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Joined: Dec 2006
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I was looking to understand deer better and thus allow me to have better success next season. I was hoping for suggestions from the Campfire on books that helped you better understand deer behavior, biology, food sources, etc. and how to use those for better hunting. Any help appreciated! Thanks, Jed
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Campfire Greenhorn
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Campfire Greenhorn
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I love "Hunting Trophy Deer" by John Wooters is by far my favorite. I read every couple of years.
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Campfire Tracker
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I would look for a book or studies that are based on the habits of deer in your region or a region that closely resembles yours. Reading about whitetail habits in Texas is of no help to me, but what works in ID would not be much help for a TX guy either.
Lots of variables too. Public land versus private land, hunting pressure, buck to doe ratio, terrain, agriculture, weather, etc...
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learning general deer behavior can be very helpful; Whitetail country by Cox and Ozaga is a great read
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Campfire Outfitter
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Wooters and Van Dyke are both good places to start. I'm not familiar with the Cox book, but I just ordered a copy for $.75 from Amazon.
Wooters, it is said, invented the modern sport of deer hunting. As an editor for Field and Stream he certainly popularized it.
Van Dyke literally "wrote the book" on deer hunting.
Let me just make a confession here. I've got a bookshelf filled with outdoor books. Most of them I collected in the first 10 years of hunting. I read voraciously. When I started deer hunting, I figured that that I could research my way to success. It made sense at the time. I was a young urban professional, I had read my way to success. I figured I could read my way to a big buck.
The herds in those days were a lot smaller. I had to drive 3 hours to get to where I could hunt deer. It made sense to try and fill the days between visits to the woods with reading about them. In the end, I don't think it contributed all that much to my eventual success.
The best thing I can advise, 35 years down the road, is to get out and make direct observation of the deer. They are everywhere now, and it is far easier to get out among them than it was when I was getting started. Get some binos and hit the county parks, golf courses and cemeteries. When you are not directly observing them, get out and look for sign.
BTW: From now until leafing-out in April is usually the best time to scout deer, because the sign is easier to see. Remember that although the food sources, weather and such change constantly, the mechanics of deer movement do not. What you see in the dead of winter should give you a good idea.
The trick here is to learn how deer think, and how that thinking reacts to the environment. It is not what is written in books. My biggest revelation was that although deer are fairly intelligent, their intelligence is rather alien to ours. What we see as curiosity and fear and such are really quite different things in deer. However, it took years of watching deer to figure that out. In the end, it took throwing out most of what I had read in books to make me a successful deer hunter, and not just another schmuck in the woods looking to get lucky.
Having said all that, let me say that there is one basic truth in deer hunting. Find where they are bedding, find where they are feeding, draw a line between the two and hunt along that line. Where the hunter can find the most advantageous spot to see the deer without being busted, he will have the best chance of success.
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Newer- Hunting Big Woods Bucks by Hal Blood
Old- Deer Hunting by Red Freeman.
But agree that time in the woods trumps all.
Last edited by JDK; 01/14/16.
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I love "Hunting Trophy Deer" by John Wooters is by far my favorite. I read every couple of years. +1. Every deer hunter, especially every Texas deer hunter, should own and read this book. Wayne van Zwoll's, "Mastering Mule Deer" is valuable for those of us who like to get "western" every now and then. Francis Sell wrote a book about deer hunting whose name escapes me, but when I was a teenager back in the sixties, I checked it out from our public library multiple times. Like O'Connor, Sell could tell a story and you couldn't put the book down.
I was hoarding when hoarding wasn't cool.
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Shots at Whitetails by Larry Koeller
Hal Blood is a good one also
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I liked Rinella's book on big game. Covers quite a bit.
“Lighten up Francis”
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Campfire Ranger
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I read just about anything on whitetails and find bits and pieces of good in just about everything along the way. While "deer are deer", it's particularly helpful to find readings that are more specific to your locale - i.e., farmland, big woods, south, western, etc.
While they've been around for eons, Roger Rothhaar's Whitetail Magic and In Pursuit of Trophy Whitetails are my two all-time favorites.
WWP53D
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I read just about anything on whitetails and find bits and pieces of good in just about everything along the way. While "deer are deer", it's particularly helpful to find readings that are more specific to your locale - i.e., farmland, big woods, south, western, etc.
While they've been around for eons, Roger Rothhaar's Whitetail Magic and In Pursuit of Trophy Whitetails are my two all-time favorites. +1 on Rothhaar. Gene Wensel's Hunting Rutting Whitetails is one of the best ever.
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If you want to understand deer better, the best I've found in almost 60 yrs. of looking is The Deer of North America by Leonard Lee Rue III. If you need to understand throphy bucks, those with over four years of age, I also vote for Hunting Throphy Deer by Wooters. Observing deer in the wild, something I can do in my own yard is fine for general deer knowledge. But, if you want to hunt throphy bucks, the only way to learn them and to do that is to do it. Wooters' book tells you how to get started. E
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Larry Benoits first book.
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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How to Bag the Biggest Buck of Your Life by Larry Benoit.
The best thing I can say to do is go into the woods and learn from your mistakes. I'm far from a good hunter but I try not to make mistakes twice. but don't be afraid to make a few, you learn that way.
Camp is where you make it.
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Campfire Outfitter
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Read: Hunting the Whitetail Deer By Tom Hayes A.S.Barnes & Co. Library of congress card # 60-9875
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also i learned alot about deer by spending time in my hunting area in the off season. i love watching deer anytime of the year.
pm me an address i have a book for you
FJB
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Campfire Ranger
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Having said all that, let me say that there is one basic truth in deer hunting. Find where they are bedding, find where they are feeding, draw a line between the two and hunt along that line. Where the hunter can find the most advantageous spot to see the deer without being busted, he will have the best chance of success.
I must add: You must hunt the wind. AKA into or cross wind. If you learn everything else and don't hunt the wind you will not be successful regularly. Leonard Lee Rue ... + 2 John Wooters ... +2 I learned how to 'still' hunt and 'stalk' hunt and the difference from John Wooters. Good Luck Jerry
jwall- *** 3100 guy***
A Flat Trajectory is Never a Handicap
Speed is Trajectory's Friend !!
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Campfire Greenhorn
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Campfire Greenhorn
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John Wooters is good as is Larry kollers Shots at whitetails. Also Greg Millers Rubline secrets.But I learned a lot about the wind and thermals when I read Francis Sells book below. http://www.amazon.com/Deer-Hunters-Guide-Francis-Sell/dp/B0006BLZIY
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Campfire Member
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One of the best I have read is Mapping Trophy Bucks by Brad Herndon. Great book with descriptions as well as explanatory pictures so you can actually see what he is describing. Deer are creatures of habit from the East to the Mid-west and if you can understand how they consistently use the terrain, you can consistently put yourself in the right spot to be successful anywhere.
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