Alternatives to road hunting?

[Pinewood]

Hi guys,

I am a new hunter. I'm trying to figure out how I can hunt more effectively than simply driving around logging roads aimlessly. I like to hike and have no problem doing the hard footwork but I have a voice in the back of my mind constantly telling me not to get too far away or packing out/dragging is going to really suck. So what do you guys do? Do you set up in a block and wait? Sit on the side of a game trail? Track fresh sign on foot? How long is a good amount of time to wait in one spot not seeing anything before moving on? Or do you just drive....?

Thanks for any replies.

[Glenny]

I have a few honey holes that always produce. Some close and easy drag and some not.Maybe try getting out and following the edges of cuts, or the middle of cuts in dips. You pretty well gotta go where they are so if you are a ways from the truck you can quarter or gutless method it and pack it out a piece at a time. Or get a quad.:)

[scotty30-06]

Tree stands....spot and stalk....or wait a little off a game trail....all works awesome

[TheProvider]

All depends on what your hunting. I love to be as far from roads as possible. If your going this way get yourself a good pack and watch a few videos on the gutless method and deboning. That way you don't have to worry about a long drag and can go much father.

Still hunting and spot and stalking are my two favorite methods of hunting. Can incorporate calling with still hunting. Great way to see new terrain and find honey holes.

[Pinewood]

I spent Friday, Saturday and this morning up in 8-6 and 8-8 and the only times I saw deer was when I was out of the truck. I spooked a bunch of bedded down does on top of a mountain when the wind was howling but I never even knew they were there until they jumped up and ran. I watched one doe walk down to a little lake along the top edge of a cut block so I followed her tracks and found nothing in there except for a Grouse. I was really surprised at the nothing I saw all weekend. Could the nasty weather have put them off and kept them bedded down? I never saw a Buck in 3 days!

[Salty]

That's why they call it hunting and not gathering Pinewood. lol. Hey you're seeing animals you're doing something right. Your odds start going up when you learn areas well that have deer in them. I've been hunting for quite a while but still have to force myself sometimes to fight the urge to give up on a spot too quick. I find the more I learn about an area, where all the hidey holes and different little pockets are the more I see animals. I think its best to concentrate on a few favorite spots rather than like you say drive around aimlessly.

[Whonnock Boy]

Learn how to debone and pack out. It is not that hard, both deboning and packing. Even if you have to make a couple trips, it is better than going home empty handed.

[two-feet]

If you get out in the bush for 3 days, its great. If you see animals, even better. If you harvest, its a special trip that you wont forget. Dont think that because some of the guys on here are cutting multiple tags it is a gimmee, some of these guys are killers that have been putting in the time for decades. If you have not got something by your third year start to worry

[Thatguy]

I have the same issue as Salty, and agree 100% with what he said. When I was a kid, my dad used to drive me nuts by walking slowly and sitting on the same old trails day in and day out once he found a lot of sign, but it always produced. I've always been tempted to explore more and see what's around the next corner, but nowadays I try to stay more patient and leave the scouting for the offseason for the most part.

[morphiend]

Pinewood, I'm pretty new to hunting and found a lot of value in Steve Rienella's book "The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game: Volume 1: Big Game" Learnt a lot from that book. Well worth the money in my mind.

[Jelvis]

Hey Pine how are yah? Just so happens you got lucky, my step brah Nor River was here and I asked him the same questions you did for you, and wrote them down after the rock left for training. ----------------------
1. Alternates to road hunting is off road hunting
2. New hunters can learn how to hunt by reading and experience.
3. If you don't know where your going, you ain't going to find it.
4. If you fail to plan, your planning to fail
5. When driving around bush back roads, look out your side windows and front angles for any sign of an animal, ears, back line, tail wiggle, whiter rump and much more
6. If you get turned around in bush and trees and vegetation real easy and it makes you feel uncomfortable study topo maps and compass directions. Like seeing a birds eye view.
7. You work physically hard when gutting, dragging so if your lazy it will be fearful as well.
8. Go in the bush after you parked to hunt a spot, take compass direction of the road your on.
9. If you only want the meat, drive roads in the early morning and towards dark.
10. You want a chance at a bigger buck save a mule tag for late season rut.
11. Only walk and hunt a comfortable distance for you, then slow right down, walk in a circle around the truck when you go instead of just away from the truck. Then you can sit a minute and listen hard, for the sound of an animal.
12. When you see a deer trail in the bush, mark it in your note book if it's a well used generational trail. Where it was, so you can find it and expand your adventurous search for the bad boy.
13. Sit once and a while for a couple minutes, place yourself by a rock or stump to cover your outline and don't sit on top of the ridge top, sit just under the top. If your on top you sky line your body to the deer and they see you when you moved. Move very quiet and slow then stop just like a statue, slow movement with the head and eyes side to side very slow and focused. Then move on slowly looking around you.
14. Look at the edges of blocks and or walk around them and find at least two good trails.
15. Try to hunt with someone who loves hunting like you, drive and hike, drive and hike and go with each other a few times to a spot you both found together.
16. You will have a better chance at getting a big buck out in the bush then in your house.
Jel -- Thanks to you know who -- the Wanna B Jocko

