Deer Hunters of Ottawa... NEED YOUR HELP! (noob needs tips!)

[fowkes]

Where abouts are you hunting? I'm in Ottawa, and hunt deer mostly in Marlborough forest. Athough this year I've seen nothing (not usual for this time of year). I personally don't use any calls, maybe I'm just not good enough with them, but I find I scare more deer off than I call in when I've tried.

Find an area with good sign and a lot of does where you have a clean shot at a well worn trail, and wait. Something will come by eventually.

Best of luck.

 

[daveg01]

I have been hunting for the past 2 weeks pretty steady just west of Ottawa (near Perth) on several large tracks of farm and swamp land.

The past 4 days we have seen less deer than the previous days. The deer we have seen are either only fawns or bucks chasing/hanging out with does. From this I would say for our area we are on the cusp of peak breeding. I would hunt where the does are normally as bucks should be close behind.

Remember that over calling may be detrimental to bringing deer in. YMMV

 

[emilio613]

Where abouts are you hunting? I'm in Ottawa, and hunt deer mostly in Marlborough forest. Athough this year I've seen nothing (not usual for this time of year). I personally don't use any calls, maybe I'm just not good enough with them, but I find I scare more deer off than I call in when I've tried.

Find an area with good sign and a lot of does where you have a clean shot at a well worn trail, and wait. Something will come by eventually.

Best of luck.

I was going to hunt where you are, but last minute gained access to some land in Greely (Camera shows an 8 pointer in the area, and last year there was a 12 pointer ) So far, I have only seen the 4 pointer in person, and he was too far to shoot. I use silence (my main weapon haha), patience, 2 calls, and some corn cobs just toss randonly all over the place.

Corn cobs were all gone today, from last night. So something was eating them...and where I left the ground up corn, the leaves were all moved aside, the typical way you find them afte deer have fed.

I use the calls with moderation, only calling every 15-20 mins or less.

I find I spend a lot of time staring at the wildlife too lol. I love observing this one mouse as he scampers through the leaves and over twigs to find food. So funny. Keeps me entertained until I hear movement in the distance, then it's back to hunter mode.

 

[Kelly Timoffee]

I stand corrected, I checked it this evening when I was out, gettin my calls mixed up!!

And you are right about being difficult to get the fawn sound correctly.

I used the Tinks scent stick tonight, I burnt an all season initially and then a rut stick to cover my scent. Had a large one hissin and fussin behind me for a good 2 minutes and not show itself, then a small spiker come to 25 feet of me as it walked by, and they were down wind of me, so I believe the scents sticks masked my odor quite well.

I did some light rattling , maybe once every 30 minutes or so, and my grunts were fairly often( 3 or 4 grunts (every 5 or 10 minutes) until I heard something then I slowed.

But i think they are just starting the pre-rut in my area.

And yeah, I am out there to observe more so than I am too hunt it seems!

Are you sure its not the Hunter Specialties True Talker? I had one and it sounds just like the one you describe. It was the best sounding short-med range call I've ever heard. I did find it difficult to get the fawn call to sound correct though.




8 point, not very long tines, but good main beam spread. Not sure as to the weight, but his body wasn't all that big. My guess would be 180ish. There is a better pic and some more details in the 2010 hunting pictures page.




The bucks started moving alot for the first couple of days of the rifle season in my area, then seemed to stop as the temperatures increased. They sure were moving today.