When are the odds against us? (deer hunting)

[gasoperated]

Hi all. First post

I've read a couple of books and tons of forum posts and articles, plus heard many a seasoned hunter recount the winning formula for a successful hunt. There seem to be so many factors that I'm just hoping to find a few staple ones to go by more than anything else. But first a bit of background...

I've hunted deer for the past 4 years with my father in-law. We hunt where he hunted with his father starting more than 20 years ago. It's fairly remote, quite a climb and we don't do much in the way of pre-season scouting as 'the spots' are pretty much already established. I suppose I'm also trying to determine if the location's perhaps dried up at the same time

How important are the following in terms of how they factor into seeing deer (and especially males) during the course of a full day's hunt?

Temperature during the day. (Colder is better or they'll wait till evening?)

Moon phase (Especially when there's little cloud cover, when the moon's big and bright they'll tend to run at night more?)

Raining/snowing/strong winds (Each of these impedes their ability to detect predators so they will tend to stay put during the day?)

The rut - has it begun and where's it at? (that mysterious frenzy of procreation... How the heck can I know what they're up to?)

Appreciate any insight you can offer. We haven't had any luck these past 4 years and I know it's important to him that he see me bag my first one. Of course this year with neither of us having won an anterless ticket we both saw a female the first morning, but that was it

 

[Pudelpointer]

Are you sitting in a stand or still hunting?

You seem to have posed the most important questions yourself: are there any/many deer in the area? If you are sitting in a stand, where are the main trails? Is there recent activity on them? Are there rubs and scrapes in the area? Where are the deer feeding? Where are they bedding? Are you hunting the area at the same time he used to hunt it? Have the season dates changed over the years? Do you or him smoke?

These are all things that need to be figured out, or at least an 'educated guess' should be made, before you sit in a stand or confine yourself to hunting just one spot. Aerial photos, google earth, topo maps, etc. are your friend. Scouting is invaluable, otherwise you are better off playing KENO or 6/49.

 

[rsp1761]

Rut is critical for hunting mature bucks....watch for them on does in the area to indicate they are in estrus. Once you see this sit (ideally in treestand) along scrape lines or known travel routes. Snow makes this easier to determine. Cold is good....

If you see a doe come out by herself get ready ;-)

 

[gasoperated]

I guess I got the answer I was looking for (but already knew)...

There's not much sign. My second year hunting there I left my spot with my GPS on few days and searched for anything promising I could find.

The area's bordering a provincial park and there are no farms or obvious food sources so I focused on finding main trails, hopng to parallel them and find out where they came from / lead to in order to determine what and where they were bedding and eating.

The trails I found were light on traffic. I went back several times to each to see. It gave me the impression that the population wasn't what it used to be and that the deer seemed to have a 'cycle' when it came to their movement. Perhaps visiting several food sources one after the other durning the course of a week. Not very promising...

I'm no expert, but I don't recall seeing a single scrape or rub (and I was looking and sniffing actively for them).

The issue is that this area is public property and there are several 'groups' who've hunted there for a long time. Our group areas are established but the environment changes and so do patterns.

I am going up again next week on Friday and if there are no cars in the parking area I will walk that day and see what I can detect. Hopefully all the groups will show up to hunt on the weekend. I plan on having us in our caches/stands extra early Saturday and Sunday in the hopes that the other groups (they all have 4-wheelers and we don't) will stir up some movement at least.

Likely worthy of another thread, but I am wondering what our options are if we determine there just aren't deer about?

Thanks again

 

[Al-Sway]

If there are few deer there, it will be difficult to see any.
As for your points about weather and the rest, in my experience they have relatively little bearing. I have found that extreme weather (high winds, heavy rain or snow) will cause the deer to hold up in some sheltered areas deep in the woods, at least for a day or so.
However, my basic formula has been:
- sit overlooking likely deer trails that go between night feeding and daylight bedding.
- after about 2-3 hours after sunrise, consider still hunting along the trails.
- sit for the sunset movement.
If you are not in the woods, you cannot see them.

 

[Super 1]

When I have discovered rubs they've been 5-10 yards off the trail...get some quiet scent locking and water proof gear and still hunt in a light rain. Stay off the trails if you can, try to parallel them instead, provided the vegetation allows for it. This can turn out beautifully when you've got a thick carpet of soggy leaves to walk on.

But in order to be successful, I've discovered, there's got to be deer in the area...

Good luck! Sounds like yer getting out more than I am this year. The more you get out the better the odds, right?

 

[gasoperated]

Frankly the temperature is annoying me. It was 18 degrees in Montreal today. Yesterday I was at my sister in-law's and her neighbor has 2 sons that hunt deer. They take carrots to their stands a few times a week and their trail cameras show the deer coming to feed from midnight to 2 a.m. consistently where they're hunting (not sure where exactly).

Maybe I'm just trying to find excuses

This year I'm getting to use an old stand they built and rebuilt over many years. It's about 15' up and there's a very small pond directly in front of me. On my right there's a tiny creek flowing out and that's where I approach from. On the other side of the pond (about 70-80 yards) there's an old trail.

I think I will climb down mid-day and stalk around a bit. I heard 2 deer take the creek path in and continue to the right of the pond. Not sure if they went down a bank, but their footfalls tapered off quickly. I'd be curious to see if there's any sign of a bedding area.

At the same time I will check for recent activity on that trail too. I am considering hanging a scent dripper on the other side of the pond to see if anything tracks up to it. But I have no experience with that stuff and I'm not sure if it's female or male scent I should be using now. At the same time I don't want to scare anything off either. I took a whiff of the male and female scents and they're pretty raunchy

 

[oopswasthatyourdog?]

Gasoperated, I hunt the eastern townships and things are wierd this year. First of all those in the party I hunt with that have seen bucks tell me that the rut has started. Males are right up the does butts and their necks are all swollen. Sunday one hunter had a buck come in full run at the doe-in-heat call. Being the second week the patterns have changed. I harvested a doe Friday morning from one of my stands and since then there has been no activity in that area at all. The deer seem to be moving at night and VERY early in the morning.
The wind sucks.....did you get out on openning morning? What was the huricane all about??? Speaking of wind I have noticed that this year it changes fast. One minute it's right in your face and the next minute right from behind. It has called for some creative decisions on the spot. But so far I did fill a doe tag so I shouldn't complain.