Author Topic: Relative newbie deerhunting questions  (Read 3125 times)

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Offline profsaffel

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Relative newbie deerhunting questions
« on: August 14, 2010, 05:21:02 pm »
I haven't deer hunted since I was a teenager (and then it was rifles) so I'm seeking some general advice. Before I go spending ridiculous money on leases and such, I'm going to start this fall just doing a little deer hunting on my own property. A few deer have been killed back there and many more seen, so it's a good place to start (especially if I kill one 'cause it would be a pain to drag one more than a quarter mile).

My first specific question is "do any of you use the overpriced scent blockers or similar products so diligently promoted by today's compound hunters?" "How do you feel about other non-primitive products while primitive archery hunting?"

Thanks,
Prof
Professor of History, Student of Bowyery

Offline Pat B

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Re: Relative newbie deerhunting questions
« Reply #1 on: August 14, 2010, 05:50:06 pm »
Prof, I do not use Scent Loc clothing but I do wear camo. I haven't bought any in the last few years and even those are not necessary. Any cloths that have a pattern(plaid shirt, etc) will work for camo or just dull clothing will work. It is movement and scent that alerts deer mostly. If you sit still and play the wind right you will see deer and maybe have a chance at a shot.
  It doesn't matter to me what folks shoot or wear while hunting. If it feels right or good to you, go for it.
Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: Relative newbie deerhunting questions
« Reply #2 on: August 14, 2010, 08:01:12 pm »
Sometimes scent doesn't bother urban and semi-urban whitetails.  If the deer are used to seeing you around the area, they might not mind coming across your scent.  Pat B is right, though.  Play the wind and keep movement to the minimum.  Good Luck.
Guns have triggers. Bicycles have wheels. Trees and bows have wooden limbs.

Offline PeteC

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Re: Relative newbie deerhunting questions
« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2010, 02:49:17 pm »
Hey Prof,hope you are well.... Myself,and a lot of folks on this site,use no special clothing or manufactured scents of any kind,and are successful. Try going natural.It makes it simpler,with less to think about,or remember to carry,and, fits right in with using self-made equipment.... "Simplicity".JMHO.  God Bless
What you believe determines how you behave., Pete Clayton, Whitehouse ,Texas

Offline profsaffel

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Re: Relative newbie deerhunting questions
« Reply #4 on: August 15, 2010, 03:46:29 pm »
Hey, Pete! I love that quote in your sig... I think I'll use that in my classroom this fall.

Thanks for the comments all. Keep em coming.
Professor of History, Student of Bowyery

Offline sailordad

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Re: Relative newbie deerhunting questions
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2010, 07:17:05 pm »
i do use scent "attractants" but not cover scents
i like oak and apple attractants
i hunt out of a double bull ground blinds
once inside no need for camo,and if you set it up right not much need if any for cover scent either.
not to mention i can move around in it and not worry about being busted
i have a bad lower back so sitting completly still for more than a minute or three is alomst impossible most days
but when i do go out scouting or stalk and spot hunting i use the wind and stay in the shadows as much as possible
i always wanted a harley,untill it became the "thing to ride"
i ride because i love to,not to be part of the crowd

wood

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Re: Relative newbie deerhunting questions
« Reply #6 on: August 16, 2010, 08:02:25 pm »
Sorry but it's story time. Many years ago I was deer hunting. I was wearing brown pants and a light blue t-shirt. I was sitting very still on a tree stump with the end of my recurve perched on the stump beside me sticking up in the air. The chipmunks were crawling over my white tennis shoes while I watched five does followed by a buck.  It was a very long haul out and there were no young (small) and tender ones in the group I didn't shoot. I watched the buck chase the does around and saw one doe run into a tree. I still made no sound but came close to rupturing something with the strain. All of a sudden, their heads turned in unison at a sound coming from the ridge. They ran away and I turned my head to see what had made them run. Down the hill came a walking shrub. The guillie suit had to put the guy in the hole along with the fancy compound with all the gadgets sticking out like tree limbs. He rustled within three feet of me and never saw me.  He paused about ten feet away wearly leaned up against a tree and farted. I couldn't help myself, I burst out laughing and watched him claw his way three feet up the tree. When he finally spotted me, he apologized for walking through where I was hunting and if he had seen me would have gone a different way. He ask if anyone was further around the hill and I replied I hadn't "heard" anyone else. He turned and rustled on his way. The moral to the story? Sound and movement will give you away no matter what you are wearing or how you smell (within reason). If any of you were that young hunter twenty years or so ago, I hope you have learned better by now.

