Frustrated - Ready to sell my Sh!t

[wildernessmaster]

I am at the end of my rope with whitetail hunting... About ready to sell all my stuff and take up golf (which I hate).

I started hunting late in life (5 years ago). The last 3 years I have probably spent more time elk hunting (out West) but have spent a decent amount of time whitetail hunting here back east where I live (NC).

I scout.

I actually am very skilled at finding deer sign. Like this weekend, a game warden gave me some new access points to public land and on my first trip in, I find a spot where it was clear deer were feeding on acorns (there was glistening scat) and a runway where literally every 30 yards a scrape and rubs. Clearly some runway a nice buck was using.

I have done this "blind" in several parcels of public land. Even have found bear...

But I can't "see" any deer nor get any within shooting distance.

I try to manage my scent, and definitely manage the wind. Scent wise I have an ozone box I keep my clothes in and run it before I go out. I also spray down with scent killer before walking in the woods. Wind wise, I do my best but these big woods parcels often have swirling/changing winds.

I manage my noise. Granted it is nearly impossible to be quiet in these places, as there are deadfall, twigs, and dried leaves EVERYWHERE. So I step, stop; step, step, stop; make scraping noises... otherwise try not to sound like a human and more like an animal moving through the woods.

The public lands I hunt are east coast big woods. They are semi (small) mountainous. There are hardwoods, evergreens (southern pines, junipers and faux cedars). I hunt the edges of these, I hunt the topographic changes, I hunt the bottoms, hedge rows.... You name it. I still hunt and set up stands.

And I KNOW, that this time of the season is tough to kill a deer, but i have done this (gun and archery) for 3 seasons and just not having any luck.

Any ideas I am open to.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Join a private lease/club where the pressure is more regulated. Then put your climber on your back and use your scouting skills to hunt the draws, pinch points, and big woods, while the lazy folks sit in a shooting house overlooking a powerline/pipeline, or food plot.

 

[SpookySpectre308]

Sounds like you are being mindful. Hang in there. I once had a 5 year run on my own 320 acres that the shooters eluded me. It can be a mind game to keep going.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

 

[EastMT]

You sound like you are on the right path. I do know that thick woods/timber is a lot harder to hunt than open country.

I find that wind management is more important than scent management. I had a parcel of land I could hunt, would always check Windy app to see wind directions, I wouldn’t enter the woods, I would come down wind to the edge of the woods with a decent view, park there so I wasn’t skylines, not move around. This was successful.

If you can’t see very far, they are likely spooked long before you get there, unless your skills are very superior, it’s difficult to sneak up on a WT.

I encourage you to not give up, just enjoy the woods, enjoy the chase. The kill isn’t the fun part, the hunt is (IMO).

 

[FLAK]

I hunted public land in N. Bama for 40 years.
One year I killed 5 bucks, 2 of which are on the wall.
The next year I didnt get a shot till the next to the last
day of the season, and it was a mediocre buck.

Also, used to own 52 acres, only about 15 of which
was wooded. But that 15 acres was absolutely covered
up with buck sign. You could sit it daylight till dark and
never see a deer even during the rut. Trail cameras revealed
16 different bucks visiting the place. Every single pic was
at night between 10pm and 4 am.

Dont get discouraged. It can be tough.

 

[Brendan]

If you want to kill deer in the thick stuff out east with a bow, plan on doing it from a stand. Bow from the ground is next level hard. It's not like stalking deer or Elk out west.

If you think you're being quiet, or going slow, you're probably not. When stand hunting, I go in in the dark, be quiet as I can but more slow and methodical and get up my tree. Then wait. put in the time. Can't tell you how many sits I've had where I see NOTHING. It happens. Last year I hunted 10 days for Elk, and probably sat on 20-30 different days for whitetail. One miss on a doe after hitting a branch, one dead buck, and it was a really small one with a rifle.

This time of year, deer are moving at first and last light, that's it. You want to be 25-30' up for those times, or behind glass in more open areas watching where they travel. If you're moving during the day, you're scouting while they're bedded and not moving.

Big woods mountain hunting is as tough as it gets. Best luck I've had there is rifle season, and late season when the leaves are down with better sight lines and potential for snow.

 

[pdun24]

I would recommend completely going away from still hunting in the southeast. Especially once the leaves drop and become crunchy, it is impossible to be quiet enough to get within 40 yards of a deer in the woods.
Try and do a little research on where the deer in your area are bedding. Your best bet for finding whitetails in daylight on public land is going to be within 100 yards of where they bed.
Scent killer stuff can help, but you'll never get clean enough to beat the nose of a whitetail. Use the wind to keep scent away. Wherever you think deer are coming from, make your scent blow in the opposite direction.
Last tip and probably most important: don't hunt yourself into hating hunting. Only hunt as much as you enjoy it and don't ruin it for yourself.

 

[Cedarsavage]

Start running cameras to learn where they use in daylight. I hunt big woods too and I hunt and scout way harder for less results than I do when I travel. I try not to hunt until the rut unless I feel like I’m gonna kill something that day. I base that on historical knowledge from cameras and sightings, and current camera pictures.

 

[Glendon Mullins]

Like the other guys said, to many dry leaves here to spot n stalk real effectively, u have to get lucky to pull that off or wait specifically for rainy days or snow to slip around.

When you find a spot like u talked about, where deer were feeding on acorns, fresh poo, etc. Sit at the base of a tree at a distance your comfortable shooting with a bow, or make a makeshift blind, (if you dont like treestands) but your best bet is to treestand it. Sit there on that fresh sign and eventually, (it may even take 2-3 days) you will see deer

 

[stumpknocker]

Hasn’t this season only been open a week? Might need to manage your expectations.

It took me 5 years to seal the deal on a buck when i got started in the big woods of New Hampshire. Granted, hunter success is <15%. Finding good whitetail sign was always the easiest part.

The guys that are really successful in NH hunt all-day sits. Sun up to sun down once rifle is open and the weather cools down. Once I started doing this I would average seeing deer every 3-5 full day sits. That’s 36 hours in a stand before I would even expect to see a deer. But thats what it took to be successful in big woods with low deer density.

I now hunt SC with those same techniques and expectations and am blown away by the amount of public, big-woods deer I see. The deer density even in the mountains here is incredible. IMO, best practices (playing wind, learning deer movement, reading topography) come with time spent in the woods, a good attitude, and low expectations.

 

[MBAO-millennialbyageonly]

Lots of good input so far and yes just like elk or anything else wind is everything in the whitetail woods while I have a lot more experience in a tree stand there’s a definite time/place for the blind. One thing I would think about around finding sign is if the deer are predominantly making that sign in the dark it does you no good so establishing travel routes and using natural pinch points (Benches, gaps in the bluff, ridges) to your advantage in order to catch these deer in the daylight could be something to look into. I know this is elementary but I believe sometimes we are afraid to get away from “the juice” So we spend countless hours of daylight hunting where they’ll be when we’re back at the house eating dinner instead of the overlooked spot that isn’t just tore up but could be a natural funnel he’s gonna use going from bedding to feed. Last thing on wind is remember a buck is gonna use that wind to his advantage to start scent checking areas some of my biggest deer have came on odd wind scenarios (east wind particularly) that throws him out of his normal pattern to run a ridge line so he can scent check a different bottom. Good luck and stay after it!

 

[WCB]

Your post makes it seem like you are still hunting? If so, definitely get in a stand. find a good pinch point where cover or terrain narrows down between bedding and food. If there is good sign sit in this spot when the conditions allow more than once. Get three or four spots like this or just spots in general with lots of sign you can hunt in different conditions so if wind is bad for spot A...B will work etc.

Unless I am hunting a bedding area or close to when when the deer are in it already I just walk to my stand and hunt. I can not count how many times I've walked in and one or two steps up the tree a deer goes walking by with no idea I am there. They are not as finicky as people think....now if they smell and hear your or hear and see you thats another story.

 

[CJF]

I'd consider fishing before golf

 

[wildernessmaster]

You guys make me laugh... I would do fishing before golfing... But trust me after fishing pro am bass for 10 years, it can be MORE FRUSTRATING!

I have not just been still hunting or stalking. I actually am getting my stand and saddle game going, but not having done sticks and stand/saddles its slow going getting it down to a science in the dark. It is my goal.

Mainly I am stumped at having seen so many fresh (I mean within 5 min) fresh sign, I have not seen even a spooked deer nor seen just a random deer. Its like I am the one chipped and they are watching a tracker.

I would be ok if I were seeing deer spooked, running off, etc. Then I know what to work on.

And yes I am well aware it takes patience. I have been at this for 5 years, 2 1/2 solid ones.

