New hunter, second season - what I think I learned...

if I gave up on a location or on ambush style hunting I would have missed out on a ton of success and opportunities lol

It takes time and failure to build the knowledge to get good at picking ambush locations. Scouting is huge along with learning the time of day the deer are using those trails. Don’t get caught up on the first/last light you hear from many hunters either if hunting over trails in the bush. Right now a lot of my trail cams are seeing heavy late morning to mid day action for example. So if you sat for a late afternoon for 5hrs in half my location you would see nothing. You could also be sitting on a location that sees no daylight movement. Sitting in random locations is a crap shoot

without knowing the movement of the deer you are best to sit all day

Hunting involves patience grasshopper lol

Great write up. You are on the right track-- as you say, more of the same is all you need.

Good for you.

Personally, I walk with a round chambered and the safety on. Even the silkiest action is really loud when you are ready to close the deal on an animal.

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Originally Posted by Wild one

if I gave up on a location or on ambush style hunting I would have missed out on a ton of success and opportunities lol

It takes time and failure to build the knowledge to get good at picking ambush locations. Scouting is huge along with learning the time of day the deer are using those trails. Don’t get caught up on the first/last light you hear from many hunters either if hunting over trails in the bush. Right now a lot of my trail cams are seeing heavy late morning to mid day action for example. So if you sat for a late afternoon for 5hrs in half my location you would see nothing. You could also be sitting on a location that sees no daylight movement. Sitting in random locations is a crap shoot

without knowing the movement of the deer you are best to sit all day

Hunting involves patience grasshopper lol

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Yes, need to put more time in! Any ideas on what elevation I should be spending that time in? Been around 1700 meters, or 5000 ft... but maybe that's too high now?

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Originally Posted by albravo2

Great write up. You are on the right track-- as you say, more of the same is all you need.

Good for you.

Personally, I walk with a round chambered and the safety on. Even the silkiest action is really loud when you are ready to close the deal on an animal.

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A gunsmith just told me to try leaving the chambered round with the bolt cocked up, so that I just push it down and fire when ready... will try a couple methods, but at least the trigger issue is fixed.

There is no magic elevation and things vary within the population even. In many areas there is resident populations that usually spends all year at lower elevations along with a migratory portion of the population expecially with mule deer. And now for the bad news the reason any buck season is in October is the migratory population is more spread out, less predictable and have not begun to rut. Basically October is a transition period that makes the migratory portion of the population less predictable

Likely not what you want to hear

This is where knowledge of the area, resident population, and what conditions dictate the movement of the migratory are huge. Unfortunately you won’t figure this out without a lot of time hunting/scouting the area

Now going into an area blind I would be looking for a quality food source away from the roads or at the minimum less traveled roads. In this case I will target the timber between feeding and bedding. South facing open timber ridges can also be good option deer often feed in these areas never coming in the open. Biggest thing pay attention to sign. I can’t tell you how many spots I have found just by paying attention to tracks on the side of the road and just following the main game trail to see where they are going and why. I like older timber and mixed timber. Look for natural feeding areas

But I am not like most I hate cut blocks and actually abandon areas once logging happens in the area. I would have avoided basically every spot in your pictures. I know they will attract 90% of hunters and when pressure hits daytime movement becomes limited. So my opinion matches my style of hunting which not everyone will agree with

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Originally Posted by Wild one

...But I am not like most I hate cut blocks and actually abandon areas once logging happens in the area. I would have avoided basically every spot in your pictures. I know they will attract 90% of hunters and when pressure hits daytime movement becomes limited. So my opinion matches my style of hunting which not everyone will agree with

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Thanks for the advice, as always!

I'm fast starting to dislike the cut blocks... I like being far away from others, and I don't mind putting a hike in to get there. I just need to get a little more confident in my back country skills in case things go sideways... I almost always have my pack full @ 30 or so pounds including first aid, water, and other supplies... I'll e-scout some online maps and look for less desirable places... problem is, in Kelowna we're surrounded by almost nothing but cut blocks...

It’s not about hiking far and you don’t have to go far to get away from others. If there is no trail, opening, road, pipeline or any form of defined path most don’t even consider it. If you are walking into the timber without openings a KM off the road and 80% are gone. Put some form of waterway between you and the road you eliminate even more. Hike in without using a FSR or short go no where road off pavement to start and it also eliminates other hunters

Hiking into the backcountry actually attracts more people than mid range timber hunting in my opinion because you can scout alpine with sat photos, the trails and once you break tree line it’s easier to see far off destinations.