Questions for the bush

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Rayleigh_Scattering

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I hope to spend a few days in the bush at the southern edge of Alberta's boreal forest soon.

Whitetails are plentiful, the land-owner says "Give'er.", and the vacation time is booked.

I'd intended to find a place with reasonable sight lines and good back stops, stack up a few logs and hang a tarp to break up my outline, and then sit in a folding chair looking upwind-ish for a few hours around dawn and dusk to see what wanders by.

Other than dressing warm and getting into position early, what should I know?
 
Rayleigh_Scattering said:
I hope to spend a few days in the bush at the southern edge of Alberta's boreal forest soon.

Whitetails are plentiful, the land-owner says "Give'er.", and the vacation time is booked.

I'd intended to find a place with reasonable sight lines and good back stops, stack up a few logs and hang a tarp to break up my outline, and then sit in a folding chair looking upwind-ish for a few hours around dawn and dusk to see what wanders by.

Other than dressing warm and getting into position early, what should I know?
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snacks that don't make noise...... I put soft fruit bars and other non crunchy snacks in ziplocs with the zipper. Most snacks come in packaging that makes too much noise in the woods.
a chunk of rope to tie and drag with.
doe bleat can or mouth call
buck grunt can or mouth call
fawn whistle
antlers for rattling or one of those rattling bags.....

and patience......
enjoy your hunt, sounds like a nice relaxing time ;)
 
Understand that a whitetail probably does not see colors, but is wicked sharp on movement. From several hundred yards away, I am sure they spot my hand moving from my jacket pocket to put a snack in my mouth. Dressed head to toe in blaze orange, sitting on a stump, I had two whitetails checking out the smoke from my cigarette at about 25 feet. They absolutely freaked after about 2 or 3 minutes when I moved my boot toe - the damn smoke had burned down and was getting stupid hot on my fingers!
 
Potashminer said:
"..........but (deer) is wicked sharp on movement. ........."
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Which is why I have enjoyed SO MUCH success hunting on windy days 25KPH+....darn near walked up on the best buck of my life -- the deer have to eat, breed and have fun on those days as well - and when the bush, grass and trees are moving - you can get close for a simple head shot....for their smell, hearing and eye reaction are dumbed down by the wind and associated bush noise. 'When it's a blowin' I'm a goin'...huntin'....;)'
 
NHunter said:
Which is why I have enjoyed SO MUCH success hunting on windy days 25KPH+....darn near walked up on the best buck of my life -- the deer have to eat, breed and have fun on those days as well - and when the bush, grass and trees are moving - you can get close for a simple head shot....for their smell, hearing and eye reaction are dumbed down by the wind and associated bush noise. 'When it's a blowin' I'm a goin'...huntin'....;)'
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funny you mention the windy days. My biggest mulie was taken in a serious windstorm that had trees crashing in the forest all day and evening. It walked up on me and before he realized I was not another tree in the thick forest beside the fenceline he eyeballing to jump...... we made eye contact and the story pretty much ends there. He was dead before he made it 10 feet. I have him on my wall :)
 
45ACPKING said:
funny you mention the windy days. My biggest mulie was taken in a serious windstorm that had trees crashing in the forest all day and evening. It walked up on me and before he realized I was not another tree in the thick forest beside the fenceline he eyeballing to jump...... we made eye contact and the story pretty much ends there. He was dead before he made it 10 feet. I have him on my wall :)
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=)
Ya....wasn't jokin'....love the calm afts/eves but prefer the windy ones...!!
 
>Or bring sum arse wipe.

Good advice, except you missed "And don't leave it in the truck." That dried/frozen grass looks a lot softer than it feels, just saying.

Still, two lovely days in the cold and quiet with no other humans around. Not so much as a footprint on the road except where the Peace Officer stopped to walk around my truck parked by the access. This time I put a note on the dash saying "Call <my cell number> for any questions.", as it struck me as a simple "Don't look like you're hiding, and people will think you've got nothing to hide." signal.

This business of "a little bit of new snow every night" makes even a chump like me feel like a red-hot tracker. I saw deer tracks, fox tracks, coyote tracks, badger tracks, rabbit tracks, squirrel tracks, and elk tracks. One set of deer tracks led right through the area that I'd staked out from a blind for a couple of hours the day before. I'm still far away from being able to see the position/slope/water/visibility/wind vector fields that drive their motions.

And I'm as sore as a middle-aged guy with a desk job should expect to be after two days in the bush.

Good times.
 
If you can, scout the property before you show up to hunt. See where the deer are coming and going. They’ll have their patterns/routines for eating/bedding and the more you know before the first day of the hunt the better.

Patrick
 
Potashminer said:
Understand that a whitetail probably does not see colors, but is wicked sharp on movement. From several hundred yards away, I am sure they spot my hand moving from my jacket pocket to put a snack in my mouth. Dressed head to toe in blaze orange, sitting on a stump, I had two whitetails checking out the smoke from my cigarette at about 25 feet. They absolutely freaked after about 2 or 3 minutes when I moved my boot toe - the damn smoke had burned down and was getting stupid hot on my fingers!
Click to expand...

In my experience a white tail will question what it sees or hears, but will never question what it smells.
Base your setup around the wind.
 
Rayleigh_Scattering said:
>Or bring sum arse wipe.

Good advice, except you missed "And don't leave it in the truck." That dried/frozen grass looks a lot softer than it feels, just saying.

Still, two lovely days in the cold and quiet with no other humans around. Not so much as a footprint on the road except where the Peace Officer stopped to walk around my truck parked by the access. This time I put a note on the dash saying "Call <my cell number> for any questions.", as it struck me as a simple "Don't look like you're hiding, and people will think you've got nothing to hide." signal.

This business of "a little bit of new snow every night" makes even a chump like me feel like a red-hot tracker. I saw deer tracks, fox tracks, coyote tracks, badger tracks, rabbit tracks, squirrel tracks, and elk tracks. One set of deer tracks led right through the area that I'd staked out from a blind for a couple of hours the day before. I'm still far away from being able to see the position/slope/water/visibility/wind vector fields that drive their motions.

And I'm as sore as a middle-aged guy with a desk job should expect to be after two days in the bush.

Good times.
Click to expand...

dear god why... I'll cut off a nice soft shirt sleeve first...

but I have also had more success on windy days, if its snowing they tend to hole up, unless its in the middle of the rut, which they should be next week :)
 
Apples make good snacks and the apple cores will attract, not spook the critters.

And, if you have to pee and are in a location to don't want to taint, pee in a freezer bag. It seals well. Put the bag in an inside pocket. It is hot.
 
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