Backcountry Back pack White tail Bow Hunt

[Novice4now]

I live in north west Arkansas, and have hunted the area for white tail with a rifle periodically over the years (mostly on private land and also some on easily accessible areas of public land). But I have recently become obsessed with shooting my bow (literally a few hundred arrows a week for the last few months) and I can’t shake the desire of wanting to backpack deep into some public land and spend time in the wilderness far from other hunters.

The issue is I don’t know anyone that does it, and haven’t found any threads about this specifically. It seems like backpack hunting, spotting and stalking, and on The ground bow hunting works great with Mule deer, Black tail and elk out west in those deep swaths of public land. But what about white tail? It seems like the Whitetail I see are either on farm land, private land or on public land that borders private. Do you guys see Whitetail in the backcountry in this region? Can backpacking in for Whitetail be a successful venture? Any info helps and any insight from more experienced hunters is deeply appreciated!

Also want to add that I am in no way bashing guys that prefer to hunt in other ways or in other areas. This is just what I’m looking for.

 

[Titan_Bow]

I used to do this kind of hunting alot, but mainly for the fun of camping and the just the overall experience. My brother and I used to backpack several miles into the NC mountains, sometimes we'd purposefully not bring much food, and just see how long we could go.
Backpacking for whitetails is not going to be nearly as productive. The deer density's way back in large tracts of public National Forest are going to be very low, especially compared to private land agriculture. I've killed a couple deer this way, and a hog way back in near the SC/NC/GA border. My brother and I were doing this back in the 90's before the advent of the internet, fueled by the Traditional Bowhunter Magazine stories that filled our heads

With the use of e-scouting, Google Earth, Onx, etc. you should be able to key in on features that might be travel corridors, feeding areas, etc. Look for old cutovers, oak covered ridgetops, creek bottoms. Whitetail deer are an "edge" creature, meaning, they will use the edges of terrain or vegetation, for travel. Look for these while e-scouting, and more importantly, while in the woods. Muscadine, blackberries, old apple orchards, oak ridges.. those are all the food sources we would key in on , depending on the time of year.

I rarely used a treestand doing this style of hunting, but rather, relied on creating natural ground blinds. In hilly or mountainous terrain, use that to your advantage by creating a blind above a suspected travel route, but never skyline! Although I dont use or own a "saddle" system, this would definitely be the place to employ something like that as well. But again, ground blinds work great if you take the time to construct them right.

Again, not going to be a high probability game, but it will be fun, and it will make a small doe or young buck seem more of a trophy than that big 10 pointer shot over a well manicured food plot. Hunting is a culmination of what you put into it. Creating "adventures" to me is just as important, or really more important, than simply putting meat in the freezer. This is the type of hunt you can do to do that.

 

[rayporter]

deep on the buffalo river-you are in the middle of white tail haven. i might see a hunter every other year-and he will be lost

 

[rayporter]

backpacking can be even more productive

 

[Novice4now]

deep on the buffalo river-you are in the middle of white tail haven. i might see a hunter every other year-and he will be lost

Great pics! Deep into the Buffalo WMA is where I have been plan on hunting next season so I’m glad to see you’ve had success there in the back country. Going to do some scouting soon and try to find an exact location. Thanks for the in put guys!

 

[jorgensen.travis]

I went to the Richland Creek area last November. I hunted with my camp on my back for 2 days, camping wherever I ended up each day. I shot this decent 6 point on the second night. Weather was awful and visibility was poor. This was the first and only deer I’d seen. I packed it out through 2 miles of some of the most treacherous terrain I’ve ever dealt with. Then stashed my gear, and ran 6 miles down the road to get my car. I’ve done a few of these packpack whitetail hunts in the Midwest. Always with a gun. I did

get a spike buck in a Wilderness area in southern Illinois with a pistol, which has similar range to a compound bow. It’s hard enough to find stretches of Wilderness without roads and ATV’s let alone find them that have good deer habitat. In my experience the deep hardwoods of the Midwest don’t hold as many deer as the stuff that borders agricultural (and roads). Personally, I do it for the adventure first and the hunting second. If you go expecting to see a bunch of deer that are avoiding people, you’ll likely be disappointed. In my experience the Midwest Wilderness is no easier to navigate than the west. It’s easier to get lost, has denser foliage, is often steeper, and colder due to the time of year than most western hunts I’ve been on.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[BeastOfTheTrees]

Backpack Whitetails is my new thing up northern PA though.

 

[BeastOfTheTrees]

I used to do this kind of hunting alot, but mainly for the fun of camping and the just the overall experience. My brother and I used to backpack several miles into the NC mountains, sometimes we'd purposefully not bring much food, and just see how long we could go.
Backpacking for whitetails is not going to be nearly as productive. The deer density's way back in large tracts of public National Forest are going to be very low, especially compared to private land agriculture. I've killed a couple deer this way, and a hog way back in near the SC/NC/GA border. My brother and I were doing this back in the 90's before the advent of the internet, fueled by the Traditional Bowhunter Magazine stories that filled our heads

With the use of e-scouting, Google Earth, Onx, etc. you should be able to key in on features that might be travel corridors, feeding areas, etc. Look for old cutovers, oak covered ridgetops, creek bottoms. Whitetail deer are an "edge" creature, meaning, they will use the edges of terrain or vegetation, for travel. Look for these while e-scouting, and more importantly, while in the woods. Muscadine, blackberries, old apple orchards, oak ridges.. those are all the food sources we would key in on , depending on the time of year.

