Strategies Help Please

[tonywtc]

Hello Everyone, I am taking my CORE and FPAL at the end this month. I have only ever been out hunting with someone once before and don't know a lot about hunting and I was looking for some advice. I have read a lot of the forums here for a couple of weeks now and have learnt a fair bit already, mostly about gear and day pack. HBC has been awesome for me so far and I want to say thank you.

I am looking for help with what strategies to use to find deer. The person I will be going out with in the fall also does not have a lot of experience hunting, and I don't want to make any rookie mistakes, as well as I am not sure what kind of areas to look for as a good hunting grounds. All I know is if there is droppings and trails there will most likely be deer there in the fall.

Your help is appreciated, Thank You in advance

[bearhunter338-06]

Welcome to HBC and the world of hunting. The best strategy for finding dear is to get out in the bush and find where they are. Look for food sources and water holes.

Give us an idea of the area you will be hunting and what you will be hunting. Are you able to travel long distances, or are you going to hunt in your area.

Good luck with your courses.
Burke

[sparkes3]

scout lots untill you find fresh sign,no fresh sign no animals.not much good to spend time where there are no animals unless its somewhere you like to check on the way to or from you hunting grounds.
worked for me this year.

[CanuckShooter]

Hunt where you have seen deer before.

Look for fresh tracks...go walk in mud/dirt/sand/snow and then go check back on your tracks later so you learn what the difference is between a fresh track and one several days old. If there are no fresh tracks there are likely no deer living in the area.

Learn the differences in tracks between a muledeer, a wt deer, a moose, an elk..a goat...lots of new guys are weak on identifying the animals by track...knowledge is power.

Watch the wind....move in a slow deliberate manner...deer will spot you or smell you pretty quick if you stick out too much from what is around you in nature...so camo helps in some cases.

In some places deer move uphill in the morning, and downhill in the evening....learn how thermal currents work....

Don't make a bunch of noise, wear quiet clothing, no rock and roll on your walkman...they don't need the earbuds to hear it......even the ticking of your wristwatch can give you away.

Study the terrain when your out hunting..and see where the deer are moving...it will teach you to recognize a good place to start looking in the future...for example if you never see deer walking thru swamps why hunt swamps???

I hope these tips help you learn how to be an awesome deer hunter.

[Alone in the wildernes]

All of the above.
Plus look for rubs learn the difference between fresh and old.
My rule of thumb when walking is a few steps then have a good look around take another few steps and so on take your time and have a good look before your next step. If you spot a doe when the rut is on more than not their will be a buck close by.
Happy hunting

[Ozone]

You are a rookie......you will make rookie mistakes......you may also have beginers luck

[RBH]

"I don't want to make any rookie mistakes"

Don't worry about that...goes with the turf. After you become an expert you can graduate to expert mistakes!

Some suggestions:
1) get into the woods and you will see deer;
2) never have the wind at your back - hunt into or across the wind;
3) slow down. Even better -- STOP and sit for a while. (Feel free to take a short nap.) After 15 minutes the woods will come alive with birds and other noises that may have gone quiet while you were moving. Listen to the amazing quiet of the woods. That is the deer's natural habitat. As a prey species deer are constantly on the alert to unusual noises, movements and smells. It is always tempting to trudge on to the next area, but it can be very counterproductive. If you are in an area with deer sign, especially fresh sign, find a likely spot with decent sight lines of forest edges or other likely habitat and sit down and glass for a while.
4) get some decent, waterproof, 8x or 10x binos and use them to look at distance and to look up close (through the bush). Try five steps then glassing; five steps then glassing, etc.
5) enjoy yourself!

Good Luck!

[tonywtc]

This All Sounds Great so far, I will be staying close to Kelowna for most of my hunts however I am more then willing to go to (Armstrong, Lumby, Merritt, Beaverdell, Oliver, etc...) Within a couple hours drive for a day/weekend trip. and maybe once a year going up past Prince George or in that area if I am lucky enough to get a limited entry.

[tonywtc]

What is considered a good food source for deer? what kinds of plants, what kinds of trees etc?

[brian]

Hunting close to home is a great idea. The better you know these areas the more likely you will find and kill deer. Look for deer sign tracks, browse, scat, and rubs... the fresher the better. Start your search by looking for edge habitat. Deer need three things out their habitat food (water), security, and cover. Food is self explanatory, security is protection from the predators (including us), cover is protection from the elements. Find areas that provide all three and you are well on way to finding areas that hold deer. As for food sources, in spring and summer look for nice leafy plants, especially those with new shoots. As you scout keep in mind how you would get in and take deer out of the area.

[tonywtc]

Hunting close to home is a great idea. The better you know these areas the more likely you will find and kill deer. Look for deer sign tracks, browse, scat, and rubs... the fresher the better. Start your search by looking for edge habitat. Deer need three things out their habitat food (water), security, and cover. Food is self explanatory, security is protection from the predators (including us), cover is protection from the elements. Find areas that provide all three and you are well on way to finding areas that hold deer. As for food sources, in spring and summer look for nice leafy plants, especially those with new shoots. As you scout keep in mind how you would get in and take deer out of the area.

good tips, thanks

[deepwater]

get out into the woods - most of the mistakes you will make will be your best teacher - good foot wear - quiet clothing - patience

[Foxton Gundogs]

I don't want to make any rookie mistakes, .

Your help is appreciated, Thank You in advance[/QUOTE]

A VERY wise old man once told me "The only hunter that never made no mistake was the one what never dun it"

Thanks Gramps where ever you are Im sure there are lots of "critters to hunt"


Good luck Tony 1/2 the fun is the learning.

[huntwriter]

I am looking for help with what strategies to use to find deer.

The strategy of finding deer is called scouting. Scouting should be done well before the hunting season opens and kept up with minimal intrusion during the hunting season. One rule I apply for during season scouting is; Don't walk if you can drive and don't drive if you can use binoculars. The more you walk around the more deer will catch on to your presence in the area and the less your chances are of killing one. The less you let deer know the better your success rate will be. Successful hunters are first and foremost good scouts and they are familiar about the habits and behaviour of deer.

A good scouting strategy is based on what I call "the four factors of deer movement". I've written an article on this subject for Western Sportsman and due to my copyright licensing agreement with the publishers I am not able to elaborate to much on it. However I can say so much.

The four factors of deer movement are:

Food
Food is the catalyst of all deer movement. Food sources change throughout the hunting season and deer change their travel patterns and location within their territory accordingly. Finding the different food sources is the beginning of all scouting. Without the knowledge of the food sources scouting becomes guess work.

Cover
Cover is the second most important factor of deer movement we need to look at. Cover lets deer travel in safety from one location to another location. Deer will walk considerable distances, detours, to take advantage of available cover. Cover comes in many forms such as an overgrown ditch across a field or overgrown fence line. Also wooded fingers leading into an open cut block or field. Edge also constitutes cover. Edges are everywhere, a thicket inside a woodlot, where softwood meets hardwood, or woodland meets an open field, marsh or corners of woodlots.

Terrain
The topography of the landscape will dictate where deer travel. Provided that their is sufficient cover deer will always chose the easiest way to get from one point to the next. The easiest way to get up to a hill top or down are saddles, a bench, logging roads, a ridge, a draw and depressions in the landscape. Look for everything that permits deer to travel using the least amount of energy.

Structure
Within the terrain are things that I call structure. Structures come in two forms; natural and man-made. Structures funnel deer through a narrow gap or particular point in the terrain. Man made structures are roads (deer prefer to cross in a road bends), fence lines (deer always cross a fence at the lowest point or crawl under it on the highest point), Logging creates structure where two woodlots meet at the corners and there are many more. Natural structures are narrow overgrown draws leading up or down a steep hill, narrow and shallow creek crossings, dead fall trees.

The beauty of scouting by the four factors of deer movement is that you can scout many months ahead of the hunting season and choose ambush locations without alerting deer or letting them know what you're up to. By the time hunting season begins the deer will have forgotten that you were in the area.

Hope this helps and good luck.

[monasheemountainman]

Near Kelowna there is a ton of great mule deer hunting. come july and august get out and check out some clear cuts and see where the deer are moving. a good set of binos is key. take your time glassing and dont be afraid to get outta your truck and go for a hike...you will see deer! if you want whitetail stick to the east side of the lake. if you want mulies then it doesnt really matter where you go, you will find them. early in the season you will see a lot of small bucks (not legal) but keep glassing because the small ones are dumb and will stand in the open. their older brother could be hiding behind the bush 50 yards away.
Have a great time and good luck!

[barry1974w]

Rookie mistakes happen. Try not to get discouraged if you're not successful in your first couple of years. It takes time to get to the point where you can consistently get game. Hopefully you get lucky, it's a big confidence booster if you're successful.

[Phreddy]

Best advice I can give you is to read the CORE book (and the PAL book), listen to what your course instructors tell you, join the local fish and game club and get to know some of the old timers there, and listen to them. You'll probably even find one or two that are willing to take you out and show you some tried and true strategies they've learned over the years. The two main mistakes you don't want to make are to shoot when you are not absolutely positive what you are shooting at, and overshooting your ability. Remember, when you make a mistake in the areas of safety, Murphy was an optimist when he wrote Murphys' Law.

[gibblewabble]

-If you break a sweat your moving too fast, glass lots then glass again and if you break a sweat your moving too fast.
-Three to four steps and stop, look 360 degrees around you and always look behind you, especially when driving, if your walking down the road and someone drives by stop for a couple minutes to see if anything walks out.
-Bucks sometimes travel off the trail.
-walk the edge of blocks not through except on big blocks.
-If you make mistakes at least your out there and after 29 years of hunting I still do every year so get used to it.
-have fun and enjoy it doesn't take a kill to make a good hunt.