Anybody spot n stalk?

Slagiatt

Active Member
I know most folks on here are eastern hunters. Food plots etc. Anybody do spot n stalk whitetail hunting? Feel like i screwed up pretty bad yesterday. Im normally pretty aggressive, and yeah thats led me to blow a few stalks on deer and bears. Yesterday i was up in a 2yr old burn where ive never been. Seemed kind of barren so i wasnt too hopeful. Well right at 4pm (4:50 end of shooting light) i swung my binos due west, put my eyes up to them, and ill be damned, big bruiser whitetail buck running a ridgeline. I see him for only 2 seconds before he disappeared into tall brush, but even at 1000 yards he looked BIG. thing was, the way he was running and just vanished, i thought he may have run down the back side of the ridge. The little voice in my head was telling me he just put on the brakes in the brush, move move move now, close the distance. But i ignored the voice, afraid he was still covering ground, wanting to see where hed pop out, which direction he was heading. So i waited, and waited too long. 20 minutes later he stepped out of the brush right there. So i made my move, and it was too late. He was just a little outside my comfortable shooting range at last light, and i didnt want to push it and make a poor shot.

What do you do in this scenario? Rutting buck running around like his ass is on fire. Do you skip the whole careful planning thing, drop non essential gear and cover ground fast? Or wait to see what the deer is going to do? I think i should have just thrown caution to the wind and covered ground, as rutty bucks are so notoriously unpredictable. Thoughts?
 
Where I hunt if I see him he is in rifle range...

I do still-hunt on occasion when I am hunting a large property like our deer lease...
 
I'e tried blind stalking fresh tracks after a snow storm, never has worked out for me.
 
That's a tough one. I probably would have sat tight like you did. I've found that my success is much higher when I can keep an animal in sight or know where it is bedded. A rutting buck would be really tough because of the unpredictability of his movement. In this case, the rut can actually hurt rather than help; although he may be a little less aware of his surroundings.

By the way, nothing beats spot and stalk.
 
I know most folks on here are eastern hunters. Food plots etc. Anybody do spot n stalk whitetail hunting? Feel like i screwed up pretty bad yesterday. Im normally pretty aggressive, and yeah thats led me to blow a few stalks on deer and bears. Yesterday i was up in a 2yr old burn where ive never been. Seemed kind of barren so i wasnt too hopeful. Well right at 4pm (4:50 end of shooting light) i swung my binos due west, put my eyes up to them, and ill be damned, big bruiser whitetail buck running a ridgeline. I see him for only 2 seconds before he disappeared into tall brush, but even at 1000 yards he looked BIG. thing was, the way he was running and just vanished, i thought he may have run down the back side of the ridge. The little voice in my head was telling me he just put on the brakes in the brush, move move move now, close the distance. But i ignored the voice, afraid he was still covering ground, wanting to see where hed pop out, which direction he was heading. So i waited, and waited too long. 20 minutes later he stepped out of the brush right there. So i made my move, and it was too late. He was just a little outside my comfortable shooting range at last light, and i didnt want to push it and make a poor shot.

What do you do in this scenario? Rutting buck running around like his ass is on fire. Do you skip the whole careful planning thing, drop non essential gear and cover ground fast? Or wait to see what the deer is going to do? I think i should have just thrown caution to the wind and covered ground, as rutty bucks are so notoriously unpredictable. Thoughts?
I mostly hunt thick stuff. If I see him he is generally in range, unless I'm pistol hunting. I like to hunt them some with a .44 Black Hawk using Iron Sights. I pretty much limit myself to about 35 yards. Mostly now I carry a pistol along with either a scope sighted .270 or my Marlin 45/70. Sometimes I have had Deer slip in on me and be on me before I know it. It's easier then to slip out my Blackhawk and shoot, than to make the bigger movements of lifting and pointing a rifle.
 
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