The process of deer hunting?

[Guest walkingdeadman]

So once again, I am very new to hunting with only 2 hunts under my belt, and one of those was rained out. I am curious as to the process in which deer hunting works.I have so many questions as to what time to be in my stand/ground blind. When would use any type of calls, ratteles, etc.I am not even sure if I am using the correct terms, but that is why I am here, for help. So please if you have the time explain, explain, explain all of your knowledge to help me become a better hunter. I have a couple of dvds and they are great, but they are mostly just the hunt, not the preperation. Thanks, Roy B.

[Guest Rem_700]

I by far am no expert on deer hunting but I do try my best to always keep an open mind and to learn/ try new things. Just to answer your question,I always try to be in the stand at least 30 to 45 mins before the sun comes up.And in the evening i try to be in my stand atleast 3 to 4 hours before sunset.I can't give a specific time because the time changes alot from teh opening of bow season to the opening of rifle.I really don't use alot of calls.I carry a grunt call, If i can see the deer and its going away from me,i'll try grunting at it to bring it back,but other than that i've had no luck with calls.

Another thing you really shouldn't skimp when it comes to your stand or blind.You need to get you a comfortable stand or blind,because if your in the stand trying to stay focused because your uncomfortable,your not going to be able to stay focused on watching for deer,and they will sneak right past you,and you not even know it.

Try to watch the wind the best you can,don't put your stand or blind somewhere where the wind is blowing at your back toward the deer.I don't believe in all the scent hype! But it does help if you watch the wind,i do use scent blocker spray walmart sells,just to help a little.I have killed deer with the wind blowing straight to them.I just think it matters on that day.There are many many things to talk about deer hunting,if you have anymore specific questions just ask,im sure there are more qualified people on here to answer.Where is Lakeland,TN?

[Guest walkingdeadman]

lakeland is right outside memphis...

[Guest Rem_700]

Oh,i was going to say,if you was closer that we could get together during season and hunt some public land or I just got permission to hunt 273acres.

[Guest walkingdeadman]

wow. where are you located?

[Guest Rem_700]

Im located at the other end of the state,in Scott Co..

[Guest 1shot]

For those just starting out deer hunting stay away from calls etc. You will scare off more deer that you draw to you.

Just set up your stand, if bow hunting use a tree stand at least 12 feet high, higher is better, and use full camo even on your face.

Be very sent aware. A deer will smell you long before it sees you. Don't spend too much time walking around where you plan to hunt a couple of weeks before the season opens. If you leave a lot of sent around the deer will change their pattern of travel.

Put your stand where the deer are using. If you have oak trees around place your stand there. The deer will be where the food is.

Best times to hunt depends on if the rut is in or not. Mostly early morning and late evening are best times to hunt but during the rut deer will show up at almost any hour of the day.

Like has been said, get a comfortable stand and sit still. You can't kill a deer if you are not in the stand when it shows up and you can't be up there looking like you are break dancing.

For bow hunting you should mark you some yardage markers with orange tape so you will know your yardage for your shots. Practice shooting from the hight you will be hunting from. If you practice from the ground you will shoot high from a tree stand.

When you shoot a deer stay in the stand at least 30 minutes unless it is going to get dark soon. Give the deer time to lay down and die. If you double lung a deer if will die quick but if you only get one lung it can take it a little while. Heart shot deer most of the time will take off like a rocket but you will find them within 50 to 75 yards. Shoot to far back and hit the liver and it can take them quite a while to die. Gut shoot one and you may never find it.

Practice, practice, practice.

You will be shaking and nervious when you take the shot but if a shot presents itself take it don't wait for a better shot because most of the time you will not get a better shot. If you stop getting the nervious rush when a deer shows up and you are in the process of shooting it quit hunting because you are either brain dead or really dead. I have been killing deer for 34 years and I still get the rush.

Edited July 20, 2009 by memphismason
Ease of Reading

[whiskey]

The best thing you could do is find a mentor. It's not always easy, but you can do it. Spending time at the shooting range meeting people. Go out to local public hunting land and meet other hunters during scouting times. You will be surprised at how many hunters are willing to help you if you just ask nicely.

The one piece of advice I will offer is, the more time you spend in the woods, the more you will understand about deer habits. Start sitting in the woods now. When you have a free evening, go sit till dark.

