Whitetail Deer HuntingGain a better understanding of the World's most popular big game animal and the techniques that will help you become a better deer hunter.
Ive been hunting for about 2 years now both bow and gun. I am usually in the woods 30-45 minutes before sun-up. I wash all of my clothes in the scent elminator detergant. I wash before i leave with the special soap. I have a climbing tree stand and usually go about 20-25 feet up. I basically follow every rule and guildline in the book to harvest a deer. In the 2 years i have been hunting i have been unsucessful in harvesting anything! Please, someone tell me what i can do better to get me one freaking deer! Tips? anything will help.
Me personally, not seen a deer yet in the woods. I hunt mainly on private land. Its my grandfathers and he is a farmer who grows beans. I figured the deer would love them so i hunt right in the corner of an entry to the woods and a big open field, and on the opposite side of the field is some alpha alpha. Other hunters had good success on that same land. a 8 point was harvested about a week ago. and 2 more doe.
The first one is the toughest Steve. (oops, I was still writing this when the first response popped up.)
It sounds like you've got a good amount of the basics covered.
Are you set up near fresh sign like tracks, droppings, beds, rubs, or scrapes? You can have the best equipment, be a dead shot, and be in a great tree with good cover and good shooting lanes, but if it's not in an area with deer traffic, you're not going to bedragging anything brown out of thereanytime soon.
Do you see deer?Do you get busted often?
If they are coming close enough for you to see them, and you're not getting winded or spotted, then you'll take one eventually.
Have you gotten any shots?
If you have shot at them, do you miss?
Do you hit them, butcan't track them down?
Tell more about answers to these questions so folks can give you more specific advice.
-Bulz
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Ok. There are alot of tracks espically throughout the woods and my grandfather and grandmother say that they see deer all the time back there (its practically there backyard). I can usually hear the deer stomping thoughout the woods but have yet to have one come close enought to see or shoot. and so no, havent even taken a shot at one. Also, what is your take on calling? I own a primos bleet can and a primos grunt call. Im afraid that if i use them incorrectly im going to scare the deer away. By incorrectly i mean not grunting like a buck or have the timing off. Should i try to call? or just let them come to me?
There are a lot of factors to talk about, but I personally think that hunting down wind of the best trails you can find will beagood start. Rub lines are good, and scrapes are great, but I don't think you can beat good trails.
I have hunted quite a few years, but one mistake I still catch myself making is burning out a stand. What I mean by that is that I catch myself going to the same stand or area several days in a row. I think the deer catch wind of me, and they just avoid that spot. Try to have several spots, and don't burn one spot out.
Once you find good travel routes that the deer take then all you have to do is put in what I call TOS. Time On Stand.
When I was 12 years old, I missed a pretty nice 8 point at only 20 yards away. I did not kill my first deer until I was 15 years old. Whoever said that the first one was the hardest had it right in my case. That was about 25 years ago.
Don't give up.
C. Davis
__________________ Am I greedy because I don't want to give you what is mine?
or
Are you greedy because you want to take what is not yours?
Good advice from all above. It will come be patient. Thats what huntings about. However you do need to make sure your in a place where you will see deer on that property. Good Luck bud, don't get frustrated youll get that monster soon enough. Then be prepared to control your nerves. It won't hit you until you see your first deer.
Since its private and you havent seen a deer for 2 years i would recommend 2 or 3 trail cameras and put them on trails and in funnels and hopefully that will give you a better idea whre there coming from and when you can get a shot!
GOOD LUCK
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Take that stand and move into those woods. If you here them moving through the woods, then the deer are telling you what to do. Move the stand 50 yards into the woods. Prune a few shooting lanes, and sit as long as you can then sit an hour longer. If that doesn't work then you are in the wrong spot.
Learning where to hang stands is a steep learning curve. Some people never get it right. You cant just walk out on a farm and say: "heres a bean field, and there's some woods lets put my stand there!" You have to look for travel corridors. there is a strip of woods somewhere that the resident deer prefer to use. thats where you want to be.
Look for the classic "PINCH", thats a place where large plots of cover gets compressed into a narrow area before widening again. If you find this "pinch between food and heavy cover, and there is deer sign, then you've hit the jackpot! Hang your stand on DOWN WIND (for the most common wind direction) side of thepinch just inside of the timberline.
Always, always, always play the wind. Don't believe the hype about scent elimination and such you have to hunt into the wind. Don't sit your stand if the windis wrong. YOu'll ruin it. You're better off to go somewhere else and sit on the ground with the wind in your face than tosit your good stand with the wind at your back.
By all means call, especially If its pre rut or the rut is goingwild! don't be afraid to call. Heck, they only carry about 100 yards max anyway. Heck, just yesterday I was hacking and gagging from a chest cold for about 5 minutes. itsurely must of ran every deer in the area off right?Wrong, 2 minutes later a 140+ 8 pointer strolled by. He got away without me being able to get a good shot, but he was there none the less.
Don't get discouraged! Even if you bust deer out in the morning, don't worry! It only takes one dumb one as my pop always told me.
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"Well, If'n I had me a horse pistol like that.... I wouldn't be afraid of no bogger man." Rooster Cogburn
What am i doing wrong?
