youngfart

Saska
Nice buck and I see you have some snow on the ground up their. The fellas grin tells he's happy as can be. Good luck guiding by Smokey ,some good whitetails around their. Let me know how the Elk heard is doing their. It's abviously doing good enough for fish n wildlife to finally open a season for them. Is it draw or generaltag area?Great picture, rifleI presume!!
Rocky

JD IN ALBERTA

Damn you Sask!! It's like shooting big whitetails is like shooting gophers up there...I'm jealous[:'(]
Well I'm off tomorrow B&E for my annual WT hunt. Hopefully I'll have some nice pics for you guys later in the week!

Wish I could have hooked up with ya Sask.

Good luck this week fellas.

Prarie_Boy1

Hello folks hope everyone's whitetail season is going great! Mine ended with a bang saturday morning on the last day of my only two days off in November I am really pleased with the deer it was deffinately a mature buck and I think he was on the downturn wish I could have had a look at his helmet last fall!

http://i430.photobucket.com/albums/q...boy1/Deer1.jpg


http://i430.photobucket.com/albums/q...boy1/Deer2.jpg

early in

Well guys, I'll be on my way tothe Edmonton Bow Zoneon Sat. I'll be hunting the last week this year. It should be nice and cold, and MAYBE we'll have some snow. I sure hope so. To say I'm excited would be an understatement. I have real good vibes this year! Not that I haven't in the past.It's just that I think my guide will have a real good idea as to which stand sites should be the best prospects because of what the previous hunters saw or not, from the weeks before.This does make sense doesn't it?
I'm not that big on the moon stuff, but it will be a new moon/no moon week. Nice and dark. It will also be rising and setting during the course of the days I'll be there. It should be interesting to see what goes on. This has to be my year for a big one because the way things are going I may not get back up there in the near future.[&o]Wish me luck guys.

JD IN ALBERTA

Well guy's got back from my trip and it was the worst ever[:@]...can my year get any worse? I saw a total of 0 bucks from my stand in 3 days. Not even 1 deer in shooting light. All were before or after legal shooting hours. I'm just defeated with this whitetail hunting thing. I never have been so jinxed on any other animal in my life. I'm trying for the next 2 days in our bowhunting spot but who knows what will happen.

We had no snow up there and VERY warm temps, it actually was raining on me yesterday. My cousin shot a 150ish rough score by blind luck and the other 3 of us were shut out. I really don't know if I'm even going to hunt whitetails after this year!! I read, study, watch films & learn everything I can but nothing ever pans out for me. I finally get a stand with a shooting rail and see nothing!!! Man I pissed but I just have to vent. My week off from work couldn't have been at a worse time this season. Hope all is going well for you guys.

Early, good luck on your bow hunt, I think the last week should be way better than last or this.

Here's my cousins deer.

skeeter 7MM

Hey all, for some odd reason I haven't been able to long on this site for over a week until now! Congrats to all who have notched tags...very nice.

JD to bad but don't give up yet. Try some new territory/ I know a fresh backdrop brings back my vigor. In fact instead of hunting last saturday i traded my gun for binos and walking boots. Not all was good but I manged to find new area that I am hoping will pan out as my regular hauntwasn't cutting it. I'm itching to get out now, when beforeI really wasn't.

AG, mulie hunters here saying the same thing. Weather is being suggested as the culprit. However I am of the belief rut happens and the weather plays intothe amount of daytime activity we hunter see, that's all. Does determine when the rut is, how intense/long, etcnot the weatherman. I've long said "the rut" is either feast or famine. Live by it and die by it.I just hunt whenI can, let the chips falland try to adapt.

2" of snow today and so far it's staying. Calling for more over the next few days. day time temps are forecast in the - single digits and lows at night into the - double digits. Looking and feeling more like November in sask. WT Rut is in swing here. Courting and babysitting now but will be peak any day know. I managed to get in a few hours tonight and unfortunately the wind wasn't perfect for where i wanted to set up so I went to plan C and managed to rattle in a dink, followed by a decent 5x4 who sported a kicker off his g2 on the left side. If all goes to plan I will slip out for another evening hunt on friday and give her saturday. Here's hoping!!