[Guest walkingdeadman]

great advice guys...keep it coming..i really appreciate it...i have a good friend that has been helping me a bunch, and actually has taken me on a couple of hunts. cant wait to get back out there.

[Guest Mugster]

For those just starting out deer hunting stay away from calls etc. You will scare off more deer that you draw to you. Just set up your stand, if bow hunting use a tree stand at least 12 feet high, higher is better, and use full camo even on your face. Be very sent aware. A deer will smell you long before it sees you. Don't spend too much time walking around where you plan to hunt a couple of weeks before the season opens. If you leave a lot of sent around the deer will change their pattern of travel. Put your stand where the deer are using. If you have oak trees around place your stand there. The deer will be where the food is. Best times to hunt depends on if the rut is in or not. Mostly early morning and late evening are best times to hunt but during the rut deer will show up at almost any hour of the day. Like has been said, get a comfortable stand and sit still. You can't kill a deer if you are not in the stand when it shows up and you can't be up there looking like you are break dancing.

For bow hunting you should mark you some yardage markers with orange tape so you will know your yardage for your shots. Practice shooting from the hight you will be hunting from. If you practice from the ground you will shoot high from a tree stand. When you shoot a deer stay in the stand at least 30 minutes unless it is going to get dark soon. Give the deer time to lay down and die. If you double lung a deer if will die quick but if you only get one lung it can take it a little while. Heart shot deer most of the time will take off like a rocket but you will find them within 50 to 75 yards. Shoot to far back and hit the liver and it can take them quite a while to die. Gut shoot one and you may never find it. Practice, practice, practice. You will be shaking and nervious when you take the shot but if a shot presents itself take it don't wait for a better shot because most of the time you will not get a better shot. If you stop getting the nervious rush when a deer shows up and you are in the process of shooting it quit hunting because you are either brain dead or really dead. I have been killing deer for 34 years and I still get the rush.

This is real good advice, imo.

Wash your clothes and yourself with scentless soap. This seems like common sense, but I can smell "toilet water" on alot of hunters which includes boot treatment. Its best to air dry your clothes out in the sun too. This is single biggest problem with city boys out in the woods, imo. Well, this, and failure to sit still, and major range estimation problems.

I guess it takes a lifetime to learn when to shoot and when not to. You just have to get out there and start learning and try to avoid obvious mistakes, like shooting at something out of range. Develop a good pacecount and pace off from where you are to obvious points of where you want to shoot. Or buy an LRF. You also need confidence in your heart that your rifle will do the job if you do yours. If you don't have that, either get another rifle or go back to the range and shoot more.

Camo doesn't always mean mossy oak. If your sitting in front of a red tractor, you'll stick out like a sore thumb. You don't need a stand to rifle hunt deer. I've never used one, although I have "clumb" up a few trees in my younger years. I have shot a few out of a barn loft too.

I'd quit hunting if I didn't get a rush out of it. Nothing like busting a triple quail set, imo.

Edited July 19, 2009 by Mugster

[andersmg]

I am not trying to run you off from this site as there are many hunters on here with plenty info. but you might want to check this site out;

Tennessee Deer Hunting .Com ~ TnDeer.Com

There is a menu in the upper left corner that will help you navigate the site.

Edited July 23, 2009 by andersmg

[Guest clutepc]

I am not trying to run you off from this site as there are many hunters on here with plenty info. but you might want to check this site out;

Tennessee Deer Hunting .Com ~ TnDeer.Com

There is a menu in the upper right corner that will help you navigate the site.

As many times as I've ended up on that site I've never found the Menu..getting blind I think..lol

Thanks for pointing it out!

[memphismason]

When talking to someone about deer hunting make sure that they don't "know-it-all". Those guys are about as worthless as teets on a boar hog. There are a lot of hunters out there that think their opinion is "God ordained". I constantly learn new things about the sport, and I try to share what I know but I am always up for new or better things. Just keep an open mind when reading "professional opinions" and only believe about half of what I say. LOL

[Guest redbarron06]

