How do you start deer hunting ???
08-30-2011, 11:00 AM
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location:
Posts: 417
How do you start deer hunting ???
As a seminar speaker and writer, as well as outfitter and guide, I often have hunters ask me, what should I do to start hunhting whitetail deer? The answser is simple, but many peope rarely do it. 1. have a very good understanding of general deer biology and behavior. 2. know the are you hunt almost as well as the deer. 3. know when and where the deer on your areas are most likely to be active.
Many hunters fail in not knowing as much as they should about deer biolgy and behavior, which will help them figure out when and where deer are most likely to be active, under most conditions. And they often do not know when and where the deer are most active in the areas they hunt.
As a whitetail oufitter and guide, I typically spend 3-7 hours per day, 3-4 days a week scouting prior to the deer season, and 2-4 hours at least 2 days a week during the seaosn, to figure out what food source are ripe, when and where the does travel, and locating buck rub routes and particularly buck daytinme core areas, which is where the bucks will spend the majority of their time during daylight hours, (when not in full rut mode).
So, what you do is scout, scout and scout some more; because deer patterns will change weekly throughout the rut, and the fall and winter hunting seasons.
The follwing article is from my book The Complete Whitetail Addict's Manual, it is copyrightde and cannot be copied or reprinted without the authors written permission. I give that permission for this to be published here.
I hope this helps some of you.
Scouting
Scouting is actually getting on the land to discover the high use areas of the animals by the sign they leave behind. In order to scout properly you need to be able to interpret the signs. You should be looking for trails, tracks, droppings, beds, food sources, rubs, scrapes, doe home ranges, buck home ranges, staging areas, escape cover and areas used during inclement weather as protection.
You can scout any time of the year, especially during the hunting season. Game movement changes as summer passes into fall and fall passes into winter. Available food sources, falling leaves, weather, hunting pressure, the rut and shorter days all affect game movement; and unless you scout all season long you will not be able to reliably predict when and where to find the animals.
Familiarizing
You can't scout all season long without alerting the animals to your presence. But, you can reduce their alarm by scouting at the right time, and getting them used to you. Familiarizing is getting the animals used to you, the sight and sound of you walking, and the scent you leave behind. By scouting as much as possible during the day in areas the animals use (but not while you are scouting), they become familiar with you. Don't act like a predator while you scout. Walk purposely, from place to place, checking food sources, night bedding sites, trails, rubs and scrapes.
Don't sneak through the woods as if you were hunting because you will alert the animals. Erratic searching, or moving hurriedly from place to place in a wandering manner, is predatory behavior and alarms the animals. Act like you are out for a stroll, with very little stopping, and avoid areas you know the animals will be using. I scout open feeding areas from 10 AM to noon when deer are in brush or wooded areas. I scout wooded feeding areas from noon to 2 PM, but, I stay away from known core areas. At this time most of the deer will bedding in their daytime core areas and won't move much. I do spook some animals, but, if I continue out of the area they soon return to normal behavior.
I have taken this technique to such an extreme that I actually walk down the trails and rub routes of the bucks to get them accustomed to my scent. My smell dissipates enough by the time the animals use the trails that it doesn't alarm them. I wear rubber knee high boots from La Crosse, rubber gloves and a charcoal suit while I scout, and I use Scent Killer, Scent Shield or Odor Lok to eliminate human odor. I still leave some scent behind, and the first time the animals come across it they become alarmed. But, as long as they don't hear me or see me (because I am not there) they soon get used to the smell. I have used this method to put out mineral with my bare hands and found animals eating it within two hours. Familiarizing works to get animals accustomed to your smell. Then, when hunting season comes around and the animals smell you, they are far less wary than they normally would be. Usually they are only curious.
Observing
Observing should be an important part of hunting and locating. Observing is watching the animals regularly to learn their daily habits, reactions and patterns. Observing should be done from a vantagepoint where much of the property can be seen without interfering with the animals, and from where the animals aren’t aware they are being watched. You can watch from stands and blinds overlooking agricultural fields, trails, runways, gullies, valleys, lakeshores, etc. Use as many vantagepoints as it takes to watch most of the property. Especially watch the areas that are hard to see, where the game travels. The more area you watch, the more you know about the movement of the game.
Observing takes time and effort, but not as much as you would think. After watching the property for a few weeks you should be able to predict where the animals move and at what time. The more time you spend observing before or during the hunting season, the better you will be able to predict where and when to find the animals under similar conditions later on.
