To hunt sign, or not to hunt sign, this is the question.
01-12-2007, 01:20 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location:
Posts: 13,082
To hunt sign, or not to hunt sign, this is the question.
I am told, quite frequently, I might add, NOT to hunt sign. Sign only shows where deer have BEEN, not where they are going to BE......
I have also been taught that deer are creatures of habit. So it would stand to reason that if there is sign that deer WERE there, they will return, yes? So why not hunt the sign?
I have also been taught that deer are creatures of habit. So it would stand to reason that if there is sign that deer WERE there, they will return, yes? So why not hunt the sign?
01-12-2007, 01:26 PM
#2
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location:
Posts: 21,043
RE: To hunt sign, or not to hunt sign, this is the question.
How do you know what deer made the sign?
A rub???
Some rubs are made by a passer-by and never revisited. I don't want to hunt that tree.
Scrapes??? Well....I've seen a single scrpae worked by 4 bucks within an hour. I've also seen scrapes that I've never seen a deer over. They're worked at night, exclusively.
Hey....you might not want to hunt like I do. I hunt the does all year long....for various reasons. I follow where they are. I go wherever I see them congregating.
A rub???
Some rubs are made by a passer-by and never revisited. I don't want to hunt that tree.
Scrapes??? Well....I've seen a single scrpae worked by 4 bucks within an hour. I've also seen scrapes that I've never seen a deer over. They're worked at night, exclusively.
Hey....you might not want to hunt like I do. I hunt the does all year long....for various reasons. I follow where they are. I go wherever I see them congregating.
01-12-2007, 01:27 PM
#3
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: North Lima Ohio & Clarion Pa
Posts: 6,453
RE: To hunt sign, or not to hunt sign, this is the question.
Depends on what is known about the area.
If it's your home spot..you may know more about when the sign is being left and why.Then you coulduse that to your advantage or discount it as unhuntable night-time activity.
If it is virgin territory to you, you may make an educated guess based on terrain, cover, etc and hunt the sign or the area leading into or away from the area.
If it's your home spot..you may know more about when the sign is being left and why.Then you coulduse that to your advantage or discount it as unhuntable night-time activity.
If it is virgin territory to you, you may make an educated guess based on terrain, cover, etc and hunt the sign or the area leading into or away from the area.
01-12-2007, 01:29 PM
#4
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location:
Posts: 4,553
RE: To hunt sign, or not to hunt sign, this is the question.
I think it is more a matter of what time of the year that you are hunting certain sign? For example, if you hunt a rub line from last year on the opener of bow season,it would still be a ways away from the rut yet and a time when bucks are still more concerned with their stomaches than with the ladies/gaining attention. Now hunt that rub line closer to the rut and then you would be more likely to see the critter that made it the year before.
01-12-2007, 01:35 PM
#5
Site Bouncer
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Illinois
Posts: 4,099
RE: To hunt sign, or not to hunt sign, this is the question.
I guessit's more like you shouldn't hunt one perticular sign. Deer will roam freely and I have seen them appear from areas I never would have even thought they would. But that being said they are creatures of habbit and will take the same general route especially when they start to feed with earnest with a winter approaching.
This is one of the reasons why I have stopped trying to patern bucks, they are just so unpredictable. Sign is good, finding lots of it is even better and finding a main path is what I'm looking for.. Things will change from year to year. Some areas I hunt, the same deer paths have been used for about 7 years straight now, others they seem to change yearly. You need to find where they eat and sleep to determine why they change.
The one spot that I hunt where the deer have been using the same paths, the main food area and bedding area have not changed in that time. Top that off with the fact that there is a couple of creeks that come together dividing the two areas creates a natural funnel.
Other areas, I have scoutedthe late winter months and found well traveled paths to bedding areas only to come to find out they have been abandoned by the next fall in the process of my early fall scouting.
Finding sign is never a bad thing! To me there is no such thing as "hunting sign" sign is only a means to locate the deer and tryto get a grip on their movements so you can set up in the best possible spot to get a shot.
This is one of the reasons why I have stopped trying to patern bucks, they are just so unpredictable. Sign is good, finding lots of it is even better and finding a main path is what I'm looking for.. Things will change from year to year. Some areas I hunt, the same deer paths have been used for about 7 years straight now, others they seem to change yearly. You need to find where they eat and sleep to determine why they change.
The one spot that I hunt where the deer have been using the same paths, the main food area and bedding area have not changed in that time. Top that off with the fact that there is a couple of creeks that come together dividing the two areas creates a natural funnel.
