Late Season Blacktail-Getting Discouraged

[fishnfur]

Congrats Dreadi!  Glad you got it done.  I'd love to hear what finally worked for you.

[dreadi]

Congrats Dreadi!  Glad you got it done.  I'd love to hear what finally worked for you.

Pre-kill congratulations? The universe is conspiring in my favor!

[fishnfur]

Yes.  Pre-kill congrats.  That, and I apparently have trouble following who posted what. 
Go get 'em!

[TheDudeAbides]

Anyone have any suggestions for bow hunting in the Preston/Fall city area?  I have been bow hunting the Mitchell Hill area pretty hard for the past 2 weeks and haven't even seen a deer... I have scene a fair amount of tracks and some poop but no deer.  I'm not partial to doe or a buck.  I have been stalking a few game trails and posted up 8+ times at 2 different spots for a few hours.  Any thoughts or help on how i could better hunt the area would be appreciated!!

[Tbob]

Just stick with it... I’ve got an un-punched multi-season tag still in my pocket as well. Going out tomorrow for another go! Only takes one and it can happen at any second. Ya just gotta believe sometimes..

[MADMAX]

Sounds like the last few years around here.
Too bad used to be a slam dunk for a doe with a bow.
Cant get one lying on the couch, keep at it.

[dreadi]

Went at it again today on private land. Saw a possum.

[Boss .300 winmag]

You have to get in thier bedding/food areas this time of year, combat hunting.

[ljsommer]

I blew through my best prospect today, total ghost town.
My season is probably over and I am not sure what I am going to do next year. Currently considering giving this up and selling all my gear.

[MADMAX]

Don’t give it up bud

3 words
Out of state

[Skyvalhunter]

  Well worth your time and effort to go out of state

[Mallardmasher]

Lots of deer to be found on little public tracts of land, use onyx maps and look for spots others might over look. Good example is , go to trail cam forum and look at month long soak thread. He found a little tract of land, and the cam results are nice. Same as I do, but I stand hunt and feed but average about 4-5 bucks a sit. Just not the one that is on my hit list this year.

[ljsommer]

Lots of deer to be found on little public tracts of land, use onyx maps and look for spots others might over look. Good example is , go to trail cam forum and look at month long soak thread. He found a little tract of land, and the cam results are nice. Same as I do, but I stand hunt and feed but average about 4-5 bucks a sit. Just not the one that is on my hit list this year.

I saw that thread, I actually live within the boundaries of that GMU. I had animals on cam all year long, but the season started and they vanished (what I mean by that is that with 8 cams running in the GMU, I'd get maybe one animal over a 1 month period whereas prior to season opener I'd have dozens maybe hundreds of sightings on my cams).
It made me feel like all my scouting was a total waste of time - even worse, it gave me a false sense of confidence: "I am definitely in the right spot". That 'right spot' turned out to be a total dud.

Another issue is: When I have gone out during modern season, it's an ocean of orange all hunting the same spots. During archery season, I feel ill-equipped to succeed - I can't stand hunt because the units I have been scouting don't allow vehicle access and the hike in is quite significant. So I am on the ground, just sitting and waiting, at spots that haven't seen animal activity in weeks.

I genuinely have absolutely no clue whatsoever how anyone achieves success in western Washington for hunting.

[Pacific]

What Boss 300 said..... You gotta get in the thick stuff where they are. I finally saw a deer ( first one this season when I was actually out stomping around 2 days ago). I forced myself to go take a look at an area i had been in 3 times already.....it was the 3rd hike of the day. I had been on all sides of an old clear cut and hadn't seen any fresh sign coming and going into it. Now this is an old cut.....jackfirs 12 or 14 feet tall, vine maples e everywhere, and BlackBerry vines that are out to dump you on your face. I was disgusted that there was still no sign as decided to cut across instead of making the loop and having to hike back around to the gate uphill. Guess where they are living g right now........right out in the middle of all that brush crap! I saw 3.....but would have had better luck with a club or a spear  They are just hanging right in the thick stuff....no need for them to go anywhere, one step and they are out of sight. Gotta figure out how to get a little elevation on them...heck I  even thought of packing in a ladder to gain a couple feet and see a little farther   

Keep plugging away at it.....poke your nose in to places you wouldn't think they could be in......they are where you find them!
Good luck!

[ljsommer]

What Boss 300 said..... You gotta get in the thick stuff where they are. I finally saw a deer ( first one this season when I was actually out stomping around 2 days ago). I forced myself to go take a look at an area i had been in 3 times already.....it was the 3rd hike of the day. I had been on all sides of an old clear cut and hadn't seen any fresh sign coming and going into it. Now this is an old cut.....jackfirs 12 or 14 feet tall, vine maples e everywhere, and BlackBerry vines that are out to dump you on your face. I was disgusted that there was still no sign as decided to cut across instead of making the loop and having to hike back around to the gate uphill. Guess where they are living g right now........right out in the middle of all that brush crap! I saw 3.....but would have had better luck with a club or a spear  They are just hanging right in the thick stuff....no need for them to go anywhere, one step and they are out of sight. Gotta figure out how to get a little elevation on them...heck I  even thought of packing in a ladder to gain a couple feet and see a little farther   

Keep plugging away at it.....poke your nose in to places you wouldn't think they could be in......they are where you find them!
Good luck!

So here's my question: Let's say the deer are in this god-awful nightmare bush, that you can't move into without sounding like a 3-ring circus trampling through a forest, how do you actually achieve any sort of shot-lane on that?