Feeling the Pressure: Two Tags to Fill

[FairWeatherFisher]

Just creating this thread as something of a live hunt follow along/ collective worry rock.

Where does the time go?! It’s already October 16th and there’s only 3 weekends left in the season.

This is my 3rd year hunting blacktails, and had tag soup the first two years. I figured I’d increase my odds and get cash in my points for a unit 19 doe tag.

While it’s true that I now am capable of taking whatever deer I happen to come across, it’s also adding to my anxiety that this year it’s also possible that I’ll fail at filling both tags.

My hunts so far:

10/8: Went out in the evening with a buddy to check out a spot that looked good on OnX. Despite the trees being the right age, it was pretty devoid of sign. Glasses for a few hours, but didn’t see anything.

10/11: Ducked out of work early to go check out a TMA I’d never been to. I was optimistic because of the driving rain. Sat over a good looking clear cut (decent amount of game trails crisscrossing it) watching the timberline. Nothing. Driving out after dark a doe dashed across the road crossing between two stands of 16-20ish ft. reprod.

10/15: Went out before dawn to an area I’d scouted over the summer. I’d gotten a fair few does on cameras, and 2 bucks. Nothing spectacular or high density. After seeing nothing all morning, around 11 I moved to a new spot about 2 miles away. I stayed all day in a large cut that looked very promising. Lots of fresh tracks and the only fresh scat I’ve seen all year. I spent hours glassing the woodlines, gridding the reprod, putting miles in my boots walking all the skid roads; nothing. Finally I caught about a half second glimpse of a fleeing doe that I spooked on my hike out. Didn’t even have time to shoulder my rifle. I tried to lure her out with my “deer stopper” dawn call, but she wasn’t buying it. Frustrating to say the least.

Anyone else getting outsmarted thus far?

 

[wide_groupings]

I know people find bucks in clearcuts and that's the classic advice, but man it has never worked for me personally. I have no doubt it can work if you were on a cut every day purely as a numbers game. But for a random day the odds feel really low for what I assume is a public, fairly easily-accessed cut. Maybe that will change towards the end of the season as it gets into November.

I'm also not a very successful blacktail hunter, so take that with some salt.

 

[FairWeatherFisher]

I went out again tonight to try to get that doe that gave me the slip on Sunday.

I set in a spot where I could see the area where I saw her last time, the road at the top edge of the clearcut where the new trees meet up with the taller denser ones. I even put out a small pile of some mineral lick attractant stuff, in hopes of drawing her out. The wind never did blow the right way to take the scent of the bait into the timber though.

I sat there and watched until it got too dark to see anything, and had to pack it in. As I’m walking out and made it maybe 25 yards from where I’d been set up, I hear her doing that damn warning call from in the reprod. She hadn’t come out yet, but heard my boots crunching the gravel and wasn’t having it.

I felt like Muldoon from Jurassic Park, all I could say was “clever girl”. I’m sure she was thinking “stupid man”. At least there’s no risk of her eating me.

 

[FairWeatherFisher]

I know people find bucks in clearcuts and that's the classic advice, but man it has never worked for me personally. I have no doubt it can work if you were on a cut every day purely as a numbers game. But for a random day the odds feel really low for what I assume is a public, fairly easily-accessed cut. Maybe that will change towards the end of the season as it gets into November.

I'm also not a very successful blacktail hunter, so take that with some salt.

what have you found to be effective? I’ve spent a few days following &/or sitting on trails in the timber in previous years, but still didn’t see anything, and it takes a lot longer to cover way less ground. Plus I find it impossible to be very quiet (I’m not very graceful), to the point that any deer will definitely know I’m coming long before I’d ever be able to see them.

 

[roosiebull]

I think the best plan is to fill both tags in about 30 seconds in the next couple weeks, it can happen fast any time now when you see a buck with a doe… shoot the buck, doe stands there looking at the dead buck… shoot the doe… done deal

Are you walking around much? I like walking roads out around cuts I’m hunting and looking for sign, and once I find sign that interests me, then I will make a strategy to hunt it (where the tracks are being made, and where the best vantage points will be depending on where the sign is, wind, and where I can see best, etc)

I look at blacktail hunting as constant scouting during season, I just keep narrowing it down and tightening up my scouting until I’m looking at a deer I’m wanting to kill… if I’m not seeing the deer making sign (like they are making it at night, I’ll refine my scouting a little or find another scenario to hunt somewhere else)

It’s important to hunt sign, and it’s important to narrow things down to hunt the zones within the area that sign is being made. I don’t want to get lucky blacktail hunting, it’s all very deliberate.

