26 hunts, seen 3 deer

No bucks. I would like to see one or maybe even get a shot at killing one. Besides corn or some other illegal tactic on public land, what is your go to set up to get a shot during the rut?

I hunted friday afternoon, all day saturday. Friday I sat in an area where I've been monitoring some bucks on camera. Only recently during daylight hours. But can't seem to be there when they come out. i've hunted that spot 4 times now. I have found a ton of sign there. although not much of it as fresh as it once was. still, i went out there wednesday to scout and one of those scrapes had fresh marks. My trail cam told me another scrape had a 8 point show up 1030 that morning. I hunted about 100 yards away from that scrape with the other one in gun range as well. Wind was in my face. saw nothing except a armadilo who made all kinds of noise coming out. got my heart beat up me thinking THIS IS IT!! but nope

Saturday I hunted a pine thicket (about 5 years old) to creek bottom transition. I was watching the thicket. At 930 a doe appeared at about 20 yards away. It was a buck only gun hunt day so I let her walk. the wind shifted and I had to move for the afternoon.

the afternoon hunt, i hunted a 1 year old clear cut. It has alot of new growth. I positioned myself with the wind in my face looking out into the clear cut. It was a transition line from hardwoods to clearcut. On my way in, I found several scrapes, and large piles of fresh droppings. I felt like i should have hunted there, but I wouldn't be able to see a large area of the clear cut had i done that. Pretty much everything would have been in bow range. I've heard cruising bucks will walk the edge of those cuts looking for doe trails. IDK if I made the right call or not, but i didnt see anything either way.

I take free advice

Are you saying you have hunted 26 times and have only seen 3 deer? Just wanted to make sure I am reading that right. If that is true, sounds like hunting in Shelby county in the early 80’s!

Man it seems like you’re doing the right things and putting in the time. A lot of luck has to go into to it as well. My opinion this time of the year I’d be focusing on where the does were. If you’re hunting buck sign and they are out chasing they may never come back to that scrape again. I’ve never hunted public land so I might be wrong but this time of year I normally focus on the does

Yes,

Most of those hunts were evening hunts. I'd get off work and drive 30 minutes to get into the stand by 2 or 3 sit til dark.

Getting in before dawn on day hunts, I don't know if Im spooking deer with my red light or what. but I can't tell where im going without it.

Sometimes i'd scout and hunt same time. Just walk til i found sign and set up on it.

I appreciate your advice. That doe i saw saturday was the first id seen since mid november. I killed one with the bow then. my first year hunting public. I saw a doe my second hunt this year back in october and I was like "public is the way to go". I couldn't get a shot on her but still excited to see one that close. she was about 7 yards away. came in behind me and i couldn't get turned around.

I'm a new hunter really. didn't start at all til i was 42. Went to my neighbors land twice and killed a doe.

All that to say, im not positive where to find the does either. reckon i'll just hunt the two or 3 spots i have seen them.

The cameras are a double edged sword. they keep me hunting the same areas, i know the deer are there. but for whatever reason they don't come out when im around.

Ive gotten better on my approaches with scent control, silencing my gear and what not. But not seeing the success i think i should.

being in the woods is cool and all. but after 100 hours staring at the woods. I want to see a deer every so often

Hunting public land is a challenge, for sure. There’s a reason people pay big money for leases. According to this report 95% of the deer in Alabama are taken on private land.


Outdoor Life article

One thing is for sure, your not spooking them with that red light, Ive walked right up on them several times within a few feet of em with my red light on shining them right in the face and they cant see it...Ive also shined them out of my stand after dark while getting down to see what they are....That red light dont bother them at all....Other than that I would suggest a whole different place to hunt...Good luck

Man that’s tough. I would go somewhere else to hunt. At the rate you are going, it would be easy to get discouraged.

There’s plenty of places in AL where the deer population is just not good. Some folks don’t understand that, it’s just the truth. Add a little hunting pressure, and it gets tough.

New ground

not seeing any can take the starch out of u - hang in there - sounds like they been around some on your cam

Sounds like you need to find better public land to hunt. You might have to camp or get a hotel room but there is plenty of land to hunt in Alabama where you can see deer.

When I hunt public land I like to look like a disco going in in the morning. No joke I have one of those blinking red lights joggers wear and a headlamp going. People lose their minds when they think there's a deer.

Running cameras lays down your scent, which makes deer change time and place. Older bucks notice cameras. If you'd be happy with any buck you don't need a picture of it anyhow.

You can find a ton of heavy, fresh sign in places deer will never be when the sun is up.

Re: buck hunting, there are times when you're maneuvering at bow hunting range even though you have a rifle. It doesn't help to be able to see a large area because you won't see the deer unless you are on top of it. When they're wide open chasing, yeah you can benefit from being able to see a long way. Most other time you need to be on the x in the thick to see them in daylight.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures." Grab some buckshot and go root one out of bed. Back when I hunted only public that's how I topped off the freezer at the end of season; mid-day during the week when I was the only one out there. A windy day and an overgrown clearcut or short pines means meat.

If you don't have a handle on where they bed you're going to have to figure that out to consistently be on them in daylight hours.

Hunting public land is like the old real estate adage-"location, location, location!"

I have a place where I have quit hunting for the year because I don't want to kill a deer there. We have several really nice bucks there and they need another year to become great bucks. I haven't been a time this year and not laid eyes on a deer. If I was you, I would start looking around close to find something to hunt. Better yet, if your finances will allow, buy a small tract and start from there. The best investments I have ever made were in land ownership. Public land is good in some spots and terrible in others. North Alabama has some great areas of public land that produce great deer harvests each year.

B

For the rut if I’m on public I’m hunting pinch points and creek crossings. Bucks will be cruising so those area’s concentrate movement.

The pressure on public makes the deer very nocturnal. The sign you are seeing is probably made at night. I have found places that were tore up with sign droppings, rubs, fresh tracks. I would see a spike or real young deer during hunting hours. Cameras are great if you are getting daytime pics of deer otherwise not much help. Scent control game has to be on point when hunting public.

Wish I had some advice to give you that would help you out. Your experience on public land sounds like how this year has been on the 3 different private lands that i hunt. This has been the worst deer season I've ever had with not even a buck on camera i would pick the rifle up for.

And when it is rut, I like to hunt where I can see a good distance. Bucks are on their feet moving around but mist of the times not really following any patterns. May be in a general area but using a different trail each time

Public ground ain’t east hunting… BUT based on your post you are close to getting it done. Number one thing you need to realize is that the sign you are seeing is mostly done at night. A buck will occasionally run through there in the daylight but it will not be consistent. He will likely be scent checking scrapes during daylight down wind by a hundred yards or so. His nose is the best defense he has. He’s gonna stick tight to cover and use that nose to figure out which deer have been by that scrape. A hot doe will make her presence known by visiting that scrape line.

That said, if you’re hunting relatively close to an access point, the deer know this too. Dive in a bit further and you are likely to see more movement. If you are far off the beaten path then you need to find the terrain that will funnel deer as they travel. Bucks will make a ton of sign in a creek bottom at night but during the day, they are going to want to travel the higher ground because they can check out the activity below with their nose. Stick with it and adjust your setup slightly, you should be rewarded in doing so.

All in all, it sounds like you are close. Just need some minor tweaks.

And for clarification, where I hunt that I can see a long ways is 75-100 yards in thicker stuff close to edges of REAL thick stuff

You also mentioned your hunting after work for a couple of hours. If a majority of those hunts are afternoon sits… might try some morning or all day sits if your schedule will allow it. I can think of a couple of places I never see deer in the evening .
Access and wind, probably stating the obvious but if your scent blows in ahead of you, done deal.

I have not hunted public land in over 30 years but back when I did, there were two ways to get on unpressured deer. If you could get away from other hunters by hiking in away from access points (I walked 2.5 miles away from the closest gate) that was the best scenario. Or, stay really close to the roads/access points where other hunters didn't hunt. Now, all of this was on a WMA in FL that was loaded with deer, but we had phenomenal success on some really nice bucks. That WMA is long gone unfortunately.

Try to stay away from the obvious places. The better looking the spot, most likely is getting hammered. Hunt the edges of thickets in some kinda overlooked corner somewhere. My favorite combo to hunt is thinned pines bordering thick pines or cutover but it works best when there is little pressure. I dont hunt public so it might be impossible to find such a spot.

