How to White tail

[Goatshoes]

So, I found out that I can get access to archery hunt deer on a private section of uncultivated ranch property along a river in MT that appears to have plenty of cotton woods and willows. I have never hunted white tail deer but this looks like classic white tail habitat, and I would like to give it a try. It would be DIY. I wouldn't have any real time for scouting (maybe a half day) and maybe three days of hunting. My instinct is to walk as much of the property as I can, identify the most heavily used trails and then set up a tree stand within my accurate range and sit still as long as I can as early and late as I can until the magic happens. Perhaps this is a oversimplification? Of course, I would like to be successful but don't really care about the antlers, though bigger is better. Can I be equally as successful from a ground blind assuming I have shooting lanes?

Till now, all of my hunts have been spot and stalk on mule deer or elk so this is a new game for me. Any advice is welcome, particularly about my assumptions of finding a trail and setting up a stand. Is it reasonable to think that I can go in blind as described and figure something out in three days?

Thanks, Goatshoes

 

[buckbull]

Yes you can be successful but you don't have to go in blind. Pull up the property in Google earth and look for pinch points. Find out what crops are or have been planted. Ground blind should be fine. Good luck.

 

[Wolfshead]

If you’ve found heavy trails, especially one going into and out of feeding areas, look for very slight trails that parallel them approximately 30-40 yards or so from them.
Those are the trails the bucks use to scent check the main trails.
You will also find these trails that parallel bedding and feeding areas where Does will congregate.

 

[Muskeez]

Undisturbed WT deer will have a pattern, bed to food in the evening, food to bed in AM. But, during the rut, like now, all bets are off. Big bucks are getting killed mid day. Generally the thicker less disturbed ground becomes their bedding area, but they can and do bed anywhere, even 20 yards off the edge of a field. Find the food source in the area and go from there. THE biggest factor in WT hunting is the wind. You will need at least two treestand sites because you can use all the scent free products out there and still get busted if you think one will come up that trail that is down wind of you. If you find a good area you can have a stand on each side of the trail for different wind directions. Hang and sit and shoot one on the same day is totally possible. Ground blinds can work but those local deer know their surroundings well. A newly placed popup blind will need to be brushed in really well in my opinion. Sitting in a blow down with some extra branches can be effective also if you are stealthy with your draw. Of course someone has always done it from a crappy blind and had a deer come in from downwind and killed it. But this should get you started.

 

[fulldraw]

Undisturbed WT deer will have a pattern, bed to food in the evening, food to bed in AM. But, during the rut, like now, all bets are off. Big bucks are getting killed mid day. Generally the thicker less disturbed ground becomes their bedding area, but they can and do bed anywhere, even 20 yards off the edge of a field. Find the food source in the area and go from there. THE biggest factor in WT hunting is the wind. You will need at least two treestand sites because you can use all the scent free products out there and still get busted if you think one will come up that trail that is down wind of you. If you find a good area you can have a stand on each side of the trail for different wind directions. Hang and sit and shoot one on the same day is totally possible. Ground blinds can work but those local deer know their surroundings well. A newly placed popup blind will need to be brushed in really well in my opinion. Sitting in a blow down with some extra branches can be effective also if you are stealthy with your draw. Of course someone has always done it from a crappy blind and had a deer come in from downwind and killed it. But this should get you started.

I agree totally agree with this post. Play the WIND !!!

 

[Gellar]

Welcome to the whitetail world. You are going to need at a bare minimum 12 cell cams, an ozonic system, a saddle setup, an e-bike, and a butt out tool

Have you even had time to get your mineral blocks out and food plots planted?

 

[Goatshoes]

Yes you can be successful but you don't have to go in blind. Pull up the property in Google earth and look for pinch points. Find out what crops are or have been planted. Ground blind should be fine. Good luck.

You are right. I took that for granted. No crops on the property or adjacent but defenitely in the river valley. Mostly feed crops for cattle. I suppose a lot of the trails will be cattle trails.

 

[Goatshoes]

If you’ve found heavy trails, especially one going into and out of feeding areas, look for very slight trails that parallel them approximately 30-40 yards or so from them.
Those are the trails the bucks use to scent check the main trails.
You will also find these trails that parallel bedding and feeding areas where Does will congregate.

Good to know. Is this unique to white tail? I'd never experienced that with mule deer.

 

[Goatshoes]

Undisturbed WT deer will have a pattern, bed to food in the evening, food to bed in AM. But, during the rut, like now, all bets are off. Big bucks are getting killed mid day. Generally the thicker less disturbed ground becomes their bedding area, but they can and do bed anywhere, even 20 yards off the edge of a field. Find the food source in the area and go from there. THE biggest factor in WT hunting is the wind. You will need at least two treestand sites because you can use all the scent free products out there and still get busted if you think one will come up that trail that is down wind of you. If you find a good area you can have a stand on each side of the trail for different wind directions. Hang and sit and shoot one on the same day is totally possible. Ground blinds can work but those local deer know their surroundings well. A newly placed popup blind will need to be brushed in really well in my opinion. Sitting in a blow down with some extra branches can be effective also if you are stealthy with your draw. Of course someone has always done it from a crappy blind and had a deer come in from downwind and killed it. But this should get you started.

Thanks.

I suppose I could hunt during the rut with archery gear, but I was thinking archery season (next year) which starts in early Sept.

I do believe that getting the wind right is the best "scent free" product as I have seen animals feed next to me when I could smell my own stink yet act like they were hit with a hot poker when they eventually crossed my scent cone a hundred yards away. Does a tree stand not mitigate wind issues if 10 feet up or higher? I have never hunted from an elevated plat form before.

 

[Goatshoes]

Welcome to the whitetail world. You are going to need at a bare minimum 12 cell cams, an ozonic system, a saddle setup, an e-bike, and a butt out tool

Have you even had time to get your mineral blocks out and food plots planted?

Ok, that is funny. I mean it is funny, right?

 

[jimh406]

Ask around if you have people to ask what they are seeing and where.

The tracks/trails you see can be from earlier in the year or night. I'd pick a spot that you can see most of the area and stay put. Be careful if you aren't familiar with tree stands. People fall from them quite a lot.

Assuming the rut is still going on, deer could come through any time of the day.

 

[Bullshot]

If I had access to decent new ground for whitetail, I would 100% be confident I could go out in late morning, search around, and find a good spot to sit or place a stand by early afternoon, several hours before the magic happens. You should be fine. Unlike more open country hunting for elk or mule deer, finding a huntable whitetail spot when going in "cold" in the dark of the AM is much harder. So have your AM spot, literally the exact spot you will be sitting, and any route into it very carefully scouted (and be in it and ready 45 minutes before sunrise at least, assuming legal shooting starts 30 minutes ahead). PM spot can be easily tweaked in middle of the day however you see fit.

Having written this, it should be pretty clear that unlike the other western hunting mentioned, whitetail hunting is much more positional, often stationary, and is not as easily accomplished by hunting an "area" or a "basin". It is spot driven. And even 50 feet, let alone 100 yards, can make all the difference.