Recording
Recording can be the most useful technique in hunting. Recording is: 1. making note in a journal the date, temperature, wind-chill, wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, lunar conditions, time of day, light conditions, amount of foliage, available food sources, breeding phase, game numbers, sex, and direction of travel; 2. marking on an aerial photo, topographical map, or map of your own making, where the escape cover, food sources, home ranges and core areas, trails, rubs, and scrapes are; so you know where animals were in the past, and can predict when and where to find them on any given day.
Animals in different areas have preferred times and conditions in which they move to open food sources. In inclement weather they have preferred use areas depending on the current weather conditions and food availability. By a combination of scouting, observing and recording you can learn where to find the animals under any and all conditions, and at what time of the day. By recording deer sightings you begin to see daily movement times and routes, which help you pattern both the does and the bucks. Once you know where the buck's bedroom is, and have marked the rubs and scrapes on your map, you should be able to determine the buck's rub route and begin to pattern the buck. You should also know the daily travels of the does.
Patterning
Patterning is determining which trails the animals use in their daily travel on a regular basis, and at what time. You can pattern female groups, but more often males are patterned. Patterning is done by marking on a map the core area of the deer, the preferred food sources, and the trails they use regularly to and from these areas. If you find numerous rubs, mark them on a map, and know which trail the buck uses by observing him. Then, if you note the time the buck arrives you have an idea of where to setup for it during the hunting season.
The ideal way to pattern a whitetail buck is to know where it is bedded during the day, what time it usually leaves the core area, the route it usually takes, when it arrives at the first place you can hunt it, when it arrives at the first staging area, when it arrives at each doe use area, and where it makes rubs and scrapes. You should also know the route it takes on the way back to the core area. Once you have all this information you can choose several hunting sites along the rub route to be prepared for changing weather and travel times.
Knowing where the core area is, and what time the animal usually leaves and returns to it, is crucial to successfully pattern a buck. Whitetail bucks spend the most continuous amount of time in their core area; the most predictable place to find a buck is in the core area. Being near the core area in the evening when the buck leaves before sundown may be the only chance you get on a nocturnal buck. The time when the buck leaves the core area in the evening is often the most predictable time of its daily movement. If the buck finds an estrus doe, encounters danger, stops to feed, or just takes his time, he may be late along the rest of his route.
Bucks often return to their core area before daylight, but, if they find a doe at night or early in the morning they may be late going back to the core area. This happens most often during the peak of the rut when the buck is chasing does. But, the time when the buck returns to its core area during peak rut is totally unpredictable. The buck may stay with a doe for up to three days and not return its core area, bedding near the doe instead, or it may return to its core area at any hour of the day. The period when the buck is most predictable, using its rub route at regular times each day, is during the scraping phase, before breeding begins. Once scraping has begun does start coming into estrus, and buck movement is less predictable.
I begin scouting, familiarizing, observing recording and patterning as soon as I gain access to the property. The only time I don't do full-scale scouting is if I gain access to the property less than two weeks before I intend to hunt. By scouting too close to the hunting period, without previously familiarizing the animals, you alert them, and you may run them out of the area. If I can't scout I rely on observing and recording to pattern the animals.
Locating the animals needs to be an ongoing process, because as the season progresses the habits, routes and times the animals travel will change. If you don't watch them for the entire season you will not be able to predict their movements. After a few seasons of keeping a journal you will be confident of knowing where and when to find the animals, not only in your area, but in most areas, under most conditions.
If you have questions - ask here, or contact me direct at [email protected]
God bless,
T.R.
Many hunters fail in not knowing as much as they should about deer biolgy and behavior, which will help them figure out when and where deer are most likely to be active, under most conditions. And they often do not know when and where the deer are most active in the areas they hunt.
As a whitetail oufitter and guide, I typically spend 3-7 hours per day, 3-4 days a week scouting prior to the deer season, and 2-4 hours at least 2 days a week during the seaosn, to figure out what food source are ripe, when and where the does travel, and locating buck rub routes and particularly buck daytinme core areas, which is where the bucks will spend the majority of their time during daylight hours, (when not in full rut mode).
So, what you do is scout, scout and scout some more; because deer patterns will change weekly throughout the rut, and the fall and winter hunting seasons.
The follwing article is from my book The Complete Whitetail Addict's Manual, it is copyrightde and cannot be copied or reprinted without the authors written permission. I give that permission for this to be published here.
I hope this helps some of you.