Daylate makes good points about getting away from evrybody - but u need some sort of drag system if u shoot one way n there
When i turkey hunted wma - i got there early amd walked long way n to get away from everybody - had bunch success - turkey are way easier to get out 😀. I thought i would take multiple turkey a year off that wma for rest of my life - but like Daylate’s wma - this one no longer exists

With my parents or family that hunted or had land my best friend and I taught ourselves to hunt on public land in high school, eventually with a few good aldeer members here we ran into along the way who are now dear friends of mine. What you're experiencing is the usual among your average hunter hunting public land. The book "Mapping Trophy Bucks" by Brad Herndon is the best resource to learn how deer use terrain IMO, but if you really want to change your hunting world join a club. The $900 we coughed up for our first club wasnt fun or easy for us at the time, but it changed our hunting life and was well worth it.

Excellent point about getting away from other hunters. If you see any sign of people go elsewhere.

It sounds pretty typical for public land. Unless you are willing to work your ass off scouting and going deep or into undesirable places (think of places you would least like to drag a deer out from and start there) you will have very little luck seeing anything worth killing. I'm a bit surprised you haven't gotten lucky and seen more does, but some people just miss deer that walk right in front of them, so I bet you've had more deer than 3 cross near you, they can be pretty darn sneaky.

One year I bowhunted about 25 sits on the local wma all during the week so not much pressure, and scouted a good bit after nearly every hunt. I was determined. Found good buck sign, even saw a few in the flesh while scouting.

That whole year I had an opportunity one time at a legal buck and it wasn't even a good opportunity, so really it's like I never had a chance. Saw tons of deer, but getting something within bow range that's legal and ready to die is extremely hard on public land.

That exact same book is what I used to kill my first rack buck. I read it again about every 3 years, great resource

I’ve got that book as well. Been several years since I read it. Guess I need to look at it again

That makes me feel better. I appreciate it

yea, i have a ton of deer on my cameras. And i find lots of sign when i scout.

I've just got to crack the code some how.

Yea i get that. I've hunted all day in the same spot only 3 times this year.

Twice i've done just morning sits

And twice i had to reposition due to wind changes from morning to the afternoon.

I did kill the only doe i've harvested this year in the afternoon back in november tho

Thanks, that's good information.

redcoat which public land are you hunting, Blackwater, Perdido River, FL side or Perdido River WMA, Alabama side ?

Yea, i read that alot about going far out. The local wma I hunt is pretty roaded up. You can't walk a mile in any direction without hitting a road. There are some far out places I see on the map, but no edges i can see. No cutovers. Like its just big woods. Perhaps they are out there.

Perdido river on the alabama side

I'll check out the book. as for a lease. I may think about that next season. IDK. I live in Pensacola and already pay an out of state license for alabama because the hunting opportunities are better for public land. no quota hunts. I'm 30 minutes from perdido river on alabama side. I didn't draw the FL side quota but im 10 minutes from there

I hunted Perdido River WMA before it was a WMA, It was called Bellfontaine Hunting Club.

I'll send you a message later this evening about where I had the most success.

That would be awesome. Appreciate it.

If you are using a climber, make sure you get up 35 feet or so. That helps alot. I rarely get winded when I am that high up.

Couple things I have noticed. In every single club I have been in, there are places the guys won't go hunt. Guess where the deer go? Where they don't go. I have set up on places and watched them drive by and laughed, because I would see deer there. Guy on our lease killed a deer within 50 yards of our sign in, on a field I made, before we had to move the sign in. Saw a buck there too. At the end of deer season last year. No body sits there. Ever.

Something I discovered last year that might help. Noticed this during the rut. I had a cell camera set up, sort of off to the side of a couple different pine thickets. There were 2 hardwood fingers with a very small creek in them, and the deer used these fingers alot, because I had pic's of them. But when a buck came thru, I always checked the huntstand app to see which way the wind was blowing. 9 times out of 10, the buck came in with the wind at his butt. What I learned was he was coming in to get downwind of the pine thickets to scent check them. Often this happened later in the morning too, when other hunters were long gone.

