Deer sign everywhere - where do I start?
11-14-2002, 07:46 AM
#2
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: NOYB VT USA
Posts: 14
RE: Deer sign everywhere - where do I start?
Well, it looks like my original post got deleted. It was a long one too... I wish I'd saved it somewhere.
The gist of the post was this:
I am new to deer hunting. I am also new to my area. Moved in October 1, and have been scouting heavily since then. I am on a 15 acre horse farm with roughly 250 huntable acres adjacent to me. My problem is that there are deer tracks literally everywhere. At the same time though, I have yet to see any rubs or scrapes, and I have not seen any deer during the day. I have seen them in the pastures at night however. The 250 acres is a bowl between two ridges with a beaver swamp at the bottom, and my house being at the top. It is mostly pine forest, but there are also old pastures in the woods and some recent (4-5 yr.) clearcuts. Then there is the swamp itself with grass that is head high and a small alder forest near the largest beaver dam. I think this may be where the deer are during the day as it is by far the least accesible place on the property. I was thinking of placing a stand near the alders, but the only trees near there are dead or dying hemlocks, so that's not really an option.
I figure the deer need four things:
Water - there are streams running in three directions to the swamp as well as ponds, so there is no pressure here, and I don't think this can help me.
Bedding areas - these are also scattered throughout the area. I'm not sure how this can help.
Food - I'm not sure what these guys are eating. There are no oak trees or anything like that. I have found a few apple trees, but almost all of the fruit is gone now, and they never saw much action anyway. If all these guys need to eat is grass, they're set, as it is in abundance anywhere.
Sex - I'm not sure if the bucks have gotten horny yet or not. Maybe their patterns will change when they do. As I said, I've seen no rubs or scrapes.
Most of the magazines that I have read have you setting up in a terrain funnel. Here there is nothing of the sort as the forest really lacks physical barriers such as ditches and fences. The deer can basically go wherever they want.
What would you guys do?
The gist of the post was this:
I am new to deer hunting. I am also new to my area. Moved in October 1, and have been scouting heavily since then. I am on a 15 acre horse farm with roughly 250 huntable acres adjacent to me. My problem is that there are deer tracks literally everywhere. At the same time though, I have yet to see any rubs or scrapes, and I have not seen any deer during the day. I have seen them in the pastures at night however. The 250 acres is a bowl between two ridges with a beaver swamp at the bottom, and my house being at the top. It is mostly pine forest, but there are also old pastures in the woods and some recent (4-5 yr.) clearcuts. Then there is the swamp itself with grass that is head high and a small alder forest near the largest beaver dam. I think this may be where the deer are during the day as it is by far the least accesible place on the property. I was thinking of placing a stand near the alders, but the only trees near there are dead or dying hemlocks, so that's not really an option.
I figure the deer need four things:
Water - there are streams running in three directions to the swamp as well as ponds, so there is no pressure here, and I don't think this can help me.
Bedding areas - these are also scattered throughout the area. I'm not sure how this can help.
Food - I'm not sure what these guys are eating. There are no oak trees or anything like that. I have found a few apple trees, but almost all of the fruit is gone now, and they never saw much action anyway. If all these guys need to eat is grass, they're set, as it is in abundance anywhere.
Sex - I'm not sure if the bucks have gotten horny yet or not. Maybe their patterns will change when they do. As I said, I've seen no rubs or scrapes.
Most of the magazines that I have read have you setting up in a terrain funnel. Here there is nothing of the sort as the forest really lacks physical barriers such as ditches and fences. The deer can basically go wherever they want.
What would you guys do?
11-14-2002, 07:18 PM
#3
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: NOYB VT USA
Posts: 14
RE: Deer sign everywhere - where do I start?
I went and did some last minute scouting today. The apple trees lower branches and the ground were picked cleqan, so I gave them a good shake. Maybe that will get some action in the next couple days. Still no scrapes or rubs though....
11-19-2002, 04:32 PM
#4
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: NOYB VT USA
Posts: 14
RE: Deer sign everywhere - where do I start?
Well, I've hunted three of the last four days now, and have learned a fair amount about the deer here, but also have some questions.
On Saturday, I went out very early and got to the apple trees while it was still dark. I sat down in a somewhat concealed spot about 30 feet away from them and waited. At about 8:30, I heard a whole lot of noise behind me, and a little spike buck trotted right up within 10 feet of me and stopped. He then walked over to the apple trees, sniffed around (all of the apples I knocked down on Thursday were gone) and then took off. once he got 100 feet or so away, I used the grunt call, just to see what he would do. We stared eac other in the eyes for a few minutes, then he leapt up and ran off into the woods. I then followed the stream from the apples down to the swamp. I circumnavigated the swamp stopping for an hour or a half-hour at a time. During my last stop at the swamp, I saw a big deer get up from some pines on the other side. I couldn't tell if it was a buck or a doe (we can only shoot bucks) and I watched it wander off into the woods. I continued around the swamp to the spot it had risen from and then followed it's tracks into the woods. I found a scrape in there, it looked fresh and was the first one I've seen this year. Does it mean they were just starting rut? I waited near the scrape until sundown which is when something large (I don't know if it was a deer or a moose) snorted at me 5 times.
