Scouting and area selection

[Instinctive1]

Greetings to all,

I'm very new. I've been shooting traditional archery for two years now and am preparing to hunt deer this august. I live in northern California, 5 hours north of San Francisco, we have lots of public land here. Im a little bewildered about the amount of choices I have. I've been out scouting and I've found places with lots of deer, trails and scat. I've been focusing on areas where oak woodlands meet coniferous forest with a stream thrown in. I don't know how much archery pressure these areas see come archery season, but I think they get fairly hammered during general season which follows archery. What are some criteria you would choose in selecting woods to hunt? I want to focus in on a place and really get to know it, with all of the choices, how do you decide? Also, when scouting, how much of the behavior one observes will change over the next 3 months?
Thanks to those that take time to read this and happy hunting.

[Stinger]

I'm surprised that nobody has commented yet on your question as everyone has an opinion on this topic.  It could be that it would take volumes to teach you everything to get you started.  I have not hunted Northern California, but I think the basics of whitetail deer hunting are about the same anywhere.  Trails and droppings will tell you where deer have been, not necessarily where they are or where they will be when hunting season comes around.  The best and shortest advice I could give is to find an area where you are seeing animals and then get some topo maps of the area and do some walking.  Try to find where they are bedding and what / where they are eating.  Now eating habits change in the fall depending where you are as the food sources change.  Out here in the mid-Atlantic, we look for acorns in the fall.  Once you have determined where they are eating and where they are bedding, try to find some natural pinch points or funnels in between the two and you have found your ambush site.  A funnel could be a natural ravine or an old fence line or even a bunch of blow downs.  The thing is, you are looking for a place that will naturally make the deer move in a certain path.

If you can, I would try to hook up with someone who has hunted the areas you are considering and have them show you the ropes.  Don't count on them to show you their honey hole, but most folks are happy to start new people down the right path.

[RUTANDSTRUT]

im from NJ (little different than CA) but have hunted all over the country.  I do a lot of hunting on pressured public land and have been very succesful with mature trophy bucks along with other big game.  here are some simplified techniques:
1) try to find areas of suitable habitat that is very difficult for other hunters to get to (that extra effort is usually rewarded in the end) but dont overlook areas of extreme easy access that many times get overlooked.
2) get to know these areas not for aniaml behavior (it will change as the season progresses) but for terrain, cover, food and water sources, etc.
3)when it comes closer to the season, then start scouting for your animal.  i stress on scouting an area with as little human impact as possible.  scout with spotting scopes, game cams, utilizing the wind, etc.  scout like you hunt.
4)i scout 90% of the time and hunt 10%.  i do focus on particular animals which takes special attention during the season.  i don't hunt an area or animal until i beleive i can enter an area and kill that animal.  it doesnt take much to disturb an animal and change his habits.
5) really try to understand the habits of the animal youre pursuing.  it will give you a better understanding of where and when to hunt an animal.  it will guide you on the best time (day or year) to hunt that animal.  
5) when hunting, focus on how you can get to your hunting area UNDETECTED.  this may mean entering well before light or only hunting an afternoon.  dont take any shortcuts and its usually rewarded in the end.
6)talk to people that are in the area frequently (hikers, police, etc.) and ask what they have seen (where and when), this sometimes leads to great huting spots.
7) good luck and have fun

[awbowman]

IMO, deer hunting (in wooded areas) for the most part has certain general traits anywhere in the country.

I do not hunt public land, but my advice to you is to find an out of the way place and scout a lot. I know a guy that has well over 250 public land bow kills and he is like RutandStrut.  I have seen him scout all day only to hunt the last hour or less of the day.  He is always looking for that "hot" feed tree.  Find one and you will know it.  Acorns, lots of tracks and FRESH poo.  It will be noticeably above the others in activity.  Oh, and not all oaks bare at the same time or in equal proportion.  There is always that one oak tree better than all the rest  ……  and believe me the deer will know about it.  Be mobile with a loc-on or climber and setup and BELIEVE that the deer will come ....  they will.

The only other "option"  are paths of escape when the pressure is on.  One good suggestion is to parallel streams that are not easily crossed until a shallow spot is reached.  Setup there the next morning LONG before the weekend warriors start their hunt and the deer will move to you.  Oh, and take the long way around if it means the wind is right and you are not approaching the area through the bedding areas.

Good luck man!

[Instinctive1]

Thanks for all the input so far.
I need a teacher, but I've been waiting around for that for nearly a decade, I'm 35 now, and sometimes one has to just take things in their own hands. I took my first turkey all by my lonesome, perhaps there's something to beginners luck. Unfortunately I don't know any traditional hunters in the area, it's rifle or compound.

The lands I'm looking at are;
169 acre private ranch, withna variety of terrain, lots of streams, backed by blm land. No pressure.

The trinity alps, remote, high and rugged, lots of hiking involved to get away from potential recreating people. I think the archery pressure is fairly low.

An area of trinity national forest, in which I see a minimal of 15 deer just while parking, and when I was turkey hunting, I walked up on many deer by accident. Lots of pressure during rifle.

But as has been said, it's the funnels and squeezes, food sources, in which I'll want to work, which are available in all of those places.

All I know is I need to hunt, the desire and call is almost unbearable.

Thanks again for replying, I'm digesting it.
I need to take in what you guys wrote and reflect on it a bit.

