Game Plan Advice

[captpschar]

This is my first season hunting big game, and while I’ve managed to use my squirrel hunting ninja skills over the rifle season to sneak into bow range of three blacktail does, I haven’t managed a buck. 

This weekend’s doe had no fawns and seemed to be signaling that she was in heat, and she has me wondering.  There’s no late season hunt in the GMU I’ve been working, but knowing her area and knowing she’s ready to go, I’d expect that she’ll be attracting some bucks in a couple of weeks, and it theoretically I could use her for bait if there was a late season.

Question: if my GMU did have a late season hunt, what would a game plan look like for using her to land a buck?  What would you guys do?

[brokentrail]

How was she signaling she was ready to go?  What kind of area is she in?  Clear cut?  Open timber?

[fishnfur]

I'll bet she had lipstick on and smelled of perfume. 

Funny about the lack of fawns.  I've seen several doe over the last ten days, and none had fawns with them.  It's widely accepted that they give the kids the boot when it's time to breed, but then again, the fawns don't hang nearly as close as they do earlier in the season, so you never really know if they're close by and you can't see them, or if the doe has left them to go breed.  I don't think any of them were ready to breed.  They were out feeding.  One got harassed by a buck and took off with him in chase.

In the past, I have run into several fawns hanging together during the period when mom was out breeding.  They seem to go off on a hair trigger when mom isn't around.  Total chaos in the woods if you spook them - running helter skelter without much direction.  If you see something like that while you're hunting, then you can be pretty sure mom is not too far away and looking for mister right.  On that occasion, I later jumped the presumed mom of at least two of the fawns I'd seen spaz out earlier just a couple hundred yards away from them, and she headed straight back to area I'd seen her kids. 

My interpretation of the situation where the doe goes off by herself to breed is that mom will leave the immediate area of her fawns, though not too far away.  That would be just a day or so before she's getting ready to bust an egg out.  She will likely be either mated or missed by the local bucks within the next day or two max.  Then she returns to the fawns. 

If I saw a doe that I thought was hot out standing by herself, I'd sit on that doe all day and observe how she reacts to what's going on in the woods.  If she is truly hot, her tail will be standing straight out, likely to allow the her scent to be carried better by the wind.  They will just wait, standing or perhaps bedded, until a buck arrives.  If you watch their ears, the ear will rotate in the direction that the sound of the approaching buck is coming from.  They will likely look that direction as well, giving you a clear indication of where you should be pointing your weapon of choice.  Remember though, it may be that the buck is already with her and you have just failed to see him.  The first buck I killed came in to a doe waiting in a wide-open cut at last light.  She was suddenly looking two opposite directions and I was glassing back and forth trying to figure out where a buck might be.  He eventually made it all the way to her before I saw him.

When the doe is ready to breed and a buck is with her, he will not leave her.  He will follow her wherever she goes, even out into the middle of a clearcut in broad daylight, though I've ready many stories of bucks pushing does uphill to their hideaways where they likely feel safer while he tends her.  He may not be visible, but he is there or will be there in the next day, maybe 36 hrs max., or she will miss being bred. After that, the doe will not drop another egg for approx. eight days, or if that was the second ovulation in the cycle, she will go three weeks until she is ready to ovulate again.  So my recommendation is that if you see a doe standing by herself in the woods, apparently waiting for a buck, glass the entire area to make sure a buck is not already there.  If you cannot find a buck, sit and wait, eyes on her at all times.  Watch her the rest of the day.  Come back the next day and see if she is still there.  Wait with her until a buck arrives or she gives up and goes back to her kids.

This all comes from a mix of personal experiences, stories from other hunters and reading scientific journals and/or books on BTs.  Things don't always happen the same way in every situation, so be flexible.  I'm sure other/better hunters would have differing opinions regarding the subject, so just collect all the information you can gather and process it for use the next time you find yourself in a similar situation. 

[brokentrail]

Haha @fishnfur  Could be!

@fishnfur has given you the how to book if you find a hot doe for sure.  Very good info right there!

[captpschar]

How was she signaling she was ready to go?  What kind of area is she in?  Clear cut?  Open timber?

She was carrying her tail straight out.  She was in an area of open timber about a mile in, across a local high ridge, that seems like at one point it was a logging secondary access road, off an old logging access road, the opening of which is no longer accessible by vehicle.  The open timber area crosses three of these blocked off old roads as it rides the local high spot, is grassy and mossy old sticky mulchy stuff (really quiet stuff), with a ton of sign and good feed.  She was small, maybe a 2nd or 3rd year, or just a wee one.

[captpschar]

I'll bet she had lipstick on and smelled of perfume. 

Funny about the lack of fawns.  I've seen several doe over the last ten days, and none had fawns with them.  It's widely accepted that they give the kids the boot when it's time to breed, but then again, the fawns don't hang nearly as close as they do earlier in the season, so you never really know if they're close by and you can't see them, or if the doe has left them to go breed.  I don't think any of them were ready to breed.  They were out feeding.  One got harassed by a buck and took off with him in chase.

In the past, I have run into several fawns hanging together during the period when mom was out breeding.  They seem to go off on a hair trigger when mom isn't around.  Total chaos in the woods if you spook them - running helter skelter without much direction.  If you see something like that while you're hunting, then you can be pretty sure mom is not too far away and looking for mister right.  On that occasion, I later jumped the presumed mom of at least two of the fawns I'd seen spaz out earlier just a couple hundred yards away from them, and she headed straight back to area I'd seen her kids. 

My interpretation of the situation where the doe goes off by herself to breed is that mom will leave the immediate area of her fawns, though not too far away.  That would be just a day or so before she's getting ready to bust an egg out.  She will likely be either mated or missed by the local bucks within the next day or two max.  Then she returns to the fawns. 

If I saw a doe that I thought was hot out standing by herself, I'd sit on that doe all day and observe how she reacts to what's going on in the woods.  If she is truly hot, her tail will be standing straight out, likely to allow the her scent to be carried better by the wind.  They will just wait, standing or perhaps bedded, until a buck arrives.  If you watch their ears, the ear will rotate in the direction that the sound of the approaching buck is coming from.  They will likely look that direction as well, giving you a clear indication of where you should be pointing your weapon of choice.  Remember though, it may be that the buck is already with her and you have just failed to see him.  The first buck I killed came in to a doe waiting in a wide-open cut at last light.  She was suddenly looking two opposite directions and I was glassing back and forth trying to figure out where a buck might be.  He eventually made it all the way to her before I saw him.

When the doe is ready to breed and a buck is with her, he will not leave her.  He will follow her wherever she goes, even out into the middle of a clearcut in broad daylight, though I've ready many stories of bucks pushing does uphill to their hideaways where they likely feel safer while he tends her.  He may not be visible, but he is there or will be there in the next day, maybe 36 hrs max., or she will miss being bred. After that, the doe will not drop another egg for approx. eight days, or if that was the second ovulation in the cycle, she will go three weeks until she is ready to ovulate again.  So my recommendation is that if you see a doe standing by herself in the woods, apparently waiting for a buck, glass the entire area to make sure a buck is not already there.  If you cannot find a buck, sit and wait, eyes on her at all times.  Watch her the rest of the day.  Come back the next day and see if she is still there.  Wait with her until a buck arrives or she gives up and goes back to her kids.

This all comes from a mix of personal experiences, stories from other hunters and reading scientific journals and/or books on BTs.  Things don't always happen the same way in every situation, so be flexible.  I'm sure other/better hunters would have differing opinions regarding the subject, so just collect all the information you can gather and process it for use the next time you find yourself in a similar situation.

You're the man.  This is what I was hoping for.  Thank you.