Living in the city - how do you do it?

[TheObserver]

For me there's always an elk trip up to northern bc, I don't care how much the gas is I'll always go; although I have thought about hunting region 3 or 8 for elk but have never tried.

For blacktail deer I head up the sea to sky since I'm in East Van, sometimes the alarm goes off at 2:30am since I want to get into an area in the dark. Returning home in the dark, it makes for a long day. If you're hunting blacktail find the old growth, google search BCTS maps and OGMA maps, the visibility is a lot better than in regrown forests. I've never rattled a buck in but I keep trying, maybe I need to use the bleat can.

As for how to hunt it, it's been mentioned on here before. 3 quiet steps, stop, look, repeat. It's painfully slow but one of two things will happen, you'll see a deer walking or you'll look up from your 3 steps and a deer will be looking at you, it was probably bedded and stood up.

Elk are not open in region 3.....

[caddisguy]

Thanks for all the insights so far, all! Particularly the points on learning to hunt timber and the thick stuff - sounds like that's a challenge I'll have to accept for the time being, until I can get our further or deeper for longer. And it's no wonder I've been having a rough go - all I've tried so far is the Fraser Valley hah!

Follow up question: How does one actually hunt the thick stuff? I'm half decent at identifying good habitat and even better at finding, identifying and following sign (tracks, droppings, beds, etc.), but I can't bring myself to feel confident that I'll connect when I can only see 20 yards in front of me, and I want to try a different approach from what I am used to in the east (hanging a stand and cutting shooting lanes). Calling? Rattling? Waiting? I'll do my reading, but curious to get some opinions.

You should be able to find something a little more open. If we're talking BT's, while they can also be found in super thick stuff (ie: can't see for more than 20 yards) I generally stick to hilly, less thick, mossy covered old growth rain forest with ferns, salal.

I'll poke into these areas and look for obvious signs... logical pathways through the timber, up hills, along ridges for well used trails where they cut right down from the moss to the dirt, rotten dead fall that has been stepped on so many times it's down to a pulp. Then I look for smaller sign like actual deer tracks.

In this terrain, and how I hunt it, while I might not be able to see wide open view in all directions due to obstacles (trees, rocks, hills) I have "windows" (you might think of them as lanes) of views. Some I can see, 30, 40, 50, maybe even 70 yards. Now the thing is, the windows change every step or two that you take. So if I take a few steps, now the picture changes. Some things I could see before, I can no longer see. But I can see things I did not see before. That is good motivation (and one of many reasons) to move slowly. Take a few steps, maybe lean up against a tree, study the view for a minute or two (or 10 if you want) and repeat. Look for white throat patches, tail / ear flicks, etc. It's easy to be staring right at a deer 30 yards and not even realise it. They blend in very well and can often be obstructed. When they're bedded in the rain forest, super easy to miss too. You might just see the top of a head poking up on the other side of a log.

Sometimes (last week of October to last week of November) I'll mix in some rattling or can call.

[TheObserver]

Op get into hunting Black tailed Deer, they are my favourite out of the 3 present a good challenge but are rewarding when you get them!

[Bugle M In]

Yup, if you want to get out living down here, then it’s BT you have to target.
And there have been a few members (don’t see them on here anymore) who took some dandies!
Snd honestly, if you can consistently take BT down here, you become a part of an elite group, imo.
Its not easy hunting, but some folks figure it out.

[MichelD]

Like jamfarm, I once used to do long day trips but they were exhausting. I nodded off on the Stanley Park causeway one time coming off the bridge and woke up with my right front wheel up on the curb. Whipped the truck back into the lane beore I hit a lamppost. Yikes! Decided to do overnighters in the back of the truck. It's much better to wake up right on the spot an hour before sunrise anyway.

As far as thick stuff and lots of other road hunters, the last four deer I got (3 in region 2) were all about 200 yards off the road within earshot of the quads and trucks going by. All those drivers of course were hoping to see a deer on the road. But that's not where they were.

A friend has been kind enough to let me use his tree stand in a good loaction and I have learned a lot about blacktail behaviour observing from it.

Those deer are wary! They don't often walk merrily through the bush without paying attention. They take a step, stop, look, listen, then maybe take another step, and so on. Usually it is the lead doe, the oldest one in the group and the others follow. Younger does will follow the boss doe, but not blindly. The only ones who are perhaps not so observant are the young of the year, following mom.

Pretty hard to sneak up on critters ike that. You have to be stealthier than them.

[Arctic Lake]

If not mistaken the definition of “ Still Hunting “ is what you are describing .
Arctic Lake

[caddisguy]

Like jamfarm, I once used to do long day trips but they were exhausting. I nodded off on the Stanley Park causeway one time coming off the bridge and woke up with my right front wheel up on the curb. Whipped the truck back into the lane beore I hit a lamppost. Yikes! Decided to do overnighters in the back of the truck. It's much better to wake up right on the spot an hour before sunrise anyway.

That's how we roll. Drive in on the Friday night, wake up Saturday morning, start hunting right out of camp. The timber I start hunting in is about 50 yards from where we sleep in the jeep. My wife and I have actually both shot deer while making coffee right where we camp. I prefer to go after them in the timber but if those rutting zombie bucks want to come to us that's fine too

We generally hunt for an hour or two on Sunday morning, then pack up and head home. Repeat every weekend possible... nice to get out for the long weekends, or take an extra day off to make those 2-nighter trips into 3 or 4 nighter. The more time you spend out there, the better the odds. And it's not going out of may way. Even if I wasn't into hunting, I'd be camping out in the bush anyway. It's what we like to do.

[jamfarm]

Elk are not open in region 3.....

Ah yes, I guess I was thinking Princeton is in region 3... I never hunt out that way.

[gab]

I focus on hunting the thick stuff for blacktails on Vancouver Island. I set-up trail cameras weeks before the beginning of archery season (August 25th), bait with apples and monitor the trail camera photos. Two or three weeks before August 25th, I know which areas have the most deer activity and set-up my tree stand. I have had far greater success sitting in a tree than scanning clear-cuts.

[bandit]

The further you drive the better the game:hunter ratio is. You just need to find where the trade off works for you. For me personally I’ve have way more success on the few 10 hour trips I did compared with dozens of 3-4 hour trips.