Scouting
Scouting is actually getting on the land to discover the high use areas of the animals by the sign they leave behind. In order to scout properly you need to be able to interpret the signs. You should be looking for trails, tracks, droppings, beds, food sources, rubs, scrapes, doe home ranges, buck home ranges, staging areas, escape cover and areas used during inclement weather as protection.
You can scout any time of the year, especially during the hunting season. Game movement changes as summer passes into fall and fall passes into winter. Available food sources, falling leaves, weather, hunting pressure, the rut and shorter days all affect game movement; and unless you scout all season long you will not be able to reliably predict when and where to find the animals.
Familiarizing
You can't scout all season long without alerting the animals to your presence. But, you can reduce their alarm by scouting at the right time, and getting them used to you. Familiarizing is getting the animals used to you, the sight and sound of you walking, and the scent you leave behind. By scouting as much as possible during the day in areas the animals use (but not while you are scouting), they become familiar with you. Don't act like a predator while you scout. Walk purposely, from place to place, checking food sources, night bedding sites, trails, rubs and scrapes.
Don't sneak through the woods as if you were hunting because you will alert the animals. Erratic searching, or moving hurriedly from place to place in a wandering manner, is predatory behavior and alarms the animals. Act like you are out for a stroll, with very little stopping, and avoid areas you know the animals will be using. I scout open feeding areas from 10 AM to noon when deer are in brush or wooded areas. I scout wooded feeding areas from noon to 2 PM, but, I stay away from known core areas. At this time most of the deer will bedding in their daytime core areas and won't move much. I do spook some animals, but, if I continue out of the area they soon return to normal behavior.
I have taken this technique to such an extreme that I actually walk down the trails and rub routes of the bucks to get them accustomed to my scent. My smell dissipates enough by the time the animals use the trails that it doesn't alarm them. I wear rubber knee high boots from La Crosse, rubber gloves and a charcoal suit while I scout, and I use Scent Killer, Scent Shield or Odor Lok to eliminate human odor. I still leave some scent behind, and the first time the animals come across it they become alarmed. But, as long as they don't hear me or see me (because I am not there) they soon get used to the smell. I have used this method to put out mineral with my bare hands and found animals eating it within two hours. Familiarizing works to get animals accustomed to your smell. Then, when hunting season comes around and the animals smell you, they are far less wary than they normally would be. Usually they are only curious.
Observing
Observing should be an important part of hunting and locating. Observing is watching the animals regularly to learn their daily habits, reactions and patterns. Observing should be done from a vantagepoint where much of the property can be seen without interfering with the animals, and from where the animals aren’t aware they are being watched. You can watch from stands and blinds overlooking agricultural fields, trails, runways, gullies, valleys, lakeshores, etc. Use as many vantagepoints as it takes to watch most of the property. Especially watch the areas that are hard to see, where the game travels. The more area you watch, the more you know about the movement of the game.
Observing takes time and effort, but not as much as you would think. After watching the property for a few weeks you should be able to predict where the animals move and at what time. The more time you spend observing before or during the hunting season, the better you will be able to predict where and when to find the animals under similar conditions later on.
Recording
Recording can be the most useful technique in hunting. Recording is: 1. making note in a journal the date, temperature, wind-chill, wind speed and direction, barometric pressure, lunar conditions, time of day, light conditions, amount of foliage, available food sources, breeding phase, game numbers, sex, and direction of travel; 2. marking on an aerial photo, topographical map, or map of your own making, where the escape cover, food sources, home ranges and core areas, trails, rubs, and scrapes are; so you know where animals were in the past, and can predict when and where to find them on any given day.
Animals in different areas have preferred times and conditions in which they move to open food sources. In inclement weather they have preferred use areas depending on the current weather conditions and food availability. By a combination of scouting, observing and recording you can learn where to find the animals under any and all conditions, and at what time of the day. By recording deer sightings you begin to see daily movement times and routes, which help you pattern both the does and the bucks. Once you know where the buck's bedroom is, and have marked the rubs and scrapes on your map, you should be able to determine the buck's rub route and begin to pattern the buck. You should also know the daily travels of the does.
Patterning
Patterning is determining which trails the animals use in their daily travel on a regular basis, and at what time. You can pattern female groups, but more often males are patterned. Patterning is done by marking on a map the core area of the deer, the preferred food sources, and the trails they use regularly to and from these areas. If you find numerous rubs, mark them on a map, and know which trail the buck uses by observing him. Then, if you note the time the buck arrives you have an idea of where to setup for it during the hunting season.
