Trslabaugh
Member
I've crammed so much info from podcasts, books, articles, and forums into my head on how it is to get to hunt out west all the time. Spot and stalk here, spot and stalk there. Rewind a bit, as I have always been a tree stand hunter up until this year. This year, I told myself I was going to attempt to spot and stalk a whitetail, antlers or not. Typically, I scout, like most plains/eastern hunters, by locking cams on funnels and hot spots early season. Again, different approach this year. Upgraded my binos, got a quality head, tripod, decent spotter and went to work on the maps.
The maps may have helped me discover a talent of mine... I started picking out a half dozen spots on a piece of public land that would have glassing opportunities in areas that looked "deer worthy". (Keep in mind that in my neck of the woods public lands range from a 40 acre parcel to 3000 acres on the average with roads-o-plenty.) I'd go out for a day or two and find my vantage point. First location that looked promising, delivered. I sat on a hillside with the binos picking apart brush and tree lines and there it was... Antlers moving among stagnant grass. Something I had never witnessed before, because why would someone want to put binos on a tripod. Upon further glassing, a group of quality velvet bucks stood up and began feeding.
Checked up on them a few weeks later and all was good. Due to a scheduled antelope hunt, I've only been able to hunt them once this season. Unfortunately, blew out the biggest of the group (now solo), but did get a good stalk in on a smaller 3x3(foreground of the picture). It was a two and half year old deer that I have passed 10/10 times from a tree stand. This was different though, I had went from 480 yards to now being 25 yards away from a buck that didn't even know I was there. How many people truly spot and stalk whitetail... I was committed to trying to get a shot at this buck. Working alone, I had no way of knowing he had turned slightly, to be looking at me when I crept up, bow drawn, over brush that separated us. I learned I should have came from the other side, working crosswind toward his back, not his side. Also, I learned to take a phone scope picture of where he is bedded so it makes it easier once you get onto them.
Currently, muzzleloader season is going on and I am just hoping the big guy got pushed off. I wasn't going to attempt a stalk on him during muzzleloader and potentially push him to someone else. Next weekend will be my second and last attempt before rifle season and I hope I can get it done. I've watched him hit a couple beds and feel like I have some good intel on him. If he has already been shot, I still have some great beds marked to check up on. I feel like I have learned so much more about deer movement in areas I hunt this year simply by stepping back and taking a look through a pair of stable binoculars.
The maps may have helped me discover a talent of mine... I started picking out a half dozen spots on a piece of public land that would have glassing opportunities in areas that looked "deer worthy". (Keep in mind that in my neck of the woods public lands range from a 40 acre parcel to 3000 acres on the average with roads-o-plenty.) I'd go out for a day or two and find my vantage point. First location that looked promising, delivered. I sat on a hillside with the binos picking apart brush and tree lines and there it was... Antlers moving among stagnant grass. Something I had never witnessed before, because why would someone want to put binos on a tripod. Upon further glassing, a group of quality velvet bucks stood up and began feeding.
Checked up on them a few weeks later and all was good. Due to a scheduled antelope hunt, I've only been able to hunt them once this season. Unfortunately, blew out the biggest of the group (now solo), but did get a good stalk in on a smaller 3x3(foreground of the picture). It was a two and half year old deer that I have passed 10/10 times from a tree stand. This was different though, I had went from 480 yards to now being 25 yards away from a buck that didn't even know I was there. How many people truly spot and stalk whitetail... I was committed to trying to get a shot at this buck. Working alone, I had no way of knowing he had turned slightly, to be looking at me when I crept up, bow drawn, over brush that separated us. I learned I should have came from the other side, working crosswind toward his back, not his side. Also, I learned to take a phone scope picture of where he is bedded so it makes it easier once you get onto them.
Currently, muzzleloader season is going on and I am just hoping the big guy got pushed off. I wasn't going to attempt a stalk on him during muzzleloader and potentially push him to someone else. Next weekend will be my second and last attempt before rifle season and I hope I can get it done. I've watched him hit a couple beds and feel like I have some good intel on him. If he has already been shot, I still have some great beds marked to check up on. I feel like I have learned so much more about deer movement in areas I hunt this year simply by stepping back and taking a look through a pair of stable binoculars.
