deer hunting tactics

[buck hunter]

Hello

I'm a new member and I would like to talk deer hunting tactics. I've been hunting deer for 44 years and I'm still learning. I'm still amazed at just how smart and at times just how dumb the whitetail buck can be. So if you have any tactics,stories or tips I would truely love to talk with you and who knows we may learn something from each other that could help in downing an old mossy back. To me there is no bigger thrill than matching wits and out smarting a wiley old buck.

Buck Hunter

Edited February 10, 2009 by buck hunter

[Doc]

Deer seem to have a real high comfort level when buried into the thickest, nastiest, gosh-awful tangle of brush, vines, and all kinds of things that will scratch or poke you. That is where I have found the most buck sign and have seen the most and biggest bucks. It is also the place where you will never see another hunter because for most, it is just impenetrable "unhuntable land". The trick is trying to get in there without the whole world knowing you're coming, and once you're inside, all tore up and bleeding, how would you ever get anything more than a 2 yard shot. Another unfortunate thing is that these areas are typically used as bedding areas so the noise from your thrashing and crashing, trying to get in has already spooked every deer in the area out.

There is some good news......usually these places are laced with some very obvious heavily used trails. These generally run to the outside and are used when the deer are heading out to feeding areas and back. You can get just inside and hope that you catch one of those big guys staging or just hanging around waiting for darkness. But a lot of times they arrive at that point at or after dark.

What I do is to get into the area about this time of year or a bit later, and begin some site preparation. Assuming you have crawled into these areas and have made note of the best trails and figured out the purposes of those trails, this is the time to begin cutting an access trail that goes straight for the trail intersections or other likely ambush points. Keeping in mind prevailing winds and also preparing alternative stands for odd-ball winds some strategic pruning and delicate clearing can open up a few shooting lanes. Trying to keep all modifications covert and as slight as possible at the stand site is a pretty good idea. The access trail has to take into consideration prevailing wind direction and can be made in a fairly obvious way, but care should be taken at the entrance so as to not be obvious to other hunters. Generally, if the brush and crap is dense enough, and the actual clearing takes place a ways inside, nobody is really going to know it is there. One word of caution: almost every time, some of the deer will take over your access trail so it is always good to keep an eye out for deer coming in from that direction. As far as your incoming scent spooking any deer that are using your trail, you may have to just write them off. You can take all the scent suppressing precautions and hope for the best, but beyond that there is very little you can do about a deer that is using your access trail.

There always is a need for some careful maintanence just prior to the season as most of the junk that grows in such areas put on plenty of new growth over the summer months (Multi-flora rose can put on 3 or 4 foot new canes in one season). Grape vines can do the same.

So anyways, Some preseason work can pay off with exclusive access to some of the hottest deer cover in the area. It can uncover the home turf of bucks that nobody else is even aware of. And best of all this can all take place in hunting turf that no one else would give a second glance to. No they're no fool-proof, and there are an awful lot of ways to screw up, but it just may open up that one hotspot that will pay off. I have several of these spots, and they provide a bit of activity during those winter months when you just don't know what to do with yourself. And the good news is that every year the modifications get easier.

Doc

[fly]

Welcome to the forums!

I'm still learning same as you, but I'll share what I know.

Tips: Hunt where there are a lot of mature bucks. Gain access to prime area by kocking on doors, leasing land, or hunting remote parts of public land. The more mature bucks in an area the greater chances you have at outsmarting one.

Tactics: Hunt often, but hunt smart. Don't overhunt any one particular area. It's always good to have multiple places to hunt that allow you to change your hunt plans at the last minute in case the wind changes or a farmer is combining or something.

Stories: Check out my story in the Deer hunting room titled knife valley. Several lessons I learned from that experience.