[J. Holden]

I only wish I had the problem you have, so much land you don't know where to begin.  Where I hunt, public land, I sit in spots that were sat in the week prior and will be hit the following week after I'm gone.  Sometimes I've even had to politely, key word there, ask for other hunters to move on because I'm already set up.  Okay, enough of my whining.

I killed my one and only deer by finding the following:

I found intersecting trails that were hidden by some type of terrain or cover.  The deer felt safer and it was a matter of time before I had a deer walk by.  The main trail I set up on ran parallel to a ridge.  They could travel back and forth with out anyone knowing from the path that had been mowed.  I found an intersecting trail and set up near there.

As mentioned above trails tell you where deer have been.  However with whitetails they'll be there again.  It's a matter of time.  So, I'm not sure how much time you have to spend in the stand, but that's what worked for me.

If there's an area that's off limit's to hunting, like some sort of preserve, find a trail that's coming in and out.  I'm sure they know that you can't be in there, but you can be near it.  I know some national forests have "wilderness" areas that only allow foot traffic.  Look for an area like that.

Also, keep a journal.  Write down what time you're in stand, out of stand.  What do you see through out the day and at what time?  What is the temp?  Wind direction?  Moon phase?  Some bellive in that stuff other's don't.  It's kind of neat to go back and look.  Plus it helps to keep you focused.

Have fun and good luck.

-Jeremy  

[PaddyMac]

Once upon a time there was a weekly newspaper called Fishing & Hunting News. It had 12 local editions each staffed with a full-time outdoor writer covering the West (before they expanded), including a Northern California edition. It specialized in telling local people where to go, which was both valuable and controversial. Their specialty was the "map feature." It was not the end all, but it was a good place to start. It could get you from knowing nothing to at least being in the right drainage or the right corner or the right county.

F&H News is now out of business, but if you place yourself in the shoes of one of their reporters, you can do pretty much the same thing for yourself.

We're unique here in the West because we do have so much public land. But unlike the East, you are going to be focusing on mule deer and blacktail and hybrids. (I-5 is the arbitrary dividing line, east of I-5 they're mule deer, west of it, they're blacktail, which is why the books are full of California blacktail. Anyway....)

The problem with scouting muleys and blacktail is that they're nomadic. (I realize I just said something very simply that is pretty darn complicated, but for this purpose, let's just say that they don't have set neighborhoods or maybe that their neighborhoods are just very, very large compared to whitetails.) I have a gang of a half dozen or so huge mule deer that show up to raid my garden every August. They are huge mainly, so there is no way they are the same deer every year, but every August there they are. This has been going on for 30-some years. They are never there in September or June or April or January. Only August.

So there. The point is that there is a really good chance that the deer you are looking at right now are going to be somewhere else this fall. Perhaps other deer will move in to replace them, but the rule with mule deer and blacktail is that there aren't really a lot of rules.

So I suggest there's a better way to scout than to walk around Trinity or Shasta national forests in May. Not that you shouldn't do that. Couldn't hurt. But there are better ways.

If I were you, I'd start with the California Department of Fish & Game. Download their Deer Guide and any other harvest data you can find. That will get you into the right counties. You will be surprised how much information you can get from a biologist that you talk to in person. And Sporting Goods shop owners can be helpful.

Keep in mind that you aren't really looking for which tree to stand behind. You just need drainages or slopes of mountains. If you can get it down to that, you'll be way ahead of the game. Then you have your area selected, then go hunt it.

Just my 2 cents.

Good luck.

[Instinctive1]

You obviously have a firm grasp on details and specificity of the B-Zone blacktails that I'm pursuing.

What's your take on the trinity alps in contrast to the trinity- Shasta NF area around Ruth lake?

You are saying to spend more effort scouting out of the woods, how does one garner a conversation with a dfg biologist? The guys at the sporting store here keep pointing me towards the alps, maybe to get rid of me:)

I know, I'm naive, I'm reading a lot, and trying to tap all of the resources; weight training, usgs quads, google maps, target shooting, YouTube, Tradgang, prayer, meditation, a great bow ect...

[Hot Hap]

Get a topo map of the area you decide on. Hap

[Pepper]

From your location, I suspect that you are hunting coastal blacktails, a relative of the mulie.
They don't pattern as well as whitetails, so I think I would focus more on water.
Ca has a pretty early season, starts in July I think.
Locate a water source that has a lot of activity on it, near some oaks if possible, search out a travel corridor, and hunt it. Time of day will dictate the amount of activity you would see.
I know it is pretty general, but where I hunted, that was the way we did it with archery equip.
Shasta NF area around Ruth lake, I have hunted this area, it was quite productive, it's beenb several years, but you have to be careful regarding the mountain farmers, if you know what I mean.

[Instinctive1]

Our season starts third week of august, and general season is third week of September. I do know what you mean in regards to mountain farmers, but I think it's become a little more mellow with the recent political changes, people are more apt to farm their private land, but it is something I do consider in my planning.

[PaddyMac]

Instinctive1, no I'm not at all familiar with California blacktails or muleys for that matter. I'm just suggesting how I'd go about finding a new area there. CDF&G is very good with their harvest stats, very accessible. But you can't get below the county level with your computer. So the real task is finding the best part of the county and then the best part of the part. Then scout it (acorns, water, animals).

[Instinctive1]

Pepper, maybe it's time for you to take a nice trip back to Nor Cal and show an aspiring hunter the ropes:)