PC Deer Hunt

[Stumpkiller]

I air my hunting clothes outside for a few days before opening day. leave off the deodorant, aftershave, etc. Wash up with Ivory Soap.

Then, during the hunt, keep your nose to the wind, or at least at a right angle.

I just had knee arthroscopy on the 11th and am still a bit stiff (and occasionally sore). For only the second time in 27 years I will be using a tree stand (Archery Season begins 10/13).

In the past I would attach a single marabou feather near the upper end of the bowstring to serve as a wind indicator. Never tied one to a firearm, but I guess you could. But, in all cases, paying attention to the wind is the #1 tactic for hunting. A whitetail will stomp or snort and try to get you to reveal yourself if it thinks you look suspicious, but they NEVER doubt their nose if they scent you. If you're downwind of them that won't happen.

 

[brubincam]

i got an 8 point once from 3 foot away,,, :thumbsup:,,,didn't use any scent or cover up... :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:

 

[Desert Rat]

Looks like I have my answer.. Use scents, charcoal liners, bait, don't worry about the wind and most important of all use one of them fancy in*$&@^&# with a big ole scopey thingamajig (just had to kick a chunk under it) :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

Thanks guys, points made and listened to. Hopefully come early Nov. I'll be posting some pics of a hunt done right :grin:

 

[SimonKenton]

Mano negro,

You are so right it's painful. I have for the last three years astounded my CT cousin and her neighbors by stalking within 5-10 yards of a doe and/or her fawn. I wore only khaki Dockers and an earth toned plaid shirt. I would take 45 min. or more to close 50 yards and get almost to touching distance. The key was NOT to get outlined!!! NOT to kick things with my Sasquatch-like feet and NOT to move a muscle if I felt the breeze cool the back of my neck.

I had the deer stare STRAIGHT AT ME and still not make me out. They'd snort and stamp to spook me but I didn't take the bait. No camo or cover scents. Howard Hill NEVER used them nore did Ben Pearson or Fred Bear. Fred wore a piece of camo because he was SELLING it but never used it in place of stealth. I have yet to see a photo of Jack O'Connor wearing camo either. :bow:

-Ray

 

[bucktales]

Ray,
Must have been around my house. I've got about a dozen every morning under my neighbors oak tree. I have to literaly walk up to my fence and shoo them away so I can let my hounds out. 10 feet away and they don't move. They are like tame zoo animals. :shake:

 

[BrownBear]

Made a deal with my wife: Ditch the cable TV and put the money saved into shooting and fishing stuff.

Works for me!

 

[Stumpkiller]

I get one CBS channel & badly. (Proud to say I've NEVER watched ANY Survivor or Idol minutes). No cable out here. Though I have the antenna in the middle of the room so I can watch THE WAR by Ken Burns from a local PBS station. Amazing how much time lacking a TV can add to your day.

Now, if it weren't for the Internet (on feeble old phone dial-up) I might get something done!

I cast my own balls, tie my own flies and full-length taper/crown/crest & fletch my own cedar arrows. Have to have something to do in the dark of winter.

 

[Headhunter]

The only thing that works is having the wind in your face.

HH

 

[Runner]

I'll watch survivor if they ever drop a bunch on an island with a knife and a burning glass for each, and the winner is the last one alive that hasn't given up and quit!!!! No minutes given to the current form.

 

[Snakebite]

I was watching the outdoor channel last weekend and these guys were "hunting" (I use that term loosley) in South Texas (I'm sorry to say). The guys were driving down the dirt roads in a thing that I guess you'd call a stand built on top of the truck with big comfortable chairs and a rifle rest for the shooter. It was all painted green and the guys were in their realtree outfits. They'd wait for the deer to walk out in the road, use a range finder and then shoot it. The guy was using some kind of single shot so I guess they thought they were disadvantaged, I don't know what caliber the rifle was (centerfire)but it was stainless with a big scope.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is there is a difference between deer hunting and deer shooting. I've shot more deer wearing jeans and an old jacket without all the realtree camo and scents, I just don't see the sense :grin: in all that stuff. Maybe I'm just behind the times but maybe that's why I shoot a round ball. But to each his own, the important thing is to keep our hunting traditions going. :thumbsup:

 

[MFP308]

Hey Desert Rat what unit did you get drawn for? Are you up north or down south?

