Deer Hunter

golok

golok

Joined
Oct 20, 2000
Messages
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I found out that hunting deer is not as simply as just holding a rifle and going out into the woods.

Deer hunting also involves lures, deer calls, tree stands, camo-clothes, lots of patience and steady hands.

Is it possible going through an entire deer hunting season without bagging a single one?

And, is there any advantage in using a bow to bag a deer?

JudithElkJim-314.jpg
 
Golok,

Don't confuse the "industry" of deer hunting with the actual sport or activity! The secrets of deer hunting are patience, and scouting a good location. If you don't have that all the gear in the world ain't gonna help much. Most of that stuff is designed to sell and is of doubtful utility.

Success depends largely on where you hunt, and how much pressure is on the animals. If you hunt in State Ggame Lands where there are far too many hunters all you find are animals scared out of their wits and running for cover. If you hunt farmland where there aren't many hunters and the deer are still on their normal routine it is fairly simple to connect. Deer are creatures of habit and you can ambush them easily if you know where they are going to be.

The bow does give you a huge advantage in that in most states you have a special season just for bowhunters. In PA you basically have the month of October and you can shoot male or female deer. With a rife you are ususally restricted to bucks only, rifle seaon is shorter too.

As a weapon thea bow is perfectly capable of taking deer or bear with the right arrowheads and draw weight. Of course you have to practice and wait patiently in a good location. Most bowhunting for deer is done from a tree stand set up within 10 meters of a well-used trail.
The deer pass under the scent of the hunter and walking or standing broadside shots are easy to come by.

Once you hit the deer you have to wait patiently for another half hour or so while he goes off and dies. They don't really know what hit them so they bed down and bleed out not too far away. If you chase them right away they will run much farther and you run the chance of loosing the animal. Mac
 
Deer hunting is a game of patients, endurance, and skill. You can count yourself lucky if you can take one every year. You can't really chase an animal that can easily out run you, has far better vision, and can smell your presence a hundred yards downwind. In the North East you would usually scout out a recent deer path and establish an ambush. It is then a matter of staying alert and quiet for many hours in sub-freezing temperatures to wait for that perfect shot on a good specimen. They can be a cagey animals, the big Bucks usually are often escorted by several Does, and the females will travel ahead of the male and actually scout the path as the group moves. I have also seen them disappear during the day only to see dozens of them walking in an open field just minutes after dusk; when it is illegal to hunt them.

n2s
 
Deer hunting.... 25 days til bow season starts here.

Deer hunting is as simple or as complicated as you make it. You can buy and use all that equipment or I know guys that wear home made buckskins and use a spear. The technology does help, but it's not as simple as buying it and then harvesting a deer. You must do a lot of scouting, have a good understanding of deer habits and be able to put your tools to use at the moment of truth. I know a lot of guys that can find deer but get "buck fever" when it's time.

I live and hunt in Alabama where we have one of the longest seasons with one of the most liberal limits in the country. I know guys that go all season without harvesting a deer. I usually harvest 5-6 deer per season almost all does usually, but I've been shut out because I was concentrating on one particular buck (still haven't gotten him).

There are no advantages to being a bow hunter except for becoming a better hunter. I've bagged deer up to 325m with my rifle (powerline out of shooting house) but to be able to harvest a deer up close (under 40m) with a bow is difficult at best and downright impossible at worst. At bow hunting ranges a deer can react quick enough to avoid your arrow shaft. Bow hunting requires paying attention to wind, scent control, patterning your target and a lot of patience. I've sat and watched deer stay just out of bow range for hours just to come in to range after dark, then have to sit in my stand until they leave (don't want them to know I was there.) The only advantage of bowhunting is that you will become a better hunter or you'll becomed a rifle hunter or a vegetarian. ;) Vegetarian=old Indian word for bad hunter :p

Sorry for the long post, but I like hunting as much as I like knifemaking.
 
Looks like an elk in that picture :)

Can you go a whole season without getting a deer? Sure. Just try public land hunting in California :(

If you want to know about deer hunting, read some old-fashioned deer-hunting books from 50 and 100 years ago in your public library. Very interesting. And they aren't tainted by any of that big-city, womanish "Bambi" garbage, either. Really helps you see how relentlessly beleagured today's hunter is by environmentist whackos, vegetarians, Soccer Moms and Hollywood. I cannot even count the number of times I've been accosted by my moral betters for hunting.

When I ask them what they had for dinner, the answer is usually "steak."

(sheesh, what a rant!)

---------
Jose Ortega y Gasset will give you a better answer than I ever could. It is called, "Meditations on Hunting" and is even endorsed by Col. Cooper.

