Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting How do you hunt?

Nothing like it!

I never deer hunted with dogs, but drove in a state owned place to quail some of the clear cuts. There was a man with a rifle behind every tree. We saw that, turned around and got the hell out of there. That was before they outlawed dog hunting.

Ain't like that where I hunt. Some holiday weekends get a little busy. During the week I hardly see anybody that's not hunting with us. Also we use shotguns and buckshot.

Spot and stalk or still hunt! Depending on what part of the state I'm hunting! I hunt Eastern Oregon where we have thousands of square miles of public land. Never stand hunt, but I do sit and watch different areas at times!

Here we go. Public land on the Idaho side of the Snake River and public on the other side in Oregon.

My area of eastern Iowa is a mix of timber and farmland and holds a lot of deer. However, very little public land and what is available is flooded with large parties during our relatively short seasons. I'm not a fan of deer drives. If you don't have a connection it can be very difficult to find land to hunt. I have access to a couple of small (less than 80 acres) timbered areas so I mostly sit in a stand if the weather is decent. If it is raining, very windy or we have a fresh powder snow I will still hunt, which I much prefer to sitting in a stand. I have found that if I stumble around in my smaller plot on dry leaves or crunchy snow I get to see a lot of the south end of a northbound deer. The thicker timber that I have access to means I usually can't get a clear shot unless I am almost right on top of the deer. All of the deer I have shot have been under 100 yards and most under 50.

If you mean how do I prefer to hunt it would be spot and stalk out west where you can see for miles. Glass, find an animal and put the move on it. But I play the cards I'm dealt.

I sure like a stand with a heater with glass windows when it's real cold or raining!

Stand hunt some, and still hunt some. Both public and private lands. My stand hunting consists of being up a portable or ladder stand or just sitting on the ground. Don't pay to hunt for deer and don't plan on ever starting. Goes against my independent nature. I suppose if that was my only option to kill a deer I'd give that up. Plenty of other things to hunt including some I haven't taken up yet.

I hunt both whitetail and mule deer in Saskatchewan. Our habitat varies from desert sandhills to open farm fields to aspen parkland to thick roadless northern forest. Wide open flat plain and steep river coulees and badlands. I hunt it all, but not all each season. Tactics vary with the situation, when I was young all we did was "push bush" with family and friends, group drives with 3-6 people. All shots were running deer. We seldom do that anymore, but still do on rare ocasions.
Mule deer are almost always spot and stalk, with some "drives" used to ease deer into another persons line of fire.
Whitetails are hunted by calling in the right season, or spot and stalk, or sometimes waiting in a tree stand or box blind. Mostly I just wander around with a rifle and shoot the one I like when I bump into it.
Allmost all our hunting is on private land in the south 1/3 of the province. The exception being community pastures. We do not pay for hunting access, ever. Mostly just knock on a farmers door and ask. Seldom get turned away.
In the North, all the land is public and almost no restrictions on where to go. I have a bush camp where we mostly hunt elk and moose and bear, but we hunt whitetails there too.
I mostly hunt with centerfire rifles, but sometimes muzzle loader and I dabble with bows.

Spot and stalk sounds like fun

If I'm forced to hunt deer, I find me a spot on the sendero or just off game trail with an nice view, set down against a big tree (if available) and wait for one to come along. Usually doesn't take too long.

Sitting from daylight till dark in a treestand for Whitetails.......Hb