What method you use?

[Guest Ernesto C]

When you guys hunt for big game: Do you gou out really early in the morning (dark) and return back to camp in the dark? or do you return to camp for lunch and then go out again? If you stay out all day long what do you carry on your back packs for luch?

 

I personally stay out all day long and carry on my pack food that provides energy such a peanut butter sandwich or crackers,boiled eggs or candy bars,beef jerky etc etc. How you guys do it and how long you stay out?

 

The only hunt I dont stay out all day is on javelinas,I usually return about noon to camp for lunch and theng go out again about 2:00 p.m.

 

Ernesto C.

[TREESTANDMAN]

For me it depends on the area I'm hunting and the weather. If the weather is nice and I am seeing game I will hunt all day with quick lunch. Otherwise I need a good nap in the shade with a nice lunch to bring my moral and energy to par.

[COUESAZ]

I hunt from sun up to sun down . Wayne carlton said it best the game your hunting dosn't go back to camp at lunch so why should you.

[Diamondbackaz]

If I am camping out, I will hunt the morning, come back around noon or so, and go back out in the afternoon. I have taken two deer and an elk in the late afternoon, I don't like having to haul animal in the dark in treacherous country. So now when I hunt afternoons, I will stake out a tank or something thats close to a road. When I day hunt, I leave the house about 5:00 am, hunt til 2:00 pm and come back home. I have killed at least six deer this way. Shoot em, drag em, throw it in the trunk, and go home.

[coues addict]

Ernesto

 

I like to leave camp one to two hours before sunrise and get as high as I possibly can well before the sun comes up. I stay out usually on the ridge tops all day, I glass usually for 1 to 2 hours in one place if I think it looks good or if I`m seeing lots of deer. The main problem I have, Is not having time to come to Arizona for pre scouting and placing water out. I used to backpack a lot and I love not going back to camp for several days, but usually water is a problem or can be if I don`t know the area real well. Now I use a sweetwater water pump and I refill my water bottles whenever I find water. I take lots of snacks, jerkey, trailmix, apples, M.R.E`s. I usually won`t get back to my camp or my vehicle untill way after dark. I think Scott Adams is on the right track with his goats. That looks like as good of setup as you can get for Coues Deer. Coues Addict

[firstcoueswas80]

my dad and i usually leave the campsite around 15-30 mins before good light, this way we can atleast see if we spook anything, used to leave realy early but could hear to much game running away with no idea what it was. we usually only stay out till about 12 and come home get lunch and then go out around 2. my '03 "weener" buck was killed at 145 in the after noon, we went out earlier and they were up feeding when we spooked them, during the night hunt we either come home about a half hour before pitch back or leave where we are at sundown depending where we are. i know that we have packed out 3 elk shot right at the end of legal shooting hours and that is a pain to have to do. i would rather hunt hard in the morning and then use the evening to locate a buck and out him to bed. i tink that this year with all my newly acquired backpacking and camping gear that we are going to set up a spike camp in the back country and stay out for a few days at a time. that should be fun.

casey

[galiuro mountain man]

I like to be out all day. I usually cold camp in the wilderness so I dont really have anywhere to go. I wake up with the sun and usually start glassing. Then I eat breakfast after glassing a while, summer sausage and crackers. Then I go to the area I want to be most of the day, I still hunt for a while. Snack time is usually jerkey. Still hunt some more, then lunch, sausage and crackers. A lunch I usually try to find a water hole with lots of deer sign to eat by. I glass while I eat and listen carefully, I have had a bunch of deer come in at lunch time. Nap time (only after the second day, when I start to feel all the walking) I usually just crash where I ate. Deer seem to be very active at this time, it seems like I just get to sleep and they come to the water, and trust me, if you are barely waking up and a doe screams at you, you do it back(and might have to change your pants). After nap I glass a while then still hunt. At night I eat sausage and crackers, but I usually carry 2 cans of thick and chunky soup for the 3rd and 4th night, I do get tired of summer sausage.(unless I get lazy and eat both of them the first night because they are the easiest way to take weight out of my pack)

5th day I go home in evening.

 

This is archery deer hunting, I hunt everything a little different.

 

GMM

[stanley]

If I'm hunting within 1/4-1/2 mile from the road, then I'll usually head back to the truck around noonish for a big lunch & cold drink. I'll then head back out in the hills for the afternoon/evening.

