Am I doing something wrong...

[jimmy82]

Or are the deer just not cooperating. This is my first season in NC and it has been frustrating. I have only heard one snort during daylight hours and never saw the wily animal. (it was directly down wind from me. I wonder who was hunting whom.)

Any pointers for hunting in woods? It isn't the rut yet so I don't think my estrus lures are working. And I have been trying to hang out around the few oak trees that I can find amidst the ocean of pine. Plenty of acorns and little deer tracks on the ground but it's just not the same as sitting on the edge of a corn field.

I have been walking around a little bit during late morning, but only a few hundred yards from where I had sat during sun up. Mostly to get acquainted with the area and see if I can find more active areas.

 

[rabjr]

We just had a full moon. They tend to move mid day here on full moons.

I would defiantly keep an eye on those oaks especially if they are white oaks and full of acorns. Deer will want those acorns and you should see more activity in the morning here this week or so. Don't know about down there but it's just starting to get cool here now. It's been way to warm.

 

[jimmy82]

We had frost this morning but alas I had to work. Won't get to hunt again until Saturday. This morning would have been great even with the moon. I have been taking lunch/nap breaks from around 1030 11ish until about 3. Would have missed any mid day movement

This last weekend was cooler, opening day I was sweating with a medium jacket on.

 

[Bountyhunter]

Water, where are they getting water?

 

[chance]

Dont give up it will turn around. The weather is starting to cool off. They will start moving.

 

[jimmy82]

There are ponds and creeks all over. I'm hunting on the "Military Reservation" on Fort Bragg, bunch of swamp area too. I was actually sitting about 50-60 yards off of a little draw watching some oak trees. It had about a foot of water in it going off for I don't know how far. Good spot, good sign, just no bodies.

 

[kevthebassman]

Don't know what to tell you brother. My deer season so far has been about picking which deer I want and how far I want to drag it. Been seeing lots and lots of deer, passed on a few gimmie bow shots due to warm temperature (bad for the meat, you know) and took one with a center fire.

 

[jimmy82]

Lol, I guess that's why it isn't called grocery shopping. I have until moving time come late December so there will be plenty more chances. It's been three years since the last time I got to hunt. Guess I'm just eager to get back in the saddle.

Thinking about taking the .45 out loaded for for squirrel just so I can shoot something while I wait for the deer to surrender.

 

[kevthebassman]

Just keep at 'er. You'll find one stupid enough to wander into the sight, then it'll be up to you to make the shot.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Lures only work where and when they can't also smell YOU. Place lures to bring the deer to a spot away from you.

I gave up on masking scents or lures. Better to be conscious of the wind and hunt into or across it.

Give it time. Two years I have taken the first deer I saw in range that season - at twilight on the last day of a three week season.

 

[jethro224]

If you use the wrong scent at the wrong time it can actually spook deer. Don't use estrous lure until just before the real deal.

I gave up on lures several years ago and don't see any fewer deer. The lures do work... sorta. I just don't find them to be worth the cost. Play the wind and the lay of the land.

Good luck. :hatsoff:

 

[Headhunter]

Keep the Wind in your face, Sun at your back. Keep you hunting clothes washed in scent free detergent.

In the morning before you head out, see which direction the wind is blowing. Approach your hunting area with the wind in your face. Don't go bashing in and set down. Wait until it is light enough to shoot, then slip in your area. When I say Slip, I mean SNAIL CRAWL. It should take you 30 minutes to sneak 30 yards. Be very quiet and sit where you can see.

A good spot to watch is an area where 2 or better yet 3 draws come together in a small bottom.

Take plenty of necessities with you so you can set for hours on end. DO NOT get up and "Walk" around. Sneak in, Sneak out. Do your scouting Before or better yet, AFTER hunting season.

Scout for bottlenecks using arial Photos.

HH

 

[PreglerD]

Hello from Germany,

now when it is getting colder they will move much more, even during the day, and they will start eating much more to get fat for the winter, so these oakes with acorns will be a good place as a natural baiting. You have only to find a way to get a good blind/stand there where you can get without disturbing deer. Because of the wind use soap bubble from children to check it. It works very well, because the bubbles show you the direction of the wind and if it is turning around. In the forests you have places where the wind blows not in the way as it did outside, especially at edges and clearings. You have to remind that.

