All good tips.
My tips of the day are:
Google pictures of deer droppings. Learn the difference in looks of deer droppings. Small round pellets or pellets compressed into a loaf. When out scouting take note of where you are seeing just what kind of droppings. If you are seeing loaves more so than pellets you are near a bedding area. Big loaves may indicate a big animal which may be the buck you want. Lots of areas you will encounter loads of pellet droppings but no bigger loaves. Ok to hunt near there during rut when bucks are chasing does. Before or after rut it is about finding a bucks prime home area of bed, water, and food. And droppings can be a useful tool in developing a productive hunt.
Get on the land you want to hunt and start learning the lay of the land and locate any major game trails. Dominant bucks don't always use the same trails as the does. Bigger bucks will use obscure trails through tighter brush. Bucks will have beds on ridges with a view and on bottomland the big bucks will often bed in small spruce tree clusters. Deer bed in uphill beds during the day when the air convections currents are rising out a valley and they may bed low in late day when air currents are moving down. South facing bush edges or slopes are bedding areas when deer want sun in colder weather.
During rut observe the land for signs of rutting deer... ground scrapes and tree rubs. Bucks will make a few ground rubs sort of in a line over many meters. Major ground scrapes will always have an overhead branch where every deer visiting the scrape will rub the glands on their faces and check out scents left by other deer. During rut the buck will make his bed downwind of these major scrapes so he can smell any doe that might check to his scrape.
And most of all if you are trying a spot and stalk, move slow. So slow you will have to speed up to stop. During the stalk stop lots because a steady footstep noise might mask sounds a hunter wants to hear and can also put animals at ease. Take as much as a couple hours to go 100 yards in prime areas.
__________________
___________________________________________
This country was started by voyagers whose young lives were swept away by the currents of the rivers for ten cents a day... just for the vanity of the European's beaver hats. ~ Red Bullets
___________________________________________
It is when you walk alone in nature that you discover your strengths and weaknesses. ~ Red Bullets
|