Schemeecho
Well-Known Member
Hello everyone. As must of you know I am new to not only saddle hunting but still fairly new to hunting in general. I would like to share a little about myself and what I have learned over the past few seasons. Most of which was a due to this site and the forums within it. I started hunting roughly about 6 years ago and started out bow hunting. I did that for two seasons with no luck at all. So I got frustrated with myself and figured that the reason I wasn't being successful was in order to drop something I had to be close, and by close I mean I didn't want to take a shot if it was more then 40 yards. So I sold the bow and bought a rifle. The only thing that changed in two years was my weapon of choice. Still getting frustrated, I was hunting with a few friends and they had no problem filling their tags. I asked all of them what I could be doing wrong. The answers ranged from wrong place wrong time to simply getting busted. I know I wasn't seeing deer so I figured that i was just spooking them or simply setting up wrong. i started to ask myself why was this so hard for me and easy for everyone else? I literally, hopped on Youtube and searched how to hunt deer. I was desperate to make some changes and just didnt know where to start. I started to follow what I was watching and still nothing helped. Then one of my friends said let me help you. He put me on to a spot. He walked me in and said sit here and just watch and listen. That repeated for the entire third season. Again with no luck. On the fourth season I didnt hunt much maybe 5 times that year. On the fifth season and during riffle season that same friend said ok you need to go hunt out here and he showed me another piece of land which was in his family. So there i was just sitting next to a tree at 5 am listening to silence and as the Sun started to crest I saw movement then nothing at all. All of a sudden about 5 yards in front of me were two doe staring right at me. No snort, no blowing just bobbing their heads. i knew if I moved it would be over and I see the white flag of failure. this happened for what seemed to be 20 minutes but I'm sure was only like 5 then they walked right around me like I wasnt there. I was awe struck didn't know what to do and froze. So I told my friend and he laughed so hard then handed me a beer. He said well at least we know the wind was right your scent control was right. So he started to explain that I was set up on the trail where they were known to travel to bedding at that time of year. This was around the last of September. I asked him what I could do differently. He said just keep hunting and it will fall together. He did explain about food sources , how they move, when they move but I was till left with more questions then answers. He's a great guy but not built for mentoring. he did help me and show where to hunt and how to find the public lands to hunt and he did try to help but in the end it was up to me. So surfing Youtube more I found a video about saddle hunting and saddlehunter.com was mentioned. So I came here and started reading and found a lot of answers to some of my questions. Then I started posting and asking specific questions myself. On the following season I was jumping deer as I went in but still no kills. All my fault rookie mistakes. Then a few guys on her really helped me out with some things. A wealth of knowledge and I was over loaded with info. @Bigterp actually took time out of his evening to call me and help me look at some areas on a map to scout and where would be good places to start looking and why. @bowhunterchuck took time to meet with me and go look at the area. when we got there we simply followed a creek until we found small sign. He showed me what to look for and pointed out things as he saw them. We kept following the sign and found an area with really thick cover around the edge of a swampy area, There were lots of deer droppings, multiple rubs and nice big fresh scrape. @Nutterbuster suggested I ask myself why were the deer there? and summed it up with deer all do the same things eat, sleep and hide. @Bwhana Told me in his own way to just get out there, make mistakes and gain experience and to weed through the BS that might be wrong. There are others that have helped also but I just can remember everyone or how they helped me out. All I know is the information was invaluable to me My point to this long post was to thank you, each and everyone of you for the help. This season I feel will be the year it all comes together and if I can only fill just one tag. That's enough to say I'm learning and I owe it all to all of you on saddlehunter .com
Last edited: