Woodchuck Dan
11-25-2023, 09:50 PM
Hi Folks,
Quite pleased to say that I managed to get a whitetail during my first season hunting.
Took about 8 or 9 solid days this November - It's been a ride of me trying to learn as much as I can and find good areas with no previous scouting information (or really knowing what I was doing) - I've had a harem of elk + a bull walk by me within 10 yards, been traumatized by more grouse than I can count, had a close encounter with a moose, several mule deer pass by (out of season), and saw the backs of 5 or 6 whitetails.
Typically a day out for me would be trying to sit or still-hunt in the morning, spend the afternoon scouting, and then sit somewhere or still-hunt in the last light of the day. I have no stands so this was all done on the ground. I would try to leave a week between hunting an area and scouting it.
Today was my second last day I could hunt in the season and the weather was good, (low/high -4/3) - I figured I would go to one of the better areas I have found. It requires walking through a regional park to the crown land beyond and is about a 1 - 1.5 hour walk in the dark, gaining maybe 300-400 feet elevation.
I didn't quite make it as far as I would have liked as I hit shooting light but I thought, I'm beyond the hills and into good edge habitat, I might as well hunt here. (I also had bumped a whitetail entering the edge which I figured was a good sign) the ground was slightly frozen and filled with crunchy leaves. I cleared a spot in the leaves to put my stool while hitting my grunt tube, attempting to make it sound like a buck was in the area and was hitting a scrape rather than human noise.
As I get settled a squirrel will not let up on me. Continuously alarm chattering for over twenty minutes. Takes a small break to make the "no longer pissed but predator still in area" noises, and then starts chattering again. At a certain point I think, "asshole." and decide to move. I realize that although there are many trails in this area and I am facing into the wind I had chose the bottom of the area, and I might have better luck with thermals and visibility if I ascend to a small rise.
I slowly make my way there and lean my rifle against a tree to take a piss. I have my pants half undone when a buck runs within 15 yards of me and we are staring at each other. I slowly turn around, slip my ear muffs on and grab my rifle. There is slight cover between us and I wait until the buck's line of sight is hidden before raising the rifle. I get a shot off.
The buck runs about 100 yards before hitting cover. I don't hear him hit the ground hard, and am unsure if it was a clean shot. I wait about 30 minutes before approaching. At the 32 minute mark a seemingly identical buck cruises maybe 50 yards through moderate cover around me. I wonder if I missed entirely and the same deer is coming back around? I raise my rifle and have a sub-par broadside shot, but I don't take it as I am unsure what is happening.
I find the deer roughly where I thought it should be and begin the process of dragging it out of the woods. I had a friend meet me half way, it takes us about 2 - 2.5 hours to drag it to the truck. I'm lucky that my landlord is a generational hunter and he mentored me skinning/quartering the deer. I ended up taking out the bottom of the deer's heart and at least one lung with the round. It was a shoulder shot so I lost some meat in the process.
Been a extremely rewarding and exhausting day. All in took about 13 hours from leaving my house to having the deer fully processed. Definitely stoked that I got a deer my first season and have a few of you to thank for the advice along the way.
- I am curious how much my decision to use my grunt tube and try to mimic a buck scraping influenced those two young bucks to be in the area. The guy definitely came up at me like he expected me to be a deer. Unsure how much this actually influenced anything but will definitely be trying to mask human noises with calling and noise in the future.
https://i.postimg.cc/CR6xBKYy/1.jpg (https://postimg.cc/CR6xBKYy)
https://i.postimg.cc/zV2yW7SP/2.jpg (https://postimg.cc/zV2yW7SP)
https://i.postimg.cc/F7Hf78cL/3.jpg (https://postimg.cc/F7Hf78cL)
https://i.postimg.cc/xX7br5Xb/4.jpg (https://postimg.cc/xX7br5Xb)
Quite pleased to say that I managed to get a whitetail during my first season hunting.
Took about 8 or 9 solid days this November - It's been a ride of me trying to learn as much as I can and find good areas with no previous scouting information (or really knowing what I was doing) - I've had a harem of elk + a bull walk by me within 10 yards, been traumatized by more grouse than I can count, had a close encounter with a moose, several mule deer pass by (out of season), and saw the backs of 5 or 6 whitetails.
Typically a day out for me would be trying to sit or still-hunt in the morning, spend the afternoon scouting, and then sit somewhere or still-hunt in the last light of the day. I have no stands so this was all done on the ground. I would try to leave a week between hunting an area and scouting it.
Today was my second last day I could hunt in the season and the weather was good, (low/high -4/3) - I figured I would go to one of the better areas I have found. It requires walking through a regional park to the crown land beyond and is about a 1 - 1.5 hour walk in the dark, gaining maybe 300-400 feet elevation.
I didn't quite make it as far as I would have liked as I hit shooting light but I thought, I'm beyond the hills and into good edge habitat, I might as well hunt here. (I also had bumped a whitetail entering the edge which I figured was a good sign) the ground was slightly frozen and filled with crunchy leaves. I cleared a spot in the leaves to put my stool while hitting my grunt tube, attempting to make it sound like a buck was in the area and was hitting a scrape rather than human noise.
As I get settled a squirrel will not let up on me. Continuously alarm chattering for over twenty minutes. Takes a small break to make the "no longer pissed but predator still in area" noises, and then starts chattering again. At a certain point I think, "asshole." and decide to move. I realize that although there are many trails in this area and I am facing into the wind I had chose the bottom of the area, and I might have better luck with thermals and visibility if I ascend to a small rise.
I slowly make my way there and lean my rifle against a tree to take a piss. I have my pants half undone when a buck runs within 15 yards of me and we are staring at each other. I slowly turn around, slip my ear muffs on and grab my rifle. There is slight cover between us and I wait until the buck's line of sight is hidden before raising the rifle. I get a shot off.
The buck runs about 100 yards before hitting cover. I don't hear him hit the ground hard, and am unsure if it was a clean shot. I wait about 30 minutes before approaching. At the 32 minute mark a seemingly identical buck cruises maybe 50 yards through moderate cover around me. I wonder if I missed entirely and the same deer is coming back around? I raise my rifle and have a sub-par broadside shot, but I don't take it as I am unsure what is happening.
I find the deer roughly where I thought it should be and begin the process of dragging it out of the woods. I had a friend meet me half way, it takes us about 2 - 2.5 hours to drag it to the truck. I'm lucky that my landlord is a generational hunter and he mentored me skinning/quartering the deer. I ended up taking out the bottom of the deer's heart and at least one lung with the round. It was a shoulder shot so I lost some meat in the process.
Been a extremely rewarding and exhausting day. All in took about 13 hours from leaving my house to having the deer fully processed. Definitely stoked that I got a deer my first season and have a few of you to thank for the advice along the way.
- I am curious how much my decision to use my grunt tube and try to mimic a buck scraping influenced those two young bucks to be in the area. The guy definitely came up at me like he expected me to be a deer. Unsure how much this actually influenced anything but will definitely be trying to mask human noises with calling and noise in the future.
https://i.postimg.cc/CR6xBKYy/1.jpg (https://postimg.cc/CR6xBKYy)
https://i.postimg.cc/zV2yW7SP/2.jpg (https://postimg.cc/zV2yW7SP)
https://i.postimg.cc/F7Hf78cL/3.jpg (https://postimg.cc/F7Hf78cL)
https://i.postimg.cc/xX7br5Xb/4.jpg (https://postimg.cc/xX7br5Xb)