Hunting clear cuts you need vantage points where your wind isn’t blowing towards where the deer will be, you need to be able to get into that spot without the deer seeing you get to your vantage, and you need to be looking at country that deer are actively using

About any clear cut big or small, there is generally 1/4 of the habitat that 90% of the deer will be in.

Early season I’m doing a lot of walking and looking at sign, so when a big skidded up buck track shows up I already have a plan to hunt him… I know the layout, I know what corner the deer mainly use, I know what the wind does in there, and I have my vantage points picked out…. Just waiting for that sign to show up that excites me.

Don’t get discouraged or worried, there are a lot of moving parts, just pay attention to the details and keep tightening the noose… don’t try to get lucky and stumble into one, be deliberate and hunt areas with a purpose, it gets easier.

The biggest thing for you right now imo, is confirm there is sign where you are spending your time, current sign. If you are hunting over fresh sign, you have that nice vantage point picked out, if you can see well, try to stay put until 10:30am, I kill the vast majority of my bucks between 10-12, most on bluebird days when conventional wisdom says bucks will not be in clear cuts.

The 20th on, there will be bucks reliably moving in daylight. The couple days surrounding the 20th is my favorite time, I have seen a lot of very big bucks around the 20th, and most after 10am

The doe tag should be pretty easy, if you are hanging out glassing around fresh sign, you’ll see some does

 

[TripleJ]

Roosie beat me to it, the closer you get to the end of the season, the better chance you have to fill both tags back to back. Your whole season can change in 30 seconds, just be ready to capitalize.

 

[DawnPatrol]

I saw a big blacktail buck running flat out after a doe this morning—just stay with it, because things are about to get awesome, especially with how the OR general season dates line up this year.

I’m also holding two OR blacktail tags, so I’m feeling the pressure/excitement too!

 

[wide_groupings]

It sounds like you're in a zone with deer - you've seen two does in person, plus bucks on cam. That's amazing! Already doing better than a lot of people.

Have you tried any still hunting this year? I know you said you're not quiet enough - that almost definitely means you're walking too fast. I'm sure you've read the same advice a million times, but it shouldn't even considered walking.

You will absolutely cover ground more slowly. But you'll be covering ground very effectively. Ground that you know has some deer. Might help you understand how they are moving around the general area too. Finding the 1/4 of the terrain they're actually using like @roosiebull said

 

[FairWeatherFisher]

It sounds like you're in a zone with deer - you've seen two does in person, plus bucks on cam. That's amazing! Already doing better than a lot of people.

Have you tried any still hunting this year? I know you said you're not quiet enough - that almost definitely means you're walking too fast. I'm sure you've read the same advice a million times, but it shouldn't even considered walking.

You will absolutely cover ground more slowly. But you'll be covering ground very effectively. Ground that you know has some deer. Might help you understand how they are moving around the general area too. Finding the 1/4 of the terrain they're actually using like @roosiebull said

I haven’t really done much still hunting, no. I suppose I’m not too sure when/where it’s the better method to use. Seems the terrain I’m in is either open enough to glass OKish, or so dense you’re hard pressed to walk through it at all, and likely to lose an eye doing so.

 

[FairWeatherFisher]

I saw a big blacktail buck running flat out after a doe this morning—just stay with it, because things are about to get awesome, especially with how the OR general season dates line up this year.

I’m also holding two OR blacktail tags, so I’m feeling the pressure/excitement too!

I’m taking the whole last week of the season off of work so I can hunt hard that week. That’s one thing that is really helping me keep my wits about me. That’s 8 uninterrupted days of hunting the best part of the season. Just hope I don’t blow it

 

[FairWeatherFisher]

@Steve300xcw
Fair enough. Definitely thinking body language plays a big part in it, too. Hell, over the summer I saw a decent fork a little ways off the side of the road. I stopped the car, got out, walked towards it (less than 50yds), and it just stood there and watched me do it with little more than a slight curiosity.

How to get that same response while I do have a rifle, I haven’t figured out. I would need to see another one that close first, anyway.

I’ve got all of next Wednesday to hunt, so I’m going to check out a new TMA I’ve never been to, to see what it’s looking like. Mostly just trying to figure out what my game plan will be for that last week. I need to pick a place and hone in on it, but I want to be sure it’s a good one as there will be plenty people coming out of the woodwork to hunt that last week that aren’t out there now.

 

[Oregonhuntrboi]

I’m in the same situation, drew a doe tag and of course general buck tag here in OR coast range. Seeing fresh sign and tracks, I’ve been out 6 times and only seen a few does in daylight. On the other hand, while hiking out in the dark I’ve bumped lots of deer out of the timber across the road near the cuts I’m glassing. Very frustrating but hoping as the season gets later I will have some more opportunities.

