Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Best Deer Hunting Secrets

Who's got 'em? I don't have any...LOL

Lopping shears are quicker than a bone saw when it comes to cutting off the forelegs.

A couple of 2'x10' plank ATV/Mower ramps and a short rope make loading deer/pigs in the truck much easier

When hunting exposed areas for lengthy amounts of time a paperback book can help you not move your head around too much. Read a page and then scan the area.

If looking for a big doe for the table, let her feed a few minutes and see if another deer is traveling with her. Might be another doe/yearling to give you some scale and see which is biggest. Might be a buck back there too.

Never drink from the jug in the corner of another man's box blind. It probably ain't water in there.

LOL...thanks

some interesting tips

A good shot will kill any deer no matter what is marked on the head stamp.

Peanut butter is the best bait, cover scent and nutritional supplement you can use.
Plus it guns up squirrels kouths so they don't bark at you.

I was in the sporting goods store looking at some attractants. This time of year I don't want the rut/centered product, it's too late for that, which leads to something food-oriented. If I lived near where I was hunting, I may have spent some time putting out some of those food-based blocks, or get some deer lure/feed from the local feed store. But I think that stuff has to sit there a while for it to work.

I use to know a guy who would put apple cider in a spray bottle and sprays trees with it. Instead, I may spend a few dollars on a couple bags of apples, cut them up, put 'em in a bag, and let them get a little rich with color and odor over the next few days, then spread those out in a few places. Might as well try it while it's still legal.

i love eating peanuts in the blind, but the varmints can screw that up royal. never heard of using peanut butter.

Best secret I know of is to live in the middle of some great deer habitat. Get to watch them year 'round and get to know the habits.

Well, there are plenty of deer within a few miles of where I'm sitting, urban area, and they are hiding everywhere

If we are talking real deer hunting, don’t watch all those silly tv hunting shows. You’ll just waste money and time!

i don't even have cable, and when i did i think those channels were all premium

If some MF on your deer lease pisses you off, get your barber to save all the hair off the floor, scatter it around the the MF’s stand. He won’t see any deer. My female barber told me this, she said it works. They had a sorry MF on her lease.

k, well that's nice, but it's kinda the exact opposite of what i'm lookin for at the moment

Oh, how 'bout this one:

If you find a large accumulation of hair around your deer stand, it's probably the neighbors telling you something.


Just kidding.

Seriously? Try this one:
Shamanic Baking Soda Method

Buy some good sweet feed, scatter it out like you do corn. Deer really like it. You can also mix strawberry soda in a bucket of corn, deer love it too.

i'd eat that

This is something I started doing after watching deer sniff out and follow my trail a few times where I had earlier walked to my stand, especially when/if using an attractant scent on boots and/or drag. .

Instead of walking directly TO my stand I started walking past and out from it just a little ways then dog-leg back to my stand location.

Doesn't always work but once in a while it can make a difference in spotting the deer before it spots you and getting a chance at a decent kill shot.

You cut off the forelegs with a saw? Never seen that before. I just use my knife. Always have. Even on moose. Slice the hide, cut the appropriate tendons, twist sideways, cut anything still attached. What the hell is the bone saw for?

i think that's a great idea

My secrets: #1, few deer are killed from the living room, so outside; now secret #2, get out of your truck and walk, fat ass.

LOL

You dont need cover scent, atv is better than walking

There are some good tricks for getting blacktails depending on the terrain and cover. I won't tell all of them but some I will tell.

If you jump a big blacktail buck from his bed near a hilltop and he lets you watch him bound off, usually you get a couple bounces and he's in the brush or around the hill out of sight. If you got a good view of him going right, turn 180 and proceed left. Don't waste your time following him. He expects that. He let you see him run (as opposed to holding tight or sneaking out) to bait you into following him.

If they let you watch them escape one way, they'll turn when out of sight and go back the other way, eventually coming up close to where they started. I've turned and walked away from them and bumped into them circling me I don't know how many times. Basically, if he goes one way, go the other and be ready!

In mountain blacktail country, find steep ridgelines with bedding cover on one side and work your way up or down the ridgeline throwing rocks down in the brush as you go. The deer will move out ahead of the noise and when you get to a saddle, end of the ridge, or otherwise natural crossing point if you've been doing it right they'll walk out right in front of you.

Big blacktails hold tight, so if you're still hunting, stand around alot, and expect deer to explode within feet of you at any time. You won't see them ahead of time no matter how close, but you can be prepared for it now that you've been warned!

If it's rut time and you come across does just standing around, not feeding or doing "normal" deer stuff, those does are advertising their estrus condition to bucks that are known (to the does) to bed or travel downwind of that spot. Hunt the downwind thickets or stake out the edges of them and wait.

There's many more, but that's all I'm giving up. Already said too much.

This is a secret only for those who are willing to wait for that big one to come out. I know this secret to be an absolute FACT! If you want to kill a big buck, you MUST hunt where they are at!

I have a lot of frustrating seasons in pursuit of the wily blacktail.

