one spot. You need options in case something fouls you up plus you will get sick of hunting the same spot every day. 2nd plan out how you will attack an area. It is best to figure know how you are going to approach an area before hand rather then deciding in the dark. I personally prefer clearcuts that have young tender growth so 2 years old until you can no longer see well.3rd get away from the other hunters. If that means biking or hiking, do it. In fact if you can rest an area for a day or two and hunt other areas without others hunting it, the perfect world.4th Do what it takes to be confident you will kill what you see. For me I uped my game with shooting sticks a few years ago. If you miss a buck or worst yet wound one it will ruin your hunt so make sure you can hit what you shoot at.5th don't be picky. I now there are guys on here that pass on bucks. I don't and I am perfectly happy with what I get be it spike or 4 point.6th and maybe most important be persistent. I know most have work commitments but get out as much as you can. Later in the season it gets better so this defeatist attitude of not going out in late season is sabotaging yourself.Personally I hunted 12 days this year to get my buck. Guys that only have weekends to hunt have a tough roe to hoe so realize this. It ain't easy and that is one thing that makes it all worth while when you connect.
The best way to hunt blacktail is to hunt slowly into spots that look good to you and have lots of sign. Your heart is pounding at the possibility of seeing a big buck. Then after a couple hours you get really bummed about not seeing deer and you mentally quit hunting..you start wandering aimlessly with your head down and no care in the world, thinking about house work etc......then and only then will you see deer. . Im not joking. In 30 years of blacktail Ive had success every year, and I would bet 60% of my deer have come when I least expected to see them.Keep at it and stay in the woods all day.
