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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 12,337
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 12,337 |
[
How many deer are mature old deer? Counting does which is also a bit hard to do age wise at times?
At any given time, we've previously had maybe 1 mature deer on the property at any given time. However, recent developments changed that considerably. It's a long story, but at one point last fall we were spotting a half dozen of the big boy in an evening. We all got our buck tags filled this year, and we're waiting to see who stuck around over the winter. Our herd was nearly wiped out. 2011 to 2013 was very slim indeed. A couple of the neighbors were poaching for food. One was a kid, supposedly shooting everything that moved with a 22. They all got evicted, and the herd has been rebuilding.
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 12,337
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 12,337 |
some of the things written here have to make me laugh,really hard. so the deer can tell when you are hunting? lol. NO THEY CAN'T.
If deer are exposed to 'predators' they understand 'threat'. Call it what you want, hunting or threat but they ain't dumb. ....... you can't tell me .....
I think that summarizes your reception of advice from men of a lot of experience. Since you accuse me of being a smartazzz, I don't want to disappoint you. Jerry Can deer tell when you're hunting them? Yes and no. When I went to look at this issue, I like y'all approached with the assumption that deer had somewhat the same concepts of death, dying, mortality and all that. They don't. There is a lot of the process of hunting that they just don't get. There are big gaps in their understanding. A deer will spook at nothing. A deer will spook at the slightest whiff of human scent, but I've seen deer feeding and saw them react to a rifle going off 100 yards away and not even look up. I've seen deer feeding in the middle of a public rifle range. I've even seen deer shot themselves at close range and go back to feeding. Go figure. I don't think they get the concept of death. You shoot their buddy, their sister or mother or whatever, and they may very well stay with the body instead of worrying about you. It's like they're trying to wake them up. I've also seen the same deer back out feeding in the same spot the next day. Another thing that I don't know if you've noticed, but if you get really, really close to deer they drop their guard. Somewhere inside of 10 yards (probably more like inside 5) is a zone where they cease to see you as a threat. I still don't understand this one. However, I've seen it, and I've heard reports from other hunters. It's like the deer figure that if nobody has snorted and run by now, it must be all right. Turkey have a similar zone of indifference, but it's more like when they're pecking at your shoelaces.
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 9,587 Likes: 1
Campfire Outfitter
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OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 9,587 Likes: 1 |
I ride my atv to within 50-60yds of my stand everyday I hunt
I don't worry about the wind direction and have killed some of my best bucks on really windy days
I do hunt mostly from ladderstands and hardly ever walk around on my hunting property
I haven't used any cover scent in years
I don't wash any of my hunting clothes during the season,i do hang them outside.
I never use any type of buck lure
I never feed deer
I haven't had a deer snort at me for at least 6-7 years.
I've been hunting one of my properties sense I was 13,just turned 60 and I have taken over 70 bucks on this property.
i'd say I tried hunting everyway possible on this property and what I do now works best for me.
there is a good bit of hunting pressure on and around this property with at least 10 permanent stands around me within 400yds
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 12,337
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 12,337 |
I have a buddy that hunts in a similar manner. SuperCore is riding an ATV and parks it right next to his blind. He smokes cigarettes. He coughs. He bangs around the inside of his plywood blind. Still, he does all right for himself. He shoots plenty of deer.
However, he does miss a lot of things. He's 78. He's mostly deaf. When I hunt with him, he misses a lot of the snorting and such that I can hear. He also scares a hell of a lot of deer with his ATV. One of my blinds is just across the hollow from his. He cranks up that red ATV of his and starts putt-putting out, and the woods come alive with deer running hither and thither.
The same is true with the neighbors. I'll get into the blind about an hour before legal hunting starts on the Rifle Opener. About 10 minutes before legal hunting starts, I hear the Orange Army crank up their ATV's and all of a sudden I start hearing deer running from off my property onto the property ahead of the approaching hunters. It's a yearly ritual. The same also happens about 0900 when the Orange Army decides to leave.
I'm not saying you're wrong in what you do. Lord knows I've hunted plenty of times within 50 yards of my truck, and my 1991 and 1992 bucks we both taken by bow just that way.
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Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 24,652 Likes: 1
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 24,652 Likes: 1 |
I don't worry about the wind direction
I haven't had a deer snort at me for at least 6-7 years.
I might suggest a hearing test.
![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/X0n16mr.png) WWP53D
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 9,587 Likes: 1
Campfire Outfitter
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OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 9,587 Likes: 1 |
I wear hearing aids but they do not help much with direction. my eyes are still pretty sharp,my head stays on a swivel and I see almost all game before I ever hear them.
