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First week of beast style hunts

Catskills

Catskills

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2018
Messages
227
Location
Sullivan County, NY
My brother and I are on our second year of deer hunting after living 28 years of always wanting to get into it. With that said, it's tough to call this hunt unsuccessful because lots of lessons were learned in one evening.

Yesterday, we set out to a public ridge top we scouted in the spring. This area is Appalachian style hunting, it's the foothills of the catskills in NY. Low density, no crops for miles. The hill country hunting beast tactics led us to some great bedding areas. On the attached map the solid red line (distance markers) and the blue line are the two times we scouted it. The stars are the buck beds we found with hair and the other waypoints on this ridge are rubs and oak trees. The red dotted line is our entry for the hunt and the circle with the blind symbol (they need a saddle symbol lol) was his set up, mine the left blue circle.

The forecasted wind worked for these beds. When we started walking at 3:15pm the thermals were already dropping due to being in the shade and wind was minimal. Milkweed dropping straight down. We kept an eye out for fresh sign and picked trees 50yds apart on different trails leading to oaks. Our spots were 100-150yds away from the beds we found in April. The ground below the oak I set up on was all beat up.

Around 5:30pm a spike came right down my brother's shooting lane. Great sign, hoping a bigger one is following. Right after that my brother spotted a bigger buck 50 yds out. Looked to be a basket 8. He pulled up his binoculars and the buck spooked. Right as this happened 3 bear cubs popped out 10 yds behind him and out comes mama bear. Huge. Biggest bear I've seen in person. I'd be lying if I didn't mention my heart has never beat so fast. Crazy to see. Lots of bears in this area. They eventually worked off and the rest of the evening was quiet.

Not sure if the binos or the bear spooked the bigger deer. But to us just having a plan come to fruition is a huge confidence boost. Because as you can imagine we discussed this plan for hours leading up to it. Debating on best access, our wind, how close we should get etc. Happy we decided to get aggressive since there's a warm trend coming and I have a dang ol wedding next weekend during the next cold front. That 2.5yo-3.5yo+ buck read the script. He's yet to shoot one so any legal buck (3 points on one side) would be awesome. Just getting on a buck in this terrain can be tough. This proves confidence can kill deer. If we stayed intimidated about the what-ifs this hunt would have never happen

I've decided no more binos unless its absolutely necessary. If a buck is in bow range, a buck is in range. Using the binos may be too much movement.



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Intensive scouting does wonders.
But, I also love how dan will abandon a plan when the sign tells him to.


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I don’t know that I would ditch the binos. In fact, I would blame it on the bear because I can’t do without my binos. On top of that, the binos didn’t raise themselves. Keep the binos and just be more cautious using them.....you can’t move slow enough.

Another thing, since you’re new(ish) to deer hunting.....a lot people like to laugh about this, but never look a deer in the eyes. Don’t even look AT his eyes. They will sense it every time and peg you. If you don’t believe me then feel free to let a deer you don’t plan on shooting get near you and then stare at its eyes and watch what happens.
 
dalton916 said:
I don’t know that I would ditch the binos. In fact, I would blame it on the bear because I can’t do without my binos. On top of that, the binos didn’t raise themselves. Keep the binos and just be more cautious using them.....you can’t move slow enough.

Another thing, since you’re new(ish) to deer hunting.....a lot people like to laugh about this, but never look a deer in the eyes. Don’t even look AT his eyes. They will sense it every time and peg you. If you don’t believe me then feel free to let a deer you don’t plan on shooting get near you and then stare at its eyes and watch what happens.
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thanks for the response man! definitely going to be more cautious with em
 
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Practice makes perfect. If you found beds and saw deer it will always be successful. The bear were a bonus. I've been 30' on the ground from 500#+. You'll progress faster as a hunter in the big woods. Ag is great but with such a guaranteed food source they are so much easier to pattern. Notice the word pattern. I made no mention of how difficult it is to get near them when they bed on those field edges. I say that hunting is a very situational matter. Moving when the sign is not there is all about confidence and being able to analyze what you see. Good luck!
 
dalton916 said:
I don’t know that I would ditch the binos. In fact, I would blame it on the bear because I can’t do without my binos. On top of that, the binos didn’t raise themselves. Keep the binos and just be more cautious using them.....you can’t move slow enough.

Another thing, since you’re new(ish) to deer hunting.....a lot people like to laugh about this, but never look a deer in the eyes. Don’t even look AT his eyes. They will sense it every time and peg you. If you don’t believe me then feel free to let a deer you don’t plan on shooting get near you and then stare at its eyes and watch what happens.
Click to expand...
The way I figure it, if the deer is within 50 yards and you can see it's rack clearly, you don't need to be glassin. You've seen what you need to see.

Sounds like a great hunt OP.
 
thanks guys.

We were out in a spot last night again we scouted in the summer, tons of deer sign and I forgot my damn saddle since I was rushing to pack after work. Just a doe past my brother out of range. Tons of deer sign in this area, we will be back. It was in an area with a forest fire 4-5 years ago, so much browse and oaks that survived just fine
 
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