Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Was my whitetail experience normal?

Check out my post in "Eastern vs. Western..." in Big Game. I'd like to know what y'all think of my observations, etc.

(sorry to beg)

I'm from eastern KY vs. western KY where you were but if you were to add some rolling mountains your experience would closely mimic my own.

You had a few things going against you; you weren't treestand hunting, you didn't get good scouting, and you were there late.

I hate treestand hunting myself; bores the crap out of me most of the time. It is the method that most people have the most success with out here. Again, there is even less bottom land in my part of the state though.

As you saw, moving quietly can be a task and following sign can be tough if the leaves are fresh. Seeing more than 10 yards in front of you can be a task at times as well. The fact that deer will often go nearly nocturnal here for most of November makes things even tougher. That's what I meant when I said you were "late". Opening weekend they are still somewhat unaware of what's going on (it seems). Better yet is Oct. muzzleloader season though you don't have the benefit of the rut then.

All in all I'd say you got a pretty representative KY hunt given the circumstances. With a little more scouting and more time finding a vantage point where you can see some acreage you'd likely have been more successful. Last years good stand (or even last month's) can be a dead zone this year (or month).

Hope that helps...

Out of curiosity, do you plan to come back to KY to hunt?

I was in a tree stand in the swamp, and spent more time there than elsewhere. I think my host, who did a lot of prep work for me, has had such good luck there that he hasn't bothered to do much elsewhere. Most of the other properties were newly available and he'd located them just because I was coming out; but no, he hadn't done a lot of scouting on them.

I can imagine how boring stands can get, but this was my first so I was kept on edge and alert.

I'd like go back but I'm not sure its feasible. That's a long way to drive. I put nearly 7000 miles on my '87 Bronco for the whole trip.

You are spot on. I have gone 15 days in woodlots in the South w/o seeing a deer. The pressure, limited size of hunting areas, changing food preferences, can frustrate the tar out of you.
I found your observation about whitetails in the Black Hills interesting. I have hunted mulies and antelope near there but never in. I would have thought the sneaky rascals acted like they do in the East.

Macrabbit,

Welcome to the Eastern Deer ........see 'em they are waving

One has to earn the deer in these woods. Hated to hear you didn't get one. Are you looking for a trophy kind or just deer meat ? When the pressure is on them bucks hide and do their doe chasing at nite, if they can wait that long. Sounded like you did enjoy it though. I would like to do some of that mule deer or elk hunting out you way some day. I can see 'em waving at me now.......

..keep your powder dry..
.

99, I've seen my share of the wave- I know what you mean.

My standards vary; in KY I was looking for a good'un, 130-plus.

Something I left out of the tale: while I took a few days to visit my cousin for Thanksgiving, my host went on his traditional turkey-day quail hunt. The dogs knocked out a 24-inch buck!!!
He wasn't available when I returned for the last two days of the season so couldn't show me where that little woodlot was.
That's why I love it so!

Slasher, I find it strange, too.
I've hunted in the same spot the four or so times I've been there (no need to switch!), so I can't speak about "all BH deer". But that spot is almost civilized. I'm only about 1 1/2 miles from the freeway, half that from long-time ranch houses, and for the last few years they've been putting in some houses nearby- the closest crowns a hilltop near my camp. A (rough) dirt road goes right by the cliff where I usually sit and folks stop and glass there often. I've had any number of other hunters sitting that cliff, still-hunting the ridge it terminates, and even across the little canyon where I see most of my deer. Yet deer keep coming out on the barren other side of the canyon and walking the ridge edge right at the tree-line. Most of the activity is at the part of that ridge farthest from the cliff, some 600 yards away, but that shouldn't keep the yahoos from shooting or the smart guys from stalking closer. I would expect the deer to be regularly harassed and extra-spooky. They get onto that ridge in order to go to the water on the other side but there is no need for them to be in the open. Mere yards from where they do walk, the same terrain is forested (and without any barrier to its use). Some do remain under cover; I can see their legs and there are a few windows (I caught a glimpse of what might have been a decent buck this trip). Why they aren't all more cautious, I don't know. But I'm glad!

When the deer are nocturnal, a lot of good teamwork and a well organized drive can move bucks that you will never see during the day. The down side is they will be moving while you see them.
In my view the animals adapt to the terrain and region and that forms their defensive characteristics regardless of their species.

I'm in central KY, and your experience sounds pretty typical for KY hunting IMO.