When I was a boy we'd run deer drives with sure-shot uncles on a stand. Deer were plentiful then, not anymore in California.

Thanks for the advice, Fireball.

WTH

LOL!

thanks, but i got that covered

actually, i've only seen two bucks in December...they don't move like they do during the rut

I like to wait until all the early risers get up and leave before dawn. I warm up their leftover coffee, eat a sweet roll, take a dump, and take a walk outside of camp.

More than once I have a buck hanging before they get back from the morning hunt.

hahahaha

You'll see more bucks with a spotlight
and there is a lot less hunter competition at night.

A former co-worker, very successful bow hunter with numerous Pope & Young record bucks, consultant team member for a former Archery equipment company (Xi/Indian Archery), told me he killed the majority of his P & Y bucks, after gun season ended and the primary rut was over.

He said after gun season ends and rut activity has dwindled big bucks are famished and interested only in one thing --- feeding. That's where he said hunted - where he figures the big bucks most likely will be feeding.

Buy a wheel borrow inner tube and put just a few pounds of air in it and carry it with you. Makes sitting on the ground or in a stand soooo much more comfortable. Light and easy to carry and your ass with thank you.

You got some lazy phuggin deer then....lol.

This is literally my secret to any outdoors pursuit. If it's easy to get to or you can do it without sweating or shivering a little, some hack has already been there and gotten whatever you're looking for.....

Used to saw through bones on deer/elk/hogs then went to loppers... now I use a WWII machete.... MUCH easier.

"You gotta be where the deer are at." That's kind of a running joke in my house. Deer are basically herding animals. Especially late in the season when they yard up. You can spend a week sitting in the woods and never see a deer if the herd isn't there. In the east, this is especially critical because the lots are broken up into such small areas. If you don't have permission for the property they are yarding on, you are out of luck. Usually it's the sunny side of a hill, out of the wind.

they move, I'm sure, just not during the day

Just trying to be Captain Obvious, dripping with sarcasm!

I'm gonna go with my apples jubilee idea. Bought a couple bags, sliced them up and will put one at each location. Those apples really smell, they should get the attenton of a big fat hungry doe.

If you want to stop deer along a well travelled route so you can make a good shot, drag a small tree across their trail. They will stop and stare at it before going around.

Want to make deer cross a fence where you want them to cross? Tie the top strand to the middle strand of barbed wire and then drag a small tree to block access to their former crossing spot.

Want to have a permanent deer blind for cheap? Buy a junk car from a salvage yard and have it towed to your spot in the woods. Stuff old clothes with newspapers to form dummies and place them in the front seat. Opening day you simply toss the dummies into the rear seat and hunt with the windows open. Deer can't tell the difference between the dummies and live hunters. No kidding, this works!

My Dad (1922-2004) taught me these tricks.

Sherwood

Yogi Berra was a genius.

love it!

When I was 13, or so, I asked my grandpa the best spot to kill a buck. He replied in that dry Appalachian humor, "Where one is standing."

Redacted. For security reasons.

mums the word

did not get a deer, when a group of does came in, was in the wrong blind for a decent shot

Pee out the window of your deer stand. It attracts lots of does.

Got to agree w/ this. Nevada has plenty of Mule Deer from Las Vegas to Jackpot and I can spot and stalk year round w/ my rangefinder which is fun and educational. Drawing tags is the secret. [hint: low success areas in the eastern 1/2 of the state] [hint #2 glassing carefully in sage and blackbrush at 5-7 k' ASL.]


mike r

i pee all over the place, doesn't help a bit

SSE.... try this... take an apple and rub it hard all over the bottom of your boots until it kind of comes apart all over your boots... then as you walk to your stand... cut small slivers of apple as you walk in... and circle out in front of you stand... and slice up a few apples out there where you want to shoot. You might have to do this a few times to create a good apple spot. Make sure when you walk back out of your stand, that you re-apply the apple to your boots and re-trace your trail to the stand.... but make sure you DON'T TOUCH BRUSH on your trail. The more you do that, the more you will create a stronger and stronger trail for them to follow. You can also rub apples all over the sides of trees at the shooting location. They will lick those trees. Spraying apple juice or cider all over that area helps A LOT.

Yes!

Some teenage redneck kid told me one time, "Blackberry wine! My granddaddy told me if you drink blackberry wine it'll bring'em in."

not gonna fall for that, i need proof

I don't have feeders, so I used to throw corn. The problem was that by the next morning, all of the corn was gone. I wasn't there enough to get them in the habit of going there. So I started using these Corn-A-Plenty deer blocks from Southern States. Early in the season, a block might last a month or so. After all of the leaves are gone, it'll last 3 to 4 weeks. If there is snow cover, a block might only last a week.

https://www.southernstates.com/cata...-corn-a-plenty-wildlife-block-25-lb.aspx

Cordless SawzAll for cutting bone.

that's not a deer hunting secret, it's not even a secret

Deer have a bit of a sweet tooth. Peanut butter, molasses, apples, honey suckle, oranges, (as well as acorns of course) all work at drawing in deer. I'm trying something different, that should be legal where bait is not allowed, as well as here.
I started a test on deeranddeerhunting.com just before they were drowned in spam. A scent test with candy flavor oils and natural scents like vanilla and licorice. With game cameras and bright eye tree markers for visual deer counts. It had some serious interest, but I didn't have any cameras to run the tests. (Still don't).
Hopefully, I can find some after season sales, and get enough trail cams to run this test.

