Scouting mistakes?

[B W E]

Hey guys, I am planning on going out to my spot tonight and am considering staying overnight. I have a spot where I can glass several hillsides during sundown from about a mile away, then after sunset I was going to go right in the middle of where I want to hunt on a ridge line where I have seen deer and basically stay there overnight so I'm there when they come down in the morning. Is it a mistake to plant myself right in the middle of their territory overnight? Would I be better off to glass the area from a mile away at sundown and then come back and do the same thing at sunrise?

 

[ilovesprig]

Most the deer I hunt now (locally) are more like white-tail.......I ABSOLUTELY stay out of known bedding areas......Most those kind of areas are oak thickets and mountain laurel.......Even in big country, I like to glass from distances.

I would say though that you're early enough in the season and it's not like your there everyday to really make a difference......2 cents

 

[Deleted member 27310]

I found a honey hole with a herd and I haven't even thought of going back to that spot until I have a bow or rifle with me. but that's just me ... only time will tell if I did the right thing..

 

[B W E]

Most the deer I hunt now (locally) are more like white-tail.......I ABSOLUTELY stay out of known bedding areas......Most those kind of areas are oak thickets and mountain laurel.......Even in big country, I like to glass from distances.

I would say though that you're early enough in the season and it's not like your there everyday to really make a difference......2 cents

Thanks for that I believe the spot I want to plant myself in is quite a distance from the bedding area. Its basically a grassy hilltop between bedding areas and water, no trees up there. From this point I have a 360 degree view of the area, its the highest point in the area, and it's right between two draws, one where I saw a deer last sunday, and the other is where my cameras captured the close-up "how-do-ya-do" pictures a couple weeks back. Here's a rough drawing....im bored.....

 

[B W E]

I found a honey hole with a herd and I haven't even thought of going back to that spot until I have a bow or rifle with me. but that's just me ... only time will tell if I did the right thing..

I can understand that. Then again, how do you gather intel if you don't scout it routinely? I figure I'm upping the odds of success by using cameras and several hours of glassing to time to determine where they are, their routes, when they move, etc. Then it seems it's just a matter of finding a spot along their normal paths where I'm within my effective range.

 

[Aeon]

we have done some tests with cameras and here is what we found. Deer care very little about you being in their woods where they walk and feed. You can stomp all over transition areas and feeding areas to your hearts content and not much changes with them. Same goes for water holes, They expect activity around a water hole. We would setup ground blinds and point a camera around them and with in hours deer would be all around them again no change. One water hole that had a kitty visit it every day had deer back at the water in less that 10 min after the cat would leave. remember most interactions with people do not end poor for deer. Would i push a bedding area and expect them to be there the next day, NO.

i say go to your area and do what ever you like its not going to hurt it one bit. only way to figure out what they do is to go hang out and watch. Good chance you will not see a lot. between heat and the moon phase right now they can be pretty nocturnal. Don't get chewed on by a kitty sleeping in the woods

 

[B W E]

we have done some tests with cameras and here is what we found. Deer care very little about you being in their woods where they walk and feed. You can stomp all over transition areas and feeding areas to your hearts content and not much changes with them. Same goes for water holes, They expect activity around a water hole. We would setup ground blinds and point a camera around them and with in hours deer would be all around them again no change. One water hole that had a kitty visit it every day had deer back at the water in less that 10 min after the cat would leave. remember most interactions with people do not end poor for deer. Would i push a bedding area and expect them to be there the next day, NO.

i say go to your area and do what ever you like its not going to hurt it one bit. only way to figure out what they do is to go hang out and watch. Good chance you will not see a lot. between heat and the moon phase right now they can be pretty nocturnal. Don't get chewed on by a kitty sleeping in the woods

Thanks Aeon, that makes me feel better about my plan. As far as not getting eaten by the kitty, well, my buddy is going with me, and I can run faster than him

 

[Bowman]

BWE

good question & great responses from everyone. just remember. even the experts will not ever agree except for one don't go near their bedding spots.
my drift on this is, I stay out until I am ready to hunt. more traffic means they go nocturnal .
I see this every year on public land. Hunters go and stomp everything deer disappear. I mean they totally move on and leave. My vote is let the cameras do the work. scout to find the deer. then set up the cameras to get get their patterns, time of day or night. and if traffic increases or decreases. I saw lots of sign last year. then when deer season started . the deer vanished and did not come back. Hunting Public is a lot tougher than Private.

dam spell checkers hahahaha

 

[ilovesprig]

I've done a number of deer counts with John Massie (former senior biologist with DFG) here in San Diego Co......He has told me they radioed a number of bucks in the Palomar/Cleveland NF. He said bucks would spent their entire lives in about a 1 mile radius except for when they were in the rut......He showed me places where they knew there was a buck and he would always be in the same approximate spot (thick stuff)......He also said the more mature bucks were very nocturnal and again with the exception of the rut would rarely be out during the day. It's also a known fact that the lions really kill more bucks than does because of this reclusiveness as well.

