So watching an episode of a hunting show, Heartland Bowhunter, which I do like and think is very well put together. With that said, the hunter went to WY for whitetail at an outfitter. His first night he saw like 8-9 different bucks and 10 or so does..the next night he's hunting in a ground blind over watering tank, which I get that, there isn't an abundance of water out there, so no issue. He shoots the bigger of the two Quartering to him which he even says before shoots, I wouldn't want to try that but he knows what he can do..after the shot he looks at the camera and says this has been the toughest out of state hunt I have ever had.. we have seen buck after buck but not quite in range.. until tonight... Now, how "tough" is tough in reality..to see 12 different bucks and 20 or so does in two days and end up killing a great buck would be an unbelievable/ magical two days for me in my woods, and I hunt hunt 7k acres of private land in one of the top 5 counties in VA for quality bucks and numbers of deer..so just how good is an out of state outfitted hunt? never been on one and likely will never do so, but Im curious to know what reality is for you in your woods vs reality on guided hunts. Not bashing or judging, I have no experience with outfitters in the midewest/west, my hunting is strictly in VA.
They edit out the footage. If it were just an hour of him sitting in the dirt you wouldn’t watch it! I can go out and see a LOT of big mule deer bucks here. Getting them in archery range is another thing altogether. More times than not, they’ll linger around 100+ yards in plain sight for a LONG time. Most guys here shoot probably 50-80 yards or so on average. Pretty rare to get a close up shot here. I haven’t seen where the hunt you’re talking about is, but it may be the same. Not a lot of heavy cover in most areas and they eat everything out here. Cactus, sage, grass, etc...Baiting is illegal. There are no trees. You sit in a small ground blind if you have some vegetation, otherwise you sit on the ground or stalk... Guys here whine and complain about how easy you got it. To just sit in a tree and wait for something to walk by going to food or water! It goes both ways. I don’t think one is easier than another. Just different!
I let go of any thoughts of hunting some utopian hunting grounds years ago. My reality is mine alone. Some years I do really well and others I struggle with seeing more than 10 total bucks over 3 months of hunting. The Tred Barta way! Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Example. I see decent pronghorn bucks everyday. Very rarely do I get to see one inside 150 yards. Most are at 200-400 yards. This guy and his companion were about 340 yards out. No way to close the gap. Just a nice moment to sit and observe! I think what makes it hard, is that it’s like an itch you can’t scratch. When a big mule deer buck or big pronghorn are out in such clear view and you know that you’re not going to get a closer shot. It’s very frustrating. A lot of guys will sling an arrow if they hit the ~100 yard mark.
Totally agree. I just do my best on the public land I have available to me. Nothing like the deer numbers it used to have, but there's still deer around. You just need to put the time in. I have taken a deer (buck or doe) every year except one since 2002. My bucks haven't been "big"ones, but good ones none the less. I'm happy just seeing deer while on stand.
If I have 8-10 sits a year I might see 4-5 deer between those sits. Mostly does. Only saw a spike and small 6 all year last year and both those times were checking cameras and not hunting. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
man that can be tough Im sure. we have a lot of deer, no limit on doe tags all season.. with that said, most of what I hunt is pine plantation and thick cutovers.. not a lot of oaks in 7k acres..bedding basically 360 degrees around any stand i hunt..no real way to pin em down. they do a lot of browsing and most times no more than two deer together so never a herd of 6-10 together. so i average one or 2 deer every other sit.so i may see 20-30 deer in a bow season. not bad but not great
and if it has antlers...its a good week. Ive been spending most of time on public land here in VA and running into anything with antlers is no piece of cake.
well I have had the fortune to hunt a private for a few years over in wythe/pulaski counties, and my gosh it's loaded..see anywhere from 5-10 per sit. but that's private land. and I no longer get to go there. but here in south east VA the topography is totally different and so is the culture of hunting..Come Mid novemeber the tail gates drop and the hounds are released and still hunting is done..but I partake in that as well, and I my deer sightings sky rocket..
Yea I live in the no 1 county (but dont have permission to hunt anywhere) and there are some dandies running around
Bedford Co is absolutely sick.. year in and year out numbers and quality... it's crazy. man I hope you can find some private land soon...you know how much that will change your hunting life..
The reality is I have never been able to afford an out-of-state hunt. Lucky to hunt within 50 miles of home. Editing is a show's best friend. Bill Dance Bloopers told of fishing all day and just before they were packing up, he caught a bass, that is, the only bass of the day. I guess the whole day was scrapped and back out again. Guys catch bass after bass but don't tell that it took 14 hours to catch four bass.
I have a 30 acre chunk of private I have permission to hunt. Not many oaks on the property and alfalfa borders the one side. It’s mainly bedding and they browse and travel Through it. If I could take more time to scout then hunt I might have more success. But I usually can only squeeze either 1 day of hunting or 1 day of scouting per week so I choose to guess and hunt. Going to try and do some scout and set up on fresh sign hunts this year but we will see. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I hunt all private ground. Got permission on more prime stuff than I can even hunt each year. That being said, some years , I'm covered in bucks. Some years it's not so great. I've never seen mature bucks come easy in 40+ years of hunting.
More than likely the video you saw was at 7J Outfitters in northeast Wyoming. There are tons of deer there and they likely showed only a few of the deer they actually saw. Watch the last couple of episodes of Bowhunt or Die where Tyler Rector and Josh Sturgill hunted deer in north central Wyoming with Bighorn Outfitters. Not uncommon to see 50-100 deer a day (don’t have to book a trip to see the game, just drive down any of the highways or county roads and they jump in front of you). Can’t always get close to them especially if you have a certain size deer in mind. I’ve seen as many as 200 deer in an alfalfa field there; it’s pretty amazing actually. Last year I filled three doe tags and a buck tag in four evening sits. From one blind I sat in there, you could see a couple hundred elk, a bunch of whitetails, mule deer and antelope all in the same alfalfa field across the road from us. All I needed to see that evening to make it a complete trip was a moose, which I did after I got out of the blind and drove down the road a few miles. I think most 30 minute hunting shows have about 18 minutes of the actual show and the rest is commercials. So that 18 minutes is a 5-7 day hunt condensed into a few minutes. It’s basically A highlight reel of the week so they cut out most of the hiking, glassing, head scratching, camera checking, map reading, moving stands, etc. so we get to see all the good stuff.
