Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Deer Hunting => Topic started by: steeliedrew on December 29, 2012, 08:17:32 PM
-
I was hunting the edge habitat of a large clear cut today. I came to a spot where a road cut down the middle of part of the cut. The road was right on the edge of a large bowl. I walked out a few feet and glassed across to the opposite edge of the bowl. Within seconds I spotted a doe that was bedded right on the timber line. she was already locked onto me. Staring right at me with ears at attention. I had a good cross wind so there's no way she winded me and I wasn't making noise. She was an easy 300 yards away!
So I backed out of there and pulled out the trusty iPhone. using a satellite image I found a skidder road that parralled her back side. my plan was to creep down the road and then slip into the timber. Once in the timber I would have to make about a 75 yard stalk to sneak in from behind. just as I was about to cut off into the timber she came darting across the road and went into some nasty reprod. I wasn't making noise on the road and I still had a good cross wind that was blowing away from where she was. It was as if she knew exactly what my plan was and decided to sneak out the back before I crept in from the back.
I figured since she was bedded I would have more time and that when she saw me back out it would put her at ease. Being this is my first year hunting I learn valuable lessons every day. today I learned that deer can pick you out from 300+ yards like its nothing.
So now that we're on the topic of getting busted...what's the longest distance that a deer has busted you from?
-
Just curious, are sure it was that same deer? As for being busted. Too Far for me to guess. Just depends on how spooky it or they are.
-
I have been busted several times from deer all of that far away. blacktails can pick you out before you see them if your not extremely careful. And mulies can be worse.
-
That deer lives there and was watching the road; she's seen the same thing happen numerous times probably, and knows exactly where hunters approach from. Deer and elk do this all the time. I've had them lock on me fro 4-500 yds away (and this is on wetside). Best you can do is creep up and look from where they probably won't see you. A guy walking a road is pretty easy to see even for humans.
-
Just curious, are sure it was that same deer? As for being busted. Too Far for me to guess. Just depends on how spooky it or they are.
I'm fairly certain it was the same deer. I still-hunted my way through the timber stand after the deer ran across the road. Got to where she was and no sign of her.
-
I was in colorado back country and had elk blow out over a mile away , im sure wind was a factor though . I've had deer spot me from over five hundred , it's crazy how far sound travels and how the wind noise in your favor is a huge asset.
-
i hardly ever get busted by mulies...but i just sit in a spot all day...lol i get my buck every year tho! 8)
-
I used to experiment. Zipper a jacket, velcro, sleeve on a bush, clear throat, snap twigs, bang your riser on a branch, all that sort of stuff and watch how they react from great distances. YOU'D be AMAZED at what they pick up on. Before blowing out, all has to do on tolerance and I think how many senses you trigger, and the animal. Elk for instance, may not care as much about noise as say a deer does. Ever tag along with a herd feeding for instance. But sight and smell may make them blow much faster. I have toyed with the idea, they won't bust until two triggers are hit.
-
How far have you been busted from?
Some years, apparently I have been busted from my driveway in Olympia as I did not tag out that trip... So, let's say 140 miles? :dunno:
-
Really weird, it is different from location to location and even time of year. In the Idaho backcountry we had a heard of 10-15 deer with a small buck walk through our camp at least once a day (or night) within 10-20 yards of us. All of the deer where "tame" up there, it was like hunting in a zoo! On the sneak to my buck I bumped two mature 4-points within 100yds and they just kind of sauntered off, not worried too much. One time I came around the corner of a trail and there were 10 or so does and a couple of small bucks feeding right in the open 15-20 yards away at about 1 o'clock in the afternoon. The deer just stood there, glanced a time or two but mostly kept feeding, with the wind at my back! I just walked on by.
Washington can be fun. Sit on a ridge top and watch a hunter work an opposing ridge. I have seen bucks just run circles around guys without them seeing a thing! Quite hilarious.
I too think that spooking an animal typically takes "two" things. They usually don't bolt on the first "bump", it is the second one that will burn you. Humans walk in a repetitive rhythmic fashion, I think this is another reason for spooking them a long way off, they know who makes this noise. Metal/Metal sounds (especially ammo in a pocket, don't hunt with me with more than one round in your pocket!) are pure human. Cut your metal zipper tabs on everything and replace them with leather boot laces, same with plastic on plastic.
-
Some of their reaction has to do with current predation, such as is there a cat working the area or a pack of wolves.
-
it seems that sight and smell are the biggest. i think sound can be more forgiving.
-
That Idaho trip was in wolf country too. Heard them at night, it was almost the like hunting in the twilight zone seeing so many "tame" deer.
Some of their reaction has to do with current predation, such as is there a cat working the area or a pack of wolves.
-
Not sure other than the possibility that they were habituated camp deer or salt hungry. :dunno:
-
Well we were between them and a seep that was about a 1/4 mile down the draw. We camped in an old horse camp just off the lee side of a saddle so it is a natural place for them to cross over the ridge. Could be for water but there was snow on the ground, could be salt, I guess? Even when we found deer a quarter mile or a few miles away from camp they were still more "tame" than any other deer I have ever ran across. Not an easy place to get to, my guess is that they just never bump in to people to much. I talked to the game warden there and asked him where the deer winter and he said that they will winter in the high country 6k+ feet. He said that they find a South slope and hang out. I would have thought that they would be migrators but he said that they stay up there for the most part. :dunno:
-
A few years ago, I did some scouting and found a honey hole clearcut that had 6 different bucks hanging out and one was at least a four point so that was area of attack for opening morning of early archery. On opening morning I parked a mile away and walked in the dark to the cut wearing just socks (super quiet!) and before I even got to the landing I start hearing the snorting. I peak over the edge and there is three 2-points and a 3 point all bunched up and staring my direction huffing and snorting about 250 yards away! Wind was in my favor the whole time and I was quiet as hell the whole way not to mention the road in was totally blocked from their angle of view. It was a typical bone dry September morning so I guess I wasn't totally 100% silent, but still!!!
I ended up waiting there watching the deer for 30 minutes (still snorting the whole time) and eventually they made their way over a hill into another clearcut about 1/4 mile away. I ended up doing some hiking from a different road and managed to sneak up and double lung the largest 2-point in that group so my day wasn't exactly a bust but I am still amazed at the fact they knew I was there from that far away.
