what's it like?
- Thread starter boolit
- Start date
Guy Miner
Master Loader
- Apr 6, 2006
- 17,746
- 5,822
"to hunt out where you all live? Mule deer, elk, moose, whitetatail, blacktail... And how do you deal with greedy hunters?
Explain you routine as per prehunt preperations, scouting, setup, etc...."
Boolit - not quite sure what you mean by greedy hunters - seems like everyone wants to fill their tag, and I can't blame them for that. Mostly I hunt mule deer here in Central Washington, right on the edge of the Cascades. Don't have to go far from home to get into decent mule deer country. We have a three-point minimum on our mule deer here, meaning three points on either antler, or it's not a legal buck. The rut is in November, and the nine-day season is in October. There are special tags avail on a draw, for November hunts. I hunt them in both the Cascade mountains, and also out in the sagebrush/wheatfield/ravine country. Two very different environments, close to home, and either one can produce good bucks. The mountain mule deer bucks seem to come in two varieties - those who live down low pretty much year 'round, and the migratory bucks who spend the summer up at 6,000 - 8,000' or higher in the mountains. Those guys tend to get pretty darned big. Out in the "desert" units, there are some big bucks too.
Normally I try to keep pretty good tabs on what's going on in "my" hunting areas by hiking and mountain biking those areas pretty regularly through the spring and summer. Keeps me in decent shape, and I try to keep tabs on at least a few bucks. The bucks who go up into the seriously high alpine country usually evade me though. Difficult to find up there. When I can, I'll also take part in the 10-day "high buck hunt" in September. This is an amazing opportunity to go hunt the big boys up in the high mountains, in the wilderness areas. It has not been particularly productive for me, but it is a LOT of fun to go backpack into a remote area and hunt up high. Love it.
As the regular season gets closer, I try to spend at least one day a week up in the hunting areas, looking, searching. trying to locate a buck. Big country though, and mule deer move around a lot. I've found it very difficult to "pattern" a buck the way I read about back east with some whitetail. But if I can find a buck in a particular drainage, I may well find him there again later. That's worthwhile. Tracks are good, seeing an actual buck is great!
I've got good topo maps of my hunting areas, and am getting smarter about using my GPS, slowly. Google Map has become a useful tool to get acquainted with a new area, or to review an area I'm familiar with.
Ahead of time I'll make up my mind if I'm hunting from home, or setting up a camp somewhere. Setting up camp is a lot more work, but can have benefits. Hunting from home is usually pretty workable here too as I generally hunt within 50 miles of home. Nice to have a shower, a hot meal and my nice bed waiting for me at the end of the day.
At dawn I like to be still, sitting there watching the light increase, right where I want to be. This means hiking to that spot in darkness, I use a little LED headlamp to help me get to my pre-selected point. Then I settle in and glass, glass, glass. I've filled my tag as early as 20 minutes into the season, often I'll fill it on opening morning. I've also hunted all season without taking a shot, like this year.
One thing I try to do is to set my standards ahead of time, so there's no question in my mind if I'm going to take a shot when I see a legal buck. Often I just want to tag a buck, that's usually easier than holding out for a big 4x4 buck. Often times my prime goal is to get my son on a deer. He's still new at this deer hunting stuff, and has met with moderate success. If I can help him tag another deer, I will.
As far as the rifles go - I don't do a lot of messing with my hunting rifles, scopes and loads. I'll typically find a load that I want to use early on when I get a rifle. Then I'll stick with that load and really learn how it shoots at various ranges. Get my scope dialed in, and leave everything alone from then on out. Heck, I don't think I've changed the load or adjusted the scope on my .30-06 in years... I shoot them a lot, but I don't mess with the rifles, scopes and loads once I've found something I like - just lay in a good quantity of supplies and call it good. Mostly I shoot my rifles from hunting/field positions, rarely from a bench once the load has been developed and the zero confirmed.
That's what I do for mule deer. I'll leave the elk, moose, whitetail & blacktail hunting tips to others!
Regards, Guy
Explain you routine as per prehunt preperations, scouting, setup, etc...."
