Ok well I have been deer hunting all season now since the begining of October till now for most weekends.

This is also my first season. I saw a deer (the first I ever even saw in the wild) in October shot it with my crossbow. I did hit it but it was starting to rain and it got dark so we couldnt track it. I feel kinda bad for shooting it now.

Well the "advice" my hunting partners give me doesnt seem to want to work. Mind you this year they havnt got much like they claim they do most years anyways. How do they get there deer I honestly dont know.

Oh one thing I'd like to point out. Of all the times I was hunting the only time when I saw the deer and when I shot at it I was wearing Old Spice deorderant. (wasnt planing on hunting that day and I was thinking of going out so I put some on in the morning 5 minutes later plans changed and I went hunting)

So I am here asking you all if you know any tips I should know for deer season next year as I dont belive I am going to be going agian before the season is over anyways.

Dimitri

Dimitri,

I would advise two things. Practice, practice, practice. That applies to three areas.

1. Stalking; I have always enjoyed the hunt more than the killing. I do like to eat my prey or I wouldn't hunt, but stalking is where I get my kicks. In the off season just go to the woods and practice being unseen. It is an art form and you don't have to have a ghillie suit on to be unseen, just practice being still. Take three steps slowly using the balls of your feet and watching with your eyes (don't turn your head from side to side quickly) and after three steps watch again. You may become bored at first, but after you actually slip up on a pair of coyotes playing 10 feet away, you will be hooked. Pay attention to the direction of the wind so you could wear any cologn and not be scented. Get a couple of books on stalking and read up on it, then practice, practice, practice.
2. Become familiar enough with your weapon that you can deploy it instantly and hit where you are concentrating. I'm not advocating that you make a quick shot if its not necessary, but if you can become familiar enough with your weapon to perform that function, a nice broadside shot at any distance within range will be a cakewalk. It may also help you survive if you are caught off guard by a large and dangerous animal. practice
3. Go out to your hunting area and become familiar with the feeding, traveling, and sleeping habits of your quarry. (you can practice your stalking abilities during this time as well)
4. My opinion is to carry a sidearm any time you are in the woods for protection. Some guys will disagree, but we have animals now that are less fearful of humans and some predatory animals might just attack. (Cougars have already done so) Just a poor boys opine. Make your handgun a large enough caliber to kill anything that is in the woods you hunt in and practice, practice, practice.

I don't want to make practice sound like work, because it is usually fun, but you should be serious about becoming familiar and proficient with your weapons before you go to the woods to kill. A good, clean, humane kill is always preferred. Don't beat yourself up over the one that you lost. You certainly are not the first hunter to lose one, you are just honest enough to admit it on this forum which gets an atta boy from this old crumudgeon.

Happy hunting Dimitri, and welcome,

Walt

A note on tracking, you dont need a blood trail to track a deer! I've tracked deer in rain and snow and recovered them. Practice following a deer trail in the summer... disturbed leaves, scuffs in the dirt, actual prints etc etc all point towards where a deer went. I also like marking the last confirmed sign with a hat or something and work out in slow spirals until I see new sign. Look ahead to branching trails or other places where the deer might have gone.

Wifes deer last year me and my brother trailed until 11:30PM one night with flashlights... we'd loose the trail only to pick it up again sometimes 100 yards away. Persistance paid off, over a mile of trailing with flashlights and we finally recovered the deer. A nice 22" 4x4 muley.

While I truely try my hardest to make that quick kill... I hate to admit it but I REALLY love trailing a hit animal. Its exciting and challenging. I usually find people every year looking for a lost animal and help trail it for them. Sadly too many people just shoot and if the animal doesnt drop at the shot they think they missed.


-DallanC

Excellent advice from one of our senior advisors.

Walt

Thanks for the tips. Walt and Dallan

I particed alot with the crossbow. I can do hold overs out to 70 yards without a problem.

As for tracking I have read about it but I guess I need to get used to it during the off season as well maybe in spring :).

One thing though I from all the reading I have done stalking deer during the season and running around in the bush to get one interests me the most and next year I told the hunters I go out with that I am going to be doing that. Tree stand/still hunting seems boring from what I have read and the fact that I did it all this season.

No side arms (handguns) allowed while hunting in Canada So thats a no-go for me. Mind you I think in a emergacy I can use my main weapon I am using fast enough.

Tell me when you stalk do you try to carry as little as possible in terms of equipment and colthing so you can move faster and more freely if need be or not ?? My thoughs are that I should wear little and just alittle of gear on me seeing as I am the type that feels warm when its -20C outside so I get kinda hot while walking

Dimitri

Dimitri,

Anytime you are "out" there are some items you should have "just in case". That is survival equipment just in case something unheard of should happen. Other than that, mosquito netting comes to mind because you will be standing still and/or moving very slowly and swating the biting fliers is not good. Other than that, just what you are comfortable with. The main thing is to work upwind, walk slowly in three step sections, and "look", listen, and "smell". Become a part of the environment.

