Deer hunting BS thread

I been hunting for 50yrs. and still cant figure the rut always,certain things to watch for but.too many varibles but it usually is close to the same time each year. weather,moon phase,food,etc.. affect what you are seeing but its there. and Yes to corned deer meat

 

Ham passed the bean test

 

Dayum by the looks of the profile pic you've got a few things figured out! Want to adopt a 36 year old? The struggle is real learning solo as an adult, but sure did make that doe taste even better.

 

If you have any questions at all ask away, there’s a lot of hunting knowledge in here and everyone will share with you what they can

As long as you don’t hunt near them.

 

I was in the same boat, and just spending time in the tree and watching the deers pattern for the area your hunting. I was 32 when I started on my quest to hunt and got my first buck 6 years later. And only 2 Does ever. I love it and the time I know spend I. The tree and with my kids there now.

 

hey hey hey, i asked 1st, and im older than @dewayne....

 

this is a great group on this thread to learn from,ask away as six5creed said and i agree, learning solo is tough. I was blessed to be raised in a hunting family.

 

i've just been informed that the last weekend of season i have plans, and it's unlikely i'll be able to take a day off before end of the month, so saturday is my last hurrah for the season.

forecast is single digits in the AM, rising to 28 by 4 PM. wind from the N ranging 5-12 mph (depending on the source). there'll probably be a bit of snow on the ground from ~1.5 inches expected thursday, but likely crunchy as it'll be in the 20s friday as well.

i'm pretty sure i can't make it an all day sit in those temps with the clothes i have, i got pretty frozen after ~5 hours in the teens a few weeks ago (better late season clothes and boots are on my off season to-buy list), and have heard that late season AM may not be that productive anyway, particularly since there'll be plenty of moonlight overnight? (should i suck it up and go out for AM, warm up in the truck at lunch and go back out for PM? part of me wants to do this since it's my last day, but part of me thinks thats unnecessary punishment if the deer arent going to be moving in the AM?) i'll likely plan to go out around noon and sit for the afternoon/evening, i should be able to get into the spot i saw those 3 doe in on monday pretty easily with the wind coming that way and was going to go at noonish becuase it'll be a noisier walk in. i figured noise at noon and in tree for a few extra hours is better than noise closer to the crepuscular hour? fingers crossed!

off season i'll be hanging a few cameras, scouting/shed hunting (find the sheds find the beds right?), practicing with my bow and investing in better clothes. and asking you a bunch of questions, thanks everyone!

 

Went back through some pictures I took this season and turns out I shot one of the bucks I passed on at the beginning of the season. The rut wore him down a bit about a month and half difference between them

 

I personally like pm hunts in the late season much more than am hunts; I still hunt mornings, because I just love to hunt, but afternoons are where it's at in my opinion. Single digits in the morning....I'm skipping every time.

 

Id shoot for a pm hunt. with the temps and moon phase.you will be able to sit longer and they may move earlier in the evening with the bright moon.plus the east coast deer this late in the winter move less than normal. they lay alot and go feed, to save energy till spring buds start sprouting. hard time to hunt unless you have a good food source to hunt

 

Im afternoon/evening hunter.

 

When I said I still hunt mornings....I meant I 'also' hunt mornings. I aint got the stalker abilities to 'still hunt'.

 

no great food sources, its public/no food plots, jsut natural whatever grows in an "unmanaged" area, so I'm planning to hunt a briars/woods/swampy/grass transition, where i've seen deer/deer sign the last few weeks. My theory being that it's a doe bedding area since i've seen doe moving towards it at the end of the day multiple times and a few weeks ago walked through in some deeper snow and found some beds (i think). Another reason i'm hunting it is because it's only about 1/3 to 1/2 mile from where i park, i spent too many days walking miles and miles to not much sign, so decided for the end of season i'd walk shorter distances (and ended up finding more sign anyway). looks like i'll be sticking with the noon to deer or dark plan, will report back regardless of what happens.

 

Around here the deer are on anything green right now. Winter wheat, grass honeysuckle....anything like that in your area may have deer going to it in the evenings. Best of luck!!

 

good tip. that's one of the reasons i'm focusing here, not sure what is growing, but green grassy stuff all over, as well as some stick looking things with small red berries (but no leaves )two weeks ago i watched a doe herd chewing on both (before pulling a shot and missing cleanly d'oh!) so i figured best chance of putting one of them in my stomach is going to where i've seen them fill theirs.

topic for another hunt: calling. grunt tube, rattling (black rack), bleat can, i have all of them, used the can some in nov/dec, but never really tried grunting or rattling much, worried that since i dont know what i'm doing too much noise = bad?

 

This is entirely my opinion....
Calling works great....but only on the handful of days per year that a buck is in the mood. Catch a buck in a pissy/fighting mood, they'll come in to almost any noise. I prefer to stay quiet unless I see a deer that I'm certain isn't coming my way, then I'll call to it.
I'm definitely not saying I'm right, but that's what I generally do.

 

Ive seen a big buck run off when i hit grunt call, and i shot a spike with my bow that came to grunt call

 

Ya never know what they're gonna do!

 

The stick looking things with red berries is most likely Honeysuckle.