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Anyone have any tricks of the trade to get post rut does to come in close. I've never had much luck during the Decemeber muzzleloading season here in Kentucky. They just never seem to respond to much of anything, even fawn in distress calls.
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You got to SNEEEEEEEEK.
Time in the woods is all you can do.
HH
Time in the woods is all you can do.
HH
Kind of hard to sneak when there is a quarter inch of ice on everything. They seem to be sticking pretty close to heavy cover during this storm but I expect tomorrow might be the best day this week for my area. If you believe the forecast, tomorrow should be a break between cold rain today and warm rain on Thursday. I have three hunters on the farm and they report almost no movement since Saturday. The deer only want to move from their bedding area to the nearest food source and then back. Tough time to try to kill something.
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You must know where these two areas are?
Mad Professor
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Just hunt for the biggest buck, you'll see more does than you can imagine. :rotf:
Little Wattsy
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Mark Painter said:
Get a fawn bleat (sounds like a spring lamb) and blow it like a cyote has you by the throat....Works best when the fawns are younger but the maternal instict DOES kick in and fairly regualry a big ole doe will come to that call ready to kick but and take names!
Get down wind from an area that holds deer and go to it....Bucks will sometimes sneek in but does, IF they are comming, will be there pretty quick/on the run or not at all; Call for 2-3 minutes. Waite for 10-15 minutes. Move to new location. It Works!
SgtSchutzen
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I don`t seem to have a problem finding does. It`s the antlered variety that disappears when I enter the woods :blah:
paulvallandigham
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How to walk on ice in the woods. Yeah, it is tough, but it can be done. Its not a lot different than walking on dry leaves.
1. Stay on the main trails. Its a lot easier to walk on ice that is down in a hollow, no matter how small, and make noise that will travel less of a distance, than crashing across the bush.
2. BEND YOUR KNEES when you walk. This puts your weight on your back foot, and lets you put your foot down FLAT on the icy surface. You can feel for twigs and sticks, or sharp thorns that might even pierce your boots this way, before you commit your weight. With the shoe or boot FLAT, it muffles the sound of the leaves or ice breaking under you.
Now, because sound travels so much faster through solids than it does through air, YOU HEAR the sound louder than it actually is. The sound you hear is coming up through the bones of your feet, legs, hips, etc. The only way to convince yourself of this is to have someone else try this walking technique while you stand several feet away from them and listen.
3. Move ONLY WHEN THE WIND IS BLOWING, and stop when the wind stops. The wind will make noise all over the woods, and keep deer from focusing on any noise your walking may create.
4. Walk SLOWLY! As slow as a tree. Take very short steps, stop, and look. Use binoculars to look under every bush, all around you. Look for parts of a deer, not the whole thing. If you see a whole deer standing or moving, its already been spooked because you moved too fast!
5. Walk into your stand using low ground, like dry stream beds, or ravines, or swales, or ditches. Again, any sound you make is likely to travel less far.
6. in the winter, wear an old bedsheet under your Blaze Orange vest to help break up your outline. Then Bend over when moving to lower your silhouette. If you have to stand- my back insists on me standing up frequently these days-- do so when you get to the next large tree that will cover the width of you body. In fact, map out yourmovement so that you move from one large tree to the next large tree. I think you will find that there is a game trail already existing between the two trees, and you can walk there with a minimum of noise.
7. If you have ever watched deer walk, or heard them approach your stand, remember the RHYTHM of their walk, how many steps they took before they stopped, how long they stopped, and how quickly they began to walk after they stopped. If you want to immitate anything, immitate those rhythms when you walk. Just don't stomp around on that thin lay er or ice like most humans do, like you got a free pass to break all the glass you want in a carnival.
I hope this helps.
The advice on using the fawn bleat calls is good, also. If you don't have a fawn bleat call, but have a rabbit distress call, try it. It often brings in does, too.
Listen to the birds, and squirrels in the woods. If you are disturbing them enough that they are giving alert calls, STOP! and wait 15 minutes for the forest to quiet down again. Wait until the birds have forgotten all about you, and then move even SLOWER than when you got " caught " by them. If you squat down, the birds and squirrels will forget you sooner. ( if you stand up, you are the "boogie man" in the woods, and they will warn all the other animals that the boogieman is coming!)
1. Stay on the main trails. Its a lot easier to walk on ice that is down in a hollow, no matter how small, and make noise that will travel less of a distance, than crashing across the bush.
2. BEND YOUR KNEES when you walk. This puts your weight on your back foot, and lets you put your foot down FLAT on the icy surface. You can feel for twigs and sticks, or sharp thorns that might even pierce your boots this way, before you commit your weight. With the shoe or boot FLAT, it muffles the sound of the leaves or ice breaking under you.
Now, because sound travels so much faster through solids than it does through air, YOU HEAR the sound louder than it actually is. The sound you hear is coming up through the bones of your feet, legs, hips, etc. The only way to convince yourself of this is to have someone else try this walking technique while you stand several feet away from them and listen.
3. Move ONLY WHEN THE WIND IS BLOWING, and stop when the wind stops. The wind will make noise all over the woods, and keep deer from focusing on any noise your walking may create.
4. Walk SLOWLY! As slow as a tree. Take very short steps, stop, and look. Use binoculars to look under every bush, all around you. Look for parts of a deer, not the whole thing. If you see a whole deer standing or moving, its already been spooked because you moved too fast!
5. Walk into your stand using low ground, like dry stream beds, or ravines, or swales, or ditches. Again, any sound you make is likely to travel less far.