The best advice I can offer it scent control. Spend a few dollars on decient hunting clothes and a storage container that holds them scent free. Dont use them for anything other than when you are hunting. I used the HS scent scent proof bags for years and just recently upgraded to the scent lok tub. I have 2 basic hunting outfits. Early bow season lightwieght breathable materal and snake proof boots. I wash everything but the boots in earth scented soap and dry them with earth scented dryer sheets "also available from HS Scents". They come straight out of the dryer and into the bag with a couple of earth scented wafers. When I get up the morning of the hunt I shower with scent free sportsmans soap and shampoo. I use scent sportsmans deodorant, and I put on some sweats that I also washed in the the earth cover scent. I dont put on my hunting clothes until I get out of the truck on my property. Many mornings I have been standing in the bed of my truck shivering in my skivies changing clothes, including my socks. The boots go in smaller scent proof bags with wafers and when I get dressed everything boots, gun, bow, safety harness, gets sprayed down with some sort of scent killer. I then take my time getting to my stand moving slowly. Not to be silent as much as not trying to break out into a sweat. When it gets colder I switch to a scent lok suit that is washed in non-scented detergeant and stored in the tub.

Couple of things you can get depending on your budget.

Hunter's Specialties H.S. Scents Scent Safe Bag Cheap but if you are carefull it might last a season.

Hunter's Specialties Scent-Safe Travel Bag More gooder! I have a couple of these that I have been using for 5 years now. The smaller ones are great for boots.

ScenTote Scent Eliminating Storage Tote I use one of these for my scent lock suit. It a little easier to retrieve things from in the dark.

Dead Down Wind ScentPrevent Travel Kit for my body.

Wildlife Research Center Scent Killer Autumn Formula Pump Spray one of the sprays I use.

Hunter's Specialties Scent-A-Way Laundry Detergent and Hunter's Specialties H.S. Scents Scent-A-Way Dryer Sheets for the clothes.

Get a solid stand. reguardless of climber, or lean on, or stand with screw in steps. The more solid the stand the less you will be worried about falling. Always wear a fall restraint in a elevated stand. I like Summit climbers and Gorilla stap on stands if it is private property and I dont have to worry about somebody toting it off.

If you are going to be bow hunting pratice from an elevated shooting position. Bend at the waiste, do not drop the bow arm. Dropping the bow arm changes the tension on the bows back wall and will effect shot accuricy. I have a very slopped yard so it is not hard for me to get a 20 yard shot with me be 10-12 feet above the target.

As hot as it is this is a good time to be in the woods scouting. Look for nature funnels, food sourses, natural crossings. Nothing beats boots on the ground in the hunting area. Sometimes just being in the woods will cause ideas to smack you in your head. A few years ago a tracked a wounded deer to a fence crossing I did not know what there. At the time I did not pay much attention to it. A year later I was hunting from a stand down the hill from it and saw a doe go down that trail. Still nothing. Then one day while turkey hunting I decieded to check it out again and BAM it hit me like a brick. I had a natural fence crossing where 2 trails intersected. I later went in and took out a stragic peice of fence (it was an old fence that they pulled up from fields but left in the tree line) A feeder during the summer, mineral lick, and some game cameras showed me that deer were crossing there 3 times a day alomst. It has been a very productive stand site that yeilded sightings every other time I went there last year. I almost got a turkey out of that site the year before. I had been hunting that property for about 6 years when I found this site.

When you are on stand be as still as you can and as observant as you can. You may see deer several 100 yards away before you see them close up. Sometimes you just move and they are right there in front of you. Look around slowly but dont just concentrait on 30 or 40 yards out. Sometimes you can be off just a hundred yards with your stand and just by watching you may see another place to set up that my be more productive. Try to set your stand down wind from the prevailing wind. The wind wont always work in your favor but if you know it normally comes from the west then you can paln an ambush for when it is.

If you are on private property get your stand sites set up soon. The last thing you want to be doing is cutting shooting lanes the week before opener.

[gregintenn]

The following information is simply based on my 25+ years of screwing up, learning, rinse and repeat. Everyone will have different opinions and experiences....

1)Time: The more time you can dedicate to observing and hunting deer, the more proficient hunter you'll become. When you see a deer in the woods, you will likely not see the entire deer at first. You'll see a corner of an ear, a tail twitch, or the horizontal line of the back surrounded by vertical tree trunks. Deer camoflauge very well, and only practice will make you better at spotting them. I'd bet more deer walk by most hunters undetected than are seen.

2)Smell: Deer have an acute sense of smell. I have good luck bathing in scent free soap, and washing my clothes in scent free detergent.

3)Be Still: A deer will seldom see you unless you move. They WILL see the slightest movement.

4)Be quiet: Deer rarely run from an unusual sound, but they will curiously seek out the source of the offending noise. At this point you are usually busted.

