thecontractor

i would first like to say that i am not a deer "expert" by any means. i would just like to share with you some of my experiences, especially for the younger hunters who are just starting out. i started hunting when i was 12 (legal hunting age in PA). we lived in the city and traveled two hours away to the mountains of northwest, pa (where i now live). at first i didn't enjoy hunting at all, i did it just because my father wanted me to. he never scouted and we only shot guns about twice a year. i was unprepared EVERY hunting season. i could never stay warm. my finger tips and toes would get so cold that i was ready to leave the woods by 8am but never had the heart or the nerve to tell my dad that, so i just suffered through the week. even though the bad experiences of my early hunting days should have made me hate hunting, i've since grown to love it. when i got old enough to hunt on my own, i realized that my father just had his own way of hunting. it wasn't wrong, it just wasn't the way i wanted to do it. i now do as much scouting as i possibly can and i pass it on to not only my 12-year old, but my wife and my 3 year-old son. i show them sign such as droppings, rubs, scrapes, beds, funnels, feeding areas, etc. my dad taught me these things (or atleast he tried) but i guess i just had to find out for myself and the main key was WHY?? why know these things??? for instance, two years ago i was having a horrible time finding where the deer were. there was nobody in the woods moving the deer around because it was rather warm and everybody was sitting still. these are some HUGE woods up here and if you don't move the deer, they will bed down forever!!!! but anyways the second to the last day of rifle season about 3:30 i found where they have been. this was the only sign i saw for two weeks!!! it was a small opening in the middle of some real thick stuff. the only reason i even found it was because i picked up an old track in the snow and decided to follow it. that single trail led me to where the whole herd had been. i kicked them out and never got a shot. but what i found was very exciting. it was not only their bedding area, it also was their feeding area. i decided to head out of the woods right then and there because i had a feeling that they would return that night and i could catch them off gaurd early in the morning and found the funnel they were using to move in and out without being detected. i headed into the woods very very early the last day of rifle season, i believe i was in my spot by 5 am. well as soon as it got light i heard them coming, and right before my eyes was a nice 8-point running with between 10-15 doe. i caught him off gaurd and harvested my first rack buck!!! since then, i have never given up and i always look for spots where i think they will run and hide even if i can't see more than 30 yards around me. sorry that this was so long but i thought maybe you guys/gals might enjoy it and who knows maybe it will help somebody. thanks

1dahunter

Thanks for the story I really appreciated it has inspired me.

JerseyJim

I enjoyed the story. I have looked for those exact same kind of spots every year! My favorite stand is on the edge of one of those thickets. I also go in there in the off season and cut small paths through that lead to my shooting lanes. I can't tell you how many times I've seen deer using those paths. The path of least resistance is used a lot by deer so I make it as easy as possible for them to get in and out. The only catch is they have to go through my shooting lanes to get there. It works well for me. Thanks for the story Contractor....Jim