John.Starks

Good afternoon everyone...I'm completely new to hunting deer. Never had a parent to teach me. Don't really know anyone who is serious about hunting but I want to learn so that me and my kids can spend time together when they get older. Plus being out in the woods is just plain fun anyways.

I've narrowed an area down where I've seen quite a few deer in the past. It's near water, food, and there's acres of extremely thick brush and growth that deer could use for bedding or cover. There's a good size swamp in the area that is adjacent to a large open field. From the little I know this seems like a decent area as any for hunting. I've seen a couple of trucks parked on the side of the road nearby so I guess some other folks have the same idea I do.

Now that I've got an area singled out what do I actually do? Do I HAVE to use a tree stand or can I hunt on the ground? If I hunt on the ground do I have to remain still or can I walk around? Do I just keep walking until I see or hear something? Where should I be walking to find deer? How can I keep my scent down - dowse myself in doe or fox urine? Should I try to avoid bedding areas?

Quite a lot here I know but just looking for any sugesstions. Ideally I'd like to move around as I don't know how I'd get a ladder into the woods for a tree stand but either way. Don't really know what I'm doing so obviously any thoughts or recommendations would be sincerely appreciated.

Ridge Runner

its called still hunting, take 2 steps as quietly and as slowly as you can, wait for 6 steps always looking and listening, keep the wind in your face, stay after it and it will come.
still hunt funnels around bedding areas, you will not get the drop on a deer if its in its bedding area, bucks you possibly could but does will bust you every time.
a funnel is the closest easiest route a deer could take either from a food source to a bedding area, or in the case of rut stupid bucks cruising for does from bedding area to bedding area.
also remember deer are creatures of the edge, the edge of the thickets, or just inside the woods at the edge of the field you mentioned will contain travel corridors, look for trails, scrapes under low hanging limbs, signs of deer pawing up the leaves feeding, still hunt these areas and you will see deer.
RR

Oldtimr

From reading your post I am going to hope you are not insulted in my reply. You do not know enough to go hunting on your own. Join a sportsmans club and get to know hunters who can mentor you. Asking for suggestions on a message board on how to hunt when you do not have a clue of what to do and then going hunting can only lead to disaster and or failure. There is far too much to learn to try to do it on your own. The fact that you take other vehicles at a spot a good sign that it is a good place to be shows how much you need to learn. You have no idea if those people know what is a good spot any more than you do. Fumbling around in the dark with no plan and no skill and no knowledge will just lead to frustation and failure and eventual quitting. Do yourself a favor, get face to face help from a knowledgable person so when the time comes, you will be competent enough to teach your kids.

Ridge Runner

oldtimer, I must disagree with you, I learned on my own, dad was serving in the navy, my uncle and mentor died from cancer when I was 10, everything I know I learned on my own, give the man credit, help him with the basics and he can figure it out, we both know it ain't hard.
as long as your telling him he can't, he won't may take a couple years but if he spends time in the woods it will come.
RR

Oldtimr

Well, we are going to disagree on this. How do you give instructions to someone who doesn't know the terms you are using. You try to describe still hunting to someone who doesn't even know how to stand hunt, You and I know what a funnel is, but telling someone who has no clue to look for funnels is not going to be helpfull. Fumbling around and failing is a good way to become discouraged and give up. The best thing for him to do is find someone to teach him and a good place for that is to join a club that has people with experience to pass on their knowledge. A message board is the worst place I can think of for someone with no foundation or experience to get information.. He will get information from people with knowledge and those who are almost as clueless as the novice. I have helped a lot of people get into hunting, children and adults, however I was with them to teach them. I still do btw. Just the laws alone for someone on their own can be overwhelming. With no foundation and no basic knowledge, learning by suggestions is a poor way to learn, if at all. You are doing a disservice in my opinion to encourage using this venue to learn to hunt. To learn new things after you have a foundation yes, to get an explaination of why we do some things, yes, to start from scratch and learn on the internet, I don't believe it is a good idea. Not going to argue, this is what I believe and I believe I am doing more for the OIP by telling him to get help than to give him words and terms that he will not understand. There is nothing better than face to face help.

Ridge Runner

just keep offering your OH SO HELPFULL advice then
, as I said I learned everything I know on my own, I'm no rocket scientist, I give everyone the benefit of doubt, maybe I'll figure it out one day.
RR
BTW your post at 1:44 today in the "What am I doing wrong" thread describes to another new hunter what a funnel is, yet I'm doing someone a disservice by doing it, yeah right!

John.Starks

Disaster? Like, is it really that serious?

This is the sport where men that are 50, 60, 70 lbs overweight can go into the woods with a 30-rack of Coors and an ounce of marijuana and still be successful, right?

Oldtimr

Never criticized you, What I said is hands on help is better than long range help to someone with zero knowledge. So take the knot out of your knickers, it wasn't about you, it was me giving what I think is the best advice to a beginer with no experience at all. You disagree, so what, it isn't aout either one of us.

Oldtimr

Starks, if that is what you really think, I take back what I said, I thought you were serious. Forget about hunting, it isn't for you or anyone else with that mindset.

Ridge Runner

my knickers as you say are fine, after reading a lot of your posts I have yet to read you giving constructive advise, or positive input to any thread, yet your the first to hop on the high pony and state that an internet forum is not the place to learn......HMMMMM!
I know this, I have read many many reports of hunters who have never taken a deer who shoot large mature (many are booners) bucks from the so called beginners luck.
yep, that's what it is, but think about it, new guys sometimes hunt where they shouldn't cause there is no reason for deer to be there, the fact that no one hunts there is why the deer seek refuge in those spots, so anyone and everyone who takes they're rifle to the woods has a chance at harvesting a deer, regardless of they're experience level.
RR