There areplenty of books out there that talk about hunting whitetail deer. I have seen probally about 80 different books on hunting whitetails when I went to the Border's book storearound here. I opened about 20 of them and I wasn't really that impressed.It wasn'tbecause they didn't have good information, But it was the fact that all theinformation inside of them was the same in every other book. Besides the fact of me already hearing most of the information inside the bookshundreds of times before, I find most hunting books actually boring.
Don't get me wrong, there are good books out there. I enjoy alot of the books by the BENOITS. Although most of us hunters wont be able to hunt the way they hunt because of our situations, there is some key points that can be learned about tracking and stalking deer.
I personally think that stalking and tracking deer can be a very successfull way to hunt (if you have access to plenty of land) (And if you are lucky enough to have good tracking snow)
The reason why I think its so important is because ( IF YOU ARE NOT SEEING DEER FOR 12 DAYS IN A ROW; THERE'S A PROBLEM.)
I truly am one to believe (IF THE DEER ARE NOT COMING TO YOU.....THEN ITS TIME TO GO FIND THE DEER.)
Now, even though you might not have millions of acres or even a tracking snow, you still can bag acouple deer in your area ( if you know the right things)
1) know the bedding and feeding areas.
2) know the travel routes to and from these feeding areas
3) find the does.....look for possible "staging" areas.... a good scrape can be a perfect indicator where deer activity might be heavy in the surrounding 150-200 yard radius.
This is the area to be paying close attention to. Too many hunters will actually hunt the wrong scrapes (scrapes only worked or visited at night) And alot of hunters will just hunt over the scrape itself. While at times this has been extremely effective, keep in mind, there are other areas close by That deer activity will be heavy...ie...(bedding areas and travel routes)
Let a deer tell you were the other deer are. Remember, an old, mature, dominant buck isn't going to put up his scrape where he knows deer won't be coming. A scrape is like a check station for deer and allows deer to know what is going on with theother deerin the area.... examples ( who's the other bucks?, who are the does?, are any of them in heat?.....ect...ect) This is why deer use scrapes....to gather informationabout each other. So remember, If there is a scrape, you know that somewhere in that certain vecinity....you can bet there is deer activity.
The deer might not go to that scrape at all during the day, so thats why its your job to find these bedding and staging areas or travel routes....and either ambush them in betweenor stalk and track them while they are in there.
Remember, books are only guidelines (in most cases) What I mean by that is, no book is going to be able to tell you exactly where the bedding or feeding areas are where you hunt. A book will not tell you where all your travel routes, or staging areas are either. A book can give you ideas of what to look for. But nothing is going to make you a better hunter than your actual time spent in the field. Thats why its up to you to examine and learn your area like the back of your hand......
I will garauntee you will be successfull