 

[FairWeatherFisher]

I’m in the same situation, drew a doe tag and of course general buck tag here in OR coast range. Seeing fresh sign and tracks, I’ve been out 6 times and only seen a few does in daylight. On the other hand, while hiking out in the dark I’ve bumped lots of deer out of the timber across the road near the cuts I’m glassing. Very frustrating but hoping as the season gets later I will have some more opportunities.

Yeah, that’s always the thing that keeps me hopeful. Every day the odds of finding a deer get better and better. I just wish I could find some daytime does so I can use that antlerless tag, and then really focus specifically on finding a buck.

Lots of helpful insight has already been shared in this thread though. Finding that 1/4 of the habitat that’s actually used is a new tip to me. I’ve always figured they’d be anywhere w/ equal likelihood.

 

[FairWeatherFisher]

“Live hunt” update

I took the afternoon off to go hunting, but didn’t see a single deer today except one grazing in someone’s yard on the drive home after dark.

I started off around 2:00 sitting over a gully with lots of trails crossing it in some big timber. Stayed there for about an hour, nothing. The camera I’d left there only picked one deer in the 10 days it was up.

Next I moved to still hunting down a skid road about 600 yards through a unit of reprod that looks in the 8-10 year range, about 12” tall trees growing pretty densely. I figured that’s what I’ve been seeing does come out of so far this year, so let’s try going through it. A few tracks & trails cross crossing the skid road, but no deer that I saw.

On the back side of that was a newer cut, trees more of 3”, decent brush, trails abounded, and some fresh scat here and there. I got there around 5ish and sat over looking that cut the last hour, with a bout of rattling & doe bleats every 20mins or so. Still nothing. Nothing on the walk back out from there either.

I had high hopes for today, given the weather & time of year finally getting to where the bucks should be pre-rutting. Pretty disappointed I didn’t see anything. I had hoped to have this doe tag filled today at least.

 

[bmrfish]

There are out there. Keep after them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[roosiebull]

“Live hunt” update

I took the afternoon off to go hunting, but didn’t see a single deer today except one grazing in someone’s yard on the drive home after dark.

I started off around 2:00 sitting over a gully with lots of trails crossing it in some big timber. Stayed there for about an hour, nothing. The camera I’d left there only picked one deer in the 10 days it was up.

Next I moved to still hunting down a skid road about 600 yards through a unit of reprod that looks in the 8-10 year range, about 12” tall trees growing pretty densely. I figured that’s what I’ve been seeing does come out of so far this year, so let’s try going through it. A few tracks & trails cross crossing the skid road, but no deer that I saw.

On the back side of that was a newer cut, trees more of 3”, decent brush, trails abounded, and some fresh scat here and there. I got there around 5ish and sat over looking that cut the last hour, with a bout of rattling & doe bleats every 20mins or so. Still nothing. Nothing on the walk back out from there either.

I had high hopes for today, given the weather & time of year finally getting to where the bucks should be pre-rutting. Pretty disappointed I didn’t see anything. I had hoped to have this doe tag filled today at least.

I think your best bet is find some good sign by walking areas out like you have and grab a vantage with good wind and just sit tight and be patient and stay in your binos

Glassing blacktail, it will blow you away how a deer can materialize out of nowhere in the middle of a cut, or you see one plain as day and 5 seconds later it’s gone for an hour

One tough thing about blacktail hunting is that they are way, way more patient than any of us will ever be, so being as patient as us humans can be is very helpful, you still can’t match the patience of an old buck, but try.

Don’t get hung up on anything, sometimes deer will be in a new dead looking cut next to a beautiful grown up cut, sometimes they prefer those ugly dead cuts (seems even more in wet weather) be as brutally patient as possible, which means methodically glassing your way to your vantage, don’t just go Willy nilly out to your glassing point, deer are pros at spotting movement, even from a long way, and they see through fog really well, so keep that in mind

Try to find less pressured areas, another thing they are good at is patterning humans, when every hunter walks into an area the same way at the same times, they will get wise to that… I’ve seen it many times.

Sneaking into a location in the dark moving Slow is helpful, because most people don’t do that. Don’t get in your own head either, we can be our own worst enemies

Just keep trying, dumb it down as much as possible (in reality it’s all caveman stuff) and don’t keep doing the same thing that isn’t working, keep looking for other spots and mix up the strategy

Only time I like to still hunt is when the weather is too bad to glass, I don’t have it in me to move slow enough to still hunt if I don’t have to… I can sit and glass for a long time, I think the difference is if I’m not seeing deer glassing, I’m not hurting anything… if I’m not seeing deer still hunting, I feel like I could be…

Regardless, you should be seeing some deer, and if you aren’t, keep finding new country, and once you verify the sign, find a spot to sit and glass and stay in the glass, knowing there are deer in front of you, you just need to find them

 

[Venom One]

Glassing blacktail, it will blow you away how a deer can materialize out of nowhere in the middle of a cut, or you see one plain as day and 5 seconds later it’s gone for an hour

100%. It seems like they have magical powers they way the appear and disappear.

I slipped into an area 2 days ago for an evening hunt. After 40 min of being there and looking it over multiple times by eye and with binos, I was convinced nothing was there when my eye caught a shape. Pulled up the binos and there's a doe bedded 100 yds from me and she'd been there the whole time.

One tough thing about blacktail hunting is that they are way, way more patient than any of us will ever be, so being as patient as us humans can be is very helpful, you still can’t match the patience of an old buck, but try.

I once had a staring contest with a doe for over 30 minutes where I never detected a single movement from her. Not an ear or tail flick, no head movement, no change of position - just rock still. She was so statuesque that I started to wonder if she was a decoy.

 

[Valumpessa]

So much good advice on here.
I'd just add to be sure and move around to different vantages if possible. Here's an example of a little bedded buck from last weekend I didn't see until getting the right angle on him. You can see how the regrowth and terrain in this pic can completely block them from view.

 

[FairWeatherFisher]

I went hunting for a few hours yesterday morning. I hit up a friend/mentor I’ve met through the OHA to see if he wanted to go hunt w/ me, and he invited me over to his place for a morning hunt. He has a Weyerhaeuser lease on some property behind his house, so it was kind of a private land hunt.

We went and did a few set ups where he’s seen deer before. Mostly dense cover, short range, sort of habitat. He did some calling with a fawn distress call, hoping to have a doe come running. No luck.

After the time he had to hunt had elapsed, and I headed home (about 10:00am), I had driven not 300 yards from his property, still in the lease area, I saw a fork running up the hill right towards his place. Of course there was no cell coverage, so I couldn’t call and ask if it was ok to shoot it at that spot. I watched it for a bit, then kept driving. Once I got a few miles down the road I had reception again, so I called and let him know it was headed his way. I didn’t hear anything later, so I assume he didn’t find or take it.
First buck I’ve seen all season.

Still, I learned quite a bit from this outing.

• Creeping into a spot should be wayyyyy slower than I’ve been going. We were going so slow my ankles were hurting from the stabilizing muscles yanking on my tendons. It was probably the quietest I’ve ever walked though.
• My fawn call is pretty good, so its nice to know that bad calling isn’t why it hasn’t worked.
• If a doe is going to come in to a fawn call, it’ll happen fast. I’ve been sitting and calling for 45-60 minutes, when I probably should have been moving on after 10.
• It’s not just me who goes out and doesn’t see deer most often.
• I did see a buck, and he was out cruising in the day time. It happened once, it can happen again!

 

[amassi]

I went hunting for a few hours yesterday morning. I hit up a friend/mentor I’ve met through the OHA to see if he wanted to go hunt w/ me, and he invited me over to his place for a morning hunt. He has a Weyerhaeuser lease on some property behind his house, so it was kind of a private land hunt.

We went and did a few set ups where he’s seen deer before. Mostly dense cover, short range, sort of habitat. He did some calling with a fawn distress call, hoping to have a doe come running. No luck.

After the time he had to hunt had elapsed, and I headed home (about 10:00am), I had driven not 300 yards from his property, still in the lease area, I aw a fork running up the hill right towards his place. Of course there was no cell coverage, so I couldn’t call and ask if it was ok to shoot it at that spot. I watched it for a bit, then kept driving. Once I got a few miles down the road I had reception again, so I called and let him know it was headed his way. I didn’t hear anything later, so I assume he didn’t find or take it.
First buck I’ve seen all season.

Still, I learned quite a bit from this outing.

• Creeping into a spot shoukd wayyyyy slower than I’ve been doing. We were going so slow my ankles were hurting from the stabilizing muscles yanking on my tendons. It was probably the quietest I’ve ever walked though.
• My fawn call is pretty good, so its nice to know that bad calling isn’t why it hasn’t worked.
• If a doe is going to come in to a fawn call, it’ll happen fast. I’ve been sitting and calling for 45-60 minutes, when I probably should have been moving on after 10.
• It’s not just me who goes out and doesn’t see deer most often.
• I did see a buck, at he was out cruising in the day time. It happened once, it can happen again!

In the woods they’re up and moving all day.
The idea they’ll bed for long stints comes from more open terrain where they’d be exposed moving from one patch of cover.
I wouldn’t focus on calling, despite how good you sound it’s still alerting deer. Gives them more reason to be cautious