[tomahawk]

I never drive unless I'm going to walk or sit an area I cant get to quickly from camp. I know the area's I hunt for the most part and know where they like to move through them and sit or stand for as long as I can stay warm and dry as no noise and movement gives you the best chance of surprising your prey and a harvest. Walk trails or skid roads that can be driven or where you can get a game cart in if you drop one.

[Jelvis]

I forgot one that rocko told me b4 he left, he said, " Hunt in snow Joe, then you follow your tracks back, to your truck. " The best would be in November @ 2000 feet and above in the mountains by Kamloops.
The snow fell the night b4, about four inches of not fluffy and not real wet snow, but quiet and little moist, perfect conditions, shows the exact track impressions, stopped snowing around mid night last night and it's cloudy now but clearing the next early morning. If this happens to happen, drive out a ways from town, maybe a hour max one way, park, walk on a ridge, pick the biggest widest muley track you come across and go until you kick his butt outta bed. He will be watching his back trail a bit too. Once you jump him out of his bed, as you follow, you will see where he was laying when he got the drift or saw some movement, deer go by movement. Now it's cat and mouse, you have to think b4 hand what direction is he going? Don't go there follow track for track til you can look farther ahead.
--- The rock knows bo -- he told me the BC Wild Life made Dec 10th in gos 4 point mule bucks in 3, so hunters could hunt in snow. That's a show of hunting class and a thanks to pro bio's in bc and diligent conservation strategy with empathy to the mule deer tracker --

Jelly ( the Barbarian ) A day without smiling is a day wasted -- Dazed and Confused :???:

[Pinewood]

Thanks guys for some good replies. I'm going to check out that meat eater book, I've heard good things about it a few times now.

[Shawn Smith]

Definitely get out of your truck to me that's not even hunting to be honest I've wondered why you see guys that only road hunting wearing camo. Spend time walking the bush look for sign try to find tracks, droppings, rubs and areas where they are feeding on vegetation. Set up game cameras so you can find out just what's in the area and help you determine how many animals in the area. If you want to get away from other hunters not many people beat the bush anymore most road hunt whether in their truck or on a quad.

[caddisguy]

I have found road hunting useful for locating areas that hold muley bucks or moose... it's a decent way to start scouting a new area especially if there's a timeline. For me driving is a way to scout and cover a lot of ground to figure out a start point. There's certainly no shortage of bucks that have been taken by road hunting, so I can't knock it other than to say I don't find it as exciting... all the driving and rubber-necking and just sitting in a car all day drives me squirrely and I get tired of it quickly. I feel impaired relying on vision alone, unable to hear or spot other sign like tracks, rubs, etc.

I like to feel the nature and take it all in. Having to bone out a deer and pack out 60-100lbs (30-50 if there's two of you) of meat 5-10kms seems like a small price to pay, even if you connect at last light and have to work into the dark.

If you know an area that holds deer, park and hike. If you don't have a reliable area, scout around and driving can be a part of that. If you're hunting for animals like blacktails and bears in Region 2, road hunting/scouting probably won't be very useful though. For bears, know what they eat and when, then go there and look for sign. For blacktails, pick a mountain and start hiking, find trails, poop, rubs, and enjoy being outwitted lol

I do give the disclaimer that I am one of the worlds lousiest hunters, but I do believe the above advice (as well as the rest of the advice on this thread) is pretty sound!! Best of luck this season :)

[jbruce]

hunt uphill,drag down.

[budismyhorse]

You need a mentor buddy!

If you don't know a friend who hunts..... Head down to the local Macdonalds and start asking old guys with camo hats for tips.... Ask about the good old days....older hunters are pretty willing to pass it on

[luckofthedraw]

Always hike into the wind and keep the sun at your back. Throw out the plan for the day. I used to make a plan for the day, and stick to it. I find if you play the sun, wind and cards the forest deals you are far more likely to be successful.

[Jelvis]

lucky draw, hey, not following a plan is ok if your by yourself hunting, if your with some other guys or gals out for the day hunting deer, you plan together and stick to it, or get kicked off the team next time if you don't learn this time. Working together with a day plan for a hunt.
Jello -- solo hunt your free to roam, with others it's know your dam role and shut the pie hole.

