I am a new bowhunter; second season and learning as fast as I can via online sources and podcasts etc. Incredible resources out there. I've never had any in-person mentor but I've spent a ton of time outdoors (hiking, fishing, firewood cutting, mushroom foraging) and consider myself a pretty quick study. I have about 2 weeks remaining in the New Hampshire bow season and I feel like I need a new strategy to justify coming back next year. I need to increase my number of deer encounters to let me know I'm "in the game". I don't expect to be successful every time out, but so far I have sat about 30 times, and I've seen deer twice from stand (no shot opportunities). I don't care about mature bucks, or any advanced tactics. I am at the Little League phase of learning to hunt. I have spent a good amount of time scouting, and running a trail camera. I have seen plenty of deer droppings (most likely does), some well-worn tracks and runs. I have seen very few rubs or scrapes in the area. I have seen a couple areas that looked like doe bedding (mostly in the snow last post-season) but nothing I could ID as buck bedding. I can't for the life of me figure out where these deer are sleeping. The area is town-owned public conservation land, it borders several housing developments in Southern New Hampshire. The defining feature is Pulpit Brook, which runs through the center with buffer land on both sides (some quite hilly). The marsh around the brook can be dry or 6" deep of standing water depending on recent rainfall. Total area is nearly 600 acres, though I have focused on the 100 acres of Bragdon Farm on the map. There are no ag fields or food plots around here. I assume they are browsing on hardwood undergrowth and acorns. There are a couple grass meadows with some clover where I have seen doe family groups feeding in the mornings. I set my trail camera at a few promising spots for a week, and typically see 2-3 deer crossings; nothing I can make a pattern of, besides dawn and dusk activity. Sometimes they're heading into the marsh, sometimes they're heading out of the marsh. I've sat at edges, and deep in the woods. I've sat facing into the marsh. I feel like I'm hitchhiking at a random interection. Hunting pressure is hard to assess, mostly modest. I have seen three other hunters at other times. A few abandoned ladder stands. I have done about 80% evening sits (2 PM-dark) and 20% morning sits (30 minutes before sunrise to 10 AM). I tried still-hunting once and went deep into the marsh but didn't kick anything up. Saw one potential bed near the dry edge. Scent control regimen is pretty straightforward but not militant. My hunting clothes live outside on the porch and I have applied wood smoke to them. The one time I saw two pairs of two does, only one blew and spooked and the rest stuck around so it can't be that bad. I just learned the milkweed trick so I'll try that next year. Most sits the wind is less than 5 MPH and random. For reference, deer density is estimated at 20 deer/per square mile around here. Hunter sucess rate is 15-20% according to New Hampshire Fish & Game. So I don't expect to walk out there on opening day and shoot a Pope & Young trophy from the parking lot in my street clothes. But I know there are deer around here and I'm not seeing them from the stand. Last Saturday morning, admiring my leaf raking prowess in the front yard, a respectable 6-pointer cruised out of the woods in the neighbor's yard and past my house. Help convince me to keep hunting; I'm eager to learn but I need some more encounters to justify spending more time on this sport.
twd, first off, good attitude. This crap isnt easy. Make your maps a lot bigger and repost them, and we can start marking up some spots that look promising.
great post and attitude. being you are up north and your rut is most likely over, try to find the feed. deer should start feeding heavy soon. good luck
here is the link to the full PDF topo map: http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/maps/topo/documents/Topo_180SW.pdf I hunt in the Bragdon Farm area (right side of the map, north of Route 101). Any land on either side of Pulpit Brook is fair game
Keep moving that camera like you have been, maybe let it sit 10 days to really get a feel for the area. It ain't easy but keep working and you'll start to put it together. Sent from my SM-G930P using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
Keep moving, never hunt the same stand twice, until you find the deer. Is there people traffic on this land, hikers, dog walkers, ect.? If so, you need to find where the people do not go. Often, near the edges will be best, everyone will tell you go in deep into the woods where other hunters won't go. I totally disagree, the deer don't want to be way back in the woods, they prefer to be nearer to the edges. So, near the neighborhoods (food), away from people traffic, and THICK!, that is where you will find deer. Once you find a place like that, find the best way in with the least disturbance to the area, even knock on doors if you have to and ask for permission to access the area from there. Hunt near the thicket, between the houses and the thicket, but not in it. Even for experienced hunters, it takes time to figure out what is going on on a new parcel, don't get discouraged, hard work pays off. Just don't waste time hunting unproductive areas!