Regards

Kirrmeister

 

[BrownBear]

Only thing I see lacking is real familiarity with your area and the animals. There's a pace or maybe even a pulse to the lives of deer, and they move around and change their behavior as the conditions and seasons change. Hunting that area a year or two will teach you lots, but even with 35 years behind me in the same area, I still have to go through "area fam" at the start of each season- call it time to catch up with what the deer are doing at the moment. Seems like there's a little adjusting to do every year, no matter what I did last year. Takes a little while doing just what you're doing before I really get onto the deer.

Sounds like you're in a good area, but due to conditions they just aren't using it at the times you are there. You have your choice of figuring out where they are right now rather than where you're seeing tracks, showing up at different times, or getting to know that particular location really well with the confidence that the deer are going to be using it at more convenient hours once the moon shrinks a bit.

 

[jimmy82]

Thanks for all the advise guys. The biggest issue is familiarity with the area. The reservation is split up into different areas and we have to sign out each morning for the area we want. Third time was the charm and I found an area I want to focus on (the one I described in earlier posts).

The biggest hick-up will be if there is any troop training in a specific area no big game hunting is allowed there. So I might have to resort to other areas. Sorta first come first serve public land. Most of the guys that signed out for the area I was in signed back in around 3 in the afternoon. But it was a Sunday before work.

We're not allowed into the areas until 90 minutes before sunrise. And I am usually running late because I like to sleep. :grin: I think I will forgo the estrus until the rut. Not really looking for big bucks anyway, one would be nice but I am mainly out there for meat.

 

[KyFlintlock]

Great advice from HeadHunter.

Pretend they are going to kill you if you are seen or detected.

Good luck
Wess

 

[BrownBear]

You just toggled one of my experience buttons.

The principal way that game, whether ducks or deer, elk or pheasants, adjust to living around people is recognizing and working around patterns in human behaviour. With the troop activities and other hunters, I'm betting that's what's happening to you.

Any way you can break or take advantage of the human pattern? I'm betting staying late is one key. Another might be picking units immediately adjacent to those currently used by troops.

 

[rabjr]

Interesting, we have a disabled hunt up here on Fort Greene up here which is a training area. It's actually going on this week. I participated in the hunt the first two years, asking both years for permission to use my muzzle loader. The first year I was told they would look into it but only shotguns shooting slugs was allowed on the government property. Theres an hour orientation you have to sit through the first day every year, so after that the second year I again asked to be allowed to use my muzzle loader, flintlock, again I was told it was not allowed on government property only shotguns with slugs. I politely said fine, good luck with your hunt and left. Haven't been back since even though they call me every year and ask why they haven't received my app for the hunt. They have a deer problem and only allow 5 disabled hunters to hunt the place by lottery but only one or two hunters ever show. Makes absolutely no sense to me but this government mouth piece says it's Army rules.

Yet you can use muzzle loader down there?

 

[jethro224]

I have been taking lunch/nap breaks from around 1030 11ish until about 3.

I bet half the deer I've killed were shot between 11:00 and 3:00 in the middle of the day.

Stay out there all day long if you can. Get comfortable. Pack a lunch. Bring a book or magazine. Take a nap right there in the field.

That's what I do and most of the other hunters do a bunch of mini deer drives for me all thru the mid day when they go back to the truck for lunch. :grin: Then they do it again when they head back out to hunt in the afternoon. :thumbsup:

Headhunter has given you real good advice. Particularly the part about finding a spot where several draws come together. :wink:

 

[jimmy82]

Yup muzzle loaders are allowed. .45 cal and up for deer. Muzzle loaders are even allowed in the "shotgun only" areas. The only places with gun restrictions are the archery only areas.

Had a similar orientation before I could hunt out here, and I pestered the manure out of the game wardens about anything muzzle loading related. The worst part about the whole experience was having to pay another 25 dollars in addition to my normal permit for hunting privileges in the training areas.

If anything is not allowed I would think it would be a .50 BMG, but I didn't ask so don't quote me on that.

The only sort of knowledge I might be able to give would be that every post gets to set it's own regs. Most follow pretty close to the state regs. The best example is that I can hunt in the training areas on Sundays; but the state of North Carolina doesn't allow hunting on Sundays. But I am not allowed to hunt the training areas on Mondays or Tuesdays where those days have no restriction from the state.

Another example is that people hunting on the Fort Bliss reservation can hunt on the New Mexico side but are only required to have a Texas permit, not both.