[Fella]

I spent Friday, Saturday and this morning up in 8-6 and 8-8 and the only times I saw deer was when I was out of the truck. I spooked a bunch of bedded down does on top of a mountain when the wind was howling but I never even knew they were there until they jumped up and ran. I watched one doe walk down to a little lake along the top edge of a cut block so I followed her tracks and found nothing in there except for a Grouse. I was really surprised at the nothing I saw all weekend. Could the nasty weather have put them off and kept them bedded down? I never saw a Buck in 3 days!

What I'd say is to hike hard till you get to a general area you want to hunt then slow way down. When you think you're moving slow enough, slow down some more. Then take a few steps, stop and slowly raise your binos and look around. Look twice. Actually, look three times. And don't look for whole animals, look for ears, noses and asses. And listen. Stand still, slow your heart down if it's racing and then just stand or sit for awhile. You might hear something moving in the woods, that could be a deer.

[bwerb]

Thanks for the awesome tips. I'd love to go hunting every day...that whole work thing unfortunately gets in the way. I should have started this years ago...it is just amazing seeing all the signs and wondering what's around the next corner or over the ridge. We live in a beautiful province, getting out of the truck and seeing it up close is the way to go for me.

[luckofthedraw]

lucky draw, hey, not following a plan is ok if your by yourself hunting, if your with some other guys or gals out for the day hunting deer, you plan together and stick to it, or get kicked off the team next time if you don't learn this time. Working together with a day plan for a hunt.
Jello -- solo hunt your free to roam, with others it's know your dam role and shut the pie hole.


Roger. Glad you brought that up. Made that mistake last year by not following the plan with a buddy. Can be dangerous. The other guys have no idea what you're thinking.

[Jelvis]

Your learning fast lucky draw, on HBC and sharing real good and we all dig that hunter.
Your a valuable member no doubt, keep sharing and receiving the wisdom and hands on.
Jel -- Thanks for bringing that up lucky draw

[twoSevenO]

Hi guys,

I am a new hunter. I'm trying to figure out how I can hunt more effectively than simply driving around logging roads aimlessly. I like to hike and have no problem doing the hard footwork but I have a voice in the back of my mind constantly telling me not to get too far away or packing out/dragging is going to really suck. So what do you guys do? Do you set up in a block and wait? Sit on the side of a game trail? Track fresh sign on foot? How long is a good amount of time to wait in one spot not seeing anything before moving on? Or do you just drive....?

Thanks for any replies.

as a new hunter who's been learning from his own mistakes through trial and error the last few years here's my advice to you:

- Most deer are not going to want to hang around main logging roads unless they really have to. So the more you worry about how close you are to your truck the more good hunting ground you're gonna pass up. Get a backpack and keep these items in it at all times for when you shoot a deer away from your truck: several garbage bags for meat, half dozen pair of medical rubber gloves. 30ft of rope, small saw (leatherman/swiss army saws work fine), and small kit with bandaids and antiseptic wipes (in case you nick yourself gutting the deer). All of this stuff is super light and useful to have in your pack at all times. Never know when you'll need it. Oh, and a headlamp! Sometimes it'll be dark by the time you make your second trip for the other half of the deer. Last deer i dragged out was 1/4 mile from the nearest ATV trail and i won't be doing that again. I'd just make two trips instead and just do the gutless method in a case like this.
- Tracking "fresh sign" is a waste of your time. As a newbie you probably don't know what actually fresh sign means, unless there is snow. I know i didn't. And even if you do, tracking behind them will just keep them moving in front of you. I advise to just find areas that look like they hold deer and quietly make your way through. The does you spooked up were bedded down. So use your binoculars every few steps and look for bits of an animal. You're almost never going to see a whole deer bedded down. You might see an antler, an ear, a tail etc. Look for details. Walk quietly and be prepared. Sometimes a buck will let you get within 60 yards before he gets up from his bed.
(What i mean by areas that "hold deer" would be spots away from roads where you can see sign of them hanging around there not just passing through. Look for tree rubs, droppings, prints and of course deer themselves. Look for bedded down deer and look as far as you can see. The buck you see 1km away could be where you're standing by morning).
- Setting up in a cut block and waiting only really works, in my experience, early in the morning or late at night. I'll do it in the morning and wait till it gets light out, but most often at the end of the hunt and wait it out till the sun goes down. That's when i see them moving around. During the day i find the deer generally bed down and i have to go look for them. In the evening, i generally wait for them to come to me.
- Avoid the really thick bush. If you can't see through the thick and low-hanging branches, what's the point? i've been in areas with tons of signs and making your way through while listening to deer hop away 30-40 yards away and not being able to see them through the thick stuff is extremely frustrating. It's also very easy to get lost when you can't see much more than 50 yards in any direction.
- I wouldn't follow the does too much. Unless it's November and the rut is on, the bucks won't really be near any does and the does aren't likely to take you to them.


You're mostly going to learn through trial and error. What seems like a good idea now might turn out to be a complete waste of time in a few years when you think back. It's part of the process. So try different things and put as much time into it as you can if you really want to improve.