Boolit - not quite sure what you mean by greedy hunters - seems like everyone wants to fill their tag, and I can't blame them for that. Mostly I hunt mule deer here in Central Washington, right on the edge of the Cascades. Don't have to go far from home to get into decent mule deer country. We have a three-point minimum on our mule deer here, meaning three points on either antler, or it's not a legal buck. The rut is in November, and the nine-day season is in October. There are special tags avail on a draw, for November hunts. I hunt them in both the Cascade mountains, and also out in the sagebrush/wheatfield/ravine country. Two very different environments, close to home, and either one can produce good bucks. The mountain mule deer bucks seem to come in two varieties - those who live down low pretty much year 'round, and the migratory bucks who spend the summer up at 6,000 - 8,000' or higher in the mountains. Those guys tend to get pretty darned big. Out in the "desert" units, there are some big bucks too.
Normally I try to keep pretty good tabs on what's going on in "my" hunting areas by hiking and mountain biking those areas pretty regularly through the spring and summer. Keeps me in decent shape, and I try to keep tabs on at least a few bucks. The bucks who go up into the seriously high alpine country usually evade me though. Difficult to find up there. When I can, I'll also take part in the 10-day "high buck hunt" in September. This is an amazing opportunity to go hunt the big boys up in the high mountains, in the wilderness areas. It has not been particularly productive for me, but it is a LOT of fun to go backpack into a remote area and hunt up high. Love it.
As the regular season gets closer, I try to spend at least one day a week up in the hunting areas, looking, searching. trying to locate a buck. Big country though, and mule deer move around a lot. I've found it very difficult to "pattern" a buck the way I read about back east with some whitetail. But if I can find a buck in a particular drainage, I may well find him there again later. That's worthwhile. Tracks are good, seeing an actual buck is great!
I've got good topo maps of my hunting areas, and am getting smarter about using my GPS, slowly. Google Map has become a useful tool to get acquainted with a new area, or to review an area I'm familiar with.
Ahead of time I'll make up my mind if I'm hunting from home, or setting up a camp somewhere. Setting up camp is a lot more work, but can have benefits. Hunting from home is usually pretty workable here too as I generally hunt within 50 miles of home. Nice to have a shower, a hot meal and my nice bed waiting for me at the end of the day.
At dawn I like to be still, sitting there watching the light increase, right where I want to be. This means hiking to that spot in darkness, I use a little LED headlamp to help me get to my pre-selected point. Then I settle in and glass, glass, glass. I've filled my tag as early as 20 minutes into the season, often I'll fill it on opening morning. I've also hunted all season without taking a shot, like this year.
One thing I try to do is to set my standards ahead of time, so there's no question in my mind if I'm going to take a shot when I see a legal buck. Often I just want to tag a buck, that's usually easier than holding out for a big 4x4 buck. Often times my prime goal is to get my son on a deer. He's still new at this deer hunting stuff, and has met with moderate success. If I can help him tag another deer, I will. As far as the rifles go - I don't do a lot of messing with my hunting rifles, scopes and loads. I'll typically find a load that I want to use early on when I get a rifle. Then I'll stick with that load and really learn how it shoots at various ranges. Get my scope dialed in, and leave everything alone from then on out. Heck, I don't think I've changed the load or adjusted the scope on my .30-06 in years... I shoot them a lot, but I don't mess with the rifles, scopes and loads once I've found something I like - just lay in a good quantity of supplies and call it good. Mostly I shoot my rifles from hunting/field positions, rarely from a bench once the load has been developed and the zero confirmed.
That's what I do for mule deer. I'll leave the elk, moose, whitetail & blacktail hunting tips to others!
Regards, Guy
- Thread starter
- #3
Hey thanks for the write up Guy....
greedy hunters... what I mean by that is, here in the East, NJ,... guys are ruthless, and that's what prevents me from hunting hard. Sabatoging bait, equipment, posting land that ain't thiers... etc....
So you actually gone with no meat in a season?
greedy hunters... what I mean by that is, here in the East, NJ,... guys are ruthless, and that's what prevents me from hunting hard. Sabatoging bait, equipment, posting land that ain't thiers... etc....
So you actually gone with no meat in a season?
Guy Miner
Master Loader
- Apr 6, 2006
- 17,746
- 5,822
You bet I've gone without deer. Average hunter success rate here in Washington is 20 - 25% year to year. I had a five year win streak coming into 2010... Oooops...
Still, my son and I each took good bears, I managed a pretty good day in the duck blind, and brought home a bunch of fly-caught silver salmon, so the fall wasn't a total bust... :grin:
Sabotage? Good grief... Yes, I run into a lot of Forest Service roads that are posted with prominent "no trespassing" signs intended to keep people out. Hah!
