What would you do?

[Brad1974]

This is a question for those with experience tagging bucks in early september... If you were forced to hunt only the second week in september (for only one week) in a unit that you have never been in before and can't pre-season scout, what would you do? how would you go about giving yourself the best chance of filling your tag with a decent buck?

 

[RockAndSage]

Depends a little on where you're hunting. But in general, hunt the food they eat, then hunt the shade and secure places above that food. And be in place to glass all of those places, including the food, a full hour before sunrise.

 

[littlebigtine]

Id hunt hard and glass a lot. Start high move lower if the upper elevations seem empty. Focus in on high country springs if its hot and not expect deer to be on their feet in the middle of the day.

 

[TaperPin]

I don’t think someone can get a decent buck by cutting all the corners unless they are lucky.

 

[Soj51hopeful]

Find multiple glassing vantage points and look.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Really depends on area and type of unit. High country? That’s a tough set of criteria. I’d start high as possible and move down until you find them. Good chance pressure could already have them in timber. Focus on edges first and last few hrs of light.
If arid unit focus on glassing/hunting water. Like Taper said, unless you have a lot of experience on similar hunts, you’re going to need some luck.

 

[Brad1974]

hypothetically... high country basins above tree line. Where would you expect to find them bedding? would you focus more on the north facing side vs south facing side? what about east vs west facing? would you expect bedding to be in clumps of trees, rocky shaded spots, bushy areas, etc? are there certain features within high basins that are worthy of extra focus?

 

[Brad1974]

I don’t think someone can get a decent buck by cutting all the corners unless they are lucky.

I am a firm believer that "luck" is simply where preparation meets opportunity. In my case, the issue I'm dealing with is after 2 years of trips out west, being unable to draw the unit I've been in the past couple years. Now I'm likely headed to a unit I've only driven down one road once, & not enough to get much information. I also am unable to take trips out of season to s out. This is why I'm just trying to learn as much as I can from those with experience.

 

[justinspicher]

I’d probably just go hunt.

 

[Brad1974]

I’d probably just go hunt.

I mean... yea... but, what would your thought process be in a situation like that? would it be alot of e-scouting first? & if so, what would you look for on the maps? How would you choose where you would glass? Once glassing, what specifically would you look for and/or focus on?

 

[justinspicher]

To me, part of the adventure is figure it out. Map, even satellite imagery is always outdated. Not that I don’t look at them, but I don’t rely on them, if that makes sense. If it looks like a great place to you, it looks great to others as well. E-scouting is helpful, but it doesn’t replace boots on the ground. I’d focus my energy more on my shooting and physical capacity over what looking at a map.

 

[Brad1974]

To me, part of the adventure is figure it out. Map, even satellite imagery is always outdated. Not that I don’t look at them, but I don’t rely on them, if that makes sense. If it looks like a great place to you, it looks great to others as well. E-scouting is helpful, but it doesn’t replace boots on the ground. I’d focus my energy more on my shooting and physical capacity over what looking at a map.

I've been spending time on physical preparedness, getting my rifle and loads dialed in so I can get to long range practice, and combing the maps over and over. I'm really interested in your process, if you aren't relying much on maps, how would you determine where you would even start in a situation like I presented? how do you determine where you would put boots on the ground if only able to be in the unit during the hunt and maybe a couple days before it begins? I would have to assume you have a feature or set of features you are looking for, and/or a spot you would decide to start glassing or scouting.... how are you determining where these spots will be? I can't believe that it's completely random and there is not method behind what you would do.

 

[justinspicher]

I sent a pm.

 

[Brad1974]

Really depends on area and type of unit. High country? That’s a tough set of criteria. I’d start high as possible and move down until you find them. Good chance pressure could already have them in timber. Focus on edges first and last few hrs of light.
If arid unit focus on glassing/hunting water. Like Taper said, unless you have a lot of experience on similar hunts, you’re going to need some luck.

Yea, specifically high country with alot of high basins. assuming I am drawn (it was 100% with one less point than I have last year), I will be getting to the unit around Sept 2nd or 3rd, and the hunt would start Sept 6th. There should be an abundance of water, so that's not a limiting factor. I wouldn't say I've had "alot of experience on similar hunts". I have been to CO only twice. My brother had mule deer tags both times, but this will be my first. We did spot a few the first year, but it was at the end of our hunt and we never saw them again. I was able to spot a few last year and planned a good stalk that led to my brother going beyond the spot I told him to set up and walking in the open to 20 yards from the bedded buck and blowing him out... So instead I am trying to create my own luck by picking the brains of you guys with more experience than I have.

 

[CaliforniaMuley]

I’d find places tucked away ” hopefully ” out of the way of other guys, doesn’t mean they have to be miles into the backcountry either, that have good Food and cover. Little pockets of good habitat. Doesn’t have to be great picture perfect basins because chances are a guy or 7 will be in there. Look for little hidden habitat pockets and glass at prime time. That would be my try. If it works out great, if not go look at another one. And I would have fun doing it. Lol I think that’s the most important part.

 

[UTJL]

I’d find places tucked away ” hopefully ” out of the way of other guys, doesn’t mean they have to be miles into the backcountry either, that have good Food and cover. Little pockets of good habitat. Doesn’t have to be great picture perfect basins because chances are a guy or 7 will be in there. Look for little hidden habitat pockets and glass at prime time. That would be my try. If it works out great, if not go look at another one. And I would have fun doing it. Lol I think that’s the most important part.

Do you want a fun hunt or do you want to kill a buck? If you want fun I agree with this approach. If you want to kill I still agree with it but add a few more layers.

You’re going to have find deer quickly since you have a short time window. Without putting boots on the ground you’ll have to rely on escouting. I would look at the all the different terrain types in the unit (I.e. high open basins, thick timbered ridges, sparse aspens and sage brush, etc.). I would then try to find 5-7 spots I think would hold a buck in each of these terrain types. I’d also want these spots to be less than a half days hike from the road. I’d also avoid the best looking deer terrain like CaliforniaMuley said as those will be hunted hard. I’d also want spots that have a barrier that keeps other people from hunting it (mosaic of private land, off a highway, etc). I’d want 15-30 spots mapped out including best ways to hike in and out and glassing spots verified on OnX or whatever app you use.

Once I got there I would go nonstop until I found bucks. I’d start in the high alpine check out 2-4 spots, if I don’t see anything move to thick timbered ridges and so on until I found bucks (not does, bucks). My days would be as follows: at the glassing knob at least 30 minutes before true first light, glass for an hour and hike to the next spot to hopefully glass and catch bucks switching to their second bed. Hike back to the truck, drive to a new spot, hike in, get a nap if I have time and hit 1-2 glassing points in the evening. Stay until it’s too dark to see anything, hike out and drive to the next spot for the morning. I would repeat this until I found bucks. Once you find bucks I would hunt them or look at other spots in the same type of terrain to find more. From there it’d be about getting enough quality stalks in to get one.

 

[CaliforniaMuley]

Extremely well said. And I want a fun hunt, but gosh darn killing bucks is alot more fun than not! Great advice.

 

[Indian Summer]

Find multiple glassing vantage points and look.

I’m going to agree with this. It’s the way to locate elk and deer in country you don’t know without stomping all over the place.

The other thing I would do is work hard before my hunt to find one or two guys who lived in the area with firsthand knowledge and pick their brain. Beg if you have to. The key word is work!

E scouting is worthless. You need boots on the ground. If they aren’t yours, then someone else’s. In September, they can be anywhere.

The final piece of advice I would give you is to go there a week early.

 

[huntnful]

hypothetically... high country basins above tree line. Where would you expect to find them bedding? would you focus more on the north facing side vs south facing side? what about east vs west facing? would you expect bedding to be in clumps of trees, rocky shaded spots, bushy areas, etc? are there certain features within high basins that are worthy of extra focus?

Yes, yes, yes and yes. Honestly. All of the above.

 

[Brad1974]

Do you want a fun hunt or do you want to kill a buck? If you want fun I agree with this approach. If you want to kill I still agree with it but add a few more layers.

You’re going to have find deer quickly since you have a short time window. Without putting boots on the ground you’ll have to rely on escouting. I would look at the all the different terrain types in the unit (I.e. high open basins, thick timbered ridges, sparse aspens and sage brush, etc.). I would then try to find 5-7 spots I think would hold a buck in each of these terrain types. I’d also want these spots to be less than a half days hike from the road. I’d also avoid the best looking deer terrain like CaliforniaMuley said as those will be hunted hard. I’d also want spots that have a barrier that keeps other people from hunting it (mosaic of private land, off a highway, etc). I’d want 15-30 spots mapped out including best ways to hike in and out and glassing spots verified on OnX or whatever app you use.

Once I got there I would go nonstop until I found bucks. I’d start in the high alpine check out 2-4 spots, if I don’t see anything move to thick timbered ridges and so on until I found bucks (not does, bucks). My days would be as follows: at the glassing knob at least 30 minutes before true first light, glass for an hour and hike to the next spot to hopefully glass and catch bucks switching to their second bed. Hike back to the truck, drive to a new spot, hike in, get a nap if I have time and hit 1-2 glassing points in the evening. Stay until it’s too dark to see anything, hike out and drive to the next spot for the morning. I would repeat this until I found bucks. Once you find bucks I would hunt them or look at other spots in the same type of terrain to find more. From there it’d be about getting enough quality stalks in to get one.

This is encouraging, because this is similar to what I've been trying to figure out with my planning. I've been marking off spots, and my map is full of high basins marked off as potential areas. I do keep noticing a "top 3" that stand out to me. One is a long drive on a rough 4x4 only road, where I should be able to glass and potentially camp without much of a hike. One has a mosaic of private that may deter some other hunters, and I have a buddy that knows of a good buck being killed there 5 or 6 years ago. The other is about an 8+ mile hike with a couple thousand feet elevation gain just to a camp spot back to a basin that looks like it has potential, with another basin just across a saddle from my planned glassing spot that could serve as a really nice 4th basin to glass. We plan to be there 2 or 3 days prior to the tag & 7 days of legal hunting, so up to 10 days of time in the mountain. That limits the total number of times we can move to a new spot. I think your point of finding different types of terrain is something I need to add into my planning. If there are no deer in those high basins, I need to find some areas that have more thick timber that appear to have potential in case there are none in the basins. That one tip feels like it could be a game changer, so I'm really glad you mentioned it. In the basins I get how to set up and glass to find bucks, but what would you look for in finding timbered areas? Are you still trying to glass into small openings from a vantage point? are you scouting for tracks and sign? What becomes the process if the high open basins seem to be void of bucks?