I rarely used a treestand doing this style of hunting, but rather, relied on creating natural ground blinds. In hilly or mountainous terrain, use that to your advantage by creating a blind above a suspected travel route, but never skyline! Although I dont use or own a "saddle" system, this would definitely be the place to employ something like that as well. But again, ground blinds work great if you take the time to construct them right.

Again, not going to be a high probability game, but it will be fun, and it will make a small doe or young buck seem more of a trophy than that big 10 pointer shot over a well manicured food plot. Hunting is a culmination of what you put into it. Creating "adventures" to me is just as important, or really more important, than simply putting meat in the freezer. This is the type of hunt you can do to do that.

This dude just gets it....,.. just gotta run your ‘friends’ through somewhat of a secret vetting process like a mini selection to see if they are up to it. Not many people want to hike 5-7 miles or more to hunt, or paddle 2 hours in the dark on a lake in December with choppy waves, just depends how sick in the head you are with it. Only found one such partner.

 

[camping1601]

Backpack Whitetails is my new thing up northern PA though.

I have yet to see a single person do this in PA.

 

[BeastOfTheTrees]

ANF man I’m up here.

 

[Lowg08]

I started doing it this past year. Had no luck but feel more prepared for this coming season

 

[OFFHNTN]

I live in north west Arkansas, and have hunted the area for white tail with a rifle periodically over the years (mostly on private land and also some on easily accessible areas of public land). But I have recently become obsessed with shooting my bow (literally a few hundred arrows a week for the last few months) and I can’t shake the desire of wanting to backpack deep into some public land and spend time in the wilderness far from other hunters.

The issue is I don’t know anyone that does it, and haven’t found any threads about this specifically. It seems like backpack hunting, spotting and stalking, and on The ground bow hunting works great with Mule deer, Black tail and elk out west in those deep swaths of public land. But what about white tail? It seems like the Whitetail I see are either on farm land, private land or on public land that borders private. Do you guys see Whitetail in the backcountry in this region? Can backpacking in for Whitetail be a successful venture? Any info helps and any insight from more experienced hunters is deeply appreciated!

Also want to add that I am in no way bashing guys that prefer to hunt in other ways or in other areas. This is just what I’m looking for.

The best way to find out is to go do it! Best of luck and welcome to the forum!

 

[rayporter]

you have to want to find the places that have no people and are deep in the woods. when you go you know failure to kill is an option but fun and excitement will be had. i have taken solo squirrel hunting trips and had a blast.
this is north georgia

big buck for the area and the Appalachian trail was 200 yd from camp

 

[KettleKrick]

I have yet to see a single person do this in PA.

We just started a bit of this kind of hunting last year in PA as preparation for a western hunt. Looks like we’ll be doing it again locally with everything going on travel wise. I’m ready to roll, hardly even disappointed.

 

[camping1601]

We just started a bit of this kind of hunting last year in PA as preparation for a western hunt. Looks like we’ll be doing it again locally with everything going on travel wise. I’m ready to roll, hardly even disappointed.

Where about's in PA? I'm heading to the Sproul and Susquehannock this weekend. That's as far away from people as I can get.

 

[rayporter]

there used to be some places in Southern Ohio where you could get back pretty far.

 

[MN_Condor]

Last season was only my second season hunting, and the first on public land, but from what I saw, most people were only willing to walk about 100 yards max from the parking lot. And the biggest public wma I went to was only ~1,400 acres. So I think you'll have a good chance at seeing a lot more backpacking in, even if you don't go far.

 

[kfili]

Ive been wanting to do this in va. We have plenty of mountains to get deep in but i don't expect to have much deer action. Im a archery only guy too so that makes it all the more challenging. Ive seen guys get it done with rifles, not so much with archery tackle. I really wanna do it as an out west prep- if i can ever get out there

 

[wannabemountainman]

I started hunting in the mountains of VA a few years ago and agree that folks generally don't have a lot of luck with mature bucks during bow season. If you're into hunting bear, however, you'd likely have better odds with a bow, particularly in early October. Bears tend to be more stalkable than deer so that allows still hunting to be an effective tactic. You may not want to hunt bear but it is a great excuse to stomp around in the mounains with a gun or bow.

 

[kfili]

I started hunting in the mountains of VA a few years ago and agree that folks generally don't have a lot of luck with mature bucks during bow season. If you're into hunting bear, however, you'd likely have better odds with a bow, particularly in early October. Bears tend to be more stalkable than deer so that allows still hunting to be an effective tactic. You may not want to hunt bear but it is a great excuse to stomp around in the mounains with a gun or bow.

Im itching for a shot at a bear had some big ones on camera this fall but never showed up when i needed them too