Woot! Finally found a hunting partner

[Atroxus]

It turns out my next door neighbor has been hunting for 3 years now, and his previous hunting partner who was supposed to be teaching him the ropes turned out to be pretty flaky. He has never bagged a deer yet, so I figure that makes us both newbys. I am hoping with enough research/pre-season scouting and a little luck we might be able to hook up with a deer or two this year though. The best part is he has horses, so I am hoping if he is willing to use them for hunting that it might open up some areas that would be otherwise inaccessible to reduce competition from other hunters.(such as areas offlimits to vehicles) I am going to have a sit down with him soon, now that the 2010 hunting regs are out to discuss what areas we want to focus on, and what special permits we might want to apply for, but I do have a couple questions for you all before I do that.

I am curious if it would be worth it for the 2 of us to apply for special hunt permits as a group? Also my neighbor mentioned that the areas he hunted last year he saw plenty of does but no bucks. So I am wondering if applying for antlerless permits might give us the best chances for a successful hunt?

[ICEMAN]

Congrats on finding a hunting buddy. Leg work prior to the hunt is probably the best approach to buck success, and those horses would surely help get you back in a ways. 

Hope it all works out for you!

[let.it.fly]

if there are losxt of does, there are bucks too. maybe its in an area with alot of hunting pressure, if thats the case then those bucks will become nocturnal(spelling?. i know i'm a scholar. lol) get urself some bikes and spend the summer riding them in the areas you want to hunt. makes for fun scouting.

[Atroxus]

if there are losxt of does, there are bucks too. maybe its in an area with alot of hunting pressure, if thats the case then those bucks will become nocturnal(spelling?. i know i'm a scholar. lol) get urself some bikes and spend the summer riding them in the areas you want to hunt. makes for fun scouting.

I am thinking hunting pressure is likely. He did say the areas he was in last year had "a hunter behind every tree". So I am gonna ask him how he would feel about taking his horses scouting/hunting some areas that are off-limits to vehicles, and far enough in to discourage hunters on foot.

[MichaelJ]

I'd stay away from puttin in as a group until you get atleast one season under your belt together... Although if something happens you could always hunt seperately???  I'm always a bit leary of hunting with new people if I have a tag in my pocket.

Just remember, just because someone says they hunt doesn't mean they're as passionate about it as you, don't do all the work and find a good area only to have him tell all his buddies.  Remember all the "My hunting partner/friend/brother/uncle gave away my honey hole" threads on here???

What area of the state you planning to hunt?

[Atroxus]

That depends on what we decide to go after. If we decide to try for bucks we will probably go for GMU 448 since that's nice and close and I have been given tips on a couple areas in that GMU to scout. If we decide to go for antlerless deer we will have to go farther away to one of the GMUs or deer areas that allows "any deer" hunts, or wherever we can draw for antlerless special permit if we decide to go that route. Ideally I would like to stay on the wet side as close to home as possible though.

Aside from the posibility of my partner blabbing our "honey hole" would there be any other downside to applying as a group for special permits? Would applying aas a group increase our odds of getting drawn at all?

I am not too worried about him telling others where we go thoguh. I was starting to think I was going to be doing my first hunting season alone, so I am willing to risk it to get in the woods with a partner even if he is only slightly less of a greenhorn than me. I also got the impression he doesn't know many people that hunt other than his old hunting partner who turned out to be a flake. He talked my neighbor into buying deer+elk permits 2 years in a row and then told him he couldn't make it for elk season. Originally I was planning on getting deer+elk permit this year, but I am thinking just going small game+deer. Maybe focus on learning to hunt deer first, instead of trying to learn deer and elk the same year. Soon as my neighbor gets home from work today though am gonna go talk to him and see how he wants to plan things out, and what licenses/permits to go for.

[bobcat]

I would apply as partners if you two are going to plan on hunting together. That only makes sense. Your odds are actually slightly worse if you apply as a group, but really that is only for hunts that only have a few permits. The reason for that is if your name gets pulled and there is only 1 permit left for the hunt you applied for, then obviously there aren't enough permits for the two of you, so neither one gets it.

Being that you are not that experienced, definitely learn how to hunt deer first.

[Atroxus]

I would apply as partners if you two are going to plan on hunting together. That only makes sense. Your odds are actually slightly worse if you apply as a group, but really that is only for hunts that only have a few permits. The reason for that is if your name gets pulled and there is only 1 permit left for the hunt you applied for, then obviously there aren't enough permits for the two of you, so neither one gets it.

Being that you are not that experienced, definitely learn how to hunt deer first.

Oh so basically applying as partners ensures that either we both get drawn for the same permits or we don't get drawn at all?

[bobcat]

Oh so basically applying as partners ensures that either we both get drawn for the same permits or we don't get drawn at all?

Exactly.

[carpsniperg2]

I would apply as partners if you two are going to plan on hunting together. That only makes sense. Your odds are actually slightly worse if you apply as a group, but really that is only for hunts that only have a few permits. The reason for that is if your name gets pulled and there is only 1 permit left for the hunt you applied for, then obviously there aren't enough permits for the two of you, so neither one gets it.

Being that you are not that experienced, definitely learn how to hunt deer first.

x2