I watched a buck come out of a pine thicket yesterday morning on our lease. Southeast wind. He was headed northwest. I was in a climber right off the road too. Right by a road into one of our stand sites. He went behind where our stand site is. So if you can set up downwind of a pine thicket you know deer bed in, and get more downwind than a buck, watch the upwind side and see if you don't see one come in there scent checking it.

Are you scent free on the days you go to work and leave and hunt?

Great info. I am as scent free as i can be. I wash my clothes in the scent killer detergent then putem in a sealed plastic bag. I use camo dust before i head to the stand

Redcoat, I admire your persistence! Don’t give up.

If you’ve hunted 26 times and seen 3 deer I’d say you need to change your tactics.

Are you hunting the same 2 or 3 spots every time you hunt? How often are you checking your cameras or are they cellular?

First time sits have been very good to me so you really need to bounce around. Even if you’re only adjusting your set up by 100 yards. In my experience you have to scout weekly to have success on public land. The pressure on gun days causes deer to change their behavior and patterns. If you’re not scouting more than you’re hunting then you are not going to have consistent success. For what it’s worth I’ve killed most of my public land bucks in the morning and a couple of my best bucks were killed after 9am.

You're new to hunting, right? I'd say you're doing pretty good if you are. Public land in the southeast is some of the most challenging whitetail hunting there is.

23-24 deer season starts on Feb 11, and that's when the real work happens. Cover ground like a madman in the offseason, bust through thickets and find the bedding areas. A few years of that will give you a bunch of hunting spots. First hunt is the best hunt. Cameras can be helpful, but don't rely on them.

This thread shows how, over and over again, we sensationalize deer hunting pressure on public land. Compared to what? To a 1000 acre club with 15 members. To a rural but populated county where every single 10 acre parcel gets hunted and half of those from the back window of a house. Some public land gets LESS hunting pressure than private land. Whether you want to believe it or not.

I was in two clubs that you were better off hunting public land. Learned two hard lessons those two years.

I agree. Public land is better than a budget hunt club. A small property with no other hunters is pretty awesome though.

Mapping Trophy Bucks by Chad Herndon is the best resource for learning how deer travel and deer movement IMO

Obviously wherever this guy is hunting they don't shoot enough does.

Wonder how many people hunt the same spot and give up hunting because they can't see any deer? That's a question for all the folks on here that think if a fella can't blast everything he sees.. then we aren't going to sell as many hunting licenses and everyone is going to give up hunting forever.. ruined forever if you had to actually hunt as it is told.....

IMO - this is where people give it up.

Which one is a bigger issue? Asking ya'll. The guy who's mad he can't blast one every time he walks away from the truck or the guy who sees nothing all season because of the 1st guy?

They sell bowling balls at Academy.

Okay, that made me laugh.

The frequency ive checked them has varied. Some i checked after 3 days. Some i checked after 3 weeks. Also checked some after a hunt in the same location.

I havent hunted the same spot twice. Same area for sure. Some several times. But always different positions depending on the wind. Or just found a better approach.

I do think i got busted in one particular area due to the way i was accessing it. Its tough to explain over txt. But basically i would come in from the south then turn west on a trail before continuing south. I would walk past 3 different areas that look good for bedding. Now when i access. I have a longer walk in. But its all from a southern direction. So if any deer are bedded, only the ones on that side would bust me if i walk past them. The deer cant be looking at two parallel trails so my odds are better.
But i havent seen any deer coming either way yet

Ive had bucks daylighting in that area on camera. Even a buck fight on camera. So i know they are around.

I have 1 cell cam and 5 regular.

Thanks i definitely plan on finding where these deer ive been chasing are bedded in the off season

I dont think Perdido is very pressured. The rut has brought more people for sure. But before this past weekend i had never seen more than a couple cars on my hunts. Never run into another person on the ground

This past weekend i saw 12.

Its just alot of places deer can hide. And even more places they can feed.

Least thats what i gather

As someone said earlier, look at topo maps, I use huntstand, find the nastiest looking places around and think if anyone else would want to drag a deer out or walk in.....if they look steep and nasty and thick, most public land folks shy away, that's the way it was when I was in MS and La.....I killed decent deer in places no one else wanted to go into....

