Tips for hunting the big woods?

[walter sobcheck]

I'm a fairly new hunter, hunted for two years and this was my first season hunting deer.  The only non-state land that I have access would most definitely be categorized as big woods.  The majority of the land is made up of a very steep mountain with some low lands beneath it where the deer don't like to go.  

 

I like the challenge of hunting deer on a large mountain rather than from a stand on a farm.  It's like baptism by fire for a new hunter and if nothing else has taught me patience in hunting.  

 

For those experienced with hunting the big woods in the Adirondacks what tips would you give to someone just starting out in the big woods?

[NonTypical]

Study topographical maps for the area. Look for saddles and ridges, as well as any low lying areas like swamps. A topo map will save you a lot of leg work and narrow down the areas that need to be studied more closely.

[BackWoods Hunter]

Buy the DVD the Salerno Brothers made.

[Daveboone]

Start with the basics: Learn to use a compass to find your way, learn to start a fire under any circumstance, and always wear good foot gear.

Then spend as much time in the woods as you can year round, and each outing practice basic woodsman ship.The hunting part follows.

[GreeneHunter]

Start at the top in the A.M. ... Scent travels uphill in the morning and downhill in the evening !

[stoneam2006]

Start at the top in the A.M. ... Scent travels uphill in the morning and downhill in the evening !

That's new knowledge for me....thanks

[Sogaard]

Start at the top in the A.M. ... Scent travels uphill in the morning and downhill in the evening !

 

Scent travels on the air currents.  

 

It will travel uphill in the morning only if it gets warmer as the sun rises and there is no other prevailing wind.  Downhill in the evening, again, only if the temperature is dropping and there is no other wind.  Although your statement can be true, there are many times it is not.

[sampotter]

Scent travels on the air currents.  

 

It will travel uphill in the morning only if it gets warmer as the sun rises and there is no other prevailing wind.  Downhill in the evening, again, only if the temperature is dropping and there is no other wind.  Although your statement can be true, there are many times it is not.

 

Well, yes, sort of. Thermals come into play whether there is other wind or not, but other wind changes what happens to your scent where the two meet.

[Terry]

The big woods can be intimidating until you break it up into sections and learn each one. Just pick an area and focus on it until you have it pretty well broken down, then move into the next section.

[sailinghudson25]

A few things I have learned.   Learn to move quietly.  A dedicated and very successful ADK hunter I know does yoga to make him more quiet in the woods.  I personally roller skate with my daughter for better balance and foot control.  Sounds funny, but it makes a big difference.  Exercising in general is good too.

 

Walk about a dozen steps, then glass.  Definitely walk slow enough so you can hear well.  A good compact binocular with about 7x power helps a ton,  get a good sling for the binos.  By all means bring a gun sling, but put in in your backpack.  Get a backpack as small as you need.

 

Deer need to eat.  However, people go to places where it open "to get a good shot".  Complete conflict of interest there.

 

In the woods, you need to scout post season.  See where the snow tracks are, but early.  Deer do migrate in the Adirondacks, but just to different spots, not many miles.  In a general 1000 acre area, they could be all in the swamps mostly during one part of the year, then maybe go to a brushy area another time of the year.

 

3 days after the first snow that will hold tracks, get out there for next year. 

 

IN the summer you can still scout.  Look up deer winter foods.  Here is the NYSDEC link, learn what they look like.

 

http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7195.html

 

Variety is the spice of life.  They think much like us.  If they can get to a spot with little effort, they will do it.  They do not mind going through brush though.  A spot that goes around a steep spot that is near something they can eat or has a good water to drink, they will use it.

 

Gun wise,  I prefer iron sights, but if using a scope, leave it on low power, then put it on high power if sitting.  Adjust the scope mounting height and distance from your eyes to suit you.  There is a sweet spot where the crosshair are instant and you don't need to adjust your eye.  Most scopes do this for different power.  General your eye need to be close on high power.  This can make or break a good shot in short period of time. 

 

IF you sit in a spot and you can improve the area legally, do so.  A good weedwacker, a bag or two of lime, a bag of fertilizer, a rake, and some cereal rye and perennial clover can make a small log clearing a little sweet spot.  A little bit of brassica can make some sweet greens after a few good frosts.

 

The hunt can be made or broken the moment you start.  A door slamming close or a brisk walk to where you want to sit can be very bad.  I used to get there in the dark and get mad if I was late.  1/2 the deer I have seen or harvested has been while I travel to where I thought was a good spot. 

