Thread: What am I doing wrong?!

White man walk a lot see little.....Injun man walk little see a lot. This comes to my mind. Be patient, it will happen.

a pair of bino's also help in the bush, you can see through the bush more,
look for things that aren't natural in the bush eg horizontal line of a deers back,
a flicker of a deers ear, their bums are a creamy white colour, when you hit fresh sign
slow right down and use your bino's, success will come..

Some advise I got was look for things out of place, meaning most things in the bush are vertical, keep a keen eye for anything horizontal has worked for me. I had the same problem you have my own personal advice is to pay attention to everything you have read on this thread. Cheers and don't give up.

Mate, count yourself lucky just to have access to property which has animals, im continuley trying to obtain access to even fallow or bloody goats and still no luck - i guess me living in Auckland is a sh*t start anyway haha.

i have watched a couple of vid's lately with stalking and all stated that you're more likely to see deer in bush if you stop and even sit for a bit to see movements, when you're moving its difficult to see other movement in the bush - but then again i have no idea as im still a deer virgin lol

I very rarely spot deer when im actually stalking.

Just about every deer I shoot in the bush is spotted when im stopped, leaning on a tree, watching a little clearing.

It's almost impossible to spot a deer before its spots you if your walking. Cruise through the bush slowly, but stop every few steps. If you are continually moving slowly through the bush but not stopping to look then you will spook a lot more than you will get the drop on.

If I come to a nice looking clearing/partially clear bit in the bush where you can see a wee way I stop and wait. Sometimes for a minute, sometimes for over an hour. On those little clearer spots of nicer bush is where you will find them.

Be patient, a deer will be standing in the middle of a bit of bush and unless you stop and wait for a while you wont pick it up. Often they are all of a sudden right there in front of you, 25 meters away in the same spot you've been staring at for 20 minutes.

One last wee trick I use when you've actually connected and pretty sure you've hit the animal and didn't hear it bush bash off into the distance.

I carry a extra cheap $2 shop fluro vest that I after the shot and safety'd the rifle wander up to the spot where the deer bullet impact was and leave this above head height in the tree. A couple of reasons if you have got a solid hit and its gone a few meters it gives you a visual reference point to start a grid radiating search pattern out for the animals body. Secondly if I've hauled a animal out of crap to field dress and set up for carry and Its close to a trail or track I'll wander back and put that on the trail incase any other person pops along while I'm cleaning up the animal and sees the deer and not me - a bit anal I know but it gives me piece of mind. I ve had hunters see the vest on the track and make themselves known or I'll call out if I hear them talking about it.

Lastly If you get a solid shot and she runs as can often happen with a heart shot (rush of Adrenaline perhaps) they'll go for a bit. I sit down and listen for the crashing and direction approx direction log it in the GPS or compass and walk the bearing and check the reverse bearing about 20-30 mins later, then I start the Fluro vest grid search same as above. Works pretty well you'll generally get a blood trail or crushed bush as sign to help but this works quite well especially if you don't have a dog.

Hope this helps you with your first in the bush!!

That fluro vest also comes in handy to put on our apprentice if we suspect someone else is in the area as well

At this time of year deer will be Spending a lot of time sitting and still . So the odds are against the hunter Its true that in the bUsh most deer are seen when the hunter is still and the deer iS moving, Often I hear them first. In 3 months time they will be on the move and you will spot them first .

Like what has been said above, the deer won't be very active and they will always have the advantage of hearing, scenting, or seeing you. Sitting in a likely looking spot is good but can also be a waste of time, so a bit of luck is involved if deer are in the area. When I shoot a deer, I try make a mental note of where it was, what it was feeding on, and what time of the year it is. Marking each deer with GPS you shoot is a good way of creating a idea on what areas are worth exploring at certain times of year or time and a pattern will emerge.

One thing you can do to increase your odds is always going back to the same area you encounter the deer. This will allow you to work out how you can use the terrain to your advantage.

Hot barrels!

If we managed to shoot a deer each time we went out we would all need huge freezers, not sure on my percentage but its a lot less than 1/2 being successful

Originally Posted by 223nut

If we managed to shoot a deer each time we went out we would all need huge freezers, not sure on my percentage but its a lot less than 1/2 being successful

I shoot 1 - 2 Deer per year and always seem to have some venison on hand if there's a BBQ being sparked up.

But that's only a small part of why I hunt.

Cheers
Pete

Originally Posted by 223nut

If we managed to shoot a deer each time we went out we would all need huge freezers, not sure on my percentage but its a lot less than 1/2 being successful

This is very true.
You can get the wrong idea about how easy hunting is by surfing through stories on the forums, as we only tend to write up our successes.

It's natural to feel a bit disappointed when yet another trip ends without a kill, because that after all is the overall goal. Personally, I'm pretty chuffed when I see an animal and even finding fresh sign is encouraging. I found once I eventually chalked up a few deer, I felt I'd proved myself to myself and was much more relaxed about the unsuccessful trips. Really to maintain a long term interest in hunting you have to enjoy the trips that don't end in a kill. I see each kill as a result of not only that particular hunt but also all the previous 'no result' trips. Every outing you are learning and practicing the skills that eventually result in a pack full of venison.

I've heard lions are only successful on 15% of their hunts.. and they do it for a living!!

My advice is to get onto a good spur, then follow it up, keep going up until you break out of the bush, then hunt the tops I never had much luck bush hunting but I can see the attraction for some.

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

My advice is to get onto a good spur, then follow it up, keep going up until you break out of the bush, then hunt the tops I never had much luck bush hunting but I can see the attraction for some.

Adding to this - if you look at the trails that the deer take and see where they get forced by the landscape into a bottleneck then look for a high point that looks over that bottleneck

I'm thinking of a spot I know where the river has eroded a steep bank so the deer have to go along the other side and up either end of that bank so sitting on the top of that bank looking over that area is a good spot to sit

Of course dawn and dusk are usually the best times

Well i cant really add much but its easy to see now that theres more than one way to skin a cat!!! When Im bush hunting i have tried every method of walking and stalking really slowly etc, but out of all those times I realistically can count on one hand how many times i snuck up on a deer that hadn't seen me. What usually happens is I'm beating my big ass through this thick bush and as Im stopping to have a look I hear a dear jump and stand there trying to figure out what I am or run a few metres and stop leaving a prime opportunity to shoot.

So my two cents is keep up at what your doing and just listen as you are walking as most of the time you hear them jump up and run a few metres then you have your shot opportunity.

Good luck my friend!