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Author Topic: Newbie questions  (Read 955 times)

Offline dannyjames24

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Newbie questions
« on: October 20, 2018, 08:46:04 PM »
First off let me introduce myself and thank everyone for all of the wonderful knowledge I have gained from this site.  It's priceless and I am very grateful for it.  I am a 37 year old brand new hunter.  No friends or family of mine have ever hunted anything so it's entirely up to the internet, books, podcasts and youtube for me. 

I have a Weyco permit for North Cascades and have been poking around the granite block a bunch.  I picked out one cut pre season that is difficult to access and have seen zero other hunters there save for one road hunter, just once on opening day.  I have found fresh sign at the bottom of the cut.  While still hunting some timber, maybe 700 yards (or more) from the sign in the cut - I came across a bedding area with tons of fresh sign and intersecting trails.  There is other timber closer to the sign in the cut.  Of course the bedding area is almost impenetrable with the wind and thickness.  Is this likely the same group of deer or a separate group?  The distance between the two areas seems risky for them to travel through an open cut.  Regardless - how would you guys hunt the bedding area?  The sign i saw days ago was hours old.  They probably smelled me and left before I was even close.  I stayed till last light glassing the clearcut last night and at about 7pm on the dot heard some chirping 3x that I thought might be a cougar so I got out as fast as I could.  It may have been a hundred different animals but cougars freak me out and I heard they chirp sometimes.   

Today, a different scenario.  I found a bedding area with a couple intersecting trails and very fresh sign at the end of a .25mi skid road.  Totally overgrown, loud and I'm cut to hell from blackberries.  No clearcuts in sight.  Deep deep timber 2k ft up.

I have yet to actually see one of these ghosts out there.  I heard one that I spooked on a cliff below me crash off into the timber in August.  Either that or it was a a bear, but it headed in the direction of the fresh deer sign near my first cut I spoke of.  Anyways sorry for the ramble and hope this isn't confusing.  Does anyone have any suggestions on how to hunt these two situations?  Thank you so much for your time in advance.               

Offline jnordwell

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Re: Newbie questions
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2018, 08:52:41 PM »
Knew of a few elk hunters that would sleep in tree stands in some of those hard to access areas.. I don’t think I would do that but would get you in there before the deer.. maybe a camera or 2 to figure out the pattern

Offline dannyjames24

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Re: Newbie questions
« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2018, 09:05:42 PM »
Think you're right.  Both areas are begging for cameras and stands.  No idea if it's daytime or nighttime areas.  Maybe a little brush clearing my path for next season? 

Thank you so much!

Offline fishnfur

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Re: Newbie questions
« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2018, 12:07:37 AM »
Welcome to the forum.  It is very difficult to describe what you're seeing in enough detail for us to know exactly what you mean, especially without the vast amount of experience that comes from spending a ton of time in the woods and understanding just what is happening when you pursue game.  Regardless, I started hunting in the same way you are, and though it takes time, you can learn and be successful.  We have no idea of your skill or knowledge level.  Don't be offended if comments are already obvious to you or seem over-simplistic.

Since I'm not really sure of your situation and the clock is ticking on the season, I'll just shoot you some suggestions that might help.  Every hunter is different and approaches situations in different manners.  Every hunter messes up, and you should expect that you will mess up many times over the coming years.  There are a lot of mistakes to be made.  The hope is that you learn from them and only make the same mistake once or twice.  It's all part of the learning curve.

There are many great hunters posting on this forum.  I am not one of them, but I have fun in the woods, kill a deer every once in awhile, and read every word every written about hunting and biology of Blacktail deer.  Take all suggestions with a grain of salt and try to combine all the knowledge you gain and find a way to put it to use when you need to figure out how to approach a situation in the woods.

My answers to your questions, as I understand them:

-There are likely many deer using that clearcut to feed in.  I don't think you said the age of the cut.  If it has a lot of brush and weeds, grass, blackberries etc, growing in it, but you can still see into it well, then it is perfect.  If it is mostly brown dirt with little food for deer, then it will not attract deer nearly as well.  Finding a cut with trees that are 3 - 8 years old is prime for our needs.  Think Christmas tree or slightly larger size.

