Hail Mary next weekend.

[VFX_man]

Hello collective, going to try and make one last run up to Region 3 for the closing of the deer season on Dec 10th.

Am set to try a Hail Mary and do some things I've not tried before.

With my Primary focus being on the 4 or 5 WT bucks that I know are hanging out within 5km of the cabin - with 2 big nocturnal bucks.


This is what I'm contemplating . . .
1) Acuired some rattling horns
2) Picked up a Primos Bottleneck deer call
3) Dragging along my Primos can Estrus Doe Bleats
4) Have doe Estrus scent as well

So my thought is to pretty much stage a deer �� P-tay in the woods using all 3 and see if any one wants to crash it. ;)

Not even sure they are still in the rut, but figured I might as well try something.

Question: I have a tree stand in the thick private land woods near a mineral lick. It gets some random visits from the bucks, but has more does on the camera at it. Do I rattle and party down there? OR go to a couple of other spots I've seen bucks that has a more open and higher vantage point that would allow the dance party sounds to carry further?

Note: After watching a few real life deer fight videos, realized I heard this in the distance from the tree stand a few weeks ago. Just was not sure what it was at the time.

Any comments are appreciated.

I'm also betting $$$ that I'll see a bull moose now that my leh expired! :(

Cheers, VFX

[walks with deer]

go for it...not going to get them at home...
hell i will rattle for you saturday morning...now if i can only find some antlers..
from what i saw you have a good whitetail pocket there.

[Rob]

there still rutting. I would plan on them being on the move. Sitting still and waiting whilst rattling may be a good idea. If the snow is still crunchy its likely the noise will give you away before seeing any deer.

Good luck, Rob

[Ryo]

I’ve had late season luck over South-facing reprod on a frosty mornings.

I’d still hunt through known or likely bedding areas during the midday silence.

And i’d shift areas and call aggressively in the evening.

That’s just me... I can’t spend a whole day in a stand.

[bigredchev]

The snow is very crunchy and loud. If suggest holding tight in a blind especially if it has animals coming in to it already. No point looking for new sources of game if you already have customers at the salt licks.

[VFX_man]

go for it...not going to get them at home...
hell i will rattle for you saturday morning...now if i can only find some antlers..
from what i saw you have a good whitetail pocket there.

You wanting to head up on Saturday mid-day/evening?

[walks with deer]

sent you a text.

[VFX_man]

I’ve had late season luck over South-facing reprod on a frosty mornings.

I’d still hunt through known or likely bedding areas during the midday silence.

And i’d shift areas and call aggressively in the evening.

That’s just me... I can’t spend a whole day in a stand.

Thanks everyone for the ideas, will be good to focus on WT only -- instead of hunting too many options.

Attached is one of the areas I am thinking about hitting.

I know there has been activity in the area based on a few weeks ago [Buck Snort] and 2 years ago my hunting buddies pass on a buck since it was 300 yards out and they were not comfortable with taking that shot. Had a camera near the ridgestand, but only captured does.

The new insight looking at the map was seeing that upper "hidden" wooded valley along the creek. Might be worth a slow stroll up it since I know there is a monster WT in the area that does some 2 am visits to the mineral lick that's about 2km away.

Also had a trail camera pickup a couple of smaller WT bucks near the lower right lake [of course heard a massive wood knock by that lake this year, so . . . I'll be cautious].


https://i.imgur.com/fA62FMa.jpg

[chris]

I have a dumb question. What is a wood knock?

[VFX_man]

I have a dumb question. What is a wood knock?

Wellllll, not a dumb question . . . but there is not a definitive answer to what the source is.

Basically, take a wooden baseball bat and swing as hard as you can at a tree. The resulting sound is what we heard -- "Wood Knock".

There were no other "people" in the area. It was not a natural sound and it was about 50 yards off to the left of us in thick brush, no wind and definitely not a falling tree/branch. Was in spring, so the deer were still in early in velvet, so not them tearing up a tree.

I heard this once before near Loon Lake -- after I shot my single shot .22 two times in semi-rapid succession checking sighting, I got a whack whack reply almost immediately. Only 1 other hunter was seen that day and not near us and no wind.

So, depends on what you believe.