Just for fun, have one of your buddies close his eyes and not look until you are placed. Then stand right beside a tree in brush, but not out of sight and see how long it takes him to see you. Just don't move, or wear bright colors. heh heh. Stalking game is exciting to me, and I hope you enjoy it. Tracking, recognizing sign, and the other three items I mentioned will all become a part of your hunting experience.

Dimitri,

My greatest thrill was stalking the "old buck" that everyone was hunting. I actually got within 20 yards of that smart old buck before he looked directly at me. He stood up, and I let him walk away. He did just that too, walked instead of running. His head on my wall would not mean as much to me as the experience and memory.

Good luck,

One shot, one kill,

Walt

Howdy, Dallan and Walt make some good points, I have recovered a few deer with little or no blood trail. Cheap toilet paper works well for marking your trail so you can always look back and see the direction he is traveling. Deer when hit don't always use there main trails a lot of time when hit they will use there " pressure trails" these are trails they use when spooked or pushed. We all do are best to get a instant kill but it doesan't always happen and learning to track is a MUST, we owe it to the animal. Make your first priority SHOT PLACEMENT put it in the vitals and hopefully your tracking will be kept to a minnimum.
JOE

Thanks for the more replys and advice!

Well I use one of thouse US webbing belts seeing as they are light weight and easyer to move in when I walk in the bush compared to some of thouse huge waistpacks they sell at Bass Pro. I bought one of thouse huge waistpacks at the Bass Pro here thinking it would be ok but after using it for some of this season I decided to go back to the webbing. Kinda feel like I wasted some money.

I carry a canteen of water, my first aid kit with enough to deal with anything that might happen in the bush while hunting, my East German AK bayonet (great knife havnt managed to hurt it yet), some nylon rope, and some snacks (just incase I get hungry before we get back to camp ). Oh and I am going to get myself a good Surefire flashlight soon. Been using a maglite now though.

As for compasses, GPS units and the like the places I go deer hunting is farm land getting lost might happen but I just got to fallow the edges of the feild to get myself back When I go for moose in Northern Ontario I am going to be carrying a GPS unit as well as extra batteries.

I am going to start practicing in the spring time my trackign to get ready for the fall

Oh just to let you know the deer I hit turned to the left and ran 50 yards into thick bush. There wasnt a trail or anything there and it had to slam into the shurbs that was there to get by it. Talk about a pressure trail

Dimitri

Loosing a wounded deer sucks, I have been there twice, 1st time lost a wounded deer after tracking til dark, couldn't track the deer the next day.Had to work, the good new was the deer was shot and killed the next day. I had broken it's front leg with a 50cal, just below the body line, the leg was a mess and I the deer wouldn't of made through winter. So I was happy another hunter killed it. The 2nd time was in 2004, bow hit Doe, Good blood for 100 yards then lost the trail...So trust me after spending 2 day looking for it, never finding it, I know how you feel.
I find the best way to tack wounded game, is go real real slow, mark last blood, don't walk in the tracks unles your standing on good blood. Deer move leaves, bushes etc....and so do you. So take your time. If your pushing a wounded deer, stop...it's hard, but wait and give it a few hrs to stiffin up, a deer hit hard and not pushed will lay down, and if it doesn't die it sometimes struggles to get up, this may give you time to give it one more.

Thanks for the tips Little Magnum

Dimitri

One more tracking tip, dont fixate so much on the actual ground. Look at the tops of grass, low hanging limbs, tree trunks etc etc. I tracked a deer once that I lost the trail on... it just upped and vanished! I went back to the last verified sign and stopped to ponder the different directions it might have taken... I looked sharply uphill through some dense brush and saw a clear bloody smear across a small tree where the deer had stumbled into... 10 yards beyond that he lay stone dead.

The toilet paper idea is good too, it decomposes quickly if you happen to miss picking it up.


-DallanC

Thanks for the tip Dallan

I am currently writting these tips in a notebook and some other tips from the hunting magazines I am readign about Stalking deer

Dimitri

you sound like your on the right track in terms of stalking everyones techniques vary but to start with be conceled TOTALY i mean gloves and headnet too theres bound to be someone out there that will say its a waste of time but if you stumble across a deer and have it standing there looking at you wondering what iyou really are its worth it even if you dont manage to get a shot off.
move slowly stop look and listen i generally move about 10yds then stop anywhere between 30seconds and 5 minutes,it doesnt mater,if you hear something of interest then stay there if you are concealed well you may have the deer walk right to you.
practice it try different things in the off season i know blokes over here that have shot deer by jst walking throught the bush making heaps of noise works for some but hasnt worked for me yet.
if you practice stalking take a camera trophies arnt nessasarily big racks on the wall.
It took me 8 years before i shot my first deer but it was worth it!!!
Tracking takes practice too if you spook a deer try and track it even if you havent shot it work on foot prints alone practice makes perfect.
Happy hunting

Welcome to the site sambar1


-DallanC

sambar1,

Thanks for the tips and as DallanC said welcome to the forums

Dimitri