I've also observed this......Does and young bucks...... Then out of nowhere the bigger bucks show up......Women are always getting them into trouble.....Kind of like humans........lol

 

[sportyg]

you may have deer bedding on the same hill you want to camp on. I'd stay out you seem to have the area down and I see no need for you to spread more scent around

 

[Bowman]

I've done a number of deer counts with John Massie (former senior biologist with DFG) here in San Diego Co......He has told me they radioed a number of bucks in the Palomar/Cleveland NF. He said bucks would spent their entire lives in about a 1 mile radius except for when they were in the rut......He showed me places where they knew there was a buck and he would always be in the same approximate spot (thick stuff)......He also said the more mature bucks were very nocturnal and again with the exception of the rut would rarely be out during the day. It's also a known fact that the lions really kill more bucks than does because of this reclusiveness as well.

I've also observed this......Does and young bucks...... Then out of nowhere the bigger bucks show up......Women are always getting them into trouble.....Kind of like humans........lol

Sprig
Good point except most of the time the big bucks are in the most rugged , and thick brush it's almost impossible to hunt. Thats why they call them the Ghost. hahaha
best to wait for them when they fall in love and get stupid hahahaha.

It seems I always learning something new. hahahaha.

Thanks
Ghost (Lee)

 

[Lungpopper]

I have spent many of nights sleeping very close to where I will be hunting in the morning. I wouldn't sleep in the lower areas or right on a game trail. 200 - 300 yards off of a trail and elevated is fine and stay out of the saddles.
I agree with Sprig about these deer acting a lot like whitetail. You can pattern the does. Once you get them figured out its just a matter of time for the bucks to show up.

 

[B W E]

Thanks again for all the input guys. We're headed up there now to glass the hillsides for an hour or so, and then we'll hook up the meat wagon and bike to our hilltop. I'm confident it's not anywhere near a bedding area as it's only knee high grass.... No trees on that hill at all.

Wish us luck and let's hope we don't get eaten.

 

[Bonejour]

Good luck BWE

 

[B W E]

Ok, we made it back alive!! We saw one deer cross the trail about 100 yards ahead of us but it was dark, about 9:30, and we couldn't tell if it was a buck or not. Checked all 4 cameras after only a 5.5 day soak, and two of the four cameras had hits. Unfortunately, the one that had the most hits was directly on the trail we were going to take up to our overnight stakeout spot. Because of all the deer captured on the camera, we decided not to go up at night, because all of them were passing through between 1:30 am and 4:00 am. So, we hung out a few hundred yards away from where the trail and camera were and waited till this morning.

My estimation on the amazing vantage point that would be afforded by getting to the top of this hill was spot on. From the summit, if I walked 20 feet one way, I could see clearly the entire valley area where my first cameras were set up, which had hits. 20 feet the other way and I could see the entire valley where my other cameras had hits. And of course the trail I followed to the top was heavily used, as there was scat, chewed vegetation, tracks everywhere, and multiple deer on multiple days since last Sunday morning.

Having said all that, I believe I have found where I will hunt my first deer season. I still haven't seen any bucks up there yet, but hopefully they'll show up during the rut. I'll take one more trip up there in two weeks to check the cameras before I head to Alaska.

Thanks again for all the wisdom and insight.... much appreciated!!

Here's a doe and a fawn on my north valley camera.



Here's the trail I followed to the top of the hill. By the way, what is the proper name for this stuff? I just call it "knee-high grass". Also, I saw several dozen flattened areas in this type of grass, where clearly an animal had laid down. Would deer typically use this as a regular bedding area, without any cover? Or would they more likely be temporary napping areas? Sorry if thats a dumb question.


What I believe to be chewed vegetation


One of the deer on my central trail


Same deer, or possibly another, about 8 minutes later


Taking a 45 minute power nap at 3:15 this morning....with skittles.


Arriving at the camera with the Meat Wagon in tow.

 

[Bowman]

Well BWE

It appears you have done strong work and are set.
great post & I too learn continuous about something here at SCH.
never stop learning always look for continuous improvement.
I am amazed at your will to make it happen & it will.

Best of Luck this year
Ghost

 

[ilovesprig]

Interesting adventure and diligent work..........The "high grass" is wild oats..........Deer will lay down and feed in it (example below).

Trying to figure out why your pictures are blurry........Were they all this way?

.

 

[B W E]

Interesting adventure and diligent work..........The "high grass" is wild oats..........Deer will lay down and feed in it (example below).

Trying to figure out why your pictures are blurry........Were they all this way?

.

Thanks brother! I was warned to stay out of their bedding area, but I did stumble across dozens of depressions where they were clearly laying down, with scat all over the place. I'm hoping these were temporary bedding areas and not what they consider their "home" that I red to stay out of.

The pictures are blurry because I only take a digital camera with me when I check my cameras. So that I can leave the SD cards in the camera, I just take a picture of the screen on my digital camera with my iphone.

 

[ilovesprig]

OK...................Buy a couple of cheap 2 MB cards and just change them out................Then just download whole card into laptop..............Or do young guys only use cell phones as their computer these days.............lol

A lot of times deer will bed down right out in the open.......I'm sure your ok........In fact, it sounds like your in a deer rich area.

 

[josecasillas]

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