 

Lately however, I've hunting more often further away from the roads (less people). I spend my time out all day, glassing/napping while I eat lunch. I'll move 2-3 times during the day (depending on the action). I'll still hunt between stops, and don't mind walking-out with a flashlight.

 

S.

 

:-)

[coueshunter]

for coues I hike into my morning spot about 1 hour before light. The morning spot is up high and I have a good view of alot of country. I then can move and glass bedding areas during midday and take my nap out wherever I am and hunt past dark then flashlight back to the truck.......Elk we hunt morning then go back for lunch/nap then hunt early afternoon till dark during bow season.....Allen.....

[BACKCOUNTRY]

I will leave BASE camp about 1hr before the eastern sky begins to light up. Illuminating the trail with a Full blown high power headlamp with a red lens, (not as offending on game). I pack in with a large backpack,(6500cu, inch) hunting while heading to SPIKE camp. I will set up camp (usually 4-5miles in) then prepair for the evening hunt.

I will hunt from SPIKE camp for 3 days, out at first light and back by pitch black.

When you are that far back in you can hunt right out of camp. And most hunters will only reach the 4-5 mile mark on the farthest turn of their loop. This puts me right on the fringe of most hunting pressure. Food and water are kept at SPIKE camp, my day pack is loaded with snacks. I will camp within a 1/2 mile of water(so after filtering its not to far to carry) but I dont like to camp too close. After a kill I will pack out the game to BASE camp. I didnt use to pack the game out right away, but after loosing a great 90+ head to a hungry lion I learned to change a few things. Then head back to SPIKE camp and pack it back out.

This is the only way to go in my book, the Backcountry nights tend to grow on you!

LC

[galiuro mountain man]

Backcountry, sounds a lot like I do. I like to be the only person around for miles.

 

GMM

[Guest Guest_NMTcoueshunter]

I like to get up about an hour before light and head to a good glassing location. I hunt out of a spike camp about 4 miles back into a wilderness area. Most of the time I hunt all day, and dont get back to camp until about an hour after dark. Sometimes I walk a lot, and sometimes I mainly sit and glass. I usually carry candy bars and things during the day and cook a dehyrated pasta meal when I get back to camp. Thats the way I like to do it.

[TREESTANDMAN]

No offense intended, but I was just curious, how different it is hunting 1 mile from the road as opposed to 4 miles into the wilderness area. Is the hunting that much better the farther you go from roads? I don't know because I have usually hunted fairly close to roads and I have glassed some huge bucks. It just doesn't seem like it would be that fun hauling that deer over 4 miles of rough terrain.

[stanley]

Treestandman:

 

For me personally, I like hunting further from the road because I see way fewer people. I much prefer being alone, over an easy pack trip. Someday I'll be too old to hike that far in, so for now I want to take advantage of it. I also tend to see more game when further from the road, but for me the main reward is the SOLITUDE!

 

Now, don't get me wrong. I have a spot or two that know about that are fairly close to roads as well. I sometimes hunt there.... depending on who I have with me, etc.. If you have some good honey-holes that are close to the road, good for you man!

 

Happy hunting!

 

S.

 

:-)

[Guest Ernesto C]

Treestandman:

 

In my personal opinion the "hunting method" should be the SAME 1 mile from the road than 4 miles from the road,the SUCCES or RESULT is not always the same.

For example I like to get far from the road because there will be much less "hunting pressure" deer will be less likely to react to noise or your presence in case they spot you(that may give you extra seconds to shoot).

 

To me it will be a litle desapointing if early in the morning I'm still hunting heading west and came face to face with a hunter headin east. Or hiking in the dark to get to a good glassing spot and then at first light you see that the canyon you were planing to spot a deer is full of hunters;that is why I personally like to hunt far from the road.

Now dont get me wrong,with the hunting pressure deer will be moving so it is true you may be succesfull only 200 yds from the road. That is another reason why is called "hunting" the deer will be rigth where you look for them.

 

This past october I hunted close to roads and saw only one spike but on the last they of the hunt I went waaayy out there found a beter buck;it took almost 4 1/2 hours to get him to the nearest road,but I was a happy camper

 

God bless you all.

 

Ernesto C.