The ideal way to pattern a whitetail buck is to know where it is bedded during the day, what time it usually leaves the core area, the route it usually takes, when it arrives at the first place you can hunt it, when it arrives at the first staging area, when it arrives at each doe use area, and where it makes rubs and scrapes. You should also know the route it takes on the way back to the core area. Once you have all this information you can choose several hunting sites along the rub route to be prepared for changing weather and travel times.
Knowing where the core area is, and what time the animal usually leaves and returns to it, is crucial to successfully pattern a buck. Whitetail bucks spend the most continuous amount of time in their core area; the most predictable place to find a buck is in the core area. Being near the core area in the evening when the buck leaves before sundown may be the only chance you get on a nocturnal buck. The time when the buck leaves the core area in the evening is often the most predictable time of its daily movement. If the buck finds an estrus doe, encounters danger, stops to feed, or just takes his time, he may be late along the rest of his route.
Bucks often return to their core area before daylight, but, if they find a doe at night or early in the morning they may be late going back to the core area. This happens most often during the peak of the rut when the buck is chasing does. But, the time when the buck returns to its core area during peak rut is totally unpredictable. The buck may stay with a doe for up to three days and not return its core area, bedding near the doe instead, or it may return to its core area at any hour of the day. The period when the buck is most predictable, using its rub route at regular times each day, is during the scraping phase, before breeding begins. Once scraping has begun does start coming into estrus, and buck movement is less predictable.
I begin scouting, familiarizing, observing recording and patterning as soon as I gain access to the property. The only time I don't do full-scale scouting is if I gain access to the property less than two weeks before I intend to hunt. By scouting too close to the hunting period, without previously familiarizing the animals, you alert them, and you may run them out of the area. If I can't scout I rely on observing and recording to pattern the animals.
Locating the animals needs to be an ongoing process, because as the season progresses the habits, routes and times the animals travel will change. If you don't watch them for the entire season you will not be able to predict their movements. After a few seasons of keeping a journal you will be confident of knowing where and when to find the animals, not only in your area, but in most areas, under most conditions.
If you have questions - ask here, or contact me direct at [email protected]
God bless,
T.R.
08-30-2011, 03:32 PM
#5
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location:
Posts: 417
If you dont' like it - don't read it. It is just easieer for me to copy and paste, than to type it all out. And I do not want to give you just part of an article, when it is just as easy to give you all of it.
Realize that many of these articles are already published on this website, it is just that some people never go to the magazine or articles section and read articles. This way they at least know they have the option.
This is what I did before I had my talk forum on this site, and why I had my talk forum on this site, and what I have done ever since for about 10 years. Why would I quit now?
Stonewall - i like your answer best. But, I'm usually dreaming about it before I get up.
May God bless all of you,
T.R.
Realize that many of these articles are already published on this website, it is just that some people never go to the magazine or articles section and read articles. This way they at least know they have the option.
This is what I did before I had my talk forum on this site, and why I had my talk forum on this site, and what I have done ever since for about 10 years. Why would I quit now?
Stonewall - i like your answer best. But, I'm usually dreaming about it before I get up.
May God bless all of you,
T.R.
08-30-2011, 05:58 PM
#6
Typical Buck
Join Date: May 2010
Location: South East Pa.
Posts: 526
I usually pick out a couple State Game lands and get to know them very well. That way I don't have to read nonsense about "Gaining Access" in every wanna be deer hunting article.
Last edited by Gunplummer; 08-30-2011 at 05:59 PM. Reason: for got word
08-30-2011, 06:52 PM
#8
Fork Horn
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Allenton Wis.
Posts: 186
Gunnplummer thats funny, "gaining access to every wanna be " Truth is I'm a lousy hunter.I too got so sick of trying to gain access I went so far north I can hunt anywhere. Love it and hate it. Hate it cause I seen deer 9 of 22 opening days of gun season. Love it cause I've seen 5 or 6 hunters opening day in 22 years. Less every year. You can scout 365 days a year and find one thing. There is no pattern, rime or reason to deer movement there except corn piles if wolves have not been around for a while. Reason is because it's flat, nothing but woods and no concentrated food source anywhere and timber wolves. Any deer with a pattern is patterned by wolves and wake up fast or die.. It can snow on Wednesday, start scouting Saturday and barely cut a track. When I do cut a track I follow it and find they walk around like they're in a maze, nipping buds here picking grass there, lay down a while just to get up to do the same. This is why I don't ever read anything about deer hunting. Good luck on your book.
