Gun season tactics...

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dan
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Gun season tactics...

Unread postby dan » Tue Nov 16, 2010 9:20 pm

For those of you who gun hunt, what are the tactics your planning for this year, and what has worked for you in the past?
Do you rely on hunter pressure and hunt funnels?
Open areas with larger areas to cover?
Thicker areas where the big ones might hide?
Drives?
Solo stalking?


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Re: Gun season tactics...

Unread postby Footballer » Wed Nov 17, 2010 12:14 am

My advice might not help you much because our gun season opens about the time our deer start rutting. Therefore, I hunt saddles and other known travel corridors.

When the rut is over, I like hunting from a high vantage point where I can watch the whole side of a mountain. The only good thing about hunting hilly terrain is the ability to get up high and see for forever.
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Re: Gun season tactics...

Unread postby dreaming bucks » Wed Nov 17, 2010 1:07 am

I'm not a die hard gun hunter.... I made a 5x5 box blind with sliding windows, and a nice heater keeping me cozy warm... I just can't get into the gun hunting now that I have started bow hunting...
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RaisedByWolves
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Re: Gun season tactics...

Unread postby RaisedByWolves » Wed Nov 17, 2010 1:24 am

our group of 7 guys usually sit for the first weekend. my stand is on a side ridge/field funnel, but most of the rest of our group are more evenly spread out to cover sections. we hunt rifle country so it works out very well. Who ever has tags left after the opener, we usually make drives through 3 key bedding areas close to a big field. this usually always results in a shot at a buck.
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Re: Gun season tactics...

Unread postby DevinJD2007 » Wed Nov 17, 2010 3:15 am

I rely on hunting pressure from the neighbors I know that it is just a matter of time everyday that they will get up and start walking around sending the deer running into our land.
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PredatorTC
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Re: Gun season tactics...

Unread postby PredatorTC » Wed Nov 17, 2010 3:17 am

I was after a big guy with the bow before i got mine and im gonna hunt his bedding areas. I have trees picked out where i can get up good and high so i can use the long reach of my gun to my advantage. No more gun hunting in feilds for me.
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PredatorTC
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Re: Gun season tactics...

Unread postby PredatorTC » Wed Nov 17, 2010 3:20 am

Also i was thinking about solo stalking into a bedding area but im still playing around with the idea bc idk how well it would work for me
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Rutnstrut
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Re: Gun season tactics...

Unread postby Rutnstrut » Wed Nov 17, 2010 3:38 am

I hunt my land during gun season almost exactly like I do for bow season. I sit stands with a good wind, most in thick cover. I also usually sit all day every day of the gun season. That really pisses off some of the neighbors as they do nothing but drive, and the deer load up on our land. I hunt for myself though not the neighbors, so I could care less if they get pissed.
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Re: Gun season tactics...

Unread postby AC Rider » Wed Nov 17, 2010 5:31 am

PredatorTC wrote:Also i was thinking about solo stalking into a bedding area but im still playing around with the idea bc idk how well it would work for me

It depends on the country you hunt in and the present conditions. If you are lucky enough to have rain/wet ground or soft snow along with somewhat open underbrush, it can be awesome.
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Re: Gun season tactics...

Unread postby Weasel Walker » Wed Nov 17, 2010 6:40 am

River bottom. I've had success carrying waders in a Duluth Pack to cross water to get away from others. FYI - Waders will freeze quite solid especially during ML season. The precip last weekend in North central WI raised the water about 5 feet, I wasn't able to carry my stand over last weekend. Have to sit on the more accesible side of creek. I did find some beat up trails in some of the river bottom nastiness. Taking the .44 Mag in pull a Dirty Harry. Feel Lucky, Buck?
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Re: Gun season tactics...

Unread postby DropTyne » Wed Nov 17, 2010 7:22 am

Thicker the better. Im going after a new area this year, in the thick north country all of my bucks with a gun have come from some very nasty stuff. Just like bow, but up to the bed and play the wind. I will sometimes sneak into bedding areas or areas I think will be holding deer after opening day.
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dan
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Re: Gun season tactics...

Unread postby dan » Thu Nov 18, 2010 2:24 pm

My biggest bucks have come from sneaking into there bedding areas that were pre-scouted in the spring so I know precisely where the bed is located. The buck is either shot in his bed, or just as he starts to scoot.
Most of the other gun bucks I have taken have com from stands in buck bedding areas at close range cause its generally thick.
I was thinking about passing on gun season this year and just spending the time taking care of Ma till bow opens back up, but now have decided to put a day or three into it... I have never taken a big buck on opening weekend of gun season. All my big ones have come later in the week. Once the bucks are pressured I know where the big ones will hide. You would think one of these years I would catch one heading to his sanctuary on the 1st day, but it ain't happened yet. Bow season however has resulted in a lot of good bucks opening day, or weekend.
I want to try something a little crazy this year... There is a very remote bedding area that always seems to hold the biggest bucks in a local public marsh. Trouble is its a very long walk thru water, muck, and cattails.
I cannot think of a time that I went there and did not kick up a decent buck. However, I don't think other hunters ever get there... I go there about once a year or every other year. There are no trees there. Just some thin strips of brush with a slightly elevated base giving them a dry spot to bed in the cattails. I am planning on leaving the house very early and dragging a step ladder with me and hunting while sitting on top of the step ladder giving me just enough height to shoot over the brush.
Earlier this year I saw a booner near this area and I think he, and/or maybe a really wide buck I saw might be holed up there... We will see.
Bringing a backpack with a change of clothes maybe, cause I will likely be soaked by the time I get there.
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Re: Gun season tactics...

Unread postby DropTyne » Thu Nov 18, 2010 2:32 pm

How do you locate a "pressure bed"?
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