Best of luck all

JD IN ALBERTA

Well Skeeter I took your advice, packed up the gear and headed to new areas. On Thursday in my bowhunting spot, I saw 0 deer. Heard lots of shots and found tracks from a wounded deer but nothing (Dusk till dawn). Then on Friday I went to Sundre. I did see deer but not a shooter buck in the bunch. I was astonished as there were no other hunters around but neither were the big bucks. I ended up going for pheasants on Sat. and wouldn't you know it my buddy kicked up the biggest WT buck I have seen this season. He took off like we were gunning for him. So I'm left with one more sat. for a deer. After a little reflection of this years events, I'm not as mad anymore. I guess things could be way worse stuck in a hospital bed or even worse. Needless to say I really respect you guy's who shoot big whitetails consistantly. I look at how I hunt and I really don't focus on one game animal. I love hunting Geese, Ducks and upland especially Pheasants, bowhunting Elk & Mulies and used to love whitetails with the rifle. But talking to guys that take big animals, they seem to only hunt 1 or 2 types of game. I go out to spots that have produced but I don't put my time in I guess. My question for you guys is, how do you scout and hunt these creatures? I have hunted all over the province, big timber by stand, rattle & call or do nothing all day, play the wind, hunt prairies by spot & stalk and even drive around on lease roads (which I hate). I like to hunt! 've read the books, watched the movies, I have patience and will sit on stand all day long but it just seems like I'm doing it all wrong. I've shot 2 decent wt's (110 class) but just have no luck with the big boys. Please give me some real pointers on how to better my odds. Short of buying my own land and putting up cameras and stands I'm seriously considering leaving the wt game forever. Help guys!!!

p.s. Do you think it's worth going with a Saskatchewan outfitter to better my odds?

Saskabush

Save your money JD. I've nothing against outfitters but there's not a single thing they do that you can't do yourself for less money.

The best bits of advice I could give you is pick a good area and get to know it like the back of your hand, or get to know a few locals who do. Just finding deer isn't enough. You have to find BIG deer. Some of us are very fortunate to live in areas that have lots of deer and plenty of mature bucks. When considering a hunting spot ask yourself. How many 140, 150, 160 class bucks can i expect to see here throughout the year? If the answer is less than you're prepared to live with then find a new area.

I moved to PR three years ago and didn't have a sniff. The first three deer I shot up there were courtesy of a new local friend who was kind enough to take me under his wing and show me his spots. After a few years, With guidance from a few co-workers and a lot of gas in the Tacoma, I've started to get a handle on the areas I've choose because I put my time in. I've spent 100's of hours scouting and shed hunting in the last 2 years, picking up over 200 antlers. I can't describe how much that helps when choosing where to focus my attention in the summer and fall. Shed hunting season is for finding travel routes, pinch points, staging areas and bedrooms. Mark potential stand locations on the GPS. Use google earth to locate natural or manmade funnels or exposure points (pipelines, seismic cuts or fencelines). My scouting routine in the summer consists of dawn and dusk car rides with the pooch starting in early August. Once or twice a week is usually plenty. Also, have good optics and stay out as early/late as you can see. I've spotted sooo many more deer in the years since I got my Sworovski's that i never would have seen before. All of that scouting is just starting to pay off this year with my bow buck and mulie. Not the biggest deer in the world but much more enjoyable because I found them myself.

Being from Cowtown it's understandable that finding good areas reasonably close to home is likely pretty tough for you. If you're looking to keep heading north i'd suggest sticking to an area where you have local knowledge (ie. someone to scout for you) on your side since scouting isn't much of an option that far from home.

Don't feel too bad. This has been a tough year. Warm weather and no snow always make for tougher hunting. If it's any consolation the old pumkin patch pastures have been sucking the hind teat the last few years, including today. I'm slowly accepting (I've been in denial for a while) that those spots just don't consistently have the type of bucks i'm looking for anymore. Sure they turn up the odd 150 or better, but not like they used too. I didn't find a single fresh whitey shed over 30" there this past spring. What's worse is I find myself road hunting more often because I feel I need to cover a larger area to have a shot at a big deer. Is there big deer in that area? Definately. I just don't have the time to scout and get permission lined up for the best spots anymore (now that the public stuff is all shot up). The last few years I've found that in the one week I have to hunt I usually have things figured out by thursday, just in time for the orange army to show up and stir everything up for friday and saturday. In other words, I'm basically relying on dumb friggin' luck and it's bugging the he!! out of me. This will likely be my last hunting trip here for a while and i 'm considering heading north on wednesday to start looking for some new areas if I ever do come back.