Sending you a PM Redcoat

Another nugget for you. A sneaky hunter would see your non-cell camera, pull the card, look at the pics, and delete any that would indicate you found a good spot. Had this happen in a hunting club, the only way I know is the guy left 1 pic of a gloved hand in front of the camera.

I make a little mount and put my camera's up higher. See pic.

If there's swamps, hit'em. Most people don't like to hunt the wet spots and therefore less hunting pressure. Good luck.

This is good advice, especially on the Perdido River. I always had good success during the rut hunting wet areas down in the river bottom. Saw a lot of deer just walking in shallow water. I guess maybe the does go there to keep from leaving a scent trail for bucks to follow and harass them and the bucks go in there looking for them.

Those deer can hear you the moment you come down the road. Someone probably walked over your area last weekend, even if you hunt a mile off the road. Some folks on private have the best land and a few the good leases. Folks encouraging people to scout until they find sign pushes deer more into a nocturnal state and into the thick stuff. Dumb deer don't live long. After a lot of pressure the living deer may only move outside of legal hunting hours. Some areas have a small window of a good time of the year to hunt. It may be tough now to figure out what is going on, but it will come in time. Now, trying to time up the correct time to be at a spot with a deer that has to find food, may bed in 40 different places, and may travel for miles, that is the difficult part. You are not hunting a corn pile, or greenfield with limited access. So, seeing 3 deer in 26 sits may not be so bad cosidering the pressure those deer have on them. Sounds about right for some public land.

Feb. has always been good on the Fl. side . When the season ended on Jan. 25th. we never knew there was a rut.

Sent you a PM

Public land hunters will always outperform private land guys on private land or public.we was raised and taught his to hunt!!!!!!period
You really learn to hunt on public land...,....,. Not in clubs where deer are everywhere easily
Hunting clubs and private lands you have fun and kill chit easily all the time but at a cost.really that simple
Unfortunately it cost money to do anything in this day and age

I’ve been in two different clubs where the deer were so pressured and nocturnal I had rather pay money to hunt public land than ever set foot on those properties again for free.

Pinch points or natural funnels between bedding and food sources, is what worked for me when I hunted Wolf Creek back in the day. Some of the areas by bedding I couldn’t see 50 yds. Always go where others won’t go, but be prepared to work your tail off to get one out . Speaking of hunting scrapes, bucks normally circle scrapes the check them from downwind. If I am hunting scrapes I like to hunt with a cross wind, I don’t care much for wind in my face. I prefer the crosswind

RedCoat, glad to see you are still at it. We exchanged a few PM's at the end of last season. This is my 3rd season and I've bagged one buck and two does so far all on public. I'll tell you what has helped me this season.

*Always mark any deer you see on your hunting app (Onx or Huntstand) and what direction it was traveling. This lead me to being withing 20 yards of the biggest buck I've ever encountered while hunting. I missed, but that is a different story.

*Go back and look at the map of your sightings and think "There was a reason this deer crossed at this spot". Look for saddles, low spots, funnels, etc....The revisit the area and you'll probably start to see what is happening in that area. Deer are browsers and they are almost always on the move, that is about the only advantage we got.

*Clear cuts. If I can find a place where they cross and get 80-100 yards off of it, I've noticed I'm invisible if I'm still or behind a tree or in a pop up. I had a doe come within 40 yards just staring at me in my pop up (was a buck only day). She looked at me a lot, but I never moved and she just found me interesting to look at, but was never scared.

*Clear cuts again, when you find that place that they cross it will be usually a low spot or a few yards off it.

*Consider seeing a deer on a sit almost as much as a success as harvesting one. That is future knowledge that will lead to a kill. I took one doe off observations from the end of last seaon. I noticed does would go up a draw to eat later in the season. A buck I got was noticing a doe crossing early in the season during a buck only hunt the 1st time I sat on a clear cut. Came back to sit on it later and a buck popped out.

