Hope you guys can help me here.
I live in a heavily wooded area, but have houses near me - too near to comfortably use shotgun to hunt. (Rifle is illegal in this area, and I don't mean to irritate the neighbors.) I got a bow, practiced up, and thought I'd try bowhunting. It's a tiny little spit of land - 'bout an acre.
So I put up a stand, and made a nice clearing. I've seen does walk past once this season, and I shot on one and I think I either hit a branch or clean missed her - but it was only at about ten yards through cover, so my guess is that I nicked some foliage.
However, I keep 'bumping' the deer on the way in. I can't seem to move quietly or slowly enough - I ALWAYS seem to make some noise, and nearly every morning I go out, I hear a big ruckus as all the deer clear out. I then sit uselessly in my stand for five or six hours, hunting the spot where all the deer used to be.
Today it snowed, and I am getting to the end of the season and still have not filled my tag, so I thought I would try stalking a bit. I managed to wake up four does - I think the same ones I've seen already. They upped and took off. They were too far for me to shoot at with any degree of accuracy, and because this area is so densely wooded, there's brush EVERYWHERE. A clean shot would be like threading a needle.
I'm pretty sure the times I have gotten out and haven't heard them take off they are bedding down in the same spot, which is just too far for me to shoot, and too wooded to get near them quietly.
Any advice? I feel like waking up early, scaring off deer, and then freezing my cookies off isn't the greatest game plan. I was hoping a greybeard could give me some advice here. I really just want to hunt with a rifle... maybe I'll have to get on that.
I live in a heavily wooded area, but have houses near me - too near to comfortably use shotgun to hunt. (Rifle is illegal in this area, and I don't mean to irritate the neighbors.) I got a bow, practiced up, and thought I'd try bowhunting. It's a tiny little spit of land - 'bout an acre.
So I put up a stand, and made a nice clearing. I've seen does walk past once this season, and I shot on one and I think I either hit a branch or clean missed her - but it was only at about ten yards through cover, so my guess is that I nicked some foliage.
However, I keep 'bumping' the deer on the way in. I can't seem to move quietly or slowly enough - I ALWAYS seem to make some noise, and nearly every morning I go out, I hear a big ruckus as all the deer clear out. I then sit uselessly in my stand for five or six hours, hunting the spot where all the deer used to be.
Today it snowed, and I am getting to the end of the season and still have not filled my tag, so I thought I would try stalking a bit. I managed to wake up four does - I think the same ones I've seen already. They upped and took off. They were too far for me to shoot at with any degree of accuracy, and because this area is so densely wooded, there's brush EVERYWHERE. A clean shot would be like threading a needle.
I'm pretty sure the times I have gotten out and haven't heard them take off they are bedding down in the same spot, which is just too far for me to shoot, and too wooded to get near them quietly.
Any advice? I feel like waking up early, scaring off deer, and then freezing my cookies off isn't the greatest game plan. I was hoping a greybeard could give me some advice here. I really just want to hunt with a rifle... maybe I'll have to get on that.