Hey guys,
So I have a story, and I'd love to get some tips.
I got my buddy into hunting this fall, kinda. He bought a bow and practices with me, but he doesn't have his hunter ED yet so he cant kill anything. Anyway, he has about 8 acres of woods just on the outskirts of Des Moines, just ouside of city limits, along a creek. I was very skeptical about hunting this area since there are tons of cars driving around the area and you can easily hear people yelling and carrying on all around, even as close as 100 yards from his property. This is in a big residential area. He had put up a trail camera about 3 weeks ago and had not had much action. Last weekend, we found a few scrapes and I helped him set up his cam so he might actually be able to catch some deer. He bought a blind and he sat out there for the first time this morning. No bow or anything. As the story goes, as soon as he got into the blind he heard a big rukkus really close to him. He didn't even have any windows of the blind open yet, so he quietly unzipped one side and there was "an 18 pointer 10 yards from his blind!" He said he thought it was an elk at first. LOL I was skeptical again since he is a new hunter and hasn't really been much of an outdoorsman. He said didn't spook it. He said it went and made two scrapes, grunting and blowin out of his nostrils like crazy. So this afternoon after my morning hunt, I went to his property, helped him set up his blind in a better location, scouted a bit, and pulled his SD card. I was amazed. There are scrapes everywhere now! From one scrape, 50 yards in every direction, theres another scrape! I mean there are probably 12 scrapes on just 2 acres. And the trail cam had a nice 10 point, and two nice 8's from last night alone! Anyway, we hunted together tonight, and at 6 pm, a different, very nice 10 pointer walked by the blind at 15 yards. I drew my bow and the buck started making a scrape right behind a tree. I stayed at full draw for a couple minutes, waiting for the buck to step forward or to the side, but instead he turned and walked straight away, in line with the tree... UGGGHHH! Thats the only deer we saw tonight.
So, what do yall think? I have never hunted urban before, but this place has more scrapes than I have ever seen in one area. There are almost no rubs at all though.
Have any tips for urban hunting?
Any pointers as to how we should hunt this property?
I'm really hoping to run into that "elk"/deer.
It seems like a guy could walk all over this property and not hurt his chances at all. If these deer want to go anywhere, they almost HAVE to walk through this property, unless they'd rather run through neighborhoods and down busy streets.
So I have a story, and I'd love to get some tips.
I got my buddy into hunting this fall, kinda. He bought a bow and practices with me, but he doesn't have his hunter ED yet so he cant kill anything. Anyway, he has about 8 acres of woods just on the outskirts of Des Moines, just ouside of city limits, along a creek. I was very skeptical about hunting this area since there are tons of cars driving around the area and you can easily hear people yelling and carrying on all around, even as close as 100 yards from his property. This is in a big residential area. He had put up a trail camera about 3 weeks ago and had not had much action. Last weekend, we found a few scrapes and I helped him set up his cam so he might actually be able to catch some deer. He bought a blind and he sat out there for the first time this morning. No bow or anything. As the story goes, as soon as he got into the blind he heard a big rukkus really close to him. He didn't even have any windows of the blind open yet, so he quietly unzipped one side and there was "an 18 pointer 10 yards from his blind!" He said he thought it was an elk at first. LOL I was skeptical again since he is a new hunter and hasn't really been much of an outdoorsman. He said didn't spook it. He said it went and made two scrapes, grunting and blowin out of his nostrils like crazy. So this afternoon after my morning hunt, I went to his property, helped him set up his blind in a better location, scouted a bit, and pulled his SD card. I was amazed. There are scrapes everywhere now! From one scrape, 50 yards in every direction, theres another scrape! I mean there are probably 12 scrapes on just 2 acres. And the trail cam had a nice 10 point, and two nice 8's from last night alone! Anyway, we hunted together tonight, and at 6 pm, a different, very nice 10 pointer walked by the blind at 15 yards. I drew my bow and the buck started making a scrape right behind a tree. I stayed at full draw for a couple minutes, waiting for the buck to step forward or to the side, but instead he turned and walked straight away, in line with the tree... UGGGHHH! Thats the only deer we saw tonight.
So, what do yall think? I have never hunted urban before, but this place has more scrapes than I have ever seen in one area. There are almost no rubs at all though.
Have any tips for urban hunting?
Any pointers as to how we should hunt this property?
I'm really hoping to run into that "elk"/deer.
It seems like a guy could walk all over this property and not hurt his chances at all. If these deer want to go anywhere, they almost HAVE to walk through this property, unless they'd rather run through neighborhoods and down busy streets.