5)Stay Warm: Walking to your stand can get you sweaty, while sitting still for hours can be much colder than you ever imagined. I often carry a lot of my clothes and put them on when I get where I'm going.

6)Comfort: The more comfortable you are in your stand, the less you will move and the longer you will sit there. See #1 and #3.

7)Lots of people believe you should get in your stand 30 minutes or an hour before daylight. You can't shoot a deer before daylight. You can only sit still for so long. Why not spend that precious time while you can see to shoot a deer if one happens by. I have spent most of my time hunting mornings and evenings, yet have killed most of my deer in the middle of the day.

8)Practice with your weapon. You don't need an expensive rifle or a ultra high power scope. What you do need is a lot of ammo and range time to get familiar with it. However far you can reliably hit a paper plate offhand should be your maximum shooting range for game. It will increase with practice.

9)Don't believe everything people tell you, and don't buy all the scents, calls, super camo, ultra potent magnum rifles with see the world retciles and turrets, etc., people try to sell you. Have fun and good luck.

Edited July 21, 2009 by gregintenn

[Guest MCRAIG]

Oh,i was going to say,if you was closer that we could get together during season and hunt some public land or I just got permission to hunt 273acres.

Have you ever hunted the Don Sundquist Forest in Morgan county?

[Guest redbarron06]

The following information is simply based on my 25+ years of screwing up, learning, rinse and repeat. Everyone will have different opinions and experiences....

1)Time: The more time you can dedicate to observing and hunting deer, the more proficient hunter you'll become. When you see a deer in the woods, you will likely not see the entire deer at first. You'll see a corner of an ear, a tail twitch, or the horizontal line of the back surrounded by vertical tree trunks. Deer camoflauge very well, and only practice will make you better at spotting them. I'd bet more deer walk by most hunters undetected than are seen.

2)Smell: Deer have an acute sense of smell. I have good luck bathing in scent free soap, and washing my clothes in scent free detergent.

3)Be Still: A deer will seldom see you unless you move. They WILL see the slightest movement.

4)Be quiet: Deer rarely run from an unusual sound, but they will curiously seek out the source of the offending noise. At this point you are usually busted.

5)Stay Warm: Walking to your stand can get you sweaty, while sitting still for hours can be much colder than you ever imagined. I often carry a lot of my clothes and put them on when I get where I'm going.

6)Comfort: The more comfortable you are in your stand, the less you will move and the longer you will sit there. See #1 and #3.

7)Lots of people believe you should get in your stand 30 minutes or an hour before daylight. You can't shoot a deer before daylight. You can only sit still for so long. Why not spend that precious time while you can see to shoot a deer if one happens by. I have spent most of my time hunting mornings and evenings, yet have killed most of my deer in the middle of the day.

8)Practice with your weapon. You don't need an expensive rifle or a ultra high power scope. What you do need is a lot of ammo and range time to get familiar with it. However far you can reliably hit a paper plate offhand should be your maximum shooting range for game. It will increase with practice.

9)Don't believe everything people tell you, and don't buy all the scents, calls, super camo, ultra potent magnum rifles with see the world retciles and turrets, etc., people try to sell you. Have fun and good luck.

All very good advice. I would also add that what ever your maximum range is at the range take any where from 25 to 33% off of that. Cold muscles, and buck fever set in and you end up shaking like a queer eating a hot dog. Unless you are used to shooting under high stress the body will do funny things even make you see things that are not there.

[Guest walkingdeadman]

shaking like a queer, eating a hotdog...

that is freakin hilarious.

[gregintenn]

Cold muscles, and buck fever set in and you end up shaking like a queer eating a hot dog. Unless you are used to shooting under high stress the body will do funny things even make you see things that are not there.

True, but if it weren't exciting, why would we leave a perfectly good woman in a warm bed in the middle of the night to go climb a cold, wet tree and sit there freezing?

[Guest walkingdeadman]

True, but if it weren't exciting, why would we leave a perfectly good woman in a warm bed in the middle of the night to go climb a cold, wet tree and sit there freezing?

agree

[Guest TurboniumOxide]

Deer hunting is something I never thought about, until well, another story entirely. I am all ears.

I can fish with my .22 magnum. Want to barter?

Proceed gentlemen...I am paying close attention.

Edited July 24, 2009 by TurboniumOxide