Help me learn to be deer hunter

[archeryrob]

Butt in the seat is how you are going to learn hunting and the deer in your area. No one can tell you this except someone hunting that property or local area.

Most places deer move first light and just before last light. Although deer feed 5 times per day normally. Some places i hunted are like clock work. The place I hunt now is over grown and deer just meander through it. Some places like our feeder they show at 7 - 8:30, 12 and 4 -5 now. Other areas they move 8 - 4 some times and some trails are 10 -3 spots. We have a field with clover the deer love only at night. You have to hide in the NW edge of the woods to hunt them and can only hunt it with a S or SW or W wind which out winds are normally NW on cold front and SW or W normally.

Trail cameras only tell you one specific spot and miss 90% of what you would see from a stand. Don't worry on all the scent cover up, but HUNT THE WIND. You can be coated in aftershave and downwind of them and they will never smell you. You can wear scent loc and they can be downwind of you and will still probably know you're there.

Read up on Funnels. Deer willl cross between a narrow neck of woods rather than an open field. They will move in valleys and many times take the easier route. Find a really thick area and hack a trail through it, like multiflora rose. They set a stand and hunt that trail as they deer will use it too. Any hole or down spot in a fence and the deer will cross there.

Butt in the seat is the only teacher without a mentor.

[Bulldogger]

I second the notion that only time in the woods will teach you about what happens in the woods. As to WHEN, there is some good lore about hunting by the phases of the moon and when it is at apogee and perigee, not full/new or sunrise/sunset. Deer, and many other animals are affected by the pull of the moon on them, and may be moving mid-day if that is when the moon tells them to.

You can look up guides for hunting by the moon online, I can't say one or another is best, but I believe it can influence your success. But in the end, you have to be out there to get the chance to shoot.

Try to butter your Supervisor/NCO up with the offer of a ham or backstrap or something, for more hunting time. Tell him/her it's combat terrain training...

Bulldogger

[nagantguy]

Some great and save advice all around! My humble 2 cents is the deadly trifecta, sent ,noise,movement. Any one of these three will get you busted any to together with a deer within 100'yards weather you see them or not.... sit still move your eyes! A deer has many more sent receptors in its nose than the best blood hound so strive for sent elimination but we are big users of cover sents in our area wild winter green is abundant so we brew a tea put it in spray bottles and use it to mask our sent.

Final word of advice ; dont ever ever aim at a whole deer or even think of its antlers once you've identified it's a buck, aim at that sweet spot high up in the crease between front leg and rib cage, look only there aim only there think and look at nothing else,when you've mastered that you go from being a guy who hunts deer to a deer hunter.
The above is not holy doctrine just my best pointers to those who ask with an open mind and are serious about the pursuit

[CIC]

I wold suggest the most important thing to be successful is to sit still. Deer pick up on movement. I would also suggest that you do some scouting this year after your deer season is over. Doing it at this time of the year ensures that you do not disturb the deer you are trying to hunt. It is a good time to establish patterns of travel.

[Bazoo]

I am still learning, and I read on the subject when I can.

I can suggest modern Whitetail hunting, im bout 1/2 through it, but its helped a good bit.
https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Whitet.../dp/B007HWL49U

I had a north american hunting club book about white tails, it was written by a feller that hunted with a camera and Was chocked full of info. It was all about deer, not specifically about hunting them. I cant remember exactly what it was named, but it was a large sized book instead of the smaller books they made.

I also have Shots at whitetails, but havent started it yet.

https://www.amazon.com/Shots-Whiteta.../dp/0873418654

I also read some in magazines about the subject, But i've found that its not as reliable of info.

[Jack Ryan]

My lack of a formal mentor has left me lacking in man skills. My mother constantly apologies but she did her best to raise me. When I first started fishing at 9 she taught me a knot and said "sorry son that's all I know." So a few years ago I decide to hunt when I was 29. I asked her if we had any hunters in the family and she said sorry son, but no. I hit the google and proceeded to learn as much as I can. I understand the wind. I can spot game trails and sign. I get the camo is more of a means to break up the "Human Pattern" than any real concealment. I get the noise control, but here, its almost impossible not to sound like a bull in china store unless you are on a trail, but even then I swear each step sounds like thunder because of dried grass and pine needles.

The concept I am having difficulty in is patterning deer. In live in Jacksonville, Fl we get all 4 seasons in a day. I cant tell where or what they are eating and sleeping or when they are moving. They seam to randomly move through out the day. Tracks are every where though. I am military so I cant spend us much time in the woods as I want and I finnaly got 3 trail cams. Is there a book I could read or a resource to learn the native diet and guide to patterning them? At the moment it seams like its 50 percent skill and 50 percent luck on getting a deer. I have spotted does, but I feel like it was more blind chance than any real skill, like I am blundering through the woods aimlessly and so was the deer and the stars aligned. One time they are bedding at 1300 and have to litteral step on them to get the deer to budge, then they hop 30 yards and stop and call you names. Then the next weekend they are moving at 1300 and spot you from 200 yards away up wind. There is tons of tracks though even some old scraps, fresh pawing marks. Definatetly know when you kick up a buck. If he knows what you are sounds like a horse crashing through the woods. If he doesn't he wants to circle.

The deer signs I know are tracks, scrapes,rubs and scat. Only seen a few old rubs. A couple old scrapes. Tons of old and fresher tracks. The thick stuff here prevents you from going of the "beaten" path. How do I interpret the sign and are there signs I am missing? Like signs of bedding areas and feeding. I have even saw tracks that look like deer fighting. Any tips or mentor ship would be appreciated.

Keep a hunting diary and you'll see a pattern begin to emerge.

[luvtn]

I think scent is over rated. Our forefathers smelled ( baths as we know them didn’t exist), they cooked on wood in the cabins fireplace. That is why you hunt into the wind. I agree, just get out and sit, observe, make notes. QUIT SMOKING! It isn’t good for your health, and when you lose your health it gets expensive treating the disease, it is money better spent on guns and ammo. My opinion, as a nurse for 50 years. Good luck!
Luvtn

[Der Gebirgsjager]

A while back in a different thread a fellow said something that I'd never heard put exactly that way. He said that in a forest setting there naturally exist very few horizontal lines. Meaning the back of a deer. All the tree trunks are mostly vertical. Even at my advanced age, taking that information into account, I'm seeing more deer.

Facts are facts and truth is truth, so you're getting lots of the same advice from contributors to the thread, because they're facts based on their experiences.

Hunt where there are deer. This sounds simplistic, but every patch of forest or brush doesn't attract deer. Sometimes, for unknown reasons, they will shun a certain location. Maybe a mountain lion passed through and left his scent. No sign, no deer.

Their sense of hearing is amazing, and those big ears are constantly turning like radar antennae listening for anything that doesn't sound like Mother Nature.

Their eyesight is excellent -- but -- they are attracted and spooked by movement. I've heard it both ways that they see in black and white, and that they see in color, but I've never found the clothes I was wearing (including some hunter orange) to spook them. But the slightest movement will.
I've had them look directly at me from 50' away, suspicious, look and look, then turn their heads away. But if you scratch your nose, even very slowly, they'll be gone in a second.

Wind direction is important. Not always possible to stay upwind, and even if they don't see or hear you they'll usually leave the location.

Very early morning or early evening are indeed the best times. Most states allow you to shoot 1/2 hour before sunrise/sunset. A scope with good light gathering abilities is a big plus, but if you hunt during the daytime might be a bit of a handicap -- so two rifles might be in order.