stagpanther
New member
OK--I've already freely admitted I'm a bad hunter--though I do strive to cover all the bases--I'm not by nature an impatient person (though I do have a terrible time sitting in a stand for hours on end--especially when it's bitterly cold).
After my little encounter at the powerline I decided to switch to a more rural area in the center of the state--typified by large tracks of very dense forests with small towns--though some large agricultural fields here and there.
Yesterday I went there and immediately found tons of deer signs right off the main road. I'm not kidding--walking through the woods it was difficult finding areas of ground that did not have deer tracks. I eventually came across a rub line and found plenty of scat and scrapes as well.
The locals all tell me the deer are remaining nocturnal--though I did hear a few shots in the distance over the course of the day. On the other hand--my feeling is that the full-on rut is going to start very soon (we've had a very warm fall).
The woods are extremely dense--in general unless your near a blowdown or clearcut you very rarely can get a clear shot of more than 25 to 50 feet--and that's assuming you can thread a shot between trees well. I'm guessing the tracks are transition areas between swamp/bogs in low lying areas and apple orchards and oak trees nearer the road.
I am certain they are in there--I just don't know what the best way to go about getting them is.
What would you do?
After my little encounter at the powerline I decided to switch to a more rural area in the center of the state--typified by large tracks of very dense forests with small towns--though some large agricultural fields here and there.
Yesterday I went there and immediately found tons of deer signs right off the main road. I'm not kidding--walking through the woods it was difficult finding areas of ground that did not have deer tracks. I eventually came across a rub line and found plenty of scat and scrapes as well.
The locals all tell me the deer are remaining nocturnal--though I did hear a few shots in the distance over the course of the day. On the other hand--my feeling is that the full-on rut is going to start very soon (we've had a very warm fall).
The woods are extremely dense--in general unless your near a blowdown or clearcut you very rarely can get a clear shot of more than 25 to 50 feet--and that's assuming you can thread a shot between trees well. I'm guessing the tracks are transition areas between swamp/bogs in low lying areas and apple orchards and oak trees nearer the road.
I am certain they are in there--I just don't know what the best way to go about getting them is.
What would you do?