I wouldn't get discouraged. Upper New England has some of the lowest deer densities in the country. At this point finding food is easier said then done considering the monotonous topography your faced with. So planing for next season your should be focusing on locating doe family groups starting late summer. Start by seeking out visual confirmation of doe groups before starting your scouting. This will accomplish two things in that terrible habitat. First it will get you into an area with deer. This will sound silly to hunter from other parts of the country, but in New England deer will be in very specific pockets of habitat leaving big areas of seemingly good cover devoid. The second thing you will accomplish is you will be able to identify the best habitat as the doe groups will be living in the best 25% of the cover, leaving bucks to float in and out while mostly ranging on more marginal land. So after you locate hopefully more then one groups of does and fawns late summer early fall...then I would start scouting the fringes of those areas. I would then place cams around the perimeters and start looking for adjacent properties that will hold bucks . Specially higher ground and ridges that lead into the areas the doe groups are living. Your new approach to scouting should be to eliminate as much ground as possible in your hunting area. Hopefully this helps.
This sport can be disheartening at times, but stick with it! Better days are ahead. Have you tried sitting all day during your rut? I've sat days on end without seeing a single deer, but eventually I see something. I don't shoot the first legal buck I see though, because if I won't mount it I won't kill it. Hang in there, your day will come!
I looked at your area on an aerial map, classic suburb hunting. Deer will be feeding randomly in people's yards. I hunt exactly the same kind of area here in NY, patterning deer in these type areas is next to impossible. Do not be afraid to hunt right near the houses, often that is exactly where suburban deer are.
When I started out, I would hunt the same stand 3-4 times, lately I only sit once before moving for the next sit. Yes there is one trail between the houses and the "deep woods". Most of the woods is pretty open, with little side cover and a closed tree canopy. There are a few blowdowns but they are scattered. I haven't seen any raspberry or rhododendron that would typically grow in a dense clump; I don't think there is enough sunlight in the woods for them to thrive. The nastiest stuff I have encountered was shoulder-high oriental bittersweet in the marsh. I've seen them coming out of the marsh on my camera but never from the stand.
How large of a "territory" would these doe groups occupy in this terrain? An acre? 10 acres? I assume they will move with the food sources seasonally. About 1 in 4 trees is an oak tree, so acorns are everywhere, not concentrated in one spot.
No I haven't done any all-day sits; I have a lot of other time commitments so I either pick morning or evening for hunting each time out. I have that HuntWise app that may or may not be meaningful but at least gives me a reason to go hunt!
Yes we can hunt within outside 300 feet from any house and I have sat pretty close. I've set the trail camera near my shed and got some nighttime feeding photos but again there is no pattern I can discern. They just seem to cruise through the woods into people's backyards and browse on whatever they feel like
It sounds like some of the places I shed hunt. I will find sheds in peoples yards, but mostly the thick transition line between the woods and there yard. I will jump a lot of deer just 10 yards off there lawn. Which tells me they feel safe there. Your best bet might try and get permission from some of the private property's. Ask them if they have deer problems eating all there plants, and they might not mind if some one would come and take a few out. Another problem you will have is some one feeding the deer in there yard. That will bring the deer right to them and no reason for them to go any where else. Makes for some tough hunting! If you find someone feeding and you are able to setup between there bedding and there yard that might work.
As I mentioned I hunt the exact same scenario, only we have higher deer density here. It is still quite tough. Don't just sit randomly in the woods. Where sunlight cannot hit the ground, no browse = no deer, so hunt the edges. The only exception to that rule is when acorns are dropping, or if you can find a really good bottleneck between two good areas. With deer being impossible to pattern, finding bottlenecks, away from people traffic, is IMO the #1 key to successful suburban hunting. Only putting in the time scouting as much land as possible will find such an area. Ponds, steep hills, clusters of houses, they can all create obstructions that deer have to go around, creating a bottleneck that can be a killer spot to hunt. Small DIY food plots. I have an open wet area that looks similar to what you have on the north end of the property you hunt. Last year I cleared some brush/grass, and planted pumpkins in there. I weeded and put lime and fertilizer every couple weeks. The pumpkins took off, and the area was a deer magnet. A lot of work but well worth it. Even simply spreading lime and fertilizer over an area of known deer browse can improve that browse to the point where deer will hammer it.
I hunt vast amounts of ground with no food plots as well. The great equalizer for me was learning how to map scout on the computer. I'll try to look at your maps this weekend and mark up some spots.
That would be much appreciated. The topo map is on 20 foot contours, hopefully that is fine enough resolution. I've been eyeing a potential saddle in the "Gelinas Lot" but let me know what you see
twd, im trying to help you out with the map, but I cant figure out the boundaries of your hunting land. What is the name of the place you are hunting? Joe English Reservation?
I haven't hunted Joe English, but it's open for hunting if you see something promising. The area I have been focusing on is Bragdon Farm, then follow that north all along Pulpit Brook, including Joppa Hill Farm. All the green areas are public access, plus anything more than 300 feet from any house is open for hunting unless posted. I have sat in quite a few backyards where the homeowner owns part of Pulpit Brook We have a lot of public access in New Hampshire; it's actually hard to narrow it down. Anything on that topo map is less than 15 minute drive from my house. It's not huge contiguous blocks of State Game Land, but tucked into 20-100 acre parcels between houses
