Thread: 13 mile bush

I had a look at a map and we were more like 750 metres, not that it really matters.

I am sure you are right - more than likely a lot more deer see us than we see, but the more you look around the more you will be able to judge where you are likely to see them. I would hazard a guess that 10% of the guys on here see 90% of the deer because they know where the deer are likely to be.

We have been really lucky in that early on in my son’s hunting life we stumbled on an area with a lot of deer (not where we were on Thursday) but even in that big valley we really only see deer in the same few areas time after time. Your challenge is to find that spot in the area you are hunting.

A lot of guys want to cover as much ground as possible hoping to stumble on a deer, and good on them if it works for them - when I was younger I certainly did this too.

Nowadays I prefer to find a likely spot and just sit and observe, looking around with the bino’s. Often I see deer that are too far away, but you can learn a lot by sitting and watching them. On Thursday we had been sitting there for an hour and a half before the deer came out, and it was still an hour till dusk. I was beginning to think we weren’t going to see anything, then suddenly there they were.

I have found sometimes you can’t see for looking. One night in this same spot we had been sitting there for at least 30 minutes before I noticed a pig on the hillside opposite us. When I really looked I counted 8 pigs on the hillside, all within 100 metres of us. I hoped like hell my son wasn’t going to shoot the biggest one as we were a 3 hour walk from the car.

Another evening I had been watching this gully for about an hour when all of a sudden there was a deer standing out in the open a long way from any cover. It must have been lying down all that time and just stood up.

I guess what I am saying is that we probably wouldn’t have seen any of these animals if we had just kept walking with only a brief look around.

Originally Posted by Sauer

I had a look at a map and we were more like 750 metres, not that it really matters.

I am sure you are right - more than likely a lot more deer see us than we see, but the more you look around the more you will be able to judge where you are likely to see them. I would hazard a guess that 10% of the guys on here see 90% of the deer because they know where the deer are likely to be.

We have been really lucky in that early on in my son’s hunting life we stumbled on an area with a lot of deer (not where we were on Thursday) but even in that big valley we really only see deer in the same few areas time after time. Your challenge is to find that spot in the area you are hunting.

A lot of guys want to cover as much ground as possible hoping to stumble on a deer, and good on them if it works for them - when I was younger I certainly did this too.

Nowadays I prefer to find a likely spot and just sit and observe, looking around with the bino’s. Often I see deer that are too far away, but you can learn a lot by sitting and watching them. On Thursday we had been sitting there for an hour and a half before the deer came out, and it was still an hour till dusk. I was beginning to think we weren’t going to see anything, then suddenly there they were.

I have found sometimes you can’t see for looking. One night in this same spot we had been sitting there for at least 30 minutes before I noticed a pig on the hillside opposite us. When I really looked I counted 8 pigs on the hillside, all within 100 metres of us. I hoped like hell my son wasn’t going to shoot the biggest one as we were a 3 hour walk from the car.

Another evening I had been watching this gully for about an hour when all of a sudden there was a deer standing out in the open a long way from any cover. It must have been lying down all that time and just stood up.

I guess what I am saying is that we probably wouldn’t have seen any of these animals if we had just kept walking with only a brief look around.

Yep. Walk a little, look a lot.