I can hear very well and deer are not snorting at me. I must of had 40-45 deer within steps of my stand this year. not a one ever looked at me.i killed one good buck at less than 30yds.
Last edited by srwshooter; 02/05/18.
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 57,494
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 57,494 |
Wonder what you could kill if you paid attention to detail. LOL
We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 196
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 196 |
Neither of our parents hunted deer.
We both had to learn on our own. One thing you learned really quickly is if you were anywhere inside of about 300-400 yards or so, and the wind was wrong you were screwed generally. Closer for dang sure.
Sure there are exceptions to the rule.
But to this day we hunt the wind. One way or another. At our lease we have one stand that we rarely ever get a west wind on and so we are ok most of the time. Another we can hunt up close on only a south wind. But from afar on a south or north as we hunt a different clump of brush.
Another we prefer north wind, but a south wind goes so high above the deer they have not smelled us on a south wind that I can ever recall unless they decide to come up the hill downwind and close.
Ignoring the wind is the dumbest thing you can do with deer. MUCH worse with pigs. I've been hunting deer since I was 7 or 8 years old. I've been teaching my boys to hunt since they were 4 or 5 years old (not carrying, but with me). Deer (and Elk) IME, pay attention to human scent pretty closely, even if they are around humans quite a bit. For sure, once hunting season is going, and they have been shot at, they get even more sensitive. We have different places to hunt up here, and wind direction is pretty much determines where and how we hunt. That has been my experience over the years, and while developing my sons into hunters as well. During spring Turkey hunts, in same areas we hunt deer and elk, we don't worry about wind. But any deer or elk that walks down wind of us gets our scent, and you can tell right away. Especially with elk, it's obvious. We make a game of it, based on wind direction and velocity, on when the first head will come up. The really smart ones keep their heads down when they get the scent, but stop feeding. You can see them scanning with their eyeballs though. Same if they see movement.
Last edited by Bently; 02/05/18.
Regards,
Ben
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 9,587 Likes: 1
Campfire Outfitter
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OP
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 9,587 Likes: 1 |
Wonder what you could kill if you paid attention to detail. LOL Wonder what you could kill if you paid attention to detail. LOL I used to use all that store bought scent masking stuff, washed clothes in special stuff , took showers before every hunt, walked in very slowly to my stand, put down false scraps. Now i do nothing and have been killing better bucks .
Last edited by srwshooter; 02/05/18.
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Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 19,257 Likes: 11
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 19,257 Likes: 11 |
some of the things written here have to make me laugh,really hard. so the deer can tell when you are hunting? lol. NO THEY CAN'T.
If deer are exposed to 'predators' they understand 'threat'. Call it what you want, hunting or threat but they ain't dumb. ....... you can't tell me .....
I think that summarizes your reception of advice from men of a lot of experience. Since you accuse me of being a smartazzz, I don't want to disappoint you. Jerry Can deer tell when you're hunting them? Yes and no. When I went to look at this issue, I like y'all approached with the assumption that deer had somewhat the same concepts of death, dying, mortality and all that. They don't. There is a lot of the process of hunting that they just don't get. There are big gaps in their understanding. A deer will spook at nothing. A deer will spook at the slightest whiff of human scent, but I've seen deer feeding and saw them react to a rifle going off 100 yards away and not even look up. I've seen deer feeding in the middle of a public rifle range. I've even seen deer shot themselves at close range and go back to feeding. Go figure. I don't think they get the concept of death. You shoot their buddy, their sister or mother or whatever, and they may very well stay with the body instead of worrying about you. It's like they're trying to wake them up. I've also seen the same deer back out feeding in the same spot the next day. Another thing that I don't know if you've noticed, but if you get really, really close to deer they drop their guard. Somewhere inside of 10 yards (probably more like inside 5) is a zone where they cease to see you as a threat. I still don't understand this one. However, I've seen it, and I've heard reports from other hunters. It's like the deer figure that if nobody has snorted and run by now, it must be all right. Turkey have a similar zone of indifference, but it's more like when they're pecking at your shoelaces. I don't know what deer think of gunfire but have had deer right in front of my stand many times when someone else shot very close by, close enough to make me levitate off my stand and they paid little attention. They do however, have a keen ability to detect predatory behavior/movement. Perhaps those who spend most of their time in stands or blinds don't see it but as a long time still hunter/stalker/tracker as well as having spent countless hours among them while running a trap line, small game hunting, working and just hiking through the woods I've seen it unmistakeably so many times it's simply not up for debate.
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Joined: Aug 2005
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2005
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I don't worry about the wind direction
I haven't had a deer snort at me for at least 6-7 years.
I might suggest a hearing test. Grin...
- Greg
Success is found at the intersection of planning, hard work, and stubbornness.
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