6. in the winter, wear an old bedsheet under your Blaze Orange vest to help break up your outline. Then Bend over when moving to lower your silhouette. If you have to stand- my back insists on me standing up frequently these days-- do so when you get to the next large tree that will cover the width of you body. In fact, map out yourmovement so that you move from one large tree to the next large tree. I think you will find that there is a game trail already existing between the two trees, and you can walk there with a minimum of noise.
7. If you have ever watched deer walk, or heard them approach your stand, remember the RHYTHM of their walk, how many steps they took before they stopped, how long they stopped, and how quickly they began to walk after they stopped. If you want to immitate anything, immitate those rhythms when you walk. Just don't stomp around on that thin lay er or ice like most humans do, like you got a free pass to break all the glass you want in a carnival.
I hope this helps.
The advice on using the fawn bleat calls is good, also. If you don't have a fawn bleat call, but have a rabbit distress call, try it. It often brings in does, too.
Listen to the birds, and squirrels in the woods. If you are disturbing them enough that they are giving alert calls, STOP! and wait 15 minutes for the forest to quiet down again. Wait until the birds have forgotten all about you, and then move even SLOWER than when you got " caught " by them. If you squat down, the birds and squirrels will forget you sooner. ( if you stand up, you are the "boogie man" in the woods, and they will warn all the other animals that the boogieman is coming!)
Travis Gregory
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Dont know if it is legal in you area but a corn pile works pretty well as long as you dont believe it to be unethical. Scatter 50lbs or so over a about a 15ftx15ft area at the junction of a couple trails and set up for a good open shot downwind about 30-50yds. It may take a day or so for em to find it but when they do they will be all over it. Just like huntin a corn field or and oak flat only you put it where you want it.
Little Wattsy
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And cougars, bobcats, etc. My FAVORITE was when my Dad called in a black bear during bow season...bucktales said:
BUT deer come in too and THAT is the important part. :wink:
mikee51848
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Deer will probably not be moving during the middle of the day. Hunt the thickest cover you can find at first and last light, as the deer will be moving to and from food areas then. Edges of fields, power lines, pipe lines, will all attract deer for feeding opportunities and are good locations. Watch the sides of hollows and gullies as they are natural funnels. If you find yourself out there in the middle of the day, practice your stalking skills if the terrain is suitable. Don't move too fast, you can see a long way (use binoculars) but so can the deer.
KyHeadhunter
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WildAtHeart might be onto it. Saw 1/2 dozen this past Saturday hunting in southern Campbell county, all after 10 a.m.
Noticed the same trend during the last few days of modern gun season as well, early mornings were slow.
Good luck this weekend
Noticed the same trend during the last few days of modern gun season as well, early mornings were slow.
Good luck this weekend
the corn on the ground works good. i put out 100 pounds of shell corn two days ago and went to the stand today to find that all the corn was gone. the snow looked like every deer in the county was in this spot. the area i put the corn out looked like a big mud hole. i hunted from 9 to 1 with no deer spotted. i think with the light from the snow and moon made the deer move after dark.
jtmattison
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Have you tried a doe call?
I walk through the woods yelling "here doe!", "here doe!", "here doe!".
It's never worked for me but you might give it a try.
:haha:
Seriously, hunt food sources. That's where the deer really head after the rut. Also hunt staging cover near food sources.
HD
I walk through the woods yelling "here doe!", "here doe!", "here doe!".
It's never worked for me but you might give it a try.
:haha:
Seriously, hunt food sources. That's where the deer really head after the rut. Also hunt staging cover near food sources.
HD
I agree that food sources are the key but with the weather this week the most movement was right before the storm hit and then again yesterday when the weather pattern broke. They just didn’t move much during the ice.
I use a lot of different calls throughout the season but not the bleat this late in the year. I have had good luck with it in the early part of the season. Calling in other critters brings up an interesting point. We have had a problem this year with a pack of wild dogs. Domestics that people drop out in the country when they no longer fit within their city lifestyle. I did kill one with the flintlock during the November season. Could have taken another except for reloading time. I had just dropped powder and was getting ready to ram the ball when one on the trail of a doe went right under my tree stand. The doe bleat might do a pretty good job of drawing in a cur dog too. I guess I better load up the Ruger Old Army and carry it for the faster second shot.
I use a lot of different calls throughout the season but not the bleat this late in the year. I have had good luck with it in the early part of the season. Calling in other critters brings up an interesting point. We have had a problem this year with a pack of wild dogs. Domestics that people drop out in the country when they no longer fit within their city lifestyle. I did kill one with the flintlock during the November season. Could have taken another except for reloading time. I had just dropped powder and was getting ready to ram the ball when one on the trail of a doe went right under my tree stand. The doe bleat might do a pretty good job of drawing in a cur dog too. I guess I better load up the Ruger Old Army and carry it for the faster second shot.
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bucktales said:
Only time I have ever seen a coyote firsthand, was using a doe "estrus bleat" can. Heard what I hoped to be a buck coming thru the leaves behind me (I was in a treestand). Eased around and there he was, surveying the forest floor under me. Tried to ease into position to take a crack at him, but the coyote saw me and was gone!
My most successful deer hunting this time of year centers on catching does heading to their food source, usually a picked corn or bean field, and just before shooting time expires in the late afternoon. While tree stand hunting seems to be more profitable than from the ground, those does sure do have good eyes and it's not unusual for them to spot me, especially if they have yearlings with them. I had one spot me from 100 yards last week and blow as the family headed back into the woods. A small buck soon came wondering by less than 50 yards away and didn't pay me any attention. In a few minutes, he was followed by a nice 8-point which should have paid me more attention because he now resides in my freezer, thanks to my .45 flintlock.
