Anyone want to help a young buck out?

Cliff · 10-24-2007, 03:41 PM

Hey guys, I dont think I have ever posted over here on the hunting forum before, but this year, I decided to take up hunting. Anyways, my name is Cliff, and im a 19 year old college student who loves to fish, and really enjoys hunting, but it has been really hard for me, because I dont really know how to go about doing it and I dont have a mentor or anyone to help me/show me the ropes. I have been reading alot of stuff online and here, but it is so hard, unless you can actually get out and experience it! so, basically all I have been doing is sitting at clear cuts and walking roads. Which doesnt really seem like hunting to me. I don't want to just get a lucky deer by chance that happens to be standing by a road when I walk down it. I want to be in the woods, hunting them. I think that it would give me a much greater appreciation and sense of satisfaction knowing that I had to work for it instead of it just being a stroke of luck.

Anyways, what Im trying to get at, is that if anyone who knows what they're doing wants a hunting buddy or just to take someone under their wing, please let me know. I don't smoke or complain, and Im pretty easy to get along with. I will hunt all day in the rain without a problem. Or even if someone would just let me follow them around while they hunted(you could shoot at whatever we find), just so that I could see what to do, and replicate that.

Well thanks for taking the time to read this, please let me know if you would like to take me out!

Cliff

BTW: I only have a general tag.

oh and, I would be more than happy to take any of you fishing.

buck0523 · 10-24-2007, 04:07 PM

Rifle or bow?

StickFish · 10-24-2007, 04:35 PM

Cliff, I'm going to assume that you are rifle hunting in the coast range. Find yourself the biggest nastiest clear cut you can find - one facing east into the rising sun would be best for AM hunting. You want it big to scare off those not brave enough like yourself to go in after the deer. You want this clear cut to have a good balance of brush and reprod (new little trees). The reprod between 2 and 6 foot with good spacing is best, bunches of alder and other stuff. Sneak out a ridge or follow a skidder trail along the side till you cut a deer trail, follow the deer trail out, picking cover opportunities to glass and glass and glass the brush. Sometimes the deer will hold tight, sometimes they won't. Take your time and look for horizontal lines - a deers back or belly - confused in the verticle lines of the brush - look for pieces of animal a leg an ear - watch for ear flicks. Everytime you position changes to expose new area glass and glass and glass. It should take you all morning to work a clear cut. Look for sign, look for the natural cross overs and the egress locations. Once you find those you know where the deer will go when leaving or entering the Clear cut. That comes in very handy when it gets really nasty out. When ir is blowing and raining to beat the band - that is when you want to be out after Blacktail.

Hope that helps and good luck.

Northwest Pest · 10-24-2007, 07:52 PM

If you wanted to hunt birds I could help you out..... Big game I can help with but I'm certainly not a guru!

Eagleclaw · 10-24-2007, 07:53 PM

Pm sent

StevenB · 10-24-2007, 08:51 PM

Young Buck?? Have not heard that term for a while.

I think I know what you are interested in doing on your deer hunting trip. Spend all day hunting on foot for deer knowing that you are not wasting your time . You need to have a strategty. A proactive stategy.

For deer hunting blacktails there are not as many books as there are for whitetails. I used to read the whitetail hunting books and sift through what seemed to make sence for blacktails.

Books? Well how about a demonstrational hunt? I noticed you are in Salem... If you can get away on a weekday before November 4th I could take you to an area where you can learn the StevenB blacktail hunting method. It would be a day trip in the Wilson Unit where I have a doe tag.

The other option is I send you a PM with a few of my deer hunting theories.

flyin chrome · 10-24-2007, 09:03 PM

pm sent

Cliff · 10-25-2007, 12:09 PM

Hey thanks to all who PMd me, and gave me advice. I'm really looking forward to getting out and hopefully getting that first buck!

Cliff

Rifle hunting, btw

traks44 · 10-25-2007, 02:08 PM

If you are ever over here in the pendleton area shoot me a PM!

Sounds like these guys have you all lined out for west side, maybe if ya ever had a chance I could show ya a thing or two and and do some scouting together.

Jon

Cliff · 10-25-2007, 03:19 PM

Hey, I will keep that in mind! Thanks alot!

Cliff

Quote:

Originally Posted by traks44

If you are ever over here in the pendleton area shoot me a PM!

Sounds like these guys have you all lined out for west side, maybe if ya ever had a chance I could show ya a thing or two and and do some scouting together.