 

The best deer in my hunting camp was shot by a guy who drank too much the night before.  Everyone left to their spot, and he woke up an hour after dawn, he got ready and out the door cabin, and the deer was 70 yards away in the parking lot by the outhouse.  No need to go a mile in.  you never know when it will start or stop.

 

 

 

 

[sailinghudson25]

Think like a deer.  Where you would want to go at any given time.  Would you like to nap out in the sun on a souther slope?  Or a northen one.  Would like like to find a place where good food is, is near water, and near a spot where you can both hide in a bit, but get some sun to keep you warm.

 

Some animals are similar.  A spot a grouse likes might be enjoyed by a deer as swell.

 

What kind of spot do you hunt.  Is it actively logged?  Describe it a bit better.

 

ADK is fun, but tough hunting.  Find a few acre spot on the edge of the suburbs you can bow hunt.  I got 2 or 3 places like that on the edge of town.  If I want venison, it can be done in a few hours.  If I want horns it can be a day, maybe two during the early rut.

 

An experienced hunter told me the second rut in southern NY is the main rut in ADK.  Can't tell you if it's true or not, but considering how rough may can be over there, it does make good sense. 

 

I'm still trying to figure this out for myself with trail cameras, however, the past 2 winters has been very harsh, so I'm still judging it myself.

 

Also, buy a cheap trail camera and put it out there.  If you put it far enough back there, no one will mess with it.  I forgot about one on public land for 2 years until I stumbled back on it.

 

Covert MP6 has been treating me well.  I know someone who puts a lot of cameras out, he like the primos 35.

 

8AA batteries can last from april to November if put on low sensitivity so it doesn't get crowded with false triggers from windy days. 

 

OVerall, where I hunt, and from experience other hunters, swamp edges seem to be good.  Between a swamp and southern face can be good too.

 

Let the birds accept you,  if the birds get quiet, you moving to loud and fast.

 

Learn to date snow tracks.  A few hours old versus a few days.  Sometimes deer can move 100 yards in few hours.  They can move a lot, or little at all. 

 

Always think why when you see something.  Write a journal.  Maybe 2 paragraphs per hunting day.  That really helps me hone things well.  Maybe draw a small smap, or put down some GPS points.

[Deleted]

 I'll second what Daveboone said. A compass and the ability to start a fire, are your two best friends in big woods. 

 

Since you're relatively new to deer hunting, finding a trail that the deer are using, and watching it from down wind may be a good option. 

 

I have a pet spot in some spruces along a beaver pond, that any does in the area always seem to travel. I've never seen a buck there early in the season, but from about the 10th of November on, there's no place I'd rather be. Find the does, and sooner or later a buck will be along to check on them.

 

I always loved to still hunt, but my knees are shot, and until I get them replaced,  most of my deer hunting is done sitting on my butt these days.

 

 

Edited August 1, 2015 by Traditional Archer

[wolc123]

I have been trying to get a big Adirondack buck for around 20 years and finally succeeded last year. It is much harder getting one there than it is in the Southern zone where I live. The last few years we have been heading up for the thanksgiving weekend at my in-laws new camp, and that is my favorite time to hunt up there.

Here are a few tips I picked up after many years of trying. Most important is food. White oak acorns are #1 on the list and if you can find some white oaks, that is where you want to be. The big, old 8-point I took last fall had a belly stuffed with acorns, most of them not even chewed, as his teeth were so worn. He was probably more than 4 years old. In the central mountains, where oaks are few, grassy road-shoulders provide more food than isolated areas far from the road.

Does are far more common up there than bucks and I was able to take a big "lead" doe up there a few years prior as she led her pack of about 8 antlerless deer up onto a ridge loaded with white oaks during the early ML season. That area was so isolated that she had no idea what hit her after taking the minni-ball thru the lungs. She just stared at me, began to wobble, then toppled over the edge of the ridge.

Does are the #2 factor to help you get a buck. Up there, they are almost always in large groups. They tend to bed on grassy hilltops below the oaks and above swampy creek bottoms. The far less common bucks reside elsewhere but keep track of their "harems" by scenting from downwind of the doe bedding areas. Last season, I got my big one from up on a downwind mountain ridge that provided a good view of a trail along the creek bottom. My father in law had been watching a large group of antlerless deer for about a week prior, on the other side of the creek. They must have gotten tired of his harassment and had vacated by the time I got up there, but that didn't keep the big buck from walking by to see if they had returned. He was in for a surprise when he felt that 150 gr 30/06 bullet cut thru his rib-cage.