Thing is I know I have game because I have taken elk 5 out of the 6 years I have hunted them - and have doubled up with my brother 3 out of those 5 years. I went from knowing nothing about elk or elk hunting to having to move to bow hunting elk to keep it challenging.

I also recognize it is a learning curve. When I started big woods WT hunting I was totally stumped. Didn't have a clue even where to start or what to look for. I have whittled that down to a near science where I can just look at the map, and pick 1 or two places out and find a crap ton of active, fresh sign.

Now I just need to figure out how to put what I am finding in play to first see the deer, and second put it in a kill scenario.

 

[wildernessmaster]

Hasn’t this season only been open a week? Might need to manage your expectations.

It took me 5 years to seal the deal on a buck when i got started in the big woods of New Hampshire. Granted, hunter success is <15%. Finding good whitetail sign was always the easiest part.

The guys that are really successful in NH hunt all-day sits. Sun up to sun down once rifle is open and the weather cools down. Once I started doing this I would average seeing deer every 3-5 full day sits. That’s 36 hours in a stand before I would even expect to see a deer. But thats what it took to be successful in big woods with low deer density.

I now hunt SC with those same techniques and expectations and am blown away by the amount of public, big-woods deer I see. The deer density even in the mountains here is incredible. IMO, best practices (playing wind, learning deer movement, reading topography) come with time spent in the woods, a good attitude, and low expectations.

No its been open for almost 3 now. Friday it transitions to muzzle loader season. NC sucks for bow hunters as it gives us the worst part of the season for bow only.

My post, though is not just about this season... Like I said, I have been at this for 5 years now - 2 1/2 uninterrupted by long elk hunting trips which chew up the prime WT.

 

[TheGDog]

Are you getting in there in the dark? BEFORE the sun is up?
Are you staying in there right up til the very end of shooting light?

Are you putting out cams to know for sure they pass by there?

Sounds like you believe you find decent spots. Put on a 3D leafy suit, sit down, don't move, don't make a sound. Sit there and be still... listening like crazy... all... day... long.

I hear ya on the frustration part. I've been at it since end of 2014.
First 3 years? Boom! Boom! Thwack! Done, Done, Done.
2018? Just one opportunity during Bow. Just over his back!
2019? Nothing. But a Bobcat walked by on the very last day of the season. Just before they were about to be banned, so he was my consolation prize that year.

Then? Take off PTO for 1st week in Bow. I'm in there a few days... nothing sun up to sun down.. come back out to my vehicle (plan was to go back home to recup 2 days) come to find out that they've closed ALL the forests. Gate was locked and they had a combo lock on it, telling me please unlock then lock again on way out. Boom... screwed outta Bow season. Now? We're all just waiting around to see if these @#$@#$ will screw us out of our General Season too!

But DON'T GIVE UP! DON'T! It'll make it that much freakin' sweeter when you DO make it happen!

 

[Brendan]

It's sounding to me like you may be learning Elk, but don't know deer yet even if you are finding sign. Whitetail and Elk are different. My advice is get in a stand in an area you have been seeing sign, and stay there. Stop trying to stalk, still hunt, and move around unless you just want to scout. You're likely being too loud, bumping the deer, and unnecessarily scenting up the area. There are things you can get away with with Elk, that you absolutely cannot with public land whitetails.

Also, How many dawn to dusk days have you spent in recent years in a stand? I.e. up a tree before it gets light, get down after legal shooting light? Not that I think it's necessary this time of year, but come the rut it certainly is.

An even better approach, this time of year, go hunt Elk. High country deer. Antelope. Go after whitetail from last week of October onwards. I went out for one quick ceremonial whitetail hunt, my second hunt will be close to Halloween as I'm getting ready to head to CO in a week and a half.

 

[Quin]

Are you sure deer are actually present during daylight? Get a trail camera or two out and see when they are passing through.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

1. no "still" hunting. Get in a tree and learn to sit damn still, or get in a ground blind and learn to sit damn still.
1a. sit DAMN still. it's nuts how little motion they need to peg you.
2. hunt till dark
3. find their beds and hunt closer to beds than food.

Deer are not feeding much, if at all during daylight this time of year, unless the food is within 60-70 yards of their bedding area.

 

[Scrappy]

My biggest learning curve about deer feeding on acorns where the deer would bed right under the tree they were feeding under. I still don't have an answer to how to hunt that situation other than move to Iowa like I did.