Jon

toomanydenny · 10-25-2007, 04:20 PM

Cliff, Great on ya young buck! With that attitude there will be many a wall hanger in your future. I have been hunting blacktail in s.w. wash for over 40 years. As a youngster I was happy to fill my tag. As that became less of a challenge I began to wonder why I never seemed to kill the "BIG" ones. I knew my hunting skills were ok- I filled my tag every year for prob the first 15 years- but it was allways a spike, forked horn, or junior three point. Then it hit me- Im killing small bucks because I hunt where the small bucks hang out. Same areas as the does and fawns. The areas where you see the most deer sign because that is the area WITH the most deer. So I made a decision that I would pass on any buck that was not at least a three point with eye guards or bigger even if it meant not filling my tag. I started hunting areas where I didnt see as much sign but seemed to be where a big cautious buck might try to hide. I went down in canyons that most would walk up to and say "I,m not goin down there!" As one great local hunter told me "imagine that every person on earth was lookin for you with every weapon available and think of where you would go hide. hunt there"... still good advice. I managed to harvest the six biggest bucks of my life during the next ten years although it meant 5-6 years with an empty tag. All the hunting advice you hear from folks on this site will be good. Heres my tips... #1 hunt three times as slow as what you think hunting slow is.. and then slowdown a little more #2 hunt all day... deer have a feeding period for a short time mid day- when everyone else is back at the truck.. #3 use a cover scent... I started out using skunk scent.. I no longer reccomend that..lol Blacktail urine and doe scent is avail locally #4 Make sure your rifle is dead on! when you get that one shot... dont miss #5 Find the highest, steepest rockiest brushiest areas adjacent to where the "main" deer population is, that the other hunters wont go near and hunt there. #6 To kill the big one you gotta be ready to pass up the small one... My areas are all in wa. so my locations wont help ya. Good luck to you . email me and let me know your results. BY the way now that Im 54 and have slowed down (a little) I,m happy again to just fill the tag as I did mon. on a nice fat forked horn..

But its a great challenge to stalk and kill a MATURE blacktail buck.... Good Huntin Young Buck!

Bait O' Eggs · 10-25-2007, 06:05 PM

Anybody thinking of hunting with Cliff, he is a good kid and I enjoyed my day fishing with him a few years ago. You cant go wrong taking him out.

Cliff, when you see lots of big buck/bull pics from the same monikers, its because they "usually" have a sweet spot to hunt. For many its private land with no competition, for others they are on public land competing with the rest of us, but they have found those honey holes that hold the animals they chase.

Its easy to have romantic thoughts of how hunting should be,

you are sneaking thru the woods, decked out in the latest camo, cover scent so perfect it make a **** smell like a pine cone, your boots dont leak, your every move is not seen, and not so much as a twig snaps under your boot, the wind doesnt swirl and always blows into your face. The buck is looking the other way when you spot him and deliver the heart shot from a perfect rest. :grin: In reality, most critters are killed from the road, with a less than perfect shot thru the texas heart or gut

far more killed than anybody will tell you at night with the aid of a light

its not always after riding a horse for 3 days into the back woods, while sleeping in a wall tent like the adds may suggest.

If your just starting out with no mentor, dont limit yourself to how it "should" be done in your mind, but concentrate on getting it done (legally) and then you can limit yourself to your mental perfect method after you have a few under your belt. If your walking a road, there is nothing wrong with that. If your sitting in a clearcut there is nothing wrong with that. The buck is where you find him, it might be a farmers field, it might be under a neighbors apple tree.

There has been many a buck posted on this site with only half the story told, and the camera angle adjusted to not show the background they dont want you to see.

Get away from the people, and hunt slow. Get some optics and use them. Its amazing what you can see when you can see. I stood on the hill a couple days ago with a couple family members looking at 21 elk and 5 bulls in the herd we planned to hunt the next morning on a distant hill. A truck is coming down the road, and we quickly hide the spotting scopes and glass a different direction. These hunters get out and talk to us for about an hour right at dark. They had no optics and looked at the close hill naked eye, complained about no elk, we agreed

and they drove off. We went back to watching our elk bed down because we could see them.

Maddie'sDaddy · 10-26-2007, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StevenB

Young Buck?? Have not heard that term for a while.

I think I know what you are interested in doing on your deer hunting trip. Spend all day hunting on foot for deer knowing that you are not wasting your time . You need to have a strategty. A proactive stategy.

For deer hunting blacktails there are not as many books as there are for whitetails. I used to read the whitetail hunting books and sift through what seemed to make sence for blacktails.

Books? Well how about a demonstrational hunt? I noticed you are in Salem... If you can get away on a weekday before November 4th I could take you to an area where you can learn the StevenB blacktail hunting method. It would be a day trip in the Wilson Unit where I have a doe tag.

The other option is I send you a PM with a few of my deer hunting theories.

Just an FYI , the season ends on the 2nd ,friday.

Keep at it cliff , sometimes learning on your own makes the end result much sweeter, but it sounds like you got a good bunch to help get ya started in the right direction. Godd luck, hope to see a picture when successful.

MD