olsaltydog

I never got into the creek bottom the day prior when scouting fearing i would jump a deer and possibly ruin the spot for the following day. That one scrape was fresh and so where the rubs and heading parallel to the bottom. Not to and from it but plenty of tracks look like they where going to and from it so thought nothing of it. After the following days sit my father rejoined me at the spot since he was hunting about a quarter mile away in one of his old spots. He took me into the bottom and right then we found rubs leading out of the bottom. Following these rubs deeper in found two more scrapes along the way leading out. So went back out and followed that single scrape and rub line. It ran parallel to the bottom for a few hundred yards and then curved away from the bottom in the opposite direction. My dad pointed out yeah this is another buck marking his territory and though early the small rubs most likely mean its a smaller buck. Not the same one living in the bottom whose rubs where noticeably larger and a few inches longer. So this is a first for me to find two deer with territories intersecting. While I am excited to hopefully see this meeting between the two while out in the woods the detail was i tied the other tracks in the area to that one instance. Adding to it was the fact we have not had rain in a few weeks so i didn't take that into account. 4-8 deer heading one way and 1 or 2 deer heading the opposite will add up to looking like a ton of deer using the same path to and from when in reality its less common to find them returning at that point. Rain allows you to see what is fresh.

After the lesson it made sense when he explained it. Do i hunt the morning in hopes of seeing this buck again (Who may not even be back in the area for another few days as he makes his rounds) or in the evening when i know the bottom buck will come out looking for this new comer. Odds are i will have a better shot at the evening buck being his home turf and near his bedding area. Have no idea if the other buck ever made it home. All this applied at the time though. due to the furlough the whole area has been closed so once it reopens for hunting possibly this weekend I will find out if anything has changed and it may in turn into a spot that should be hunted heavily both morning and evening with rut nearing. At the time it was ideal for an evening sit with increased chance of success.

Luv2KilFish

I hunted a trail for 3 days straight. It was covered with sign. I didn't see a single animal. I put a trail cam out and got tons of pictures of deer including some nice bucks. Every picture was at night. I set a stand up about 200 yards away near some thick stuff that bordered the area. My father shot two bucks from that stand. We hunt pressured public land. What I think is that deer bed in the thick stuff and wait for it to get dark and travel the trails to the feeding area. Try following the trail to the thickest cover around. That's where they will be durring the day.

Patrick Eubanks

The best thing you can do right now is get out of your stand and go find the does. Time is running out. If you don't find the does, in a few weeks, you'll not find the bucks either. My dad used to tell me " don't leave fish to go where you think there is fish". Same applies to deer. Go scout and find them. Past performance is a great predictor of future performance. Mix it up a little.

CTJohnB

an hour before sun up till dark and i am using bow, and theres always acorns in the areas I sit

CTJohnB

Thank you everyone that was some great information. and olsaltydog please let me know how you made out im dying hear the rest, I cant wait for this weekend to get out and do some more scouting, im pretty much self taught unfourtunatly no one in my family hunts or any of my friends a couple of them fish thats about it the couple people i know are so tight lipped its not funny so I read every book and magazine i can get my hands on and thank god for this forum lol
thanks again everyone for taking the time to help me out

NjHunter85

what state are you hunting?

Erno86

One of my strategies for opening day deer season:

Go early enough...so you're the first hunter in the woods, so you can freely pick and choose your favorite hunting spot. Go as far away from the hunting parking area as possible, so you can let the other hunters chase the deer towards you.

CTJohnB

im hunting Conn njhunter85

thanks erno

Gunplummer

I don't know how much land you are hunting on, but I usually do well on State land. Everybody has a bad year now and then, but just keep at it. Find a really big area if you can and try to get out during the middle of the week. Archery is tough to start out with on State land. Many times there will not be any amount of deer there until the crops are down and the cover around the farms thins out. I rarely bow hunt anymore because of that. By the second week of rifle season I really start to see deer "Back in". Deer staying in a 1 mile radius is nonsense. Deer travel miles for food once the sources dry up.