Stalking on power line cuts

bluemike807

bluemike807

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How effective is deer stalking along power line cuts? My stands are in a pretty large forested area outside of town, but the entire forest is bisected by a major power line cut, about 80 yards wide. It goes for about 15km and its quite hilly, in spots you can see for several km at a time.

Are these effective spots for deerstalking?
 
Yes. Definately yes if there is water nearby and cover on either side. Setup dawn and duck on one of the higher hills and look upwind. You will notice deer migrate from one side of the cutline to the other in the morning and go the other way at night. Figure out where they sleep and where they play and you have a good place to start stalking.

This is a very easy way to pick up a tasty little doe. The other nice thing about cutlines is that you can probably get a truck right in there.
 
Hell yes! Animals like to be able to see over distance and like people prefer the easier travel power lines provide. The game feels secure in that it can see over distance yet is close to cover, and there is good browsing, certainly better than what they find in heavily forested areas. Move slowly, use your binocular to study the ground ahead of you, and keep a sharp look out when you are moving forward. A close range shot is likely going to be a snap shot, but if you can spot your quarry be it deer, moose, or bear far enough ahead, it will provide the chance for an exciting stalk and enough time to make a good shot.
 
Just walk the cut line and look for areas where deer cross. They seem to use the same general locations year after year relating to the topography, food/water, bedding areas and such.

Find one of these locations and sit for a couple hours in the morning and the last hour of so of daylight. Easy to guess the shooting lanes and invest in a good bipod. Let the deer come to you instead of trying to walk up on them...unless you enjoy that type of hunting.
 
Boomer said:
Hell yes! Animals like to be able to see over distance and like people prefer the easier travel power lines provide. The game feels secure in that it can see over distance yet is close to cover, and there is good browsing, certainly better than what they find in heavily forested areas. Move slowly, use your binocular to study the ground ahead of you, and keep a sharp look out when you are moving forward. A close range shot is likely going to be a snap shot, but if you can spot your quarry be it deer, moose, or bear far enough ahead, it will provide the chance for an exciting stalk and enough time to make a good shot.
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Finally, some one on these threads, besides me, calls that instrument you look through to see things better, by its proper name, binocular!
Everybody, their brothers and shirt tail cousins say, "binoculars," when referring to the one instrument they look through. If it was designed to be used with only one eye, it would be a monocular. However, it is designed to be looked through with both, or two eyes, thus it is a binocular.
 
If you are hunting "power lines"...you are most likely trespassing. (S. Ont.)

The property is probably privately owned. The power-line company has a "right of way."

Just because they make life easier, doesn't mean anyone can use them.
 
H4831 said:
Finally, some one on these threads, besides me, calls that instrument you look through to see things better, by its proper name, binocular!
Everybody, their brothers and shirt tail cousins say, "binoculars," when referring to the one instrument they look through. If it was designed to be used with only one eye, it would be a monocular. However, it is designed to be looked through with both, or two eyes, thus it is a binocular.
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Why do you wear a pair of pants then?
 
Glyn said:
Why do you wear a pair of pants then?
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Not really a comparison.
Here is the definition of binocular. Note that it states the term is often used in the plural.
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Relating to, used by, or involving both eyes at the same time: binocular vision.
Having two eyes arranged to produce stereoscopic vision.
n.
An optical device, such as a pair of field glasses or opera glasses, designed for simultaneous use by both eyes and consisting of two small telescopes joined with a single focusing device. Often used in the plural.

binocularity bin·oc'u·lar'i·ty (-lăr'ĭ-tē) n.
binocularly bin·oc'u·lar·ly adv
 
beefman said:
If you are hunting "power lines"...you are most likely trespassing. (S. Ont.)

The property is probably privately owned. The power-line company has a "right of way."

Just because they make life easier, doesn't mean anyone can use them.
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+1 .. i have powerlines going through my property.

Id be mighty pissed if i caught some yahoo hunting my land :evil:
 
Im sure there is miles an miles of power lines through the states of which you guys live.. some cuttin through crown an some through private..
 
Yep, though we have provinces and territories, as you have states and territories :p

In this case, the whole region is crown land, intercut with small private roads with hunt camps (I've found two in my wanderings) and alot of skiddoo trails. In this case, the road (more like dirt track) parallels the power line cut, and at one point crosses it, then crosses back over. Most of the time, its legal shooting distance away.

Our season opens here Friday. I have two 'stands', though I still need to get an actual chair (a bit poor atm), but I know the deer are coming in and taking the apples I leave faster than I can replace them. I will likely hunt the stand the first day, see how that goes, and maybe try the cutlines the next. The thing is, my rifles are only equipped with irons, so I'll be limited to only those shots Im comfortable taking (<150yds).
 
H4831 said:
Finally, some one on these threads, besides me, calls that instrument you look through to see things better, by its proper name, binocular!
Everybody, their brothers and shirt tail cousins say, "binoculars," when referring to the one instrument they look through. If it was designed to be used with only one eye, it would be a monocular. However, it is designed to be looked through with both, or two eyes, thus it is a binocular.
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Actually Bruce, I used the singular to avoid being chastised by you.:)

Inquiring minds want to know, so according to Oxford (2001 edition) which since childhood I was instructed was the only acceptable reference to the English language states: binocular refers to both eyes as in binocular vision, where as binoculars refer to an instrument fitted with with a lens for each eye intended for viewing distant objects.

Having said that, language does change over time, and I would love to still have that Oxford Dictionary that was printed in the 1920s.
 
I have not had the greatest luck on power lines and will normally take a cut line over a power line. The one and only reason I can find for my poor success is that around here the power lines are sprayed with herbicide to keep the trees from growing. Once sprayed deer will very rarely feed there even if there is available clover.

Now, do deer cross power lines? Absolutely.

Could it be a great spot to hunt? Of course!

Are deer "drawn" to power lines? No. (at least were I hunt)
 
The only down side to this is you maybe hunting into other peoples stand/blind zones. They may resent this if they've spent the time scouting travel zones. If your hydro lines are like the Ontario ones with dips and gullies there is always the chance you may over shoot a stand hunter. Someone on the near side of the ridge you just crested and have a view of a deer he can't see yet. I have had someone do just that I was not impressed I was in orange coveralls and he was but 10 yds away he had come to nearly the top of the ridge behind me saw the deer i'd been watching and waiting for a clear shot he took a rest, never saw me, fired not a plesant situation. But it's something to consider if there is much hunting pressure in your area. When our group got together it turned out he had walked through two others stand zones. We got no deer that day but neither did he.
I just put on pants and use binoculars. I don't think it has anything to do with multiples of the item.
 
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I hunt them every year. Mine are near the end of farm country and start of boreal forest and are about 250 yards wide. Over the past 8 years or so we have killed lots of deer and some nice bucks, almost always in the same funnel spots.

Find a spot where the cross, get downwind of it, watch how you get there and wait.
 
H4831 said:
Finally, some one on these threads, besides me, calls that instrument you look through to see things better, by its proper name, binocular!
Everybody, their brothers and shirt tail cousins say, "binoculars," when referring to the one instrument they look through. If it was designed to be used with only one eye, it would be a monocular. However, it is designed to be looked through with both, or two eyes, thus it is a binocular.
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And to read with both your eye, you obviously put on your glass or spectacle...

Obviously in the English language, when you use both your eye's to look through glasses, you are not actually looking through "one instrument" as glasses consist of lenses and binoculars, consist of 2(two) attached telescopes or monoculars. The plural is not only accepted it is preferred.
 
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