Cheers
 
Golok,

No, it's not that simple, and things vary in different parts of the country. I have never used a lure or decoy, deer call (I do on occasion use elk calls),or tree stand and rarely wear camo. Out here in the northwestern US my impression is we are more reliant on weather conditions than the east and southern US due to different animal behavior and habitat, and different hunting styles, there have been times that I have hunted for 10 days and not seen a legal animal. The advantage of special seasons for bow hunting has been addressed already, the other advantage is personal satisfaction or sense of challenge in doing it "the hard way". BTW Erasmus is right that is an elk in the pic.

Todd
 
My brother is by far the most avid bowhunter I have ever run across. A few years ago he started playing around with various techniques to see if they paid off. He got into "Rattling" and also using a grunt call.

Rattling simluates two bucks fighting and it seems to violate every hunting rule in the book. You have to make a lot of noise rattling the horns together and disturbing tthe undergrowth. When the local big buck hears two other males fighting over his women he comes running. It works if you do it right.

The grunt call simulates the challenge that one buck emits when he wants to fight another. My brother had a buck running full bore make a right angle turn and rush his stand. He wasn't hunting at the time.

Both of these tactics only work during the rut, but they do work if done right. Mac
 
Golok, I hope you were not Deer hunting when you bagged that Elk
:eek:

Seriously though, I have sucesfully hunted Deer,Elk and Bear in Idaho with a rifle, but never got the same thrill as getting a doe with a bow and arrow that I made myself. I truly felt I was showing respect to "Mother Earth" by using them!
 
In California I have gone for years without getting a shot at a deer. In Colorado they come into my yard and eat the plants. The only advantage of bow hunting is the special bow hunting season or sometimes access to areas where firearms are prohibited. The special season comes before the firearm season and the deer are less nervous at that time. The special areas can be close to cities where the deer are less nervous about people.

You are not allowed to hunt in camo in this state, you have to wear blaze orange. Generally you don't use tree stands. I never use lures or calls. The best way to find deer that I know is to go out hunting with only an elk license. I've been up to my ears in deer on an elk hunt. I had another friend who had a herd of deer wander through his camp while he had elk tags.
 
I think Badbamaump said it best with "you can make it as simple, or complicated as you want." But it does also depend on your location.

If you're hunting public land, good luck and be careful. That is mainly a matter of luck. You can scout as much as you want, but there are too many variables (i.e. other hunters) that patterns get screwed up.

It also depends on what state, or area you hunt. Some areas aren't as easy to hunt and I respect those hunters that have the patience and skills to hunt them, especially the "spot and stalk" hunters out west that go for the mulies and other big game.

Where I hunt, I know the land well, and know where the deer will be. It's pretty easy hunting, and some years I've gone out just to watch the deer (if I don't need the meat).

Anyway, the point is, don't judge a hunter's success on their numbers; but rather where, and how they hunt.
 
Some myths about deer hunting:
They never look up.
They can't smell you if you are in a tree.
They die slowly if shot with an arrow. I have watched deer die within seconds.
They always walk on trails.
The does always act as lookouts for the bucks. Most of the time the mature bucks prefer bachelor groups or solo activity, except during the rut ;)
 
I have been bowhunting for only 2 years now, but the one thing I have noticed is that you have to be a much better hunter. I have called in elk and moose to within 20 yards, but couldn't finish the deal because the shot wasn't right. You don't want to wound, gut shot,etc. and have to track. If I had a rifle, it would have been too easy. this is the best type of hunting, it requires patience and an icy cool hand. I love it!!
 
Hunting? Pfui. I harvest them, not hunt them. They are as thick as fleas on a junk yard dog around here. Durn things ate all the peaches and pears off my trees. Some mornings I have to chase them with a broom or throw gravel at them so I can get to my car. They snort, shake their heads and stamp their hooves, then run 100 yards or so when I snort, wave my arms and stomp back at them. Agnostic behavior I guess. Posting attachments is still off here or I would upload the photo of one looking in my bedroom window last week. Not an uncommon event, though the one that stood on his hind legs to look in the shower window was a startle. (Got another photo (same day) of a flock of turkeys hanging out in the back yard I took from the kitchen window for the hunters of the "elusive" wild turkey.) Wife has prohibited shooting from/through the windows. Come the season I just put out a lawn chair and sit in the yard with a book, a thermos jug of coffee, some cigarettes and a firearm. Normally takes 15 minutes, to an hour, tops. One year I had just opened the chair and poured my coffee and didn't even get to open the book before three came to look at the human. Cigarette smoke doesn't scare them here and neither does the smell of the coffee.
 
Superc - that's pretty funny. Where is it that you are talking about?
 
Blueridge section of VA. Between Winchester and Leesburg. Average doe weight is 150, bucks average around 180 - 220, but a truck hit one near here and the carcass was weighed at over 310, 4 hours after the impact (presumably some weight lost with the blood). 250 grain XTP, .45 caliber at Mach something works very well.
 
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