Hunting Washington Forum
Classifieds & Organizations => Where To Go - Partners - Hunt Swaps => Topic started by: Toptwo on October 18, 2012, 02:50:27 PM
-
Not looking for anybody to give up their best spots, or even their medium spots but wondering where the best places to at least start looking around Port Orchard/Bremerton might be. I just moved to this area last May. Have my deer tag (thanks to WA only needing 3 months to be resident) and now I have been out looking for the elusive blacktail. So far I haven't even seen a doe. That's why its called HUNTING....right? Anyway, if anybody out there has already got their deer for this year, and is willing to share some locations it would be MUCH appreciated! I dint mind driving to get someplace to hunt, so even the Olympic peninsula is fine with me...just someplace where I might have a chance of seeing something would be way better then what I have been doing so far!
Thanks!
-
I'm not familiar with the area but i'm sure its like everywhere else here on the west side. A few hours of research can help you out big time! I would start out closer to home rather than drive hours to find deer. Download Google earth if you don't already have it (its free). I target marshes and swampy areas because there is almost always an abundant supply of food and water, not to mention cover. On google earth look for lighter patches of green which will be aspens and such in the marshy areas, the darker trees are hardwoods. Deer will eat and drink in the marshes and bed just outside of the marsh in the hard woods. Work the outside of the marshes in the timber and move slow, take a few steps and stop and really take a good look around. Then take another step or 2 and look. I walk with a broken pattern like a deer does, blacktails are really smart and know a mans cadence. Obviously keep the wind in your face or at least not the direction your headed. I also look at the map and pick out points of timber that come to a point and extend into the marshy area. There's a really good chance there is a big bruiser living there. He will have many trails into the marsh and into the woods ( lots of options to escape) so take it slow and always be ready for him to jump and run. Ive had deer try to wait me out and hope I would walk by them but then jump and run within 10 yards. Obviously it rains alot here so deer mostly bed under cedar trees. The way the limbs and branches hang acts like an umbrella for them and they (and you) can stay pretty dry in a rain storm. Does bed together for protection, so you might find a group of cedars with multiple beds under them. The big bucks will bed alone not too far from does right now since the rut is getting ramped up. Alot of the big deer hang out in the thickest nastiest brushy areas. If its the mountains your looking to hunt, like my dad always says - the deer are where you find them. I stick to the upper 1/3 of the ridge and hike side hill. I've found most bucks bed in the upper 1/3rd with the wind at there back and looking down hill. Their nose is better than their vision so they smell anything at their back and see anything down hill from them. Pay attention to wind currents and thermals. I keep a canister of milk thistle or bull thistle seeds in a film can with a hole in the top to pull out the seeds. They are way better than a puff bottle. It will show you wind direction and thermal conditions at once. Just pull 1 out and watch it float away. If all else fails take a drive down a country road and look for a deer crossing sign. They put those up for a reason. Hope this is helpful to you. Good luck hunting! :IBCOOL:
