monashee snow line.

[iwing]

Hey I have been hunting near Lumby and haven't been seeing too much. I am looking for a muley, so i was thinking about going out to south fork road tomorrow. I have been hiking in cutblocks lately and I am just looking to switch it up cause I haven't seen a four point yet this year. I am familiar with the Eureka mnt area but i am wondering if you can drive (in a truck) to the blocks where the trail starts. IF anyone has any snow info or other advice about that area or migration habits of the deer around that area i would love to hear about it.

Thanks

[sarnold]

Just looked at the silver star web cams looks like its raining up there... No snow left af the village. We hunted in the general area your talking about, it was slower than normal, we didn't see the big bucks we have in past years.... That being said I find the areas further out get hunted less and often have bigger animals

[boxhitch]

Snow was washed down to about 30% coverage yesterday near Sugar Lake, temp at 1500 m. was about +3.
Not sure weather to trust SS weather, but they are predicting the temps to tank down to -18 c. Saturday.
Have to see what Mike says tonight, but should have a little snow by the weekend.

[iwing]

Did you see many deer by sugar lake. It looks pretty thick in there, so I havent done any hiking out there yet.

[boxhitch]

For sure it was thick where I hunted, and yes I did see deer, just not a 4 pronger

[Sofa King]

the temps are supposed to drop significantly by the weekend.
now just hope there's some precip to go along with it.

[iwing]

do you think deer in the south fork area will be close to the snow line or way below it?

[db]

I have been out the last couple days , the deer are moving but with the warmer than normal temps and lack of snow they are still hanging up high and from what I have witnessed they havent started to move to their winter ranges. At least not where I have been . I think a lot of the activity has been at night . If the temps drop they should start moving more during day light hours.

[iwing]

moving at night makes sense. I have still been seeing fresh sign, just not even a doe sighting in the last two days. Have you been finding many rubs? I have only found a couple of little ones. I tried a bit of rattling and rubbing antlers on trees but never got any action out of it. I saw a three point with a doe last week, so i thought they would be rutting more by now.

[db]

Have not seen any rubs, I saw one four point in the low 150s and couple smaller bucks , if the weather drops the big guys will start getting more active during the day. All the animals I have seen have been in the 10 to 15 year old blocks not out in the open.

[iwing]

A 10 to 15 year old block is the only place i saw rubs. I was wondering if im not seeing any does cause they're hunkered down in some thick stuff with a buck. its hard to see in those older blocks.

[db]

Yeah that is what i am finding , which is typical where I hunt. Also pressure from fellow hunters has an effect on how close to the thick stuff they stay. I find if there is lots of pressure its best to find an area where you know they are moving finda good vantage point and sit and wait for them to move through.

[boxhitch]

sit and wait for them to move through. While tooting out a Jethro Tull tune on the old grunt tube

[iwing]

my grunt tube plays lynyrd skynyrd; but apparently the deer dont like it. I went to the same spot ive been going for a while and today I saw two does. I watched them for 45 mins or so and one of the does pissed about 6 times and was walking around with her tail up. Does this mean she is "hurtin for a squirtin" or what. I tried to follow them but they gave me the slip when they hit the thick stuff.

[boxhitch]

Not much fresh sign in the 4" frozen crust up high, maybe some critters moved down a little or to south facing where things aren't so noisy.
Just enough fresh today to make a clean slate for tomorrow

[hunterdon]

Can't give away my special areas. I live and hunt the Lumby area. I have been seeing tons of mulies the last week. I took my 4 pointer on Monday at 2.30pm. Yes as one person noted, they have been more active at night since the weather has been warm. However, when the nights are warm, and they move mostly at night, they will settle down in the bush even before daylight. When that happens, no matter how warm it is during the day, they will be out early in the afternoon, as they are getting hungry. Just don't expect them to be out in the open cut blocks, and don't hunt by vehicle. Walk slowly and quietly down the roads and through the cut blocks, always surveying the woods intensely and especially the edges of the cut blocks. That's where they will be.

And yes, I have seen many fresh muley tree rubs already, and in my whitetail areas that I hunt, the bucks are starting to ground scrape.
Contrary to what some may think, even the big bucks do feed during the rut. It's just that they also have other occupations/interests at that time.