Learn not to rely on bait but on hunting deer where they normally travel/bed. You'll be much happier most years. And yes, we have a feeder or two close by also, but when the corn piles up, we still see deer all day long due to the corridor, while others that are strictly baiting them, see nothing much if at all.

Run your feeders year round so they become like a dinner bell for the deer...

LOL

Cute, but it just MIGHT cost you a ticket. Can't hunt from a motor vehicle unless handicapped. (They have some bent rules.)

Edit: "Per Debbie and the legal department at the Ohio Department of wildlife; 1(800)WILDLIFE: You cannot hunt from inside the vehicle at all. For trucks, this also includes standing in the bed. You are permitted to hunt using the vehicle as a rest.Jul 21, 2014"

Depends on if your game warden wants to read the letter or the intent of the law.

Define vehicle? If its pulled title and past salvage, I'd find a hard time believing that it would stand up as a vehicle in a court of law in that instance.

You want to bet against a bueracrat definition of a vehicle? Good luck, because that's a special kind of stupid. (Them, not you, but they write the rules)

if you have to feed a animal to kill it,its not hunting.legal or not. its not hunting

So food plots for wildlife are fine, you just shouldn't hunt near them? What about hunting around mast-producing trees that were purposely planted, or placing a stand where it adjoins a corn/soybean field? Not hunting either? I can't really get on board with that, but to each his own. Food appeals to a deer's stomach, much in the way scent lures appeal to his nose, grunt calls and rattling appeal to his ears, doe decoys appeal to his eyes, and bedding areas appeal to his fatigued nervous system.

Good luck hunting in that parking lot. Because when you discount everything a deer might eat want or travel near by habit, that's about all you have left. Makes more sense to use what you know draws them.

PS....

SSE... use a potato peeler for slicing those apples paper thin while walking it to your stand.

AND.... always have a doe-in-can bleat call... blow through the bottom,for louder volume, or simply turn it over for lesser volume... probably 3-5 times, every 15-20 minutes... I've killed a lot of bucks and does with this simple call, from Sept-Jan. It will NOT spook deer. Sometimes they come... sometimes they ignore it, but they don't spook... you can't blow it too much.

Always LMAO when this comes up. hunt an oak tree ok, hunt a food plot or feeder not. Its the same regardless.

Like bullet choice, women choice, if its legal, then I'm ok with your choice even though I may disagree. So whether folks think its hunting or not shouldn't even apply. Much like my opinion that if you are using anything other than an iron sighted black powder or bow, you aint hunting either, simply killing, cause its way to easy to kill em with a scope sighted rifle to ridiculous distances.

Whats really funny though, some of the holier than folks think if folks don't do it their way they are failures. Well, we use feeders where everyone else does, or you are behind the curve some days. We have feeders and food plots at home but rarely ever hunt them. We see enough deer daily on their travel routes to not have to worry, but oh the horror, I cull out bucks and coyotes at times, by poking a rifle out the side door of the house... Then we've hunted many other states where feeding isn't legal or used. And guess what, we've done just fine in those states too.

Sometimes trying something just a little different works. An old friend killed the best buck of his hunting career by doing that.

Said every deer gun season he sat on the ground in the same spot at the base of the same big old thick tree at the top of a ridge line and watched the same gully below.. He killed deer but no big ones.

Opener a few years back he said when he got to his usual spot on an impulse he decided to sit on the opposite side of the same tree and watch in that direction. BOOM! Down it went. Nice old mature buck too.

another great idea

An uncle who passed away showed me his Garand he used for deer hunting, he modified the stock a bit, had one of those flip over scope mounts for in close.

Anyway, old school. He hunted great whitetail farm habitat, never shot a doe, it was considered unethical.

A thing to remember about patterning a buck, is he is patterning you as well. Folks are just as much a creature of habit, as deer are.

We aren't allowed much locally, but I love to hunt a differnet spot each hunt. Love sitting under a tree with Carolyn and Tiger. Play the wind, get a good vantage. Enjoy. You never know whats next and less boring than sitting the same spot all the time.

#1 Hunt were there are lots of Deer #2 Stay Warm spend what ever it takes..... on warm clothes and boots and gloves....Because if you not warm....you not Hunt long....You can kill a deer with a cheap gun......But you will not keep your feet warm and dry with a cheap pair of boots....

Post rut is when the real hunting begins. When they are all doped up on hormones its easy. A deer that isnt chasing tail and horny is a lot more wary of whats going on.