-Deer seem to choose their beds based on the direction of the wind and how it interacts with the topography of the area.  They may bed on one side of a cut on one day, and then the wind changes direction, they will likely bed in a different area.  It doesn't matter if the beds you found are used by the same deer or not.  If they are fresh bedding areas, then you should hunt them from distance. 

- The deer will cross a cut in the night without hesitation.  Sometimes during the rut, a buck will cross in broad daylight as well, but don't bet on it happening.  Assume that they will stay hidden in the woods.

- hunting bedding areas is really hard if you're up and moving.  The deer are hidden and listening, watching, smelling for predators.  They are not stupid.  They are very good at staying alive and outsmarting hunters.  If you make a little noise as you hunt, they are all suddenly aware of that noise.  If you continue to make noise and they think you're coming their way, they get up and move before you ever get within sight of them.  It takes years to get good and become effective in this type of hunting, and you'll make many many mistakes along the way.

Still hunting is also very hard.  Most hunters move way too fast.  Much like humans, deer are programmed to see movement in the stillness of the forest.  Effective still hunting means that you're moving so slow that you appear to be stationary at all times (to a deer, if it happens to glance at you). Moving 100 yards in an hour might be too fast in many situations.  This is a fun way to hunt, but is best used in areas where you have high expectations of seeing deer.  There's no sense in still hunting an area that has no deer.  It is a waste of time and energy.

My best recommendations for a new hunter are these (others will disagree with me, and I'm OK with that.  This is my list!):

- buy a wind indicator spray bottle.  Use it often.  Keep the wind currents in your face, or quartering into your face.  Light and variable winds suck.  If the wind is consistently going many directions, move on to a different spot.  If a deer smells you, it will vanish. 

-stay hidden at all times as best you can.  Use trees and foliage to hide your human shape.  Don't walk on roads if you can walk on a trail in the woods that parallels the road.  (it's there - look for it).  Go around openings in the forest.  Don't walk through them.  The deer are in the bush, and they will see you as you cross.  Use camo paint on your face. 

- Find a spot where you can see a long ways. Looking out over bedding areas, trail intersections, clearcuts, or any other deer friendly areas is good.  Find a spot where you can sit hidden and watch for movement.  Glass everything while you sit there.  Look for parts of deer - ears twitching, horizontal back lines, white throat and nose patches, or any other animal parts that indicate you're looking at just a small part of a bigger deer.

Figure out what the deer are browsing and hunt areas that show fresh browsing.  Blackberries, trailing and otherwise are top food choices.  At most, deer eat every four hours.  Deer are bedded probably over 75% of the time, and they are hard to hunt when they are bedded and hidden. 

Your best chance to find a buck is when he is eating (during the early season) or when he's following a doe who is going to feed (during the rut), or out traveling to go find a doe (during the rut).  You're best chance at getting a chance to harvest a buck will be from a hidden spot where you've sat quietly for over a half hour.  If you don't see any movement after an hour or so, move slowly/quietly to a new area with similar characteristics and repeat.  You being invisible to deer as they go about their deer lives is how you suddenly find a deer to take a shot at.  You moving through the woods, making noise, spreading scent ahead and uphill/downhill of you is how you repel deer and lessen your chances at success.

Hope that helps.  Today, I posted the best books for you to read during the off season on someone eles's thread about tree stands and rattling.  Read one, some, or all when time allows.
“When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.”  - Will Rogers

Offline dannyjames24

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Re: Newbie questions
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2018, 09:10:35 PM »
That was the most considerate, thoughtful and helpful reply I ever could have hoped for.  So much great information in one post.  I will be reading and rereading that for a long time.  You sound very humble but you are worlds ahead of me.  Some of the mistakes I've already made while hunting are so bad I haven't told a soul haha. 

Thank you for taking the time to help me.  It won't go to waste and someday when I have a little more to offer, I will repay the favor to a new hunter.

Offline fishnfur

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Re: Newbie questions
« Reply #5 on: October 22, 2018, 11:40:50 AM »
Excellent!  I like that!  Best of luck.
“When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.”  - Will Rogers

 


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