Guy
Still, my son and I each took good bears, I managed a pretty good day in the duck blind, and brought home a bunch of fly-caught silver salmon, so the fall wasn't a total bust... :grin:
Sabotage? Good grief... Yes, I run into a lot of Forest Service roads that are posted with prominent "no trespassing" signs intended to keep people out. Hah!
Guy
- Thread starter
- #5
It is a bit different in the south where I hunt in NC. I hunt a private farm and some land that I and a buddy lease. This land is posted. People kind of understand that if they are stupid enough to willfully trespass on our hunting land then we might be stupid enough to shoot them. I have not run into anyone that stupid yet. The only problem that I have ever had with someone that I had to explain the facts of life to was this year. I was hunting on the edge of our property and all of a sudden this pick-up truck pulls into the old logging path that I have my shooting house built on. Now the truck was parked on the adjoining property about 3 feet from our property line. The fellow gets out and just stands in the road for a few minutes. I wave my blaze orange hat so he can see that I am in the stand 140 yards away from him. He walks down to my stand and promptly tells me that he is cursing the timber on the adjoining property. I ask him if he could move his truck out of the path and park it over on the other property down the other road and not where a deer could see it if it came into my road. He made the statement like what concern of mine is it where he parks his truck. I told him that a deer just might walk into that path and I might miss it and a 264 Win mag could very well bust an engine block. He got my drift and moved his truck and I never saw him again.
- Thread starter
- #7
cloverleaf
Handloader
- Sep 10, 2006
- 4,381
- 1,014
I am in exile here in Mn. 5 deer here since 1987. I am originally from SD and my total of deer from "Gods Country" is 3 between 1980- 1987. Yup, some years you go with out. As a matter of fact in SD you were only guarenteed a tag every three years. Minnesota should go to drawing only in many areas IMHO...but dont get me started. CL
I'm from jersey also and have to deal with the guys on state land when I hunt there. I hunt private and state land. On state land, you have to learn how to use the other hunters and how they effect the deer movement. Bow and gun seasons, the guys like certain areas. I figure out what the deer do when the other guys are around. I then setup using this info. When I see deer, I find out where they were coming from and where it looked like they were going. I also make a note if they are jumped, what trails they use when pushed. When small game opens up and runs with archery permit, I learned what the deer do when these guys are hammering the area. I have some honey holes that I used to take my doe first on public property, then move to the private for bucks.
On my private land, I have a guy who drives me nuts. I was the first one, about 15 years, ago passing up certain deer waiting for a Nice one. This guy would shoot at anything. He could not shoot either. He wounded more deer than anyone I know. I also caught him trying to hunt my stands. I could not figure it out at first why I had doe come out 40 yards from me and look right at me. I didn't move and I know she didn't wind me, but she knew I was there. I found that this guy was using my stands when I wasn't there. I am a nut when it comes to clothing and equipment. When ever this guys ask's "what did you see"... nothing. I had another stand above this guy and could see the deer moving through the thickets accross from him. They would stage, waiting for dark before they would cross the property. They knew he was there. I wound up shooting a nice 8 with the muzzleloader using him.
I think on high pressure property, if you spend enough time there you can learn what the deer do and adjust. It may take a little time, but you can do it.
On my private land, I have a guy who drives me nuts. I was the first one, about 15 years, ago passing up certain deer waiting for a Nice one. This guy would shoot at anything. He could not shoot either. He wounded more deer than anyone I know. I also caught him trying to hunt my stands. I could not figure it out at first why I had doe come out 40 yards from me and look right at me. I didn't move and I know she didn't wind me, but she knew I was there. I found that this guy was using my stands when I wasn't there. I am a nut when it comes to clothing and equipment. When ever this guys ask's "what did you see"... nothing. I had another stand above this guy and could see the deer moving through the thickets accross from him. They would stage, waiting for dark before they would cross the property. They knew he was there. I wound up shooting a nice 8 with the muzzleloader using him.
I think on high pressure property, if you spend enough time there you can learn what the deer do and adjust. It may take a little time, but you can do it.
DrMike
Ballistician
- Nov 8, 2006
- 37,314
- 5,983
billbam,
Welcome to the forum. That is what we call hunting smart. Congratulations. You sound as if you are a hunter, learning your quarry rather than merely launching a bullet or an arrow in the general direction of an animal. Good to have you on board.