Now, as for what I'd recommend changing if you hunt KY again...
First, don't wait until gun season has already started. There's too much hunting pressure and the big ones usually go almost entirely nocturnal after opening weekend. If you do wait until gun season is in, hunt the thick stuff around the outer edges of a bedding area; you know, the stuff where you can see about 40yds maximum <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />. Your odds of getting a mature buck into an open field during daylight hours in the middle of gun season are slim and none.

Secondly, don't try to still hunt/spot and stalk. Pick a place to hunt before you ever leave for the day, get in as quietly as possible, sit down and watch patiently until it's time to leave. Still hunting here in KY is darn near impossible, they'll smell/hear/see you moving before you know they're even in the area. Of course some people still choose to still hunt, but in general you won't be nearly as successful that way. There used to be an older gentleman who lived a few miles from me, he always still hunted just because he found it more enjoyable, you couldn't get him to sit in a stand no way in the world, and in over 20yrs of deer hunting he had taken 3 deer. That should give you an idea of the your still hunting odds in KY <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Thanks, Sniper.

<<Now, as for what I'd recommend changing if you hunt KY again...
First, don't wait until gun season has already started. There's too much hunting pressure and the big ones usually go almost entirely nocturnal after opening weekend. If you do wait until gun season is in, hunt the thick stuff around the outer edges of a bedding area; you know, the stuff where you can see about 40yds maximum

Sounds right. But the farms are so darn small and contiguous with each other- there's not much in the way of 'outer edges of a bedding area'. Mainly there were narrow strips of trees between fields and gawdawfully thick teeny-tiny woodlots. My 'swamp' was in just such an area as you describe but the property I could hunt was just a small part of it.
The ranch I hunt out West has some 20,000 acres to choose from!

Sounds pretty typical in my experience here in Va. -- stand hunting (tree or ground) tags the deer.

I've hunted maybe 2 days that were suitable for still hunting -- one with heavy wet snow, the other with a thick fog following several days of soaking rain. Saw no deer either day.

Up in NY this week we had light flurries and rain followed by a sudden cold snap -- the leaves froze so hard it was like walking on icicles. We were driving small woodlots and I was the stander; on the way to my stands I gave up on stealth in favor of just cruising through like a non-predatory farmer or hiker. Jumped two deer doing so -- both button bucks (illegal in those areas); both jumped within 15 yards and only *after* I stopped moving.

Did have a lot of fun at the butchering party on closing day -- teamwork, hot chili, Frank Zappa music and Genessee Cream Ale. Mmmm.

John

I used to hunt with a friend who was too impatient to stay on a stand. One time I saw him from my stand stalking along very carefully, about 10 minutes later a forkhorn was following along sniffing his tracks and watching in the direction he had been heading, bang. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

JF,
I often try to be unpredictable while still-hunting, stopping, backtracking, zig-zagging. Gotta get the animals on edge.

The more deer that live there...the more you'll see. The more your're there, the more you'll see. The more you're prepared, the more you'll kill.

macrabbit,
I live in western Ky. and your description of the lay of the land around here is right on. I've seen areas so dense that, over years, the deer and other animals had worn a maze of tunnel-like trails deep inside the underbrush.

Those small acreage farm fields with the scattered islands of trees, blackberry briar's, honeysuckle vines, etc. can be real deer magnets though, especially during the first few days of center fire season when the guns start popping and the whitetails are running for cover. Over the years my son and I have both taken several deer including two very nice bucks from the same tree stand located in a relatively tiny section of woods on a 55acre farm. Deer use those narrow strips of trees and dense under brush for cover while moving between feeding and bedding areas and can funnel them right past your tree stand or ground blind location. During the rut, whitetail bucks will travel those narrow wooded strips, making rubs and scrapes, hoping to find a hot doe. Your shots there are usually close and quick.
Some hunters around here do get a chance at longer shots by setting up stands on the edge of power line right of ways or overlooking hay or row crop fields.

You were at a disadvantage in not understanding the hunting techniques here, a lack of time to learn them, and were a bit late in the center fire season. Some years we local hunters get lucky, then some years we get skunked too. I would be in the same predicament as you were if I tried to hunt the 20,000acre ranch you usually hunt, using our western Ky. methods of whitetail deer hunting.

Hope you have better luck next time you hunt Ky.

ltppowell, 'struth!

All as I thought, joken.
Time and familiarity are obviously key anywherewhen.