First Deer hunt – Lessons

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agite12

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First Deer hunt – Lessons

I’m just back from my very first deer hunt and I wanted to share my experience and what I thought I learned, first so that other newbies could get a better idea of what it is and then so that experienced hunter could comment or correct.
So with the help of my best friend’s father (and his right to a sizable territory) we scouted the area (some 60 km north of Montebello) twice in October and decided to feed 4 promising sites. I came back Saturday for the opening, and my father’s friends and a friend of his came Sunday evening to join.

Yesterday evening I came back to Montreal without deer but still refresh from 4 days in the woods and a pretty strong hitch to go back and improve myself.

So what would I do differently?

Dress warmer
This cannot be stress enough: you are sitting there motionless for hours in the blind even in very mild temperature this can quickly result in being cold wich is not very pleasant and more importantly make you move wich can spook out deer! Next time I’ll dress in full winter clothes and boots.

Scout more
Well I knew I was on the light side on this but I couldn’t do much better because I was dependent on my father’s friends for the permission to acces the territory (and it’s not his, he just got permission wich took some time to have it extended to me). All in all the territory was good, with a lot of deer trails, fresh feces, footprint and antler’s mark

Do more to avoid spooking the deer
There was a lot of sign of deer activity but they virtually disapered after hunting begin. In retrospective I made a lot of noise, either in my blind because the first day I was vay too cold, and coming and going from my blind, because it was in a hard to reach area. Additionnaly I have probably left my odor all over some of them trails while traveling from the camp to my blind.
Also this might sound funny but I should have planned my food differently as to avoid having gases that certainly didn’t help my personnal odor to blend in.

Build my blind differently
First of I should have built it before as opposed to the morning of the opening (I knew that from the get go but couldn’t do it for reason mentioned before). Then it was not “blind” enough: the camo sheet I bought was way more see-through than I though and since I was in a hurry (and in the dark) I didn’t arranged it optimally. I also think I should have made a path to it by removing the branches and all at least in the last approach to the blind as to minimized the noise of getting in and out. Now next year I’ll seriously consided a tree-stand as this can solve a lot of the problems I mentioned here.

We’re just so not used to act as we should in a hunt.
This last point will not apply to ‘country boys’ but to us ‘city boys’ it’s quite an adaptation: we’re not use to think like an animal, we’re not use to stand motionless for hours. I am gifted with a pretty good hearing and a very good vision (at least on paper), but I was lacking the experience and knowledge to use it well in hunting situation. I mention this because one of the reason I wanted to go hunting was to get closer to Nature (with a capital N) and this is a double-edged sword because it mean that by being remote from it in my everyday life I grew out inadapted to it, wich is precisely why I wanted to regain this adaptation.
 
This is what we all experience when we start out, but sounds like you are ahead of alot of other hunters just starting out.

Maybe look into cover scents and deer scents.Although it helps, you can only do so much, gotta learn to use the wind.

What I have learned in my years of deer hunting is silence and motionless is golden, camo don't matter, blaze oragne don't matter.

But, spend more time out and there is no replacement for experience.
 
Yes I forgot to mention that I wanted to investigate more deer scents and call, but having zero experience in them it sounded like an uphill battle.
 
I second Kelly: camo don't matter, blaze orange dont matter and I would even go so far as to say that blinds don't matter much either. Just on monday I was sitting in my chosen spot on a small ridge over-looking a valley, pretty much in plain sight and had a doe walk up to within 40ft of me before she saw me (ya, unfortunately I have only a buck tag this year...). More important is the silent and motionless rule I'm learning. Though next year I am seriously considering a tree stand as well, if only to get a better view.
 
Deer Hunting

Kelly Timoffee said:
This is what we all experience when we start out, but sounds like you are ahead of alot of other hunters just starting out.

Maybe look into cover scents and deer scents.Although it helps, you can only do so much, gotta learn to use the wind.

What I have learned in my years of deer hunting is silence and motionless is golden, camo don't matter, blaze oragne don't matter.

But, spend more time out and there is no replacement for experience.
Click to expand...

Yes and all of your clothes should be washed and well aired long before the hunt, up to a few weeks then perhaps put in big garbage bad with lots of cedar leaves, twigs etc.and left until the hunt.

Kelly is correct, deer are colour blind and movement is immediately noticed, particulary a flash of white or very light colour. And the blaze orange is very important for your own safety and the law.

Wind direction is very important and the small dried out puff balls make excellent puffers to see the slightest bit of wind. Try not to urinate close to where you are hunting.

Build your blind in August, early September. And be sure that you know several ways into it, depending on the wind., Tree stands are good too.

In Quebec, baiting for weeks ahead of time with apples is very common. Even better is to find an old orchard.

And be sure that you can open your lunch with no noise or movement.

Be sure to have plenty of layered warm clothes, thing wool. Were wool on the outside so that a branch does not make a scatching noise.

Lots to learn.

Have fun, be patient and observant.
 
I read somewhere before that humans urinating attracts deer pretty much the same as doe urine does. Anybody else hear or read this.
Sly Old Fox said:
Yes and all of your clothes should be washed and well aired long before the hunt, up to a few weeks then perhaps put in big garbage bad with lots of cedar leaves, twigs etc.and left until the hunt.

Kelly is correct, deer are colour blind and movement is immediately noticed, particulary a flash of white or very light colour. And the blaze orange is very important for your own safety and the law.

Wind direction is very important and the small dried out puff balls make excellent puffers to see the slightest bit of wind. Try not to urinate close to where you are hunting.

Build your blind in August, early September. And be sure that you know several ways into it, depending on the wind., Tree stands are good too.

In Quebec, baiting for weeks ahead of time with apples is very common. Even better is to find an old orchard.

And be sure that you can open your lunch with no noise or movement.

Be sure to have plenty of layered warm clothes, thing wool. Were wool on the outside so that a branch does not make a scatching noise.

Lots to learn.

Have fun, be patient and observant.
Click to expand...
 
This year was my first REAL hunt too. I went out last year for one day and got a whitetail but there wasnt much "hunting" involved. I just got lucky.

This year I actually put in effort and did ALOT of walking over a couple days before I finally got my elk. The first day was trial and error, which was really mostly error. I found my camo didnt do much for me either.

My biggest success the second day seemed to come from SILENCE. I was stalking the bush and a cut-line and going very VERY slowly and being very careful what I stepped on and what branches rubbed against me. As I would come up to ridges or over hills I would very slowly creep forward just barely enough to see over (walking into the wind of course). Sure enough I eventually rounded a hell on a cut-line and there were 6-7 elk walking straight towards me completely unaware because I was taking my time and being quiet. By the time they realized I was there, my bull elk was down.

One suggestion I'd make is wear layers. Its unseasonably warm in Alberta for november right now and I ended up baking the first day. Sweating like a pig didnt help my scent signature at all. The second day I dressed heavier in the early morning and lightened up when I started hiking.

Generally patience is something I absolutely do not have, but with hunting there's really no choice it seems if you want to be successful. Stick with it and take your time and you'll get there.
 
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