BC Whitetail 101

[spock]

So here's my situation. I've hunted whitetail in b.c. for the last 5 or 6 years and a few of those years in alberta as well and been quite successful, even rattling in a 140 class 5 x 6 to my brother while in alberta. I had a good ranch property to hunt on in b.c. but was sold last year and you know how it goes. My question is how do you go about actually "hunting" whitetails on public land in areas like the south okanagan. I was out last week for a few days and found lots of droppings and saw a few does but no bucks. The landscape itself away from agricultural areas and a few clear cuts and gas lines is either thick timber or open timber, what kind of landscape features do you look for what kind of hunting techniques do you use, treestands, groundblinds, still hunting. What role does the migration play and when does it usually happen.

[doubled]

Whiteys usually like the thick stuff. If the rut is going on, get in some thick stuff and put a few drips of scent out, rattle every 20 mintues or so and give a grunt a few times. Keep your eyeballs peeled as they can be HARD to see in some of that crap. Should pull something in.

[GoatGuy]

WT's are not 'wanderers' like muley's. They generally follow trails.

Find trails, find wt's.

Bucks attract does through scrapes.

Find scrapes find bucks.

Take a set of rattling antlers a couple calls and a thermos.

Sit and wait, watch, listen. They'll come by - they have to. Guys just can't turn girls down.

Make sure you're there midday as well.

No time for ham and eggs at this time of year. Take 'em with you.

[hunter1947]

Spock WT are usually where you find them ,I have been in places where I thought there would never be a WT ,but there it was in a place that I least exspected.

WT bucks are moving around lots right now and your chances are good at finding a buck now.

All I can suggest is just cover ground and thats all a hunter can do.
WT are in the same places as mule deer so you do have a chance on getting ether one when out hunting for WT deer.

[sawmill]

What these guys all said.I`m going out in some second growth stuff this weekend where I have seen a LOT of does and we are going to sit and rattle and move REAL slow.Those things are like ghosts,but the bucks are getting a little careless nowGood Luck!

[Islandeer]

As above, remember if still hunting, one step,lean on tree, wait,watch,repeat.

Another trick, hunt your backtrail or at an angle so you can cover it.

find fresh scrapes and rubs, sit hunt this down wind and again angled .

bucks love to run does on timbered ridges.

Find a hot doe or does and stay with them all day. Rattle once in awhile.

A hot doe WILL NOT be with her fawns.

Pray a lot ...... :eek:

[Stone Sheep Steve]

WT's are not 'wanderers' like muley's. They generally follow trails.

Find trails, find wt's.

Bucks attract does through scrapes.

Find scrapes find bucks.

Take a set of rattling antlers a couple calls and a thermos.

Sit and wait, watch, listen. They'll come by - they have to. Guys just can't turn girls down.

Make sure you're there midday as well.

No time for ham and eggs at this time of year. Take 'em with you.

Very sound advice.

Be dressed to sit still all day. I like to hike in an hour before first light and sometimes hike in my long underwear just to avoid getting sweated-up which can get you cold once you sit for long periods of time.

Move less=see more.

I've had a bit of a dry spell. Due for some action soon:?.

SSS

[huntwriter]

As has been said whitetails are not migratory they stick to their territories and use established trails to navigate terrain. Whitetails are edge animals, meaning they prefer edges to travel. Edge is anything where two structures meet such as pine and aspen, the border of a thicket within the forest, where the woodland meet the open and so on.

Look for wooded or brushy fingers leading out in an opening or a small strip of woodland connecting two larger woodlots also overgrown coulees and fencerows are hot travel ways.

While there are many ways to hunt whitetails the treestand remains the most successful to ambush a deer. What I often do in cold wintertime is a tactic that I for lack of a better word call still-stand-hunting. I scout out several stand locations based on active doe movement. I may hunt a stand for an hour or two, depending on temperature and then move on to the next stand.

When I move to the next stand I still hunt, moving slowly along active deer travel trails. With this method I hunt all day long and maybe as many as five to six stands. This has worked very well for me especially during the rut where a buck can show up anywhere at any time. At each stand location I may call or use scent or a combination of both depending on the situation.

In this case I do not use treestands but use natural blinds. That can be a deadfall tree or a few branches strategically placed to break my outline up or I simply stand or sit behind a large tree trunk.

Another area that usually gets a lot of whitetail traffic are places near farms and ranches where deer cross over from pubic land to private land to feed on alfalfa fields and other agricultural crop. Then in the morning they move back on to public land using cover such as mention above.

Good luck

[huntwriter]

Find scrapes find bucks.

Personally I never had much luck hunting near scrapes and I do not know of many whitetail hunters that shot a buck near a scrape, and the ones that did may have sat over a scrape for days and weeks.