Welcome to the forum. That is what we call hunting smart. Congratulations. You sound as if you are a hunter, learning your quarry rather than merely launching a bullet or an arrow in the general direction of an animal. Good to have you on board.
- Thread starter
- #11
Billbam,
thanks for your info... I knew I wasn't the only one dealing with this.. I live at least 25 miles from hunting areas, and it's dischouraging to drive to not see deer, or spend the money to possibly have bait destroyed or nails in your tires, and can't prove it. My brother-in-law told me some stories. Kerosene on his bait, nails in his brothers quad, in his truck tires, cutting the top screwin climber so when you stepped on it, it broke off, and his brother almost fell out of the tree, and that was when I was a kid where I grew up, imagine how it is now. :!:
I was hunting the last day of 6 day shotgun and a young kid was driving his pickup through a paper road baiting, "Did I ruin your hunt?" he asked. :roll: "Naaaa" the nice guy I am... What a bone head. :!: :?: He is the son of a guy I grew up with.
I called the F&G last year complaining about them selling tags, when they knew there was no deer... blue tounge wiped out alot of the deer. There excuse was that guys were shooting everything in site. This year they changed the bag limit, 2 antlerless rather than unlimited. Guess I accomplished something. :wink:
This year I was able to hunt private land. The owner bragged about the deer that passes through. A used my pop up blind coz I did have my good boots. I had to take a leak in this small one man blind. In order to do this I had to stick myself out of the blind to my waist to do it. Back in my blind 5 minutes later a doe busted me. I only had buck shot, kinda glad coz too many houses were nearby. The next day I sat up in the guys stand, to be harrased by a grey squirrel. This thing ran up an adjacent tree, jumped a branch, and ran down inches from my face... looks like he was gonna jump on me, so I let him have it. :mrgreen:
thanks for your info... I knew I wasn't the only one dealing with this.. I live at least 25 miles from hunting areas, and it's dischouraging to drive to not see deer, or spend the money to possibly have bait destroyed or nails in your tires, and can't prove it. My brother-in-law told me some stories. Kerosene on his bait, nails in his brothers quad, in his truck tires, cutting the top screwin climber so when you stepped on it, it broke off, and his brother almost fell out of the tree, and that was when I was a kid where I grew up, imagine how it is now. :!:
I was hunting the last day of 6 day shotgun and a young kid was driving his pickup through a paper road baiting, "Did I ruin your hunt?" he asked. :roll: "Naaaa" the nice guy I am... What a bone head. :!: :?: He is the son of a guy I grew up with.
I called the F&G last year complaining about them selling tags, when they knew there was no deer... blue tounge wiped out alot of the deer. There excuse was that guys were shooting everything in site. This year they changed the bag limit, 2 antlerless rather than unlimited. Guess I accomplished something. :wink:
This year I was able to hunt private land. The owner bragged about the deer that passes through. A used my pop up blind coz I did have my good boots. I had to take a leak in this small one man blind. In order to do this I had to stick myself out of the blind to my waist to do it. Back in my blind 5 minutes later a doe busted me. I only had buck shot, kinda glad coz too many houses were nearby. The next day I sat up in the guys stand, to be harrased by a grey squirrel. This thing ran up an adjacent tree, jumped a branch, and ran down inches from my face... looks like he was gonna jump on me, so I let him have it. :mrgreen:
- Thread starter
- #13
1Shot":23yq05qs said:
Thats good you say that 1Shot. I literally just relieved myself, down the side of my tree 5 minutes before I had the 8 pt with my bow at 15-17 yards. He was literally nose to the ground and coming right for my tree. I have shot a few deer this year and have "pee'ed out of my tree" before they were killed. I believe in scent control as far as washing clothes and keeping my clothes separated from human scents, but I have never found deer, elk or bear to be able to tell the difference from my urine than theirs.
Sorry Boolit, didn't mean to get off course. Just good to see the different trains of thought. Scotty
DrMike
Ballistician
- Nov 8, 2006
- 37,314
- 5,983
So, Scotty, was that buck looking for a fight?
- Thread starter
- #17
DrMike
Ballistician
- Nov 8, 2006
- 37,314
- 5,983
Testosterone is testosterone, and estrogen is estrogen. Pregnant horse urine will work to attract deer when applied to a drag rag, so why wouldn't testosterone enrage a buck?