Sunday I started a little later. I crossed another hunters tracks early in the day as I went toward the apple trees again. There is a very overgrown pasture that runs North from the apple trees. As I reached the North edge, I heard a snap and saw a deer (again, sex unknown) go into the field from the West. I moved East hoping to reach where it would reenter the woods before it did. When I got there, I just found tracks. Big tracks though, with dew claws. Just about then, a pickup truck pulled in on the road above and four hunters came down. They said that they thought they were moose tracks. Could my deer have stayed in the field or turned back? I don't know, I really thought these tracks were made by the deer. They were quite fresh and I'm sure I would have seen the moose. Do moose have dew claws? I plodded around in the woods some more, but there were so many other hunters out there. I called it at 1 so I could watch the Steelers.
Monday it snowed, and I unfortunately had things to do , so no hunting.
Today I went back out with about 6inches of new snow on the ground. I found tracks immediately. The first couple of sets that I saw went straight to the apple trees. There were numerous tracks there. I began following the outbound tracks down the stream toward the swamp. They were all from relatively small deer, but I figured maybe I could find out where they bed by following them. Well, I followed them across the swamp and back into some more woods. Back in these woods, I found about 2 dozen small scrapes, and tracks everywhere, mostly small, but some that were not so small. No biggies like I had seen on Sunday though. The tracks down here just seemed to wander around and I never really found where they left the area. I crossed back over the swamp and went to the area where I had heard the snorts on Saturday. Here I found more fresh scrapes (about a dozen) and tracks wandering all around.
So my questions are:
Do just bucks scrape, or do does do it too?
Will a deer tend to eat first thing or will he be tending his scrapes? In other words, where is a better place to setup, one of the scrape area or near the apple trees? What about the use of scent on the scrapes, will that do anything for me?
On Saturday, I went out very early and got to the apple trees while it was still dark. I sat down in a somewhat concealed spot about 30 feet away from them and waited. At about 8:30, I heard a whole lot of noise behind me, and a little spike buck trotted right up within 10 feet of me and stopped. He then walked over to the apple trees, sniffed around (all of the apples I knocked down on Thursday were gone) and then took off. once he got 100 feet or so away, I used the grunt call, just to see what he would do. We stared eac other in the eyes for a few minutes, then he leapt up and ran off into the woods. I then followed the stream from the apples down to the swamp. I circumnavigated the swamp stopping for an hour or a half-hour at a time. During my last stop at the swamp, I saw a big deer get up from some pines on the other side. I couldn't tell if it was a buck or a doe (we can only shoot bucks) and I watched it wander off into the woods. I continued around the swamp to the spot it had risen from and then followed it's tracks into the woods. I found a scrape in there, it looked fresh and was the first one I've seen this year. Does it mean they were just starting rut? I waited near the scrape until sundown which is when something large (I don't know if it was a deer or a moose) snorted at me 5 times.
Sunday I started a little later. I crossed another hunters tracks early in the day as I went toward the apple trees again. There is a very overgrown pasture that runs North from the apple trees. As I reached the North edge, I heard a snap and saw a deer (again, sex unknown) go into the field from the West. I moved East hoping to reach where it would reenter the woods before it did. When I got there, I just found tracks. Big tracks though, with dew claws. Just about then, a pickup truck pulled in on the road above and four hunters came down. They said that they thought they were moose tracks. Could my deer have stayed in the field or turned back? I don't know, I really thought these tracks were made by the deer. They were quite fresh and I'm sure I would have seen the moose. Do moose have dew claws? I plodded around in the woods some more, but there were so many other hunters out there. I called it at 1 so I could watch the Steelers.
Monday it snowed, and I unfortunately had things to do , so no hunting.
Today I went back out with about 6inches of new snow on the ground. I found tracks immediately. The first couple of sets that I saw went straight to the apple trees. There were numerous tracks there. I began following the outbound tracks down the stream toward the swamp. They were all from relatively small deer, but I figured maybe I could find out where they bed by following them. Well, I followed them across the swamp and back into some more woods. Back in these woods, I found about 2 dozen small scrapes, and tracks everywhere, mostly small, but some that were not so small. No biggies like I had seen on Sunday though. The tracks down here just seemed to wander around and I never really found where they left the area. I crossed back over the swamp and went to the area where I had heard the snorts on Saturday. Here I found more fresh scrapes (about a dozen) and tracks wandering all around.
So my questions are:
Do just bucks scrape, or do does do it too?
Will a deer tend to eat first thing or will he be tending his scrapes? In other words, where is a better place to setup, one of the scrape area or near the apple trees? What about the use of scent on the scrapes, will that do anything for me?
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
toga
Wildlife Management / Food Plots
1
11-13-2005 10:08 AM