The 3rd important item, that I see has already been mentioned, is the importance of keeping yourself in shape physically. I learned that lesson from Western mountain hunts where it is even more important because the altitudes are higher, and the air is thinner. The Adirondacks rise nearly as high from the base elevation as the Rockies however and getting up high is not easy. I do at least 20 minutes of every other weekday morning and 20 minutes of weight training on the mornings between. Also, another 20 minutes on the bike almost every evening year-round.

Not only will staying in shape make getting up them mountains easy, but it will really pay off in spades when you have to get your kill out. I called my father in law on the cell phone (don't count on that working in the central Adirondacks, luckily his camp is on the Northern edge) as soon as I came upon the carcass of my buck last fall. He was able to get his ATV about a mile from the kill. I never would have been able to drag that 200+ lb carcass out of that swampy creek bottom had I not been in decent shape.

[walter sobcheck]

A few things I have learned.   Learn to move quietly.  A dedicated and very successful ADK hunter I know does yoga to make him more quiet in the woods.  I personally roller skate with my daughter for better balance and foot control.  Sounds funny, but it makes a big difference.  Exercising in general is good too.

 

Walk about a dozen steps, then glass.  Definitely walk slow enough so you can hear well.  A good compact binocular with about 7x power helps a ton,  get a good sling for the binos.  By all means bring a gun sling, but put in in your backpack.  Get a backpack as small as you need.

 

Deer need to eat.  However, people go to places where it open "to get a good shot".  Complete conflict of interest there.

 

In the woods, you need to scout post season.  See where the snow tracks are, but early.  Deer do migrate in the Adirondacks, but just to different spots, not many miles.  In a general 1000 acre area, they could be all in the swamps mostly during one part of the year, then maybe go to a brushy area another time of the year.

 

3 days after the first snow that will hold tracks, get out there for next year. 

 

IN the summer you can still scout.  Look up deer winter foods.  Here is the NYSDEC link, learn what they look like.

 

http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7195.html

 

Variety is the spice of life.  They think much like us.  If they can get to a spot with little effort, they will do it.  They do not mind going through brush though.  A spot that goes around a steep spot that is near something they can eat or has a good water to drink, they will use it.

 

Gun wise,  I prefer iron sights, but if using a scope, leave it on low power, then put it on high power if sitting.  Adjust the scope mounting height and distance from your eyes to suit you.  There is a sweet spot where the crosshair are instant and you don't need to adjust your eye.  Most scopes do this for different power.  General your eye need to be close on high power.  This can make or break a good shot in short period of time. 

 

IF you sit in a spot and you can improve the area legally, do so.  A good weedwacker, a bag or two of lime, a bag of fertilizer, a rake, and some cereal rye and perennial clover can make a small log clearing a little sweet spot.  A little bit of brassica can make some sweet greens after a few good frosts.

 

The hunt can be made or broken the moment you start.  A door slamming close or a brisk walk to where you want to sit can be very bad.  I used to get there in the dark and get mad if I was late.  1/2 the deer I have seen or harvested has been while I travel to where I thought was a good spot. 

 

The best deer in my hunting camp was shot by a guy who drank too much the night before.  Everyone left to their spot, and he woke up an hour after dawn, he got ready and out the door cabin, and the deer was 70 yards away in the parking lot by the outhouse.  No need to go a mile in.  you never know when it will start or stop.

 

Awesome post.   Thanks for all the great info.

[Jaeger]

 I'll second what Daveboone said. A compass and the ability to start a fire, are your two best friends in big woods. 

 

Since you're relatively new to deer hunting, finding a trail that the deer are using, and watching it from down wind may be a good option. 

 

I have a pet spot in some spruces along a beaver pond, that any does in the area always seem to travel. I've never seen a buck there early in the season, but from about the 10th of November on, there's no place I'd rather be. Find the does, and sooner or later a buck will be along to check on them.

 

I always loved to still hunt, but my knees are shot, and until I get them replaced,  most of my deer hunting is done sitting on my butt these days.

I'll third what Daveboon said.  Get a good compass and not only learn to use it but TRUST it.  

 

The first few times I went deep woods in the adirondacks I had a gps and my compass and topo map.  I got turned around a bit, cloudy day etc. and couldn't believe my compass.  I double checked with my gps and the compass was correct.  The gps may lose signal or die, the compass wont.