A little background:
I lived on my grandparent's farm in Howard County from 1968 to 2003 and became familiar with the whitetail in the mid-seventies. Still remember vividly seeing my first buck when I was splitting wood in November and running in the house to tell my mother. Didn't have many deer back then and the county was primarily a farming county nestled off I-95 which connected Baltimore and Washington D.C..
Developments soon became common in the 80's....families who had been third and fourth generation farmers began selling their places and the real estate market boomed, the population was growing by leaps and bounds...and so did the deer. When I got my license in the early eighties I remember bow hunting several farms that were surrounded by other farms. Most likely the deer on these places rarely ever came close to an occupied structure.
I also remember running around on almost 600 acres of corn and pasture from neighboring farms that surrounded my grandparent's place...saw very few houses. Used to be my favorite pastime in the fall to climb on top of the barn roof...a good forty feet high...sit for hours in the evening and pattern the deer year after year. Oh, the memories!
Fastforward:
Wish I had a pic, but today you can probably see 80 to 100 houses just from the knoll behind my grandad's barn. Sure has changed...and so has the hunting. I wouldn't say the hunting's changed for the worse...just much different than it used to be. True farmland deer probably don't exist around here any longer as most of the remaining farms are bordered by developments and the deer spend much of their time hiding out here during the daytime hours. Many of these farms are leased (on average from 4 to 6 grand a year) for hunting rights....so they're hunted hard. A word of advice: don't hunt the farms...hunt the surrounding residential properties!
Bottom line is I've had to modify my hunting methodology in order to adapt to the ever changing environment. We've got a county full of tree huggers that work for the government. I wear camouflage in order to keep the neighbors from seeing me walk around with my longbow on a 3 to 5 acre piece of property, though I probably could shoot the same amount of deer without it.
In some places, where I have to walk through the open yard of a customer's property to get to my stand and I think the neighbors might be watching, I'll walk to my stand in street clothes with my bow disassembled and arrows packed. Then I'll assemble everything and dress when I get in the stand. I've been trying out the ASAT leafy wear and like it overall. Can be a little noisy at times and the sticker bushes love it, but I've had people walk right by me. Late season is great in one regard...the cold keeps most folks inside, but it stinks with lack of foliage. Makes it tougher to go unnoticed.
Evening seems to be the ideal time to hunt since darkness helps conceal the removal of the bambi. I feel like I'm doing something morally questionable as I'm describing suburban hunting, but these are the facts, like them or not. If I'm in a tight development I'll try to keep my shots close and take the higher percentage ones...broadside-three-bladed-double-lungers are my favorite. My average recovery in these places is somewhere in the forty yard range. It can be done! I'll save the trick shots to places that are less surrounded by folks.
Instead of the peace and quiet that I used to enjoy when hunting, I now am used to hearing car doors slam, kids screaming at the top of their lungs, teens talking on their cell phones and arguing with their parents, dogs barking, and sirens galore. I know a lot about people who don't know me.
But, hey, I'm just minding my own business. It's not uncommon for me to be up in a tree and have kids playing in the next yard over, or the homeowner (of the property I'm hunting) gardening only thirty yards away. They usually wave and smile. One would think this would somehow have a negative affect on deer movement, but it doesn't...believe me! It always astonishes me how deer can lay up in the smallest of places, have people walk within yards of them and not care because they know the routine so well. I don't doubt that these deer are very familiar with the smell of these people and aren't alarmed whatsoever.
These same deer also know the boundaries of dogs that wear the electronic collars. I've witnessed countless deer grazing and feeding within yards of big dogs barking their heads off at them. They also know the routine places that vehicles are parked...I learned this the hard way having parked my truck in the wrong spot and watched the lead doe get really nervous at it and blow off. I've used their routines against them many times....ok., I'll admit that I cheat and don't hunt the hard way. I'll climb in my customer's tree houses (the ones that come from Home Depot and Lowes), climb in their storage sheds and barns, climb in the back of their junked pickup truck beds, even hang treestands right next to their driveways. Whatever it takes to get in the middle of the routine - I'll try it! One time a customer who had a couple restored tractors asked me if I'd like to stand on the back of one with my bow while he putts around his yard where the deer just let him pass within feet! I politely told him thanks, but I'd like a bit more challenge.
BTW: residential bucks can get huge nowadays. I figure it's partly from eating choice vegetables from people's gardens coupled with the low hunting pressure. I've got three or four B&C caliber bucks on film that lived in or near developments.
So, I want to hear about your experience with suburbia hunting. Have any tricks of the trade...let's hear them!
Topic: Suburbia hunting...anyone? (Read 2161 times)