A whitetail buck can make as many as twenty and more scrapes within his territory. The buck may visit the scrapes sometimes or never again. There is no way to determine when the buck will visit a particular scrape a hunter may sit near a scrape for weeks and never see a buck. By the way did you know that does make scrapes too? and that both sexes visit each others scrapes at times?

Scrapes and rubs do not figure in to where I set up a stand. All they tell me is that there are bucks in a given. How many bucks or what size they are cannot be seen from the scrapes. I have seen forkhorns make scrapes the size of a car hood and monsters make scrapes the size of a dinner plate. The same holds true for rubs, the size of a rub is no real indication of the size of the buck that made them.

Now a signpost rub is a different story they get my attention. A signpost rub is a rub that is refreshed every year, sometimes for generations, and as the name indicates marks a particular spot such as a crossing or an important trail intersection. Usually you will find nearby such rubs a rub line or several leading from different trails to that signpost rub. If you find such an area set up a stand nearby and you’re almost guaranteed to see bucks. But again it is not an idicater of how many bucks an area has or how big they are, but you will see bucks.

Rub lines are an indicator of what direction the buck is traveling. Example. If the rubs are on the north side of the tree the buck travels in a south bound direction.

[eastkoot]

I could've hooked you up in the backyard last night but he's not a booner for sure !! Poor picture, next time..

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm180/duramaxx/P1020811.jpg

[KevinB]

We need a new noun for that guy..."antibooner"? :biggrin:

[Fisher-Dude]

We need a new noun for that guy..."antibooner"? :biggrin:

Maybe he's a baby booner?

[GoatGuy]

Very sound advice.

Be dressed to sit still all day. I like to hike in an hour before first light and sometimes hike in my long underwear just to avoid getting sweated-up which can get you cold once you sit for long periods of time.

Move less=see more.

I've had a bit of a dry spell. Due for some action soon:?.

SSS

Hike in is just fleece pants and a jacket. Sitting is 2 pair LJ's, fleece pants and sleeping bag also swap the hiking boots out for felt packs.

11:00 today, 5X4 came through checking the scrapes, buddy was keen so he's now got steaks.:biggrin:

[Fisher-Dude]

Hike in is just fleece pants and a jacket. Sitting is 2 pair LJ's, fleece pants and sleeping bag also swap the hiking boots out for felt packs.

11:00 today, 5X4 came through checking the scrapes, buddy was keen so he's now got steaks.:biggrin:

Did Buttshot finally crack some cap?

[GoatGuy]

Personally I never had much luck hunting near scrapes and I do not know of many whitetail hunters that shot a buck near a scrape, and the ones that did may have sat over a scrape for days and weeks.

A whitetail buck can make as many as twenty and more scrapes within his territory. The buck may visit the scrapes sometimes or never again. There is no way to determine when the buck will visit a particular scrape a hunter may sit near a scrape for weeks and never see a buck. By the way did you know that does make scrapes too? and that both sexes visit each others scrapes at times?

Scrapes and rubs do not figure in to where I set up a stand. All they tell me is that there are bucks in a given. How many bucks or what size they are cannot be seen from the scrapes. I have seen forkhorns make scrapes the size of a car hood and monsters make scrapes the size of a dinner plate. The same holds true for rubs, the size of a rub is no real indication of the size of the buck that made them.

Now a signpost rub is a different story they get my attention. A signpost rub is a rub that is refreshed every year, sometimes for generations, and as the name indicates marks a particular spot such as a crossing or an important trail intersection. Usually you will find nearby such rubs a rub line or several leading from different trails to that signpost rub. If you find such an area set up a stand nearby and you’re almost guaranteed to see bucks. But again it is not an idicater of how many bucks an area has or how big they are, but you will see bucks.

Rub lines are an indicator of what direction the buck is traveling. Example. If the rubs are on the north side of the tree the buck travels in a south bound direction.

As far as I understand scrapes are how bucks attract does. Part of white-tailed behaviour due to evolution.

That's how they find eachother, pretty much the exact opposite of mule deer.

Seems to work for me. I don't put much faith in rubs as they seem to be fairly inconsistent and have seen several bucks rub for several reasons.

The scrapes we hunt are formed every year and quite a few bucks check them. It seems to work for me.:wink:

[1/2 slam]

Very sound advice.

Be dressed to sit still all day. I like to hike in an hour before first light and sometimes hike in my long underwear just to avoid getting sweated-up which can get you cold once you sit for long periods of time.

Move less=see more.

I've had a bit of a dry spell. Due for some action soon:?.

SSS


Also good advice. Be prepared to sit. I hunted the praries for 14 years. Almost all were shot sitting. A few were aslo shot on drives.

[GoatGuy]

Did Buttshot finally crack some cap?

Nope, he was sleeping in the truck.

Big night out! :grin:

[Fisher-Dude]

Nope, he was sleeping in the truck.

Big night out! :grin:

I shoulda known! :razz: