Out glassing for deer

[Lungpopper]

I agree with Brandon. Take a chair out however far you can take it (or have sombody carry it out for you) and sit in the woods. Much better than sitting on the couch. We all have a limited number of seasons and days we can be outdoors, make the best of them.

 

[Bowman]

Thanks fellas for encouraging advice.

 

[Bowman]

10 days to go , time to get the light blind ready. folding chair, 243

 

[HortoTheSlayer]

Went out scouting with @Mattydoesntknow today. We hit the trail at 6am before light. We made our way up the trail until we saw a ridge we wanted to check out and see what was on the other side but it was on the opposite side of a canyon. So we bushwacked our way down a draw and headed towards the canyon and actually found some water in the creek that was flowing a bit. We took that as a good sign and worked our way up the west facing exposure and started to find some older deer scat in some places I wouldn't have thougt we'd find it in, it was some thick rocky country but once we got closer to the top we found some fresher sign. A few places definatly looked like good bedding areas. The brush got thicker and taller as we went up and once at the top we didn't have a good vantage point to glass from like we'd hope we'd have so we decided to work our way back down towards the creek. Things got a little squirrelly trying to work our way down. We got a little turned around due to the brush being taller up there but we could see a marker on the trail across the way and we knew we had come from that direction so we just worked our way down in that direction. Throughout the day we kept finding what looked like coyote scat full of red berries on and off the trail and once back down into the creek we found what looked like rosehip bushes. We decided to take a break by the creek and rehydrate. As we sat there we started to hear what sounded like footsteps and they were headed in our direction. They were slower cautious sounding steps and it sound like it had 4 legs. There was a tall bush directly ahead of us so we could not see what was coming. Whatever it was came within 20 yards of us but stopped as it got closer. We figured it had caught our scent and decided to turn around. We never saw what it was but it was definitely a cool experience. We soon made our way back up and made it to the marker we started from. Overall we were glad we found a water source and some fresher looking sign which told us deer had been there. We came up with a game plan for our next time out and hopefully we get to see some deer next time. I think we did well for a couple of green horns. We hiked a total of 8 miles after all was said an done.

 

[ilovesprig]

That's great day.....Thanks for sharing.

 

[Bowman]

You did good my friends.
I think you guys are hooked.
LB

 

[HortoTheSlayer]

I dont want to speak for Matt, but I'm sure he'd agree that finding this hunting community has been invaluable and yes LB, I think it's safe to say we are! That experiance down in the creek definitely sealed the deal!

 

[Deleted member 27310]

That looks like bear scat, I've never hunted bear but i'm sure the guys on here could help identify it.

 

[SurfNHuntSD]

Yote scat with manzanita berries... the true dingleberry

Could've had a perfect pic of bear scat with berries last weekend but of course I didn't bring my phone...

 

[Bowman]

Lots of deer scat for sure.
Scat looks unusually big

 

[Bowman]

My friends I believe that is black bear scat
http://www.bear-tracker.com/bearscat.html

 

[HortoTheSlayer]

My friends I believe that is black bear scat
http://www.bear-tracker.com/bearscat.html

We thought it was pretty large compared to some of the other stuff we were seeing on the trail. Other piles looked more like cat size turds with berries in it. Some had cactus fruit in it. Maybe we should carry a bear tag with us the next time we're in the area just in case. We also wondered it if might be from a mountain lion..

 

[nicapopolis]

We thought it was pretty large compared to some of the other stuff we were seeing on the trail. Other piles looked more like cat size turds with berries in it. Some had cactus fruit in it. Maybe we should carry a bear tag with us the next time we're in the area just in case. We also wondered it if might be from a mountain lion..

Hard to tell the size, but most likely bear crap.

Not lion, they dont eat berries. Lion crap is dark black and sometimes runny due to the blood in their stool.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Bowman]

Hard to tell the size, but most likely bear crap.

Not lion, they dont eat berries. Lion crap is dark black and sometimes runny due to the blood in their stool.

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Totally agree

 

[Bowman]

So It's hard to tell from pics because of scale factor. Coyote is very similar except smaller. Usually full of choke berries, and Manzanita berries.
Cat scat Bob cat and mountain lion look visually the same except mountain lion is a lot larger.
Bob cat generally have parts of rodents but not necessarily.
The mountain lion could have anything deer, rabbits and on.
See examples
http://animalia-life.club/other/mountain-lion-scat.html
Since southern CA in my area has no bear. We don't see it.
But lots of coyotes, Bob cat, mountain lion.
Google the difference then when out in the Field take note.

 

[Bowman]

When out this morning. Chilled in my tri pods seat. Nothing moving in my spot. Saw tracks and scat. No other hunters. Had the place to my self. See how the knees do today.
Easy walking.