Late Season Blacktail-Getting Discouraged

[smithkl42]

Yeah, tag soup for me as well. This is my second year hunting (mostly 454, 460 and 407), and haven't even loosed an arrow here in WA. (I missed a spike down in Oregon in September.) Here in WA, in the last two seasons of hunting, I've seen a legal deer only once with my bow in my hand: I jumped two does, and they ran before I could get an arrow nocked.

This is my first year trying to hunt from a tree stand. I've been hunting a hillside on public land, but which is hard to approach without going through private land, and I was lucky enough to get permission. Off-season, my trail camera was showing something shootable nearly every day (bear, cougar, nice bucks), but they all disappeared September 1. I usually got to my stand before dark, stayed there until late morning, and then still-hunted the rest of the day.

One interesting thing. I dropped some apples near my stand on 12/1, and the trail camera caught a nice buck eating them on 12/2 and 12/3, and then coming back on 12/4, 12/5 and 12/6 just to make sure there weren't anymore. I'm thinking I may try some baiting next year. I know there's some debate whether that's fair-chase, but it's legal, and I've spent my share of time in the woods chasing them fairly, so I'm thinking of trying it. Maybe start dropping apples or alfalfa weekly in a plausible spot starting in August, and then setup in a tree stand there on 9/1.

I'm also going to take some advice other folks have mentioned, and spend some time in the off-season cutting trails through likely spots: through 6-12 year old clearcuts, around their edges, along existing but overgrown trails. The idea is partly to funnel the deer, and partly to make it easier for me to move quietly.

What do folks think about the idea of planting apple trees in some open spot on public land? Obviously won't help anytime in the next few years, but I'm hoping to still be doing this 10 years from now...

[fishnfur]

Apples are great bait - many times the does and fawns get them first.  I wonder if the buck you caught on cam would be as willing to come in on a daily basis in August (as compared to the lean times in December).  Definite maybe.....  Probably worth a try.

If you spend time cutting trails in reprod, wait until after July or so, when the firs have slowed way down or stopped growing.  You won't have to go back and re-work your trail as much.  Also, I'd recommend hiding the start of the trail.  Maybe start a couple of rows of trees in from the road or access you're coming in on.  That should minimize others finding and using your trail and hunting spot.

RE: planting apple trees.  They need full sun to fruit.  You'll need a spot that 5+ years from now will still have full sun (edges of fields or some non-timber area).  Deer and elk will eat the leaves off it if you don't protect the tree until it grows above the browse zone.  If it's near water, Beavers will eat 'em up too.  Finding (and getting permission to hunt) an old abandon homestead with ancient apple trees is a classic way to go.