Red Deer Whitetails??

How many guys been out towards Rocky Mountain House/Caroline yet? Are the deer moving around much? Any activity? I'm headed out tommorrow for my first whitetail hunt in the area since i moved here (hunted there once couple years ago). I'm thinking of going out towards Prairie Creek and getting about 2 kilometers off the road into some cutlines i came accross while bear hunting in the spring. I've never shot a whitetail buck but have passed on three very small bucks this year (while moose hunting, did get a doe, really hesitated on a small 4X4). Should have a few pics tommorrow, will be passing on does and tiny bucks for at least a little while. Already ate my ewe tag though so my selectivity may not last long . Thanks if anyone has a progress report. Seems to me this was the first opening Friday night in a few years i'm not home skinning mulies, hopefully Mr. Whitetail buck shows himself tommorrow.

jrs

[Donny Bear]

Quiet at this time sunday snow should help even the cold west should be alive with hunters tomorrow but bet you wont see much but deer if ya get 2 k back from the road warriors.

[Cordur]

I almost hit 3 good sized bucks last weekend on my way into caroline to get some gas before heading to 326 for a quick doe hunt. Could have hit 2 more after leaving caroline. So yeah I'd say they are moving around...

All joking aside there is a lot of activity in the area and I wish I could get permission for one of those fields that has more deer than cattle in it. Lots of hunting pressure on the crown land out there. My opinion is that if you are looking for a good sized buck to sit and wait somewhere for a few hours until someone pushes one by you. I've noticed that they are still moving around quite a bit during the day as well and haven't come across any bedded down like I was earlier in the season.

I'm heading out west of Water Valley tomorrow for my first try at a mulie. Hopefully I can find a nice old cut block to sit on and with a bit of luck who knows?

Thanks for the comments guys. I am hoping to get into some remote areas. I was there May long and saw no-one so i'm thinking it will be a safe bet. There was a few whitetails around in the spring, not sure how big they'd be, antlers were'nt very defined on them yet (big clump out each side more or less) . Found a matching set of sheds back there so thats got to be a good sign of some sort.

Good luck this weekend to all enjoying our plentiful opportunities.

jrs

[Buckhead]

I've hunted that area off and on for many years.

I am pretty sure I know the area you are talking about.

2 km off the road sounds about right, that's exactly where I liked to be when hunting season rolled around.

There are some good WT bucks in that area, that run around 140-160 B&C and they are not that hard to find if you get away from the road.

Good hunting!!

[sow wester]

me and my buddy were out today he missed a small 4x4 been seein alot of does around though

[Kelly & Beth]

pushed this one out for the wifey but he was moving faster than 3500fps. I walked the stretch of bush hoping he would come out into one of our hay fields I had the wife set up cross wind and he never moved an inch until I was about 30ft. away from him then like a bolt of lightning he was gone. went within 75 yards of the wife and she belted a couple of shots off but being here first big buck I'm sure she was PRETTY HYPED. We plan on givin him a couple of weeks and mabey we can get another kick at the cat.

Had an awesome time out west today. In the morning we started hiking (about 10 minutes before light, way too dark till 15 minutes after legal in the valley we chose). Saw a bunch of mulies and tons of sign but no whitetail. Back to the truck at 11:30 to head to another spot (heard no fewer than 30 shots by this time from the road area). Saw about 5 whitetails on the drive to the next piece of brush we decided to hunt. Good sign. We split up and still hunted on cutlines parallel to one another. After an hour or so i saw my buddy on the cutline coming towards me, letting my guard down a minute was a mistake, look to the side and a nice five by five had stood up and started walking away, couldn't get a clear shot and i wasn't risking a bad hit (especially first day out, no need for a head shot yet). Turned out a small 3X3was with him as well, we both passed as lots of time left to hunt. On the way out we saw a bunch of grouse so we had to go grab the shotties and give it a whirl. I ended up pushing (mostly because he has a 20 gauge, i have a12 gauge, his birds have less holes) and buddy shot as he chose to push deer later on in return. We managed four ruffies by giving it a few minutes at a few spots. Could have limited out on grouse easily if thats all we chased today, some nice protein in case the bucks didn't show . We saw one group fly off the lease road and went down to where they flushed, that accounted for two of them, worked out perfect.

We then went to yet another clump of trees and worked slowly through it. I saw five or six whitetails during this walk, only fawns presented good shots and thats not what i was looking to tag today. After that walk we headed back to the truck as we had one more piece that needed a look. On route a very small set of fawns with a very small doe (1.5 yr old max) crossed so we sat for about a half hour and watched them from less than 75 yards away, pretty neat. Contemplated shooting the doe but i'd really like to get a little bigger animal so i can make jerky and some sausage.

We had about 45 minutes before sunset at this time so we went to the last spot. For the last half hour or so of the day we decided to sit in a thicket along a cutline and see if anything came out to feed. With about 15 minutes of light left i heard a animal come very close to me just accross the cutline (25 yards or so) and grunt. I grunted back and suddenly there were three deer just in front of us in the thicket blowing and grunting, then we could hear antlers smacking and animals chasing about. Reminded me of a elk hunting video, not a whitetail kind of thing. I took the bullets out of the rifle as legal light ended but continued to grunt as it got dark, hoped to see them but they stayed in the thick brush, fighting, grunting etc. That was a evening i'll never forget.

Hope everyone else had a good day. Just need some snow for next time.
BTW, did not see a single other hunter off the main road, hunted solely on the public land. Kind of nice having the area to ourselves.