Good luck this weekend JD. Remember, the offer still stands. You're welcome to come up and try whitey's around PR next year.

JD IN ALBERTA

Sask, you hit the nail on the head...living in Calgary makes things tough! So many people and none wantt to give up their honey holes (and I understand why). It's happened to me personally, brought "friends" out to a secret pheasant spot once only to have them go out with more guy's and even piss off the landowners. It's just not worth it!!
So in reading, I have done (some) of what you have suggested, I guess I could do more evening scouting trips & shed hunting, but again it seems to come down to the big deer seem to be on land there is NO HUNTING on. I have some good access to some decent land,and I try to pattern them, but most of it has little agricultural land (mostly pasture). There is no set patterns to "my deer". I have seen some nice ones up in LLB but it's impossible to scout 5 hours from home (just wait till you have the little one). Not that hunting stops, but it's fun to be around the little guys. Can't wait till they get big enough to start coming with me. Anyhow, I'm going for one more kick at the cat. I'll rant more later on.

1 big question, do you focus on the field edges or the bush/timber?

How was your trip to Smokey lake? Did you see much?

Next year may be the year I finally tke you up on your offer. I should be high on my mulie priority too. We'll talk in the off season but my guess is your days in the bush will become shorter as you guy's get closer to bringing home the baby!! Hope all is good so far with the pregnancy!

skeeter 7MM

Excellent advice from saska.

For me it all boils down to locating food/water source and safety (bedding and transition areas). Once I have found these I then scout for antler potential. If the area is promising I then determine where I can set up in transition to and fro bed to the sources. I rarily hunt a field edge, as it limits the hunting time on mature animals. Instead I prefer getting back as close to the bedding area as possible in transition to sources. In some areas like my ML zone spots I don't usually have the ability to get far back in the thick stuff, so I setup in a staging area where the deer feel safe before heading out to the primary sources. Like mentioned funnels, bottlenecks, points, etc are primary place for which I look to set up in. Areas that channel deer from different directions to a common area. Once i find such areas I determine where the best spot to ambush the game and how wind direction relates to it and the games travel patterns. In some areas their may be several different choices that meet the above criteria, where a given buck or bucks may choose to travel on any given day. How i determine which one I'll sit is based on sign in the area and wind direction mostly. All things being equal I will pick the source which I feel is most desirable. I don't worry about does (for rut), b/c if i did my homework right they'll be their just like the bucks. Furthermore the rut is a rathersmall window in a given hunting season so I'd rather not put all my cookies in the rutjar. However during the rut I'll spend the day vs peak hours as it is the time of year where the bucks are most active. It is also the time where I push deeper or closer to the bedding areas.

Scouting can be done all year and is never time wasted IMO. I personally like the few weeks following the season closing and then late summer through the fall. No better time to scout then while your hunting really. For me shed hunting hasn't been the best way to find a potential area for a particular buck, largely due to yard up and wintering grounds. Where they are in the dead of winter isn't always where he'll be come next fall..though it may! I agree it's a good time to search out area and find the spots that will improve your odds come next fall.

As far as techniques I use whatever I need to for the situation, if something isn't working I try something new be it territory or technique. I have had good results rattling, still hunting but laying in wait is still my most used for whitetails. I don't stand hunt, I feel to tied down and honestly don't have the ability to sit for hours blowing in the wind 20+ feet in the air.Spot n stalkinghas worked well for me when hunting mulie's where i was able to watch or see them bedding. I tend to hunt less open country with whitetails but if your area is more open spot n stalking is a good technique to use.

Don't get burnt out, run down or discouraged about the antlers that is one only a part of the experience and certainly doesn't have to be the focal. I burnt myself out on whitetails years back & lost my mojo completely. It's not a crime to fill the freezer and regroup!!! Then a good dose of luck never hurts either.

Best of luck


PS I forgot to mention when chosing an area to huntI never assume I need to see first. I can't tell you how many timesI found what looked likegood area only to find it was a dud. Just to say be prepared to make some trips and put in some time. BTW it makesa great family outing/excuse to spend time with the people/things you love.