Other areas, I have scoutedthe late winter months and found well traveled paths to bedding areas only to come to find out they have been abandoned by the next fall in the process of my early fall scouting.
Finding sign is never a bad thing! To me there is no such thing as "hunting sign" sign is only a means to locate the deer and tryto get a grip on their movements so you can set up in the best possible spot to get a shot.
01-12-2007, 01:35 PM
#6
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: North Lima Ohio & Clarion Pa
Posts: 6,453
RE: To hunt sign, or not to hunt sign, this is the question.
ORIGINAL: GMMAT
Hey....you might not want to hunt like I do. I hunt the does all year long....
Hey....you might not want to hunt like I do. I hunt the does all year long....
But I don't hunt does all year long..I just think Bucks are more solitary creatures. They want to hang out in the nasties, the cover, the wet places. The places that "weekend Joe" won't stumble on them. They will find a place that a "knowledgable" hunter would never look. That long overgrown fence row with supposedly no cover..etc. I don't find good bucks following does just because they are does.
I don't worry about the does until late pre rut through rut. Then I will "hunt the does".
01-12-2007, 01:39 PM
#7
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: The OH-IO
Posts: 7,103
RE: To hunt sign, or not to hunt sign, this is the question.
am told, quite frequently, I might add, NOT to hunt sign. Sign only shows where deer have BEEN, not where they are going to BE......
I have also been taught that deer are creatures of habit. So it would stand to reason that if there is sign that deer WERE there, they will return, yes? So why not hunt the sign?
_____________________________
I have also been taught that deer are creatures of habit. So it would stand to reason that if there is sign that deer WERE there, they will return, yes? So why not hunt the sign?
_____________________________
Hunting deer sign is hit or miss. Why is it there? What time of day is it being left? What is leaving it? How old is the sign? Is it milling, feeding or traveling sign? etc etc.... To many open questions to answer.
Like I said earlier, hunting deer sign is hit or miss IMO. Hunting the terrain features will always produce however. Terrain never lies, ifthe terraintells you a deer has to use it to move from one place to another it doesn't matter if it is full of big rubs or not.......He will walk through it guaranteed..... and the savvy hunter will be there waiting
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01-12-2007, 01:42 PM
#8
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location:
Posts: 21,043
RE: To hunt sign, or not to hunt sign, this is the question.
GR8:
I don't have the luxury of going into the places you speak of. I'd bet there are deer that grow old and die within the confines of the area I can't hunt. I just have to be as prudent as I can on the areas on the outskirts I DO have access to.
In the early part of our year.....I saw bucks with does, feeding. In the rut....they're chasing them. The common denominator is ......does.
Again.....Most ALL the deer I hunt come out of the sanctuary, sometime. I'm in the hallway of their bedroom without akey to get in the bedroom door. I just hide out at different places in the hall......hoping they'll take "MY" route.
I don't have the luxury of going into the places you speak of. I'd bet there are deer that grow old and die within the confines of the area I can't hunt. I just have to be as prudent as I can on the areas on the outskirts I DO have access to.
In the early part of our year.....I saw bucks with does, feeding. In the rut....they're chasing them. The common denominator is ......does.
Again.....Most ALL the deer I hunt come out of the sanctuary, sometime. I'm in the hallway of their bedroom without akey to get in the bedroom door. I just hide out at different places in the hall......hoping they'll take "MY" route.
01-12-2007, 01:50 PM
#9
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 7,208
RE: To hunt sign, or not to hunt sign, this is the question.
I want to see lots of deer sign where I am hunting. The fresher the better. I may not set up over a particular scrape, but if a logging trail is dotted with a bunch of them, I'm going to be darn close to that area. If all in a sudden a boat load of new rubs spring up in one travel corridor as compared to another, I'm sitting where the rubs are.
01-12-2007, 01:50 PM
#10
Typical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: St. Louis, Mo
Posts: 855
RE: To hunt sign, or not to hunt sign, this is the question.
The only sign I don't hunt is the "no hunting sign"[8D]
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I guess it only stands to reason that sign is a "the deer were here" message but you have to start some where. To me it matters how fresh it is. Trails are a good sign, deer dirt is a good sign, rubs, scrapes, these are all good signs that deer are in the area. When the rut is on all bets are off. Hunt the does exclusively.
My 2 cents
.I guess it only stands to reason that sign is a "the deer were here" message but you have to start some where. To me it matters how fresh it is. Trails are a good sign, deer dirt is a good sign, rubs, scrapes, these are all good signs that deer are in the area. When the rut is on all bets are off. Hunt the does exclusively.
My 2 cents