*Last but not least, I've personally seen all my activity between 8AM and Noon. I don't bother getting up at 3AM, I just try to get to my parking spot around fist light and take my time walking in. I think the idea of bumping them in the dark is a little overblown for us Public Land hunters. I've literally walked through somewhere and 20 mintues later seen a deer walk through there and hang out. They are still going where they need to go and if your wearing scent proof boots and walking on a road or clear cut it doesn't seem to leave any real scent that alarms them. Walking through brush and stuff might be different if your scent is sticking to branches.

*Eliminate bad habits like looking at your phone for long stretches. I force myself to look up every 30 seconds if I am checking mesages. It only takes a minute and you can spend 10 minutes with your head buried in your phone before you realize it. I know I've missed deer doing that.

This. And it’s a problem that gets worse, not better, in those areas due to statewide unlimited doe rules designed to manage high deer populations. If you hunt an area where you only see 2 or 3 deer all season, you are probably going to try to shoot every deer you see, as are your neighbors, meaning even less deer next year and the coyotes having to hunt fawns more aggressively. They need to seriously study where the deer population is low and ban doe killing in those areas for 5 years or so.

Deer populations are like rich and poor people with compounding wealth. The high population areas with a large base of deer stay high even if you kill a lot of deer. And the low population areas, just like most people in poverty, stay low because they can’t ever get ahead long enough to start building anything.

Perdido is tough hunting. If you’re bow hunting I would try going further north

If you are interested in getting some more information about a couple of the bow only areas, shoot me a PM

We bought a new piece of property. Ive hunted there 10 times, i guess. Ive saw one deer. Joseph has hunted there 5 times i guess, has seen deer every time but one. Icant quite figure this one out. He is 8x more likely to see deer there than i am.

On thing that sunk at the end of last season was does and bucks might as well be different species. Yes does lead to bucks but the bucks are so much more reclusive, cautious and on the move. I would sum it as the does are ladies in the store browsing and the bucks are the guy running in to get something and get out. Every buck I have seen in the wild was not lalligagging around and extreme aware. I guess the does play the numbers game by traveling in groups so they let their guard down a little more.

I’d start fishing

It's not just traveling in groups there are flat out more does alive than bucks. A 2.5 year buck that walks into multiple green fields in AL is automatically dead. A similar doe could live 5+ years. The more reclusive bucks pass on their genes. Bucks in AL have selective pressure to be elusive and nocturnal.

I try to get at least somewhat to where I want to go ahead of sunrise. If it's a full moon and moon is overhead I can hang a stand. Either way, I like being in the woods before sunrise. There's a lot of deer activity at first light.

Rubber boots. I'm 50/50 on this. If I have a really bad hike in I don't wear them. They do make a difference. Was recently in a stand and my wind was great - I wore normal hiking boots. A doe and yearling were walking by. Hit the trail I walked in on and obviously smelled where my boots touched the ground. It was like they hit a brick wall. Doe starts searching for me. Stomping, head bobbing. Looks right at me in my treestand. I know my wind is good 100%. Eventually she chills out and they hang around an hour and a half under/near my stand.

There are a lot of stories on here of people missing deer on their phones. Don't be a guy with that story. When looking at my phone I have a plan on how to quickly put it away.

Great thread! Maybe one day I'll be successful on Public land too. Oh and I have that book as well. Time to break it back out. Enjoyed everyone's advice.

Thick and nasty OR swamps always produced for me on public land or a lease. Most people feel the need to see 100yds... Least likely places like near property entrances are often good spot, human nature tells most hunters to "go deep" and bucks aren't dumb, they simply go to secluded spots.

This. A shorter really shitty walk to the spot is usually better than an easy long walk through open woods. When you're deep think about how much it's going to suck to drag the deer out. If it's going to really really suck, and there's fresh sign, you may be in a decent spot.

Stick with it man - I didn't really have anyone to teach me how to hunt either. Learned from books, forums, and just getting out there. My family has shot deer forever but it was mostly over greenfields/fields - what I now sometimes call harvesting deer. There's a big difference between HARVESTING and HUNTING whitetails.

There's nothing more rewarding from a whitetail hunting perspective than getting back into some public, finding sign, and getting on deer, at least to me.

26 hunts and 3 deer seen I'd say find somewhere else to hunt. You'd have stumbled on more than that just by dumb luck I'd think