Offline profsaffel

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Re: Relative newbie deerhunting questions
« Reply #7 on: August 16, 2010, 11:36:23 pm »
If any of you were that young hunter twenty years or so ago, I hope you have learned better by now.

That was me!!!  :o

 :P Jussssst kidddddding. Really, that was a great illustration story.
Professor of History, Student of Bowyery

Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: Relative newbie deerhunting questions
« Reply #8 on: August 17, 2010, 12:21:34 am »
'Nother story.  Picture a tall skinny redheaded guy in the woods packing a flintlock rifle with a barrel so long it crosses time zones.  He is dressed in 1770's period clothes: Claret wine red knee breeches with kelly green kneestockings over buckle shoes, a billiant white shirt with lace and ruffles at the neck and wrists, red silk neck cloth closing the shirt, and a kelly green wool weskit (vest) with thirteen ship-shape-and-Bristol-fashion shiny brass buttons down the front of the weskit, and a black tricorn hat with snow white cockade and piping around the edge of the brim. 

At this lad's side is a long haired red dog sitting "at heel", they are right next to a pine tree on a forest fire trail, no more than 10 ft from the edge of the trail.  Along comes a U.S. Forest Service employee walking and making observations.  He stops from time to time to make notes on a clipboard.  The redhaired lad smiles and makes eye contact with the Forest Circus biologist who fails to acknowledge the funnily dressed traveler.  About this time the dog breaks command and runs up to the biologist and puts her cold nose in his hand, proceeding to launch him something like what Cape Canaveral does.  When the feller lands, he finally spots me next to the tree and shouts, "Don't sneak up on people like that!!!" 

Per wood and sailordad, stay in the shadows, move little.  When you stop, stand next to something to break up your outline.  (Indian fighters in Kaintuck called it "treein' up".)
Guns have triggers. Bicycles have wheels. Trees and bows have wooden limbs.

Offline Pat B

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Re: Relative newbie deerhunting questions
« Reply #9 on: August 17, 2010, 12:30:48 am »
JW, you nailed it!    Tree up, stand still and stay in the shadows. Just like deer and other game animals do. How many times have you had a deer disappear and you not know where it went. Then a few minutes later it wiggles an ear and there it is. Right where it was all along.  :o   
Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: Relative newbie deerhunting questions
« Reply #10 on: August 17, 2010, 12:38:04 am »
More looking than walking.

And I have always believed that if deer could control their ear flicks and tail twitches we'd only see those that were hit by cars.   And don't forget to watch their tails more than their heads when you are closing in on them.  They are genetically imprinted to wiggle their tails just before lifting their heads.  And when they think they have spotted you, they will pretend to go back to grazing on the ground and then suddenly lift their heads to try catching you moving.  They will do that several times.  I always wait until they take a step or two before I move again after they think they have spotted me.
Guns have triggers. Bicycles have wheels. Trees and bows have wooden limbs.

Offline chasing crow

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Re: Relative newbie deerhunting questions
« Reply #11 on: August 17, 2010, 08:34:43 pm »
Yep, that's the ticket! And Wood, that is funny. Just makes your day doesn't it.
We know more than we think we do. Pass your knowledge on to our youth

wood

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Re: Relative newbie deerhunting questions
« Reply #12 on: August 17, 2010, 09:38:48 pm »
I still get a kick out of it. That doe running into the tree was making me wish I had a camcorder instead of a bow. The walking shrub had me doubled over. Had a stich in my side walking out of there. The really funny part is at dusk I joined up with my hunting buddy on the haul road and was telling the story when we heard a swish, swish, rustle, rustle behind us. Way down the road came the walking shrub. He was walking fast so we walked slower and let him pass. Once we were sure he wouldn't hear us over his rustling guillie suit we cracked up. We still get a laugh out of it.

Offline profsaffel

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Re: Relative newbie deerhunting questions
« Reply #13 on: August 18, 2010, 09:18:45 am »
I laugh every time I read "walking shrub". Imagine the scene from a deer's point of view.

"Hey, Buck, you see that shrub over there?"

"Yeah, Bill, I do."

"Well, in a minute, stick your head up real fast and it will move on you."

"You are joshing me!"

"No, really. Try it. Darnest thing I ever saw in my three years in these woods."

Seconds later...

"Well I'll be a monkey's uncle, it IS a walking shrub. What'll they think of next."

 :D -Prof
Professor of History, Student of Bowyery

wood

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Re: Relative newbie deerhunting questions
« Reply #14 on: August 18, 2010, 10:13:49 am »
I'd say you were about right. I imagine those does discussing it over a fence line.

He was about the size of a good sized hedge in need of trimming. It did seem like the deer stared in disbelief for a while.