Going for a Whitey

[Hunter4life]

Im going to try and find a whitetail on the long weekend, in regoin 8-5, thats the plan so far at least, anyways i have never hunted for them before. So i am wondering if anyone could tell some stratiges that they know of. As of now the only plan i have is to park the truck and walk aimlessly looking for a white flag but if anyone wants to share ANYTHING it would be very much appreciated.

thanks for your help

hunter4life

[brotherjack]

This, is something I'm usually pretty good at. Here's my tips and "things to know" - by no means complete, and maybe not even the best, but it's worked for me. :)

Ok, first, in my experience, unlike elk and such, whitetails don't wander too much unless pressured (by food, the rut, you, predators, whatever). That means, if you see antlers - try not to spook it too bad, and hunt the heck out of that general area. Every whitetail buck my wife or I have ever gotten we've seen on at least two different occasions before we got to shoot (or arrow) it, and we took every one within half a mile of the first place we saw it (and all but one of them within 20 yards of the first place we saw it, but hours or days later).

The dreaded white flag: even if you spook the whitetail, it probably will NOT head for the distant hills like a mulie or elk will. It'll get good and away from you mostly likely, but it probably won't go more than 100 yards once it gets out of your sight (and it will probably change direction once it gets out of your sight). If you have one running, get the gun ready - relatively often, I have seen a whitetail stop, turn to present the quartering away shot, and look at me right before it takes those last 3 steps that will cary it out of sight. Also, a loud whistle or a buck grunter will also frequently stop the deer just long enough to take a shot. Once the deer gets out of sight and you haven't shot it, GIVE IT TIME TO CALM DOWN! Half an hour or more is good. If you barge right after it, no mater how slow and stealthy you creep, it's probably looking right at you, and will white-flag you again, and you'll be back to square one (and if you do this to the deer two or three times in a row, it'll decide you're serious, and leave the area).

Water, water, water. I like water. Deer must have water, food, and shelter. Food and shelter can be a pretty wide variety of places. Water is usually in limited supply, and can help you quickly narrow a gazillion acres of crown land down to a a few small areas of very likely territory. I do recommend that you check the tracks and sign around the water hole area before you setup and wait for your deer - I've seen some spots I think would be ideal water holes, but the critters haven't shared my opinion. The idea is, moving whitetails are huntable - bedded ones are not, and feeding ones can be hard to find. So water is the best bet (IMHO) for the '5 minute decision' as to where to hunt a place you've never been.


Anyway, other folks will no doubt have a lot of good stuff to say too that I haven't covered - but that's the gist of how the wife and I hunt whitetail, and we've been pretty successful at it, with both rifle and bow.

Oh, and get some good scent-killer (WildlifeResearch stuff works, but I'm sure others would too), and blast your boots well before you stomp through their territory. You can get away with just watching the wind to keep them from smelling you, but the critters don't like people-smell on their game trails. :)

[ruger#1]

hunter when i was up at goose lake, i seen a nice whitetail doe, maybe try a doe call and some rattling with some antlers, it is early but it might work they are a curios creature. keep an eye out for elk in that area.

[todbartell]

wind in your face, sun at yor back

[mark]

try and dumpem before they jump into the farmers feild, if not drag real fast! :lol: