I am a first generation hunter with no family hunting heritage or previous experience. This is my 4th year hunting (started back around 2018 ) and so far I’ve had zero success harvesting any big game. I typically hunt in a group of 3. All of us have no previous hunting experience and are self-taught via reading posts on here/books/internet articles and watching videos. We on average take about 3-4 trips a year ranging from about 5-7 days long. Based on the advice posted here, we always drive 3+ hours out of town (we’re located in the Lower Mainland) and have hunted areas around Princeton, Merritt, and Boston Bar/Lytton.
For spring bear, we usually hunt around the end of May/early June. We’ve seen a couple of bears on the drive into camp but have never had a shot opportunity on one. I think I’ve read every bear related thread on this forum looking for advice: we glass greened up south facing slopes, glass areas with fresh poop, walk old/deactivated FSRs, still hunt through timber - but have never seen a bear. A lot of posts mention they love sunny days which we’ve hunted plenty of too.
When there is an abundance of green grass, how do you narrow down what areas to watch. It seems like a bear could eat in one spot then travel several KMs away never to return.
What do you do when you find fresh-ish poop? Find a spot to glass that area from, leave the area and check it later, try to follow/track where it went? How do you determine if it’s an active feeding area and if it’s likely it’ll come back?
For mule deer hunting in the fall we’ve just never seen a buck. We usually take these trips during the pre and peak rut around the end of Oct to mid Nov. On these hunts we glass cut blocks throughout the day and always at first/last light. Are we just looking in the wrong spots? Should we be looking for specific foods or habitat? How do you know when to move on from an area and what makes a cut block more likely to hold animals?
Sorry for the long winded post and plethora of questions. I’m sure a lot of this has been answered before but it’s hard to translate book knowledge into real world hands on experience. Having said that, we’ve tried as much as possible to learn on our own and be self-sufficient over the last 4 years. I understand hunting is not easy, especially without having a mentor to teach you/tell you what you're doing right and wrong, but getting skunked 4 years in a row is very discouraging. I’m definitely not asking for you to share your honey holes or secret spots - I want to become good enough to find my own. All help and advice is welcome. Cheers
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