Thread: Where are all the deer

Question for you @HOO.

When you find fresh sign, do you keep moving on foot, or do you back off with the wind, to rest up and glass the area? Time spent glassing prospective areas is time very well spent. Our terrain is massively advantageous in this regard, cos the hunter can stay within a reasonable range, with the wind in his favour, and have a very wide field of view. I also think I know where you are in the Aorangis, and if that's the case then this strategy might work for you.

There are several occasions I can think of when I was getting very frustrated. I could see fresh as sign and smell the animals, but I couldn't get onto them. Picking a good spot to park off and observe has paid dividends time and again, particularly in the late afternoon just before the animals leave their bedding spots and starting moving around. They are never far away from feed. I love the feeling you get when after a long slog and an hour of staring at the same patch of ground, out of nowhere a deer appears in your binos, and its all on.

Hours spent on foot recording your routes on a GPS, cross referencing this with Google Earth and 1:25k topo maps, and taking lots of photos and notes of landmarks, will help you build a mental picture of an area very quickly. There is no substitute for knowing the ground. The Memory Maps are great to have on a phone, as reconnaissance is all part of the hunt. Noting the breaks in slope and the bush line in relation to new slips and old clearings, and places with an uninterrupted line of sight, this is all important stuff to get on top of. You will quickly be able to identify slopes, knobs and scarps facing into the prevailing wind, which look at warm, sunny north facing deer country. That's where you want to be with your binos, in good cover, scanning the faces and slips.