mrwake

I have a few places to hunt that have tons of deer, mostly near really thinck cutovers. Im really having probelms getting the deer to come out in large or small numbers consistantly. I live in NC where baiting is legal and use corn to funnel the deer down some trails. Calls, antlers, dont seem to work in this area. And Im having a probelm with the bears and my scattered corn. I dont have unlimited money but I have enough to buy the baits and such that I will need. The more baits that work during the winter the better. I see lots of tracks and trails in these thick cutovers allong where I hunt the woods.
1. Would a decoy help me out any, maybe like a cheap renzos?
2. What all do yall use to bait deer, I use corn to draw deer out of cutovers. But what all else works? Maybe peanut butter and some other stuff or anything that I can buy easy, medorcra cheap, and that works.
3. Would any scents work, such as doe in heat.

Please post what all yall do to keep deer coming, oh yeah and do yall think maybe I have a nocturnal probelm. I just want to start baiting and get the deer so that when I want to go see some deer or harvest some of the millions of does I can.

Slamfire

I think you need a huntin' pard or two. Then you can try some one man deer drives, with your buds coverin' the most likely exits. Walk slow, and check your six, then you won't be the only guy that don't see deer.

Chuck7

I have the same problem in a 58 square management area.
Here are some things I did.and it paid off after striking out almost the entire season.
--talk to successful hunters in your area never ask where they hunt just what they did to score. After they all told me they scored using calls ,I kept using my call.
-- calls do work. My favorite is 'The Can' I only use it once every 25 min. I plan to use rattles next year as well.The folks on this site encouraged me enough to buy a set. They arrived last week.
--for me prayer and faith is essential. You must have confidence and get up that tree as quiet and early as you can. I try to exercise my faith everyday and when hunting season comes I'm more surprized if I don't score. God is awesome.
---Where I hunt you have to work for the deer. I've shot all my deer at least 1'2 mile or so in thick swampy stuff with no human signs at all.
Good luck and God Bless,
Chuck

mauser06

deer drives all the way for this one....if you can set them up in this area to work and be safe.....once hunting season is on its rare to see deer around here on stand because presure is so high and the wood lots arent huge tracts...only safe place is in the thickets barely moving.....heck...ive spotted them from the road in thickets...they have a heck of a way to hide though....and hunting the small tracts of land is hard....hard to get access to....once you gain permission its tough to get in a good spot without scarring everything on the way in..wind shifts once the deer are gone....its tough....i started driving deer with my buddys last year.....and without driving them out we would probably rarely take a deer.....when deer arent moving you have to make them move if you want to harvest one....dont get me wrong....killing isnt everything in hunting...but sitting on stand all season to see nothing in the freezing cold isnt all that fun after so long.....you might try still hunting if you dont have anyone to hunt with you to push or drive them...just sneak through where they hide out reaaaaaaaalllllly slowly, quietly and cautiously...always on alert...moving slooooowly is key....a very planned out step at a time...looking around after every step..once they think something is coming they will usually stand up and look around....thats your shot....gota be quick on your feet...or if they are already up and moving you will catch them...if your seeing tails or running deer your moving too fast or too loud....wet days are nice to still hunt....i never mastered it myself....read a good bit about it...and im going to start using it more...next year ill be in college along with all my friends...so chances are we wont get to drive together every day....still hunting will work just as good if you know where the deer are hiding.....baiting is illegal here.....im sure it wouldnt help...pressure is unreal.....they hide in every nuck and cranny and behind every tree...i know how your feeling...you know the deer are there....they cant dissappear...they just dont wanna come out n play with the big boys...

kevin1

Have you tried Reese's Pieces ?
They worked on ET ...

Persimmons are about the finest bait I can think of , you can usually find the Japanese variety in the produce section of upscale markets if they aren't in season . They may work even if they aren't indigenous to your area , deer are very curious animals and they love sweets .

Mr. .45-70

See what you need to do is pretend that you are playing "hide and seek" and yell as loud as you can "ally ally in come free!"

Seriously, I would try the deer drives as mentioned earlier. Sometimes that's the only way to get them out of the cover.

Mr. .45-70

mrwake

Im not really into deer drives, I have controlled dog runs about twice a year, because there are roads around the places we run. But I would like to have more succesful still hunting. Mainly what I was looking for was there any calls, bait, decoys etc that work. I plan on baiting alot harder this year and trying to funnel them down the trails I hunt. But I just dont see the consistant number, like there are in the area. Even when hunting over the bait I will see some some days lots the next and then go a week with out seeing a deer. I dont hunt my spots alot though just maybe once every other week or so.

Slamfire

Ok if you want to still hunt I'll tell you what works for me, but I caution you I had to get really old and slow before it worked well.
Hunt into the wind. In heavy leaf cover step down toe first, never take an even number of steps. Stop often, and look sharply all around, then squat and do it all over agin. Spend at LEAST 3 times as much time lookin' as you do walkin' and more is better. Most of the old bucks will slip out behind you, so keep a sharp eye on where you've been.

Hacimsaalk

here in pa, we use none of that. the corn and decoys are illegal, and we have no use for the scents. what we do is go in after them. we set 2-3 guys on the side they are gonna come out of, then 2-3 of us go through it and push the deer out. if you hunt early season, like during the rut, you could put the doe scents out, or you could make a scrape on the ground, and put some other kind of scent on it, doesnt matter what. or go and get a rattle badg, and use it, then make thrashing sounds in the brush.

mrwake

When I get thinking a little about my probelm, I start thinking about how much timed feeder should help, are they like the dinner bell in your area? How do the decoys work? I would always like to walk around alot in the woods and down pathes looking. I hear deer move alot during the day, Do I need leafy wear? I hear the slow pace always wins, I wear rubber lacrosse boots due to the water though. They make an awful racket when trying to sneak around! How do yall fix that?