Alternatively, find someone who's been doing this for a while and is willing to share an area they know holds deer, then spend time learning their patterns and the terrain.

Good luck!

[Fella]

I'd caution against using garbage bags to haul meat out. They aren't breathable so you won't have any airflow over your meat and they also have a bunch of chemicals in them that could leach into your meat. Better to buy a bunch of old pillow cases from a thrift store.

[twoSevenO]

I'd caution against using garbage bags to haul meat out. They aren't breathable so you won't have any airflow over your meat and they also have a bunch of chemicals in them that could leach into your meat. Better to buy a bunch of old pillow cases from a thrift store.

they've worked fine for years of hauling fish in them from the river to the cooler. No, they're not breathable, but how long are you going to keep the meat in there really?

To each their own but i prefer not to have any left over blood leaking into my backpack.

[czechsanchez]

I'm a newer hunter and just went on a hunting trip with co-workers to the dee lake area. Almost everybody got does, but all they did was drive around until they saw them and then got out to shoot. I spent my days hiking clearcuts, being mindful of wind direction etc... easily covering 20km a day.

I went home with nothing but a few grouse.

Is it weird not to want to road hunt deer? I felt like the odd man out.

[Jelvis]

Who wants to sweat their ass off on a pick up seat and the guy driving turns the heat up to max, and he's got a cashmere sweater on and's a chain smoker.
I'd rather drive out 45 minutes and park in a proven spot and start hunting on my own feet.
You know your going to catch a look see.
Jel -- Every hunter is different too, I prefer hiking for deer, driving for moose.

[300H&H]

For me I always try to keep in mind the distance I am away from the truck because I hunt alone.
The farther from the truck I get...the bigger the deer has to be for me to shoot it.
I just figure I want it to really be worth my while if I have to hump out a deer.

One video that greatly helped me was Jim Shockeys first VHS tape.
He is a big advocate of "still hunting"....I am too.

[cjmc.chris]

this is noted

[Lucky 7]

I got the biggest buck of my life last year roading hunting. My wife was beside and was able to drive within 30 feet of it.

[270ruger]

Just find someone who gets deer and follow them to their honey hole.I had a guy following me for the whole weekend after I helped a friend get a nice buck on Saturday and I took the large whitetail doe.Saw us pass by his camp.Guy tailed far behind me on Monday morning and when we emerged from the bush he was parked at my truck glassing us with binos to see where we came out from,he said he found our gut piles but couldn't figure out where we took them as we dragged them out from the trail to an open field as to not create a bad situation with an unwary hunter and a predator.Was curt but not rude to him as we left,watched him race towards where we were hunting.

[Sofa King]

Just find someone who gets deer and follow them to their honey hole.I had a guy following me for the whole weekend after I helped a friend get a nice buck on Saturday and I took the large whitetail doe.Saw us pass by his camp.Guy tailed far behind me on Monday morning and when we emerged from the bush he was parked at my truck glassing us with binos to see where we came out from,he said he found our gut piles but couldn't figure out where we took them as we dragged them out from the trail to an open field as to not create a bad situation with an unwary hunter and a predator.Was curt but not rude to him as we left,watched him race towards where we were hunting.

really??
WOW! what an ass.
I'd be soo pissed.

[Jelvis]

I learned to hunt by the best mule deer hunter north of Kammy. He could walk from Little Fort back to Barriere in the bush during the second world war, killing any deer that gave him a chance at a clean kill, as he went and people following his trail to get the deer for food. During the war up jus nor of Kammyzville, my mentor told me, " Couldn't get bullets because the war was using all the material like copper and lead, so the people got to me and said, Hunter, we need food, we got lil meat, and you are the best, so we all got these sshells that we found in our house and barns, so you got a thirdy thirdy and a .308 and an ot 6. We got three, ot six, 8 .308's and 12 thuddy thuddy, whad yah say partner?
They gave him what he needed to hunt with, had two strong men with sharp eyes following on his ass, but far enuff back not to be seen by the deer or moose. Elvin was his name the outdoors was his playground. They drove from Barriere to Little Fart and then the leading three men including Elvin in the lead, plus five strong men and women trudging along in the foot of snow behind to gut, and cut bebone the T bone and carry out on the pack bord or slide on a slippery sled to the meat shed.

[Pinewood]

That's great Jel, thanks.

[HarryToolips]

learn how to navigate so you can get off the road and concentrate on deer/sign with confidence rather than worry... If the sun is out, you can use the solar-watch method and navigate quickly and with ease..if your in thick bush still hunting, use the sun or if it ain't out use your compass every 50 to 100 yards, it'll slow Ya down which you should be doin anyway...if Ya don't get notin it ain't a big deal just make sure your safe and havin fun..