But more specifically, urban bucks. Are these bucks easier to hunt? Are they numb to the smell of us humans? Whats the difference of me 20ft up in a tree and the kids playing basketball 120 yds away, home owner walking there dog, etc. How do they distinguish the difference? Do your tactics change at all? You get the idea...
I mostly hunt urban and suburban deer. from my experience they differ from woodland deer in a couple of ways: they are more tolerant of people in some ways. scent control is important but IMHO urban deer are more sensitive and attuned to human behavior. scenting you wont scare them, moving in a way suggestive of stalking or predation will. they are not easily run off a property but hey will go nocturnal at the slightest pressure.
I have never hunted urban deer. But the bases for my EMS company are located next to big woodlots on the outskirts of a cities. You can pretty much pet the deer. And people still hunt them. Its not sporting whatsoever. But its legal, so to each his own. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy s4
I got my small private honey hole back for this year! I practice the same things I do when hunting anywhere else. The difference between kids playing basketball, homeowners walking dogs and neighbors coming home from work and a guy twenty feet up in a tree is that the other things happen every day 365 days a year. They'll notice something that's obvious up in a tree if you don't take precautions. When I first got that 8 acre spot, I threw up a ground blind in the middle of the field and got busted immediately. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk www.skyangler.com
This is a great description. While human scent is still important it at times doesn't break a deal "as much" however they tolerate changes to their environment less I'd say...their alarm system is more sensitive to those things then the scent side of things. This is due to it having to be. Last year I had a bunch of mature does under stand with people less than 150 yards away making all kinds of noise. The lead doe never relaxed...but never blew or stomped until one of them came to the wood's edge to "relieve" themselves...that's when she made every last one of them freeze....and eventually would vacate the area quietly taking all of her group with her. I've also noticed that the deer at the homestead property (houses very close to some stands) mature bucks will rely very heavily on their eyes than their nose (but still use sound survival tactics with wind and such).
O they are much easier when I hunted them. They just get spooked seeing you in a tree and stand there for a while then continue to walk by. a different kind of hunt
The property I hunt is kind of a mixture between woodland whitetail and urban whitetail. I hunt about 400 yards from a freeway and the deer are in peoples backyards all the time (not subdivision backyards) so yes I would guess they are more acustomed to people but by no means is it easy hunting.
yeah i was thinking the same thing. i know i play lacrosse on a field at the local university and it is surrounded by woods but the deer are so accustomed to people you can walk within 5 yards of them.
Not true, people see urban deer and they often get pretty close, but as someone pointed out they are not easy marks by any means. They definitley put A LOT more emphasis on what they see. If you are too far or away from where people typically are or acting differently they notice. They are very much attuned to human behavior and patterns. A person walking a dog, hiking or even just walking though the woods will walk and move very differently from one that is hunting (stalking). Deer are prey, they are aware. Ever notice on animals shows how a group of gazelles or boks will seem to be relaxed while a pride of lions sleeps nearby or even if a single lioness wanders near. However, let that lioness begin to drop down low or take an ambush postion and that easy prey is suddenly alert and on it. Same here. They see a guy slinking around, hunched and/or off the normal trail and poof..... those easy going "sucker" deer a gone.
Like what was already stated, deer can sense when they are being hunted/stalked...if it were really that easy, everybody would be on there buddies back deck, or back yard killing deer, you would hear ALOT more about it if it were that easy. its just a different form of hunting whitetails. I've noticed at my place, even though im durrounded by thousands of acres of woods, i have the most deer activity within a few feet of the woodline to my yard!
i will have to disagree. one time at lacrosse practice there was a deer by the edge of the woods. (field is surrounded by woods.) i was able to stalk real close to it and it only walked away never ran.
Some deer will get like this no doubt. Anything, person or animal, can be conditioned over a long time period. Some urban areas there is not even urban hunting allowed so deer never view humans as a predator and with the lack of wolves, coyotes or other predator type animals lots of times urban deer are just like squirrels and will come right up to you if you hold out an apple for them. Now urban areas that allow hunting or are on the out skirts where hunting is allowed it's a whole different animal all together. Dogging on guys who urban hunt is something I refuse to do because it's an entirely different ballgame, one which I hope to play sometime in an urban hunt. *I'm not saying you personally are dogging it either, just saying I won't like some people do. It's a different art form, just like the open prairie style hunting some do...crazy.
I have had this happen while walking to my stand on deer I did not want to shoot. If you or I were able to do this everytime on every deer it would be different. I highly doubt I could walk up to every urban deer and they just walk away. I don't think this sort of thing can be generalized. Just saying.
I hunt an urban spot that is miles from the nearest town. It is urban by designation only. The deer there act the same as those that you'd hunt in the timber out in the country.
Well...to be fair, it happens alot (giant bucks killed in urban areas), but alot of guys wont admit it or wont tell the whole story (either they are afraid of the backlash or they honestly feel some shame shooting fish in a barrel). I know ALOT of HUGE bucks that were killed in urban areas. I also know how easily I could do the same. At my work, I can walk up to within 20 yards of bedding 150" every day. Its really that easy. People shoot these bucks and brag the hell out of it (which is fine just not for me). You would also be suprised at how many celebs or hunting industry writers slay there big bucks in this legal but admittedly easier maner. It is what it is...and to each his own. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy s4
very true, that it is easier than other methods, (theres only so many places they can go and are used to humans) such as public land hunting. I personally haven't experienced it to much up here, but maybe im being naive about it!?
This is so not true. All you have to do is walk down the sidewalk with a crossbow. Step into the yard...aim your crossbow at said "150" buck and pull the trigger. Boom. Ohio Big Buck Club member. Picture in the paper. Everybodys happy. Its that easy anywhere north of route 303 in northern Medina county. I hate to say that...but its the truth. I see it every season. There is no sugar coating it. The only skill it takes is being able to shoot straight at 20 yards. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy s4
I have no doubt that is true. Im just saying that every year it never fails that I see pictures tacked up in the gas station of bucks that kids feed at the local park. But like I said...if its legal im okay with it. (Its legal to cheat on your girlfriend too..I just wouldnt do it myself.. you see what im saying?) Sent from my Samsung Galaxy s4
Your not naive...just not what your used to. Everybody here hunts a different way and in different worlds. Dubbya is guiding inexperienced newbies in the mountains and wide open areas out west, Sharps Eye Sam is whacking exeptionally large bucks in his state of North Carolina, Schultzy is recurve hunting the wilderness of Minnesota and MGH is rifle hunting the woods of PA. It all differs based on the tradition. All im saying is, in "urban whitetail zones" of northeast Ohio (which is what were discussing...urban whitetail hunting), I can sit in my ambulance bay, drink a yuppy beer, listen to Luke Bryan and Miley Cyrus, post on this forum with my phone, and kill 150" bucks in the parking lot with my crossbow. Every year. Legally (Soooo not my cup of tea though). Just the FACTS is all. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy s4
