Whitetail Help!

[downtownbrown0610]

How is it going everyone? So I am posting here because I am kind of at a dead-end. I have hunted all over the west my entire life. I am getting stationed at Fort Campbell KY later this upcoming spring. This area from what I hear and have read is a really good area for whitetail. Here is the problem. I have never hunted whitetail. As I said I am not new to hunting by any means. I just have no idea where to start.

I have tried to do a bunch of research but at the end of the day there is A LOT of info out there on whitetail hunting. So where would you recommend that I start? I am not above basic 101 type information. I want to do this the right way and learn all that I can and really take advantage of this opportunity. Gear wise I think I am good. The only thing I really need to research is stands/saddles and or blinds. I am really wanting to tactics and different techniques used.

I really appreciate everyone's help and look foreword to getting into whitetail as much as I have Mule deer and bears.

 

[Pickettpuncher]

If you get a chance to hunt fort Campbell I suggest you do. Lots of regulations to learn but lots of fine deer taken.

 

[downtownbrown0610]

If you get a chance to hunt fort Campbell I suggest you do. Lots of regulations to learn but lots of fine deer taken.

Thats where I plan to do most of my hunting, unless we end up buying property.

 

[beerbucksducks]

I have been studying up on Dan Infalt’s (The Hunting Beast) videos lately and he gives a ton of good information. He’s in Wisconsin but gives a lot of good insight on whitetail habits and behaviors. Sorting through the info and finding what is applicable to my area (eastern Washington) is a little tricky but still helpful. His videos are definitely worth the watch.


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[12wander]

Find sign, and hunt with the wind in your favor. Don‘t over think it. They are not that smart but they are weary and they know their core area like you do your living room.

 

[Billogna]

Find sign, and hunt with the wind in your favor. Don‘t over think it. They are not that smart but they are weary and they know their core area like you do your living room.

This!!

Whitetail hunting is usually more of an ambush game as opposed to spot and stalk. Use the wind and blend in. They have a home range that they know very well, but you can also use this to pattern them as well. Mature bucks rarely do typical deer things, which is why most typical hunters don't often kill them.

 

[SuperDUECE22]

use trail cameras to your advantage if its legal were you'll be hunting
good stand locations are only good if you can get in & out of them without busting a bunch of deer

 

[loganwayne]

Start scouting as soon as you can, the better you know an area the faster you can mark off huge chunks as unlikely deer areas. Then start looking for historical sign and fresh sign, figure out where they are going to bed at where they are going to feed at and setup in between and you can kill deer

 

[littlefish]

Read a few books by John Eberhart. You don't really need a saddle unless you want to get heavily involved in the gear side of things. If you want to be mobile start with a good climber. Dan Infalts videos are great too.

 

[downtownbrown0610]

Awesome advice so far gentlemen. I really appreciate it. Hopefully have the time in this spring when I get there to get out and learn the area and look for sign. I am going to try and find some of the books recommended and see if I cant knock a couple of them out. This is a complete 180 from what I normally do. Usually you hear of the opposite. People usually go west to hunt and try something different. But again I am just grateful I will be in an area that has some really good opportunity.

 

[coyotecreek]

Start your scouting in January / February before things green up if possible You will be able to see all of the sign from this past fall such as trails, scrapes, rubs, tracks, droppings and have a jump on the 22 season. If you wait until April or May new growth will make finding this sign a lot more difficult.

 

[jlandon]

The book PHD Whitetails is light reading but full of good info. Get in the woods and try. Think outside the box compared to the other hunters in your area. I use archery season to be a good primer for rifle season and setup a favorable scenario for either a herd cull shot or a nice mature deer.

 

[Rich M]

Are you gonna just hunt deer or are you gonna trophy hunt?

If you just want to hunt, imagine your favorite western mule deer area and the deer you see off in the distance. Now fill in the rest of the spaces with trees and bushes. Welcome to whitetail hunting.

The best thing is to find an area with smoking hot fresh sign and hunt it. Be careful about the daily breeze the thermals and you should find deer.

 

[180splitg3]

You may find whitetail hunting excruciatingly boring compared to western hunting! Lots of good advice above. At its core whitetail hunting is simple - find the preferred food source the deer are using in your area and then figure out where the deer are bedding. After you identify these areas you are either going to be hunting their bedroom, their food source or a transition area in between. Where and when you hunt them will change depending on weather, time of year, morning, night, etc. Beyond that there are many different tactics people use to get within range of whitetail. Always remember that the mature bucks are usually very unforgiving of hunting pressure. Access into and out of stands is extremely important. Please look up Jeff Sturgis (Whitetail Habitat Solutions) on YouTube. Many of his videos are related to habitat but he has many regarding hunting. Good luck

 

[khovis33]

watch hunting public on youtube. good info!!

 

[Somthingoriginal]

Killing whitetails isn't hard. Young deer are dumb and taste great. But if you're looking for mature bucks there are basically 2 ways.

1. Hunt everyday of the rut you can. Get in early and sit all day. Repeat until you're successful. The rut is when mature deer make mistakes all you have to do is be out there.

2. Find mature deer and hunt them down outside of the rut. The imperative word being "find". Random hunts in random spots don't pan out. So you'll need to spend far more time scouting than hunting.

It's a rabbit hole that's for sure.

 

[SevereTravis7]

Thickets are your new friend. Find them with wind in your favor and stay around them.

 

[naternate]

If I could only give one tactic to focus on for a new whitetail hunter it would be finding transition zones.

This works across all habitat types. Transition being where one type of vegetation or land feature butts up to another one. Swamp to woods, clearcut to woods, open woods to thicker woods, woods to open fields, edge of a creek, steep bluff on a broad scale. Ditches in a crop field, logging road in a clear cut, thicket in a swamp. All these create a transition zone.

Deer work transition zones parallel and perpendicular on both sides of that transition (interior and exterior) Walking a transition line will show those parallel and perpendicular trails of movement. A lot of times you will pick up buck sign like rubs and scrapes at these transitions and intersections. There are endless tactics out there but it seems to me this is the easiest way to just get on deer in general


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[Coat4gun]

I notice a lot of western US hunters wait to chamber a round till the deer is sighted. You will miss a lot of opportunities for shots at standing deer in the eastern Whitetail woods if you do that. Things are typically a lot closer in the east and their ears are amazing (all animals are). A big buck will not stand still when he hears a round being chambered and he probably will hear it since most shots are well under 100 yards. I have had them bolt from just cocking the hammer on my Ruger Blackhawk.

 

[FLS]

Find a successful local hunter when you get there and pick his brain. All the YouTube videos in the world won’t trump local knowledge.