Marc Anthony...Some Questions!

[ChuckNorris]

ORIGINAL: Woods Walker

I love overcast days! The sunny days leave your image too stark and deer would prefer to move in overcast days. Their eyes contain many more cones and rods in them making them very sensitive in bright daylight. Overcast days are great for still or location hunting from the ground.

That's been my experience too Marc. Overcast days seem to be a little more "forgiving", if you will.

 
I like the overcast days myself but for whatever reason the deer on my property are much more active on sunny days. It's been this way for years. That's my experience, at least during the gun season. I don't bow hunt, yet.

[Marc Anthony]

1Morgan, if I see a deer at 30 yards that I didn't previously see, I goofed up! The object is to glass as far away as possible to prevent a close-up encounter that you're not prepared for. But, lets just say this did happen. If I have a deer to my right or left that I want to shoot, I will draw down on them ASAP, even if they see me. In the Ghillie, it takes a few seconds for them to decipher what I am, especially if my profile is broken up well. From there, it's an easy shot.

ChuckNorris, most gun season's are timed near the rut, so more daylight activity is normal. Having said that, deer do move throughout the day in October, here in the Midwest, so nothing's impossible. On overcast days, deer will be a little more comfortable with their travels in the right places. Deer are more apt to move in the timber on overcast days and not in the fields.

WW, you say the questions are going to get tougher? Take it easy on me! I'm post 50 [:@]

[1Morgan]

[quote]ORIGINAL: Marc Anthony

1Morgan, if I see a deer at 30 yards that I didn't previously see, I goofed up! The object is to glass as far away as possible to prevent a close-up encounter that you're not prepared for. But, lets just say this did happen. If I have a deer to my right or left that I want to shoot, I will draw down on them ASAP, even if they see me. In the Ghillie, it takes a few seconds for them to decipher what I am, especially if my profile is broken up well. From there, it's an easy shot.


The hardwood bottoms here are really thick and it's common to get that close without seeing each other. Glassing will not help much. That 30 yard shot can still be obstructed. That's probably why baiting is legal, but sitting a corn pile isn't much fun. Besides the big boys stay in the bottoms.

[Woods Walker]

Okay Marc.....Round two.....[;)]

As any deer hunter with any experience knows, not every tree in the woods has a deer behind it, just like the majority of fish in a lake are in 25% of the water. That said, how do you go about deciding where you will stillhunt on a given day in a particular woods? What makes this significant, is that if you are stillhunting properly you may only cover 100 yards or so in a morning's hunt, so you cannot start stillhunting as soon as you set foot in the woods. You have to move through sections that you don't see as being very productive in order to get to where you think the hot spot will be. So how do you go about this?

[DoeEyed]

I just started hunting on the ground this year and I would like to see both of you answer this question because I have been wondering that myself. How the heck do I get to where I want to start without spooking anything... looking forward to the answers.

[Woods Walker]

ORIGINAL: DoeEyed

I just started hunting on the ground this year and I would like to see both of you answer this question because I have been wondering that myself. How the heck do I get to where I want to start without spooking anything... looking forward to the answers.

Well, here's how I approach it, and I'll be the first to say that I'm forever in a learning curve as far as hunting and the woods goes.

It's like you hunting a treestand. You pick a stand because of factors that indicate to you that this particular stand on this particular day will hopefully give you the highest odds that you will see deer. You have to get to that stand, so you most likely go to it in the dark, with the hope that you don't spook and deer on the way in, and that if you do spook them they aren't spooked too badly.

Some stillhunts that I do I will walk into where I want to begin my quest in the dark, and then wait until FULL light before I really start moving. I usually have natural blinds in many different locations where I hunt that I've prepared in my off season scouting trips/bowhikes, and I may go one of these and sit for the first hour of daylight.

Mostly though I wait until I can see, and then go to where I've decided to stillhunt on that day. Most of the time I rarely cover more than a 100 yards or so in a morning's hunt, so I may use a route to get to that sport where I'm less likely to see deer. But that doesn't always go according to plan! Like my best friend and hunting buddy said years ago regarding deer.....

