Whitetail bowhunter needs expert advice

[NightOwl74]

Hi there I need some advice. Around 2:00 pm the other day I pulled off to the side of the road in an area I like to hike for whitetails near Kelowna. I was at 1265 meters and I was about to hike to the top of a 200m hill because I figure with all the gunshots goin on, the buck's are most likely in the thick cover. I'll describe what happened. I found fresh droppings only 20 meters inside the trees off the main road and I continued to follow obvious game trails straight uphill for about 30 more meters when I found a fresh rub line, the largest of which was on a tree about 7" around and well up off the ground. Well just as I stood up after examining the rub, a deer took off 30 yards from me in some thick ten foot pines. All I saw was tines bounding through the branches and then silence. What a monster! He vanished. Well I am stumped as to how best approach another go at this guy. This big hill is old growth timber and it is completely surrounded by logging roads and 15 year old cutblocks filled in thick with Aspen, Alder various berries etc. Could this guy be bedding down in this thick stuff up on the mountainside, then coming down to feed in the alder patches etc. in the clearcut, or do you think he stays full time on the mountain? I wanna set up a blind, what do you suggest? By the way the mountain is fairly open yet noisy as heck to walk in because it is littered with leaves, sticks etc. Quite hard to walk quietly yet I managed to run into this guy.

[Fisher-Dude]

I'll put money on that "rub line" being done by a moose or elk and not the whitetail.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Find a couple of good trees and set up a treestand (or two) that keep the wind in your favour. Get into your stand an hour before fist light.


You probably found his bedroom so it shouldn't matter if the rubs are done by another species. just make sure you have an elk and a moose tag while you're up in that tree.

Good luck!

SSS

[Ambush]

Exactly what SSS said. Add to that LOTS of patience. Tree standing is all about waiting. And you'll be surprised how much more you can see with 20-30 ft of elavation.

So hurry up and wait!

[J_T]

Use a portable treestand. If the ground is noisy, go in well ahead of when you think he might be in there. Could he be nocturnal? 15 feet is lots of height. No need to go too high. Watch for does in the area. If you know it's a deer, start your own scrapes, put out some scent.

[Coyote]

I've seen blacktail rubs on trees on the island that are 8 to 10 " dia. There are no moose here and the rubs were too low for elk. It's quite possible that what you saw was a WT rub. All advice above is good.

[tooley]

A wise man said to me once. If there is a big buck in the area, keep hunting that area until you get him. Maybe he was right but it hasn't worked for me. How about you tell me where you seen him and I'll hunt there, and I'll tell you a good spot. It will be a good trade........honest!

[NightOwl74]

Hi there I need some advice. Around 2:00 pm the other day I pulled off to the side of the road in an area I like to hike for whitetails near Kelowna. I was at 1265 meters and I was about to hike to the top of a 200m hill because I figure with all the gunshots goin on, the buck's are most likely in the thick cover. I'll describe what happened. I found fresh droppings only 20 meters inside the trees off the main road and I continued to follow obvious game trails straight uphill for about 30 more meters when I found a fresh rub line, the largest of which was on a tree about 7" around and well up off the ground. Well just as I stood up after examining the rub, a deer took off 30 yards from me in some thick ten foot pines. All I saw was tines bounding through the branches and then silence. What a monster! He vanished. Well I am stumped as to how best approach another go at this guy. This big hill is old growth timber and it is completely surrounded by logging roads and 15 year old cutblocks filled in thick with Aspen, Alder various berries etc. Could this guy be bedding down in this thick stuff up on the mountainside, then coming down to feed in the alder patches etc. in the clearcut, or do you think he stays full time on the mountain? I wanna set up a blind, what do you suggest? By the way the mountain is fairly open yet noisy as heck to walk in because it is littered with leaves, sticks etc. Quite hard to walk quietly yet I managed to run into this guy.

Well I originally started this thread looking for advice on a whitetail I thought I had seen near a rubline. Well it turns out that while bowhunting this spot last Saturday morning I came across an extremely fresh set of tracks in the fresh snow. I often like to follow tracks in the bush, especially under these conditions! Well long story short I was following what I thought was a large moose cow with a calf as they were crushing the rotten logs under their weight. Well I come to this clearing and for the first time hunting this area over the past 15 years I find myself face to rump with a cow elk!. I duck to get in a little depression in the land and out comes a gorgeous 6 point bull! Now I know the season is closed and I don't even hunt elk or have a tag. But I will next year! After about five minutes of jaw dropping observation, the bull caught wind and bolted along with three bewildered cows. My question is what is the estimated population of elk in 8-10?

[NightOwl74]

And I forgot to mention.........I went back and did a little "forensics" on the rubs and indeed found Elk hair all over the bark! Not whitey! Some of you guys were right about the elk.