Looking for tips on grassland white tail hunting

[GreyCrow]

Hey gang,

Im from central Saskatchewan, Canada and am looking for tips and tactics for open country, prairie deer hunting.
A lot of advice/articles/videos focus on big timber and there isn't a tree that could support a stand for 4 hours around me!
I come from the flat ass prairie and want to play too!
Ive spent time on the land observing and trying to pattern deer. My closest spot to hunt changes no more than 5meters(15ish feet) in elevation. It contains grassland studded with small thick brush and some small poplar stands. there is approx 50/50 WT/muley here. Below is an aerial photo. Top is north and prevailing winds come from the north this time of year, south of this is cattle country and some grain.

 

I also have access to a river valley, but its twice as far.

My experience includes a few years of gun hunting when I was younger, never picked up a compound, and got hooked on recurve 2 years ago. Last year was small game and upland bird hunting, had a blast and even some success. I have gun hunting friends, so I generally hunt solo.

Any help on this journey would be greatly appreciated.

[tomsm44]

I don't have any personal experience with this, but is there any kind of brush to use as cover, or is it 100% grass?  If there is any kind of cover, I'd say fix up a little brush blind and maybe try to call one in.  Doesn't sound like spot and stalk is much of an option.  If you can identify some good travel corridors and the grass is tall enough, you might be able to get low enough to hide but still see them, then raise up on one knee for a shot if you get lucky enough for one to look the other way while in range.  Just throwing some ideas out there.  Might not any of them actually be a good idea.  Good luck.

Matt

[karrow]

deer will use landmarks when walking across open areas. like a lone tree or tall tree big rocks telephone poles. they will also use small clumps of brush like in your aerial photo. sounds like fun country to hunt because you can see the deer coming from a long ways away and move from brush clump to brush clump.

[neargeezer]

How about pinch points by the lake and maybe a fence? A natural blind near one these spots could be good.

[ChuckC]

Yeah, there are things you can learn but you need to cover ground to see it. It may well take a few years to really get a handle on it, but certainly jump in and start.

I suggest you break it up into pieces for scouting.  Get to know one area at a time. Also, you can bounce from area to area on every day of the hunt to mix up your presence.

As above, look at the aerial photos. you have a lake  there for a funnel.  There should be a trail or two around the edge, especially that west side.

You mentioned grain fields somewhere.  There will be trails leading to them.  Sit somewhere with some binoculars now and watch for a few evenings.  If there is no vantage point, carry in a 6 foot ladder and sit on top ( carefully) to watch for a few evenings.  That same ladder, if placed into a clump of brush could be a stand.  You don't need high if the brush is only 8 feet high.

I personally have enough time in with a Ghillie suit to say that no doubt that would be my game plan.  I use a Rancho Safari style, not the one with strings.  Trim it so you can shoot ( make sure, trust me on this one), and go sit and watch.

I can sit just inside brush or just act like a small clump of brush myself.

Also, don't overlook making and using a cow silhouette as a blind front anywhere you want to put it

Go get them.
ChuckC

[CoachBGriff]

In one of my favorite Trad Bowhunter articles, a gentleman (his name escapes me now... might be a member) details his hunts in the Nebraska sand hills which had few to no trees for stands.  

If I remember correctly, he had some success with a decoy from the ground!  Sounds like fun hunting to me!  Good luck.

[Tejasmick]

Here are some humble thoughts.  I don't think the strategies are going to be all that different for you.  Tactics are certainly going to change, but maybe not as much as one would think.  They eat, drink, and bed; as well as travel between those tasks.  

I would start at the water and scout the trails in and out to establish a beginning point.  From your information I peeked at google maps for a little better aerial scout.  Not sure what the boundaries are for your access.  Are you due south of the lake or do you have access to that area SW of the lake?

Are there cows on the property?  There looks like a lot of trails, but based on the pattern, suspect they are cow trails and not game trails.  

Just a wild arse guess:  It appears you have a little trail network wending through the brush at this location:  51.698492, -106.646180  (plug that into google maps or your gps.)

With a north wind, you have brush on either side of trails within reasonable shooting distance of the clearing.  You can sit on the west or east side depending on the wind quartering.  Set up a ground blind or a trail cam at this funnel and I think you will see them traveling from either their bed or from water out to feed in the prairie.

51.700536, -106.651767  looks like a good spot for a blind as well.  You have a bit fewer options depending on the wind, but something is coming in and out of the thickets there.

51.700892, -106.659253  looks like a good choke point on the trail that gives excellent flexibility on stand location.

I think your best bet is to find their corridors and ambush them where the trail narrows between thickets.  Cut a few clearings in brush large enough for bow clearance leaving good tall thick back drops of native vegetation.  Have as many as you can for options as the wind, time of day, and barometric pressure change.  If you can dig a depression even better, but cattle stepping in holes is bad juju, so clear that one first.  This actually looks like a great playground, if the deer are plentiful.

Good luck!

[Tejasmick]

GreyCrow,

What is going on at this point:  51.703965, -106.673939 ?

That is a real interesting network of trails leading to what looks like a fence line within about 50 meters of good cover.  If that is game trail, and not cows going through a gate, I would stand back in the cover well over to the east.  When the deer cross over that point (presumably to go to water), then circle down wind and come back up to your blind set up on the north edge of that thicket.  When they return, the wind is in your face.  They are at ease having just passed through an area with no danger.  Any one of those trails brings them right into bow range.

[Paul J.]

I hunt the marsh and rice fields in south Louisiana. Very similar situation as you have there. Deer still have to move. They have to bed and feed and have to move to do that.I really limit how much I go into the area that I will be hunting. At times especially during the rut I try to watch at peak movement hours with binoculars and use Highwinds for spot and stalk. Also I use ground blinds once  particular travel routs are determined. Hunting in these types of areas can be really exciting, and a welcome change from the way that most of us usually hunt deer

[GreyCrow]

Thank you greatly for all the info.
I'll be scouting hard this week!

[Sam McMichael]

Near the top of the map, there seems to be a funnel where a screen of trees nearly connects the woods on the left with the woods on the right. Even if it is only a thin screen, deer tend to follow these natural funnels. Scout that area closely. Also, how much traffic goes through this grassy area? I have found that deer will sometimes use isolated patches of cover to bed down in as they can see danger from a great distance. This along with smell gives them security.

[Jb Phipps]

I've got a place in NW Oklahoma that looks similar. Lots of grass and scattered willows that are only a few feet high. It's my favorite place to hunt. I build a brush blind or two every year. I cut cedars and drag them to the location, building it thick enough that there is no way to see through it other than the shooting windows. I also build a roof out of cedar boughs to block light, leaving a porthole I can stand up and stick my head through for 360 degree visibility.  I keep in mind that the foliage will fall off as the season wears on so I over build it and leave extra material for patching it up. It's a bit of work but worth it, especially when the North wind howls and my buddies are shivering way up in the trees.

[damascusdave]

I ground hunt in very similar circumstances here in Alberta...it is all about getting out there and learning by doing...I focus far more on mule deer since they are far less wary than whitetails...do some elk hunting too...that is one advantage of living where we do...think about shooting a bear as well come spring just to get some experience with live game...not hard to find bears in Northern Saskatchewan

DDave