I have a 200 acre property where we live and hunt. The layout is a long rectangle, a lot longer than it is wide. There are 2 main areas to hunt but to get to my back area you have to walk through the front area. In other words if I hunt the back area I always seem to jump deer either before sunrise as I head out or after sunset as I return. This always seems to spook the deer in the front area and turn them nocturnal.
Anybody else face this situation?
need to get permission from the neighbors to "loop" around or to come in the "back door".
Coming out at night I get the wind in my favor and will bark and howl like a coyote to scare deer off a field, in the morning, well I try not to hunt many morning before the rut, unless I can get in undetected. Shawn
I too have avoided early morning hunts for fear of being detected. Never though about trying to scare them off with a coyote howl. My only other option is to hunt the first area exclusively until the deer have been scared nocturnal and then start hunting the back bushes.
i take lots of time and stop start alot instead of just plowing to my spot. and if need be i'll just setup short of my stand and hunt my way to it in the light.
Go in early and Walk like a deer. The pad of your foot down then the heel and do it like the cadence of a deer, stop often and look and listen. If a deer blows at you blow back. Sometimes it will calm them down and you can make it to your stand.
I walk our lease daily, it seems if I'm just walking along the deer dont spook, if I'm slowly sneaking along but not hunting they blow out.I spook deer going to one of my stands everytime, I just go in earlyer and as long as I didnt spook them to bad they will come back.
Don't go in the woods before daylight..... :rolleyes:
Shawn is correct. Years ago I laughed at "barking" when I read this in a book. After being caught by dark and deer many times I started to bark at the deer. It works perfectly.
JDS III
helicopter :p
I had the same problem a few years ago on a 100 acre parcel with access through a farm field in the front. There was a land dispute going on so I didnt have the option of looping around, I tried using a belly boat and floating down the river side of the property but I always got caught by the deer there as well. Finally in desperation I just walked out to my stand using good scent control practices as well as grunting and blowing at any deer that "sort of" caught me. Im a firm believer that whitetails will rarely trust just their eyes or ears, if they smell you then its game over. Long story short every time I hunted in the morning I spooked deer going in but they always calmed down and came back round to my stands.
Sleep in.
I have never had a problem if i spooked deer on the way in or out. I try to take different routes in and out if possible and i like to use different stands or locations so i don't burn out a stand, i feel that is more of a problem than spooking deer on the way in or out.
I'm new to this site but the way that i always get in there early is during midday if ur ready to go take a brance and clear a little run way for about 50-100 yards i do this a week before opening day so good luck
Black "Chucks" from Converse, and be Vewy Vewy Kwiet. huhhuh...........
Walk like a deer, smell like a deer, talk like a deer. I have to bust up deer walking into one of my stands(due to the terrain and land boundries)....I tried it all. What works best for me is going slow, like a deer browsing, trying to make my footfalls sound like that of a deer. I grunt or bleat every few minutes. I also use scent control and a cover scent. I go in 30-45 minutes before dark(on stand that long).
Works well. If the deer are there and I bust em up, they dont go far at all, and usually are back under my stand feeding on acorns before first light.
In the past couple years I have avoided morning hunts but this year I think I will try to head out super early and try and talk to any deer that starts a conversation with me.
Probably what would work the best for getting to your stand without over alerting the deer would be some type of ATV. I'm not big on atv myself and don't use them but I do believe they would spook the herd less than walking .
if im concerned about jumping deer on the way in..i just still hunt at first light my way in with the wind in my face at a very very slow turtle pace.... deer spook from unnatural noise..like a hunter plowing his way thru the woods..nothing in nature sounds like that...most mature deer arent at all concerned with coyote howls... they hear coyotes howl all the time.. but they definitely spook when a hunter comes trudging thru the area breaking every twig.