"They are, where they're at, when they're there."

I do find that with the ghillie suit, if you are in some cover, you don't really spook them all that badly if they do see you first, and obviously, you've got to play the wind.

Bu this is why I aske the question, as I would like to hear if Marc has any tricks or tips on this.

[Marc Anthony]

ORIGINAL: Woods Walker

Okay Marc.....Round two.....[;)]

As any deer hunter with any experience knows, not every tree in the woods has a deer behind it, just like the majority of fish in a lake are in 25% of the water. That said, how do you go about deciding where you will stillhunt on a given day in a particular woods? What makes this significant, is that if you are stillhunting properly you may only cover 100 yards or so in a morning's hunt, so you cannot start stillhunting as soon as you set foot in the woods. You have to move through sections that you don't see as being very productive in order to get to where you think the hot spot will be. So how do you go about this?

You guys are killing me with all these questions! I'm starting to feel like the Shell Answer Man [:(] (If you know who the Shell Answer Man is, it tell's your age). [:)]

I guess you'll have to read my book for this answer, but since my book isn't on the shelves yet, I'll have to oblige. I'll try to sum this up, so this will be in condensed form.

Basically, I'll hunt an area where I would have normally set-up a tree stand. So, wherever my pre-season scouting turned up evidence of a matriarch, is where I'll begin. This pre-season scouting consist of his entire travel/living route and or quarters, at least as much of it as I can find. Once a decision is made, I'll set-up, or begin my hunt by a tree that will hide my silhouette. If it's not productive in a couple of hours, I'll usually begin my still hunt along this route or up to his bedding areas.

Now, that's in perfect conditions. I take in consideration weather, mostly wind and rain to determine where I begin. Windy and driving rain days, I'll hit the bottom grounds and in good days, just the opposite. In normal conditions, I'll have the wind in my face before I begin. With regard to "non productive sections", I just treat them as hunt-able grounds and proceed with caution.

[Marc Anthony]

ORIGINAL: DoeEyed

I just started hunting on the ground this year and I would like to see both of you answer this question because I have been wondering that myself. How the heck do I get to where I want to start without spooking anything... looking forward to the answers.

Very, very, slowly! Take your time, use your binoculars and play the wind. Every move is controlled and coordinated. Move from tree, to tree, hiding your body behind every tree that you can. Sometime's I'll crouch over for a few steps and other times, I'll just tip-toe. If I have to move quickly to another tree, I'll do it by sounding like a squirrel or by sounding like a deer, with respect to how they sound while walking. Never sound like a human! The only downside? If by chance you are caught on Candid camera, you'll look like you need some serious medicine [&o]

[DoeEyed]

So basically just walk in as if I was hunting from a stand and then be still and quiet for an extended period of time to let things settle down before I actually start stillhunting. Makes sense. I don't know why I did'nt think of that. Guess when I decide I am going to stay on the ground I just get in that still hunting mind set when I get near the woods and get overly concerned about spookin something. So I would just start from the edges of the swamp and make my way toward the interior which is where I really wanted to start to begin with.  I hope that made sense. I gotta say though that hunting on the ground is alot more exhilarating than hunting from a stand. My senses are heightened and I tend to stay more alert.

[Woods Walker]

One more question, Marc, and this one's maybe more localized.

I know you hunt in central Illinois, as I do. I also assume that your hunting areas are also infested with the invasive plant called "wild honeysuckle", which carries it's foliage well into winter, and it grows as a low to large shrub which basically chokes out a lot of the understory. Deer will feed on it (I've seen the berries in thier paunch), but the do bed in it.

How do you deal with that stuff as far as hunting it? When it gets larger you can see under it a bit if you get on your knees, and I considered trying to hunt it like we used to hunt new lodegpole pine growth in old clearcuts for elk when I lived in Wyoming. We'd sit on the ground or kneel and look for elk LEGS, and then we'd stalk them (or try to!)

Any thoughts?