Mike

 

[Desert Rat]

I have a 6B tag up by Flagg.

 

[Allan Gray]

Here's my routine...
I wash my clothing in baking soda in a bucket of fresh water, (not the washing machine, too much residual flowery soap), hang them outside for a few days to dry.
Don't shave for a few days before the hunt, don't brush my teeth the morning of the hunt, baking soda for deodorant, no chewing gum, etc., rub myself down with natural vegetation...stay down wind.

 

Rat,

Don't need no stinking scents... You're gonna smell like human however you do it, but natural stuff is better than all that expensive stuff. Pine needles, smoke, dirt...

What these guys are talking about on washing and airing their clothes is a good thing. Modern detergents have a lot of perfumes and brighteners which actually make you glow in the dark to a deer. No kidding. Baking soda is good for this.

Best of luck with your hunt.

Sean

 

[rabjr]

brighteners which actually make you glow in the dark to a deer.

I have a hard time believing this. I know theres people selling a UV killer that wants you to believe it. If true, I know a lot friends and family that have killed a lot of deer over the years glowing in the dark then. Makes me wonder how so many deer were taken in the 60's and 70's before all this stuff was told to us we needed in order to be successful.

 

[nw_hunter]

I bet some of them old Mountain men, smelled worse than the beaver they trapped. Keep the wind in your face, or have the game trade places with ya!I watched several doe walk right past me today, as the general deer season opened today in Oregon, and my wife told me as a hunter I stink!!!Did she mean I needed a bath? :hmm: What the heck is with this durned Avatar? Don't look nuthin like me.....and I can't make it go away lol!

 

[tg]

"Makes me wonder how so many deer were taken in the 60's and 70's before all this stuff was told to us we needed in order to be successful"

Good point I used to shoot deer with arrows or a 30 30 up close while wearing a T shirt and blue jeans, just kept still and waited behind a bit of cover...even took a few still hunting thru the woods.

 

The manufacturers only started adding the brighteners to detergents in the late '90s. It was one of those 'new and improved formula' thingys that usually aren't. You don't need UV killers... That's just another marketing thingy. Truth is sometimes I remember to clean my hunting clothes of the stuff, sometimes I don't. I've had deer pick me up darned near in the dark when I was motionless and downwind, but I don't know if it was the brighteners or what. I've also had them walk right past me without noticing.

Sean

 

[distincthead]

Do what a lot of nature watchers do... I store a set of clothes (everything, including socks & underwear) in a wood chest filled with leaves. Just keep them in there, and designate them as your outdoor clothes and never do anything else with them.

WHen they get bad, wash them with nothing but baking soda, not another kind of detergent or soap. I suppose you could use boiling water with that if they're quite foul.

Anyhow, you still have to use the wind... so... :blah:

 

[RDavidP]

I don't know how in the world Daniel Boone or Davy Crockett ever killed anything, nor all those other mountain men. No fancy cover scents, sprays, shooting houses, tree stands, laser range finders.

My father has quite a bit of land that he does game management with. Part of that is just planting food crops just for deer, clover, millet, rye, and corn. Since the land is a logging operation, there is one heck of a road system, and the deer move around on the roads. Only a few people hunt the place, no dogs, no pressure on the deer. Almost a paradise for them. We note which paths the deer are using the most, which changes, and plant a food plant near by. It gives the deer a good supply of food, keeps them healthy, and keeps them out of the farmers' fields. We also planted persimmon trees, saw tooth oak, and chestnut trees throughout the woods, with several natural and old man made, slave dug creeks. We have put up a few homemade ground blinds in the heaviest travelled areas, but you can pretty much just sit down anywhere and wait long enough and a deer will walk by you going to food or water. One time I was just sitting on a stool off a deer path, and a doe walked right up to me, and we stared at each other. If there was a bayonet on my rifle, I could have stuck her quicker than shooting her, she was that close. She walked all around me and paid me no mind. I was not wearing